Real World Beauty

Every now and then I run across a site which I have to put everything down and look at as far as taking care of my appearance.
Being the busy trans woman that I am becoming today, this site grabbed my attention for the multiple features it had currently going on skin care, makeup and yes- even plus size clothing.
It's called the Thread.
The current featured video made me feel vindicated in a way when the "expert" zeroed in on the problems plus sized women have with finding the right size of pants. Then of course, once you find them do they flatter you?
Adapting my male hips and rear is getting easier with the hormone induced addition of "padding" to the area (away with the damn foam pads!) but I have always have had a problem with my proportions. By proportions I mean the areas roughly between my waist, crotch and leg length. Early in my fashion explorations I found women's pants had a  dizzying array of styles and sizes.
Also, earlier in my life, my circle of friends were mainly cross dressers who felt wearing any kind of pants at all was heresy! I was always attracted to the "pant" side of fashion, even to the point of loving the "man tailored"clothes.
An example is recently I was communicating with a friend who I have known for years who said that night she was hanging out with her girl friends with her hair in a pony tail and ball hat, old jean shorts, tank top and one of her old men's oversize dress shirts over the outfit. Of course she has the benefit of years of hormone therapy to pull it off. I was envious!
Some of us would not see that as any kind of a fashion statement. I see them as missing a basic idea of a woman understanding her style and making it work.
Making it work comes from following sites such as the Thread and "borrowing" ideas from experts.
Another feature on the site compared "trashy" to sexy- a problem loads of us face as we go down a cross dressing or transgender road.
Then there was a story on make up shelf life.  How many of us face budget constraints and have that eyeshadow hidden for years? (Let me raise my hand again.)
Finally, for the sake of simplicity in this post, I'm not even going to go into the skin care tips.
Every once in a while I'm dazzled by a person who thinks somehow all of this is easy or natural. Indeed the art form with any woman, transgendered, transsexual or genetic is making the whole style piece look as if it was natural.
Most certainly, operations and hormones make the whole appearance and style agendas easier. I am really shocked though when I see any woman trans or not whose style is not having one.
At that very point I see sites such as the Thread or Fabulous after 40 not being a luxury. They are a necessity!

Gay or Transgender?

John Shore is a straight Christian writer, blogger and author of
several books, including "10 Ways (We) Christians Fail to be
Christian."
In a recent post, John Shore came up with some very interesting numbers from recent national polls.
The numbers represented the American public's perception of gay and transgender men and women.
Here's a part:
"Do Americans prefer transgender people to gay people?

So the pretty darn surprising news out this week, courtesy of the
Public Religion Research Institute, is:

    * 89% percent of Americans (including strong majorities of all
religious and partisan groups) think transgender people deserve the
same rights and protections as other Americans.
    * 75% of Americans agree that Congress should pass laws to protect
transgender people from job discrimination.
    * Approximately two-thirds of Americans not only know what the
term “transgender “means, they’re well informed about transgender
people and issues.
    * Three out of four Americans think Congress should pass
employment nondiscrimination laws that protect transgender people.

These are Actual Findings from a recent RPPI survey, about which you
can read more here
<http://publicreligion.org/newsroom/2011/11/news-release-strong-majorities-favor-rights-and-legal-protections-for-transgender-people/> "


Follow the links for more!

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 For more by John Shore, visit his website at johnshore.com
<http://johnshore.com/>

Eye Eye Mam!

On occasion I believe I have forgotten more of what has gotten me to this point of my life than I remember.  Some of the more basic strategies I learned to judge and edge my way into the world have all made their way into the back of my memory or that much ignored book of mine. (Which sits like an elephant on a computer memory stick in the corner of my room.
As I have mentioned before, I write a column for "TG Life Reporter" where
I try to dredge up some of my earlier learning experiences out in the world as a girl.
In an upcoming column, I write about reading other people's reaction to me- particularly feminine reaction.
The whole process proved to be a real strong insight into female non verbal communication.
After a while, I developed a rating system based on women's stares.

1.- She stares right through me. A win! She is in her own world and not mine.  All is good.
2.- The little look and smile. She is letting you know "she is in on our little secret" #2 is an middle point which is normally harmless.
3.-The OMG negative look. Not good. She about breaks her neck looking at you and makes sure she lets her companions and the world in on her discovery. Vacate the area from this idiot.
Note-#2 and #3 should always send you back to the drawing board. What signs are you sending out to trigger those reactions and how can you improve the situation?
4.-The OMG positive look. She has heard or even knows a transgendered person and intrigued or pleasantly surprised to meet one. Take this for what it is and don't let your ego get in the way. Don't get your feelings hurt that she didn't think you were a genetic female.
5.- The YOU BITCH look. This is my favorite. She is sure you are a genetic woman and one she doesn't like. Either it's your clothes, hair or makeup-you have set her off. Just flash her your best "you are just jealous" and move on!
6.- The Nothing Look. The best compliment of all. Studies have shown humans determine gender in others within the first few seconds of seeing you. She sees female and you feel good!

Of course these are just the basics and one little trick to see what others are thinking of you is to not forget those "cheap sunglasses"!