Carlotta

From the Star Observer:

"Australian transgender pioneer and Sydney nightlife royalty, Carlotta, (above) will have her groundbreaking story told in an upcoming ABC1 telemovie. The first transgender surgery patient to come to public attention – and notoriety – in the 1970s, Carlotta was the headline act of the iconic Kings Cross cabaret show Les Girls in 1960s and ’70s. The performer collaborated with writer David Hannam to tell her inspiring story. Carlotta will be a “universal story about identity, family, tolerance and acceptance”, the ABC said today. “Carlotta lays bare the life of a confused teenager named Richard, his flight into the hedonistic Kings Cross of the ’60s and ’70s, and his transformation into Carol.”


Here's your link!  Unfortunately it looks as if a genetic actress will play the part of Carlotta.

Blond Drag Fun

I have seen a couple of this person's transformation videos and think his friend is just incredible!

Transgender Music

Ever heard of Angelica Ross? Quite by accident I came across a site called trans-genre which spot lights transgender artists. Here is a part of Angelica's story:

"Angelica’s journey began when she graduated high school at the age of 17, to avoid 1 more year of spiritual torture. Angelica traveled, from Racine to Rochester, NY where she was recruited by the U.S. Navy. They knew this black blonde-haired boy didn’t belong when she showed up to the physical with her toenails painted, but they enrolled her anyway. Angelica spent 6 months in the military stationed in Yokusko, Japan which ended abruptly after she was almost killed by a few of her shipmates who hung her out of a 3rd story window to force her to admit she was gay. That was the catapult that gave Angelica the drive to begin to live her life for herself. When she got back on American soil, she began the transformation process at the age of 19 while living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Angelica then began a long career of modeling & acting under the radar. Her agency had no clue for years, until she confided in a gay booking agent at the agency, who became a friend and ally, in getting Angelica work in music videos, runway, and print & commercial, which took away some of the stress by having someone on the “inside” who knew and was looking out for her. But, Angelica would turn down work, after assessing certain jobs would be too stressful for her if anyone were to find out."

Go here for more!

Test Tube Transsexual

I spend a lot of time here in Cyrsti's Condo dwelling in the past. After all I'm an historian by degree and believe in what happened yesterday may help us to understand today.
Recently, I ran across an article called the Subtle Process of Transformation by Eva Hayward.
She goes through an in depth look at the physical changes which occur when you start changing such a basic human trait such as gender:


"Like the change from summer to autumn, changing sex is more than a conscious choice or an act of will. It may be that change comes on a scalpel of desire or along a hormonal riptide, such that the body is legibly sexed, but this describes only a fraction of what is at play. Hormones, for instance, have ranging impacts. Taking estrogen can cause fat deposits to uproot and travel to new sights of colonization so that hips widen, breasts grow and lactate, and musculature softens. Estrogen can also alter the eye's structure, affecting vision. It can modify the body's heating and cooling and olfactory systems. I remember sitting on a subway train, feeling so disoriented by smelling layers of place, saturated funk and perfume that I got off the train and walked six blocks to my stop. Estrogen has health consequences. Annual mammograms and regular breast exams are recommended for transsexual women. If, like me, you started hormone therapy with Premarin (complemented with progesterone), derived (wickedly) from horse urine, how much of that early transition was about becoming horse-like? And later still, with soy- and yam-based estrogens, vegetal? Hormones are a complicated business, and they're just one plot line in the relentless narrative of sex. Transsexuality not only is more nuanced than it is typically described, it breaches the defended territories of sexual reproduction. Thomas Beatie became a national sensation as "the first married man to give birth." Although other men gave birth before Beatie, he was able to capitalize on curiosity and voyeurism, an irresistible tipple, and start a public conversation about the limits of sex: "How can a man have a baby?"

Of course, most of us have heard all of this before or even are feeling it all for the first time. Eva though, took all of the process a step further:

"And now, with the first successful uterine transplant, in Turkey, and Britain and Sweden following suit, it's only a matter of time before other wombless bodies have wombs. But surgical interventions are not alone in transforming our assumptions about sex. Infants are being breast-fed by all kinds of lactating men and women. And last week, a friend sent me a photo of her "false pregnancy," in which the endocrine system produces hormones that physically express as pregnancy. She is a woman "with a transsexual past," as she would say, and still her body is compelled to reach beyond her history. Sex changes; remarkably and unavoidably. Sex is an unending process, not yet finished with any of us."

This is a fascinating look into what transsexualism is and isn't. Read it all here.

There was a Before and an After

I just had to pass along another transformation set of pix from the Beverly Hill's group who does some amazing work.
Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind it seems one of the old plastic surgery "reality" shows featured a  young transgender girl whose rich father footed the bill for quite a bit of quality work at one of these surgeons-with stunning results. I thought for a second Gia may be that person but I believe that unlike Gia the transgender woman I remember had dark hair.
But here is Gia:

Before and after!