Were Are The Saloon Girls Gentic?

I ran across an interesting article on "denverpost.com" about transgendered individuals on the frontier of the United States.
I grew up in the great "western television era.  "Maverick", Sugar Foot", "Palladin" and of course "Bonanza" dominated the tube.
All this time I was mislead about all the "macho cowboys" according to the article:


Re-Dressing America's Frontier Past  by Peter Boag (University of California)
I thought there was nothing new to write about the American West. I forgot cross-dressing.
In a scholarly account, Peter Boag writes that not all who came west were manly men or feminine women. He reveals that cross-dressing, while not exactly common, was far from unknown on the American frontier.
Some cross-dressers were homosexuals, transvestites or transgendered folks. But many women who dressed as men did so primarily for safety or comfort, to escape family or vengeful husbands. Some committed crimes, but most, perhaps, wanted jobs that were unavailable to women. Men, on the other hand, dressed as actresses or explained, when caught, that they cross-dressed as a lark.
Once exposed, cross-dressers were often ridiculed in the newspapers. Many were reviled but some, such as Colorado's Mountain Charley, became famous. Another was the thrice-married "Mrs." Nash, actually a male washerwoman with the 7th Calvary, who was wed three times.
In "Re-Dressing America's Frontier Past," Boag says doctors and early sexologists blame cross-dressing on everything from the suffrage movement to the evil ways of immigrants to the surfacing of atavistic tendencies.
Many cross-dressers lived undetected for years, their secrets exposed only upon death. Others failed to look the part of the opposite sex. In 1874, a man in San Francisco drew attention to himself not because of the dress he was wearing but because he was playing an accordion — badly. Call us what you want. transgendered, transsexuals or crossdressers. It seems we have always been part of society's fabric.
I feel better now about loving "Miss Kitty's" clothes!

Miss Kitty 1966

Another "Not So Average" American Girl

This is another story I discovered from the "San Fransisco Bay Guardian".
"Christine Beatty" pictured on your left is "a transsexual activist, author, and good-time girl, Beatty just published her memoir, Not Your Average American Girl on her newly christened Glamazon Press (available at Modern Times bookstore in the Mission, www.mtbs.com). In it, she tells her story of growing up and discovering her inner self during a very turbulent time in Northern California, through the stoner 1970s to the economically rocky '80s to our own time, when trans people have gained an unprecedented visibility yet still find themselves the targets of discrimination from both conservative quarters and other LGBTs."

Here's a small idea of where the book came from and how it came to be:
"It's a wonder that Not Your Average American Girl exists at all. It meticulously recreates scenes from Beatty's experiences using entries from the journals that she's kept all her life. And really, if your mortal coil encompassed typical suburban mama's boy, stoner hippie, macho soldier, undercover married cross-dresser (or "frilly werewolf"), Tenderloin call girl, recovering heroin addict, pioneering rock musician, and author-publisher, how legible would your diary be?
"When I went to write the book, I looked at these old journals and I was filled with gratitude," Beatty said. "I was so scared, hopeless, resentful in parts. But I see how far I've come and I'm still alive. And I must have known I was going to survive — otherwise why the hell would I write all this down?"

Sounds great!

Equal Time!

On occasion I enjoy passing along news and or pictures of female to male transsexuals.
These days there are lists of everything and a site posted their top ten hottest ftm transmen.

"Diesel" pictured to the right made an "honorable mention".
Over the years, I have mentioned my fascination with transmen.  Why in the world would they want to not be female? The answer of course is simple. They didn't feel like girls-ever.
Over the past couple years I have been fortunate to meet a couple of guys who walk the thin line between ftm transmen and "super butches". I now have a real understanding of how similar we are as we walk opposite sides of the gender fence. So different yet so alike in trying to understand why we are the way we are?
On occasion they will talk of how they have no understanding of the female psyche.
The genders really are on different levels. Not bad, not good- just different.
I passed along "Diesel's" picture as a "blue collar" transman but you can see the entire Top 10 here.
I do follow one transman's blog here, Matt Kailey's "Tranifesto".
A question I'm thinking of passing along is "It seems many more transwomen are interested in lesbian relationships with women than transmen are in relationships with gay guys? Any ideas?"