Andreja Pejic

Talented, gorgeous Andreja Pejic is still breaking down barriers. The Australian born model is now taking on the silver screen. More from the "Them" site:

"Andreja Pejić has walked runways for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, and Jeremy Scott. She’s been a cover girl for international editions of GQ, Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar — the list goes on. But tomorrow, the 27-year-old model will make her acting debut on the big screen.

“It’s been a crazy whirlwind. I can’t believe I’m in a blockbuster Hollywood film,” Pejić tells me with an elated sigh. “What is life!” It’s two days after the New York premiere of The Girl in the Spider’s Web when we hop on the phone, and Pejić is still processing the fact that she stars in an adaptation of the book series she grew up reading as a teen.

In Sony’s latest reboot of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo franchise, Pejić plays Sylvia, an Eastern European goth girl and Lisbeth Salander’s lover. In director Fede Álvarez’s film, adapted from the fourth novel in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series written by David Lagercrantz, The Crown’s Claire Foy steps into the role of Salander, the leather-clad hacker vigilante."

Can't wait to see it! To my knowledge, it is streaming on certain services such as Amazon Prime. It was actually released November of last year.

Andreja Pejic

As "Andreja Pejic" rose through the modeling ranks to stardom a couple years ago, she was a blogger's dream. Beautiful, successful, blond and a trans supermodel-who could ask for more as a blogger?

She made history in 2015 as the first transgender model to grace the pages of American Vogue. Pejic, who was born in what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina, was discovered in 2007 while working at a McDonald’s in Melbourne, Australia. The scout didn’t know if she was a boy or a girl, just that she looked like a model.

Three years later and she was walking in both the men’s and women’s shows for Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris, and she isn't done.

This year, she will appear as a face of Make Up For Ever, making her one of the first transgender models to score a significant beauty campaign .

For more go here.

Trans Passing Privilege with a Capital "P"!

Pejic left and Swift right.

I know the last couple posts here in Cyrsti's Condo have dealt with trans women (mostly young) with tons of passing privilege. Now, I know many of you are like me and are just doing your best to get by in the feminine world-But! I do love to dream and marvel at the transitions I see with many Mtf transgender women.

Of course in that category is trans supermodel Andreja Pejic, who by the way turned up on stage with Taylor Swift as part of her BFF Squad.


Australian-born Pejic, 23, is the world's most famous trans model and was recently featured in AmericanVogue. Pejic is also the first transgender model to land a cosmetic campaign. 

I will never say her (Pejic's) appearance with Swift helps me in any way with my life but it sure looks like fun!!!

From Yahoo News:

"Make Up For Ever is setting an important precedent in the beauty industry. The brand has tapped transgender model Andreja Pejic to be the face of their latest campaign, making the leggy beauty one of the first transgender models to land a major beauty deal (Pejic joins Brazilian model Lea T —who partnered with Redken in 2014—in leading to change in a largely cisgender-dominated industry). "I prefer doing shoots," the 23-year-old reveals in the interview. Time magazine last year for a feature titled "The Transgender Tipping Point," which explored how the acceptance of transgender individuals is the next social frontier in the U.S.)."


Don't you LOVE it? and her!!!!

Cyrsti's Condo "Recognize Her?"

Andreja Pejic at the Tiffany & Co. National Designer Award, Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, March 16 2015.Credits: Lucas Dawson/...

2015 The Trans Central Year?

2014 brought many positive changes to the transgender community, fortunately too numerous to mention. For the first time we saw trans women (Laverne Cox and Jazz) making it into most influential woman categories.  All of a sudden, the mere act of being born female with a vagina does not equate with the essence of becoming a woman. At the least, a very scary thought for many traditional binary thinkers.  Making the process even more difficult for those folks is it's looking like even more are in store for the future!


Here is one from the "Hollywood Reporter" : 
"ABC Family is continuing its push into the unscripted arena with a big swing.

The Disney-owned cable network has handed out a straight-to-series pickup for My Transparent Life, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The docuseries, from Ryan Seacrest Productions, centers on a teen named Ben who learns his parents are not only getting a divorce, but also that his father is becoming a woman.

The series will intimately follow Ben, his family and friends as they support each other through the unexpected journey and watch Charlie slowly become Carly, as she experiences the many stages of her transition from male to female. The show is described as a generational story of a loving family and circle of friends, supporting each other through the unfamiliar and unexpected situation."

Of course all of this is following the success of the Amazon series Transparent with Jeffrey Tambor (left).  For a start, I love the fact Tambor loves the part and is in many ways a truer portrayal of how most of us are able to visually transition. After all, we all can't look like Carmen Carerra, Janet Mock or Andreja Pejic. The best is yet to come!

Totally Transgender!

This says it all!

NYC Firefighter Brooke Guinan has been quietly raising the profile of LGBTQ folks and women in the FDNY for years. 

Now she's become a visible role model, taking part in V.O.I.C.E.'s new 'So Trans, So What?' campaign.

Go here to Advocate for more.

Perhaps, Brooke's publicity is even more relevant to the transgender community who can never hope to be the ultra glamorous trans role models as Carmen Carrera or Andreja Pejic.  

It's more a matter of "Hey! I can do that too!" I don't have to be a fashion model to transition!

The "A-Ha" Moment

One of the most frequent questions I get from "civilians"  is when did I know I was transgender.  Normally, they aren't prepared for the long version of the story, so to spare them the boring details, I go for the short version.

The "short" version is very simple.  I knew vaguely from the age of ten or so, there was something not matching up gender wise in my noggin.  I'm not even sure if the word "gender dysphoria" was even "invented" in the 1950's at all and certainly not in semi rural Ohio. Of course my gender issues caused me to work to present myself as a girl.

Civilians understand all of that.

I begin to lose them when I say cross dressing wasn't the answer.  Since many used to consider I was cross dressed when we talk. To the older civilians, explaining the 1960's and 70's is simple...I had even a bigger problem than gender dysphoria (and the lack of understanding .)- the spectre of the Vietnam War.

Somehow it still shocks people when I say I did serve my time in the US Army, played a little football,  did father a child and paid my dues to make it as a guy for 30 years or so.  Looking back I guess it shocks me too and I'm not sure how I made it.

Where I really lose almost all of the remaining civilians is when I tell them about five years ago, I accepted the fact for the first time in my life I am transgender.  

I tell them, yes, I was in my 60's before I had my "A-Ha" moment.

The good thing is today, the feminizing work of HRT on my body teamed with the seemingly weekly news another public person is coming out as transgender (Andreja Pejic, Lavern Cox, et all)- I'm not the celebrity I once was.

Yes, it's a wonderful feeling!

Victoria's First?

Cyrsti's Condo "Poll Question of the Day"

Which transgender model will be "Victoria Secret's" first?

Carmen Carerra  left or....


Andreja Pejic 

right:

"Trans-fixed" on CBS

This morning, I just happened to have the CBS This Morning Show on my television. More importantly though, I just happened to walk in as an interview with Laverne Cox, the transgender "it" woman, was starting!  (In this case I use 'it' as the PR term for a person who is a hot personality.)  Laverne is on "A" lists everywhere and in demand. She is everywhere these days and even made the cover of Time Magazine!

I was fascinated.  "Trans fixed" you might say,  as I watched. Of course I have seen a "zillion" pictures of Laverne Cox here and there but pictures are notoriously bad these days at showing what a person really looks like-good or re-touched bad.  For whatever reason though, I had never seen her in the show "Orange is the New Black."  or on a recent interview on "The View".

So, this morning, I was able to put the pictures I had seen of Laverne Cox in motion. I was able to see her in a blue beautiful sleeveless dress which showed her from a side angle for a while as she was interviewed.  It gave me "perspective" on how her entire body has made the Mtf gender transition.  I positively loved the way she looked with her hair and smooth "caramel" colored skin but I also loved the fact she was a big woman.  Quickly and selfishly, I could see a portion of her transition in me.

What I mean is, no matter how beautiful she is,  if I lived in a vacuum and never had heard or seen Laverne Cox before, my Trans Dar would have been going off.  Please understand I'm not being negative! She gave me hope that while I never hope to achieve her looks, I can achieve her feminization and attitude.

As I watched , I understood again a little more,  what people see in me. Sure, it will be always fairly easy for the world to take a look at me and make the determination I have a physically male boned body-but some how it took a decidedly feminine right turn along the way. Again, the Laverne Cox's of the world are making my itty bitty corner of the world nicer to live in. I put her up on a higher pedestal than say an Andreja Pejic  who I sense most of the world will think, he was always a girl anyway.

Finally, watching the co-hosts on the show was almost as fascinating as watching Laverne herself.  I watched the looks and eyes of co-hosts Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell and they were in her spell!  The third co-host, Charlie Rose was in his typical nearly asleep / very intelligent mode. He barely even got in his is there a "transgender movement" going on.  Laverne simply said (I paraphrase)  "there always has been one!"

Yes there has! (Wake up Charlie!)

***Trans trivia-Laverne Cox has an identical twin brother!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Ker Plunk!" Here comes a new Sunday Edition "fresh off the press!"  The coffee pot is on, so have a seat in your comfy "jammies" and lets get started.

Page 1.- Don't Look Now.  The big public relations "splash" this week was when previously androgynous super model Andrej Pejic, came out as transgender woman Andreja.  This move most likely wasn't a complete surprise to those who have followed Pejic's career.

What is important is what she (Andreja) said:  announcing on social media Thursday that she’s officially transitioned from male to female, and that doing so has saved her life.“As a transgender woman I hope to show that after transition (a life-saving process) one can be happy and successful in their new chapter without having to alienate their past,”

Now I would expect her to make talk show rounds on places like "The View" which would bcome decidedly become trans-centric after the recent appearance of Laverne Cox. (**Editor's Note-  maybe closet blond transphobe bigot Jenny McCarthy will keep her moth shut!)
Seriously, when coming out as transgender becomes rather "Ho-Hum" we will finally begin to ascend the power ladder in the GLBT hierarchy.  Pejic's move will certainly help!

Page 2.- Women Drivers?  A topic this week in the "Condo" which garnered much attention were the stories of being "caught" cross dressed as a woman behind the wheel of a vehicle. Just jump back two or three posts and catch up if you haven't!!!!

As Mandy commented, there is really no way to control the other drivers of the world and driving cross dressed (or en femme) does have it's inherent risks.  No way around it.  My original point to the discussion was, if you are really thinking about transitioning further, a little peak into what a woman goes through in a male dominated profession is when you have car problems!  We don't have enough space here for me to tell you all the dumb things I did when I first began to explore the world in my car as my feminine self.  These days though it's a bit different for me since I'm more confident of myself and more apt to understand a man trying to "over explain" why my tire does not hold air!  I'm not above playing  the "dumb woman" card just to get my damn tire changed! Somehow it's Karma. 

FYI Mandy et all, my little prayer for everything I do is, "But by the grace of the Goddess go I!"

Page Three .- Pot Potpourri.  This week I proved once again why I'm not the sharpest tack in the box by not taking my meds right and cheating myself out of approximately six months of a higher dose of the testosterone reducing drug Spiro. As I wrote last week, I really don't "measure" the girls too much but I do know I'm getting close to a full  "C" cup bra these days.  To me one of the bigger changes I have felt is the amount of extra "tissue" under my arms. I am fairly certain my Mom was a "D" or "DD" (we never discussed it) so genetically - on HRT, any thing past a full "C" cup may exceed my expectations.


Once again there seems to be a steady push going on to establish equal rights for transgender veterans.  In many ways, the Andreja Pejic of we trans vets everywhere is former Navy Seal Kristin Beck. (shown at left) It's important to note on Facebook she is pretty much disowning what happened to her in her first book "Warrior Princess". She has a new web site called "Lady Valor" you may want to check out.  The link is above. 

Finally, if you are a transgender vet, there is a survey for you to take from the VA.  If you need the link, please email me- cyrstih@yahoo.com.

Page 4.- The Back Page.  As I said, it has been quite the week around the "Condo" and I soooo appreciate all of "youse girls comments!" "Goddess willing and the creeks don't rise, have a great week!!!"

There Are More of Us!

It's been a very exciting week for the transgender community!

As more and more transgender women are not going from one closet to another-by going stealth-much is happening! The message to the world is becoming clearer. We are here, always have been here and will be here!

Laverne Cox  visited  "The View" to talk about her starring role in the Netflix series (Orange is the New Black) , as well her position as one of the most prominent voice for the mainstream transgender community. At one point during the discussion, Whoopi Goldberg brought up how, as the first transgender activist to gain this level of notoriety, Cox had to take the "slings and arrows" of the critics. Cox responded:

"This weekend I was thinking about Sydney Poitier. He won the Academy Award 50 years ago for best actor and it was actually the year the Civil Rights Act was signed. What he says about that moment is that he didn't feel like we had overcome as black actors because he was the only one. And so I think the revolution happens when it's not just me -- there's more of us."

Then, male to female androgynous supermodel Andrej Pejic, (shown below) did what most of us suspected- and came out as transgender.

She is now known as Andreja!