Another "Heart" Sister?

 

A friend brought this up to me. The woman on the right is "Ann Wilson" lead singer of the band "Heart",

He pointed out I could be the third sister. Ironically, I have taken most of the wave out of my hair currently and the style really looks like hers!

"Dana International"

According to the BBC Israel's transgender pop diva, Dana International, has been selected to represent the country at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, with a Hebrew-English song titled Ding Dong. The flamboyant singer,  was known as Yaron Cohen before a sex change.

Observations

Being called "she" has always been music to my ears.
The music turned really sour the other night because of a couple of cis-women who have actually known me for awhile. One moved across the bar to sit with her husband. The other sat next to me.
We actually enjoyed a very pleasant conversation about her life and family but somewhere along the line I said something she found funny. She then shouted across the bar "He said...." Obviously, I could have slipped to the floor.
The two women were black. Is it OK to refer to them as "Negro" or "Colored"? NO it is not and two wrongs do not make a right.  I said nothing so the two of them weren't as wrong as I was by not to bringing  it up. I am NOT a he, she or an it.
What was proper? I went to the official "GLAAD" site to see what they had to say.
Their answer was a simple one. Use the name of the transgendered person or refer to he or she as the gender they are presenting in.
Simple to say, harder to do as not all people know my name. (The women didn't know the other night)
I felt ashamed that I failed a chance to stand up for myself and all of us that night. I became an instant hypocrite. Not a pleasant feeling!
On a whole different subject:
If you haven't heard of "Kate Bornstein", she went through SRS nearly twenty years ago and has been in the public eye ever sense.
In a recent interview she was asked again (I'm sure) how her parents accepted the gender change. She said her father passed away before the operation and it took awhile for her mother to come to terms with it. Why?
Her mother "was raised in a generation where women were judged by their proximity to men." For a woman whose sense of self worth was based on being Mrs Bornstein, having her husband and father die, and one of
her sons turn into a daughter was difficult.
I quickly wondered how my recent "proximity to men" has affected my self esteem? I definately know that my recent dates with guys have validated my years of trying to be a girl but did it go deeper? It did.
After my first date and I parted ways that night, I went back in for a "night cap". I really needed to think about what the last couple of hours meant. As I reentered, I did have a new assurance in my step. In the strictest of meanings, my proximity to a man did give me more worth as a girl.
I'm not sure the "feminists" of the world would agree but it sure worked for me!

Is Less Really More?

Last night (Fat Tuesday) it certainly was. I straightened the black curls, cut the makeup back and went out with a friend of mine.
I wore a sweater top that ties off in the middle with a pair of black patterned jeans. No flair, straight leg jeans with a pair of shiny flats.
I can't tell you the look was very exciting but it sure was effective!
The pub we were at is my regular place and by 8 ish it was jam packed with guys around the bar.  My friend and I were close to being the only women there. When I got up to make the long trip to the ladies room I was kind of scared.  I have had some real unpleasant reactions before.
Amazingly, last night was just the opposite. As I stood up and put my purse over my shoulder, it seemed all eyes were on me (they weren't). I stood straight, shoulders back and slowly made my way through the crowd.  The only reaction I got was positive. There were a few admiring glances but for the most part my semi-professional attire was accepted or ignored.
The whole affair was repeated of course as we left. With the same results. I was on "cloud nine"!
I even stopped at the same grocery store on the way home.  No one even gave me the side glance or out and out stare I usually get.
Maybe you can teach an old cougar new tricks!

Living In A Cave?

Are you just tuning in? Those would be the only reasons you probably haven't heard of "Andrej Pejic"...the very beautiful male model.
Andrej tuned up the heat a little hotter this week when he said he would have a sex change for a "Victoria's Secret" contract. (Follow the story here: http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-the-prettiest-girl-on-the-runway-is-a-boy/ )
Can you imagine the PR people at "Victoria's Secret"? What could they gain? Massive publicity. All good? Probably not, even in our own community.
Would you go for it? I would in a second if I was that drop dead gorgeous. I have no idea what a "Victoria's Secret" contract is worth but I'm sure it would easily cover the cost of the surgery. Obviously he doesn't need much of facial feminizing work or even electrolysis.
The only concern is he would look too much like a woman with the curves, he wouldn't be in demand anymore!

Generation Transgendered

Slowly but surely,  parenting "self help" books are emerging. These help books (thank goodness) are centering around raising a transgendered child. "I Am J" by Chris Beam is written by a woman who has years of experience working with transgendered youths and raised a transgendered son.
It's no secret the tremendous guilt experienced by both sides. Parents are tormented by "what did I do wrong?" The kids are just tormented trying to be who their brain tells them to be.
Here is a short excerpt from Beam:
To ease the hurt, Beam suggests recalling your own relationship with
your own parents, and what it was like to become your own person, to
make your own decisions, to become "you." Transgender isn't a child's
"choice." But it's part of them, not their parents. It's yet another
piece of the separation between a parent's identity and their child's.
Stats on how many male to female kids are vague but numbers on female to male youth are even less specific.
Until recently, the number of female to male transgendered individuals was thought to be considerably less. The simplistic idea was that women could dress and act more "mannish" than men. The repression was considerably less or visible. A boy or man would have to go farther to do the opposite resulting in increased activity and visibility.
Just my opinion, but the transgendered boys could be "tom boys", grow up and blend into the lesbian culture...and essentially disappear. The hurt and turmoil they really experienced wasn't as easily exposed.
With books such as Beam's maybe some of that will change!

It Was Just My Imagination

Call it "karma"or whatever, but I was playing one of those trivia games on TV at a pub I was in. One of the questions was about "Eddie Kendricks". Kendricks had a great career with the legendary "Temptations" before moving on to a solo career. :
The place plays a lot of classic rock and about the same time, I'm treated to about 5 tunes in a row by groups such as the "Eagles, Doors and CCR".
As I sat there with my jeans and long hair, I became the long haired girl in the 70's I always wanted to be,
Just for a second "Kendricks"  was right.. I was just my imagination running away with me.
Wow, it certainly felt good!

Drag Shows a Good Sign?

Maybe the number of drag shows that are popping up around the country in various colleges are a good sign.
The younger gen is showing curiosity about our culture.
Here's a quote from the "Minneapolis City College News" following their drag show.
"Drag shows may appear to be performances hinged on glamor and
theatrics but they open a far deeper discussion about a person’s
identity." This quote came from one of the performers "Esme" who received her PhD in Hispanic Literature and Gender and Performance Studies.  She uses
drag shows as a platform to explore these issues.
During a Q&A session, the performers explained that drag is not just
about portraying the opposite gender.
“Drag is about incarnating the ideas of masculinity and femininity.
Those are ideas, not people,”

On a far different level, I see some of the "womanless beauty pageants" achieving the same purpose. The ones on the younger level do show the audience a person traveling to the other gender. We also know the womanless pageants provide the occasional stage for trans youth in the closet.
The saying is that any publicity is good. Good publicity and conversation is better!

Transgender Pagan Relgion?

I'm always fascinated by the different facets of the transgendered culture.
The transgendered woman is truly in the fabric of society as much as any group as evidenced during the "Lilith ritual" at "pantheacon". Evidently, some transgendered women were turned away leading to responses such as this.
"This struggle has been going since the Women’s Mysteries first appeared. These individuals selfishly never think about the following: if women allow men to be incorporated into Dianic Mysteries,What will women own on their own? Nothing! Again! Transies who attack us only care about themselves.
We women need our own culture, our own resourcing, our own traditions.
You can tell these are men, They don’t care if women loose the Only tradition reclaimed after much research and practice ,the Dianic Tradition. Men simply want in. its their will. How dare us women not let them in and give away the ONLY spiritual home we have!
Men want to worship the Goddess? Why not put in the WORK and create your own trads. The order of ATTIS for example,(dormant since the 4rth century) used to be for trans gendered people, also the castrata, men who castrated themselves to be more like the Goddess.
Why are we the ONLY tradition they want? Go Gardnerian!Go Druid! Go Ecclectic!
Filled with women, and men. They would fit fine.
But if you claim to be one of us, you have to have sometimes in your life a womb, and overies and MOON bleed and not die.
Women are born not made by men on operating tables."

What's she trying to say? lol!