Transgendered Soldier Comes Home Part II

From Chapel Hill, North Carolina comes a "continuation" story about a transgendered vet.

"On the road from rural North Carolina to the Boston suburbs, Sam Taylor has worn the shoes of a native son, student, soldier, and now, a young woman and religious leader.
“In some ways, I don’t see it as much of a change [but] as a continuation,” said Taylor, who is a transgender woman."
Growing up in a conservative Southern Baptist community didn’t allow much self-expression, Taylor said. Most of her family and friends didn’t learn she planned to come out until she returned with the 1-130th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion from a tour of duty in Iraq.  "
Read the entire story here on the "Chapel Hills News".

It contains an in depth look at one person's coming out process-
Pro and con!

Definition of a Woman

This is a follow up post to "Whose the Fool Now?" I received a thought provoking comment from "Anne" which just happened to fit in with a post I was beginning to write called the "Sexual Universe".
To clear the air first, I am going to pass along my thought that a female is not a woman.  A female for the purpose of my definition is a child bearing person. No matter how much surgery is done or hormones ingested, no transsexual female has ever given birth-yet. A woman is an mental environmental situation and is ultimately achievable by either gender.
Now on to part of "Anne's" comment: "My question is, if you are "presenting" as a woman, what does that mean? Is it that, based on how you act/dress/speak/feel, you wish to be accepted as a woman? And you desire this even though, despite your "self-identification", you know that you are not, in fact, a woman. Is this why you "identify" as "trans", or a "trans-woman", or "transgender woman", because you are not in fact a woman, despite the fact that you wish/"feel" that you were/are?"
Lets toss out what I feel for the time being. Most of  you know where I'm coming from anyhow and a better idea of my thoughts can be read in a a great academic article by Martine Rothblatt called Billions of Sexes on a site called Institute for Emerging Ethics and Technologies  . 
It's an in depth look at  “a continuum of sex types, ranging from very male to very female, with countless variations in between.”
(It comes from "Jillian Page" at the "Montreal Gazette".)
This is a wonderful resource for those of you who responded to my "Transgendered Mid-Life Crisis" post as well as any transgendered age segment.
For my own purposes I seem to settle somewhere in the middle of the sex types, leaning heavily feminine.  Surprisingly to me, the only group which has a problem with this are the "Trans-Nazi's". This term comes from a "Femulate" post which actually resonates with me strongly. I have been trashed much more ruthlessly by "Trans-Nazi's" than any so called straight person. Let me reference the comment I received calling me (I paraphrase) just another old guy starting hormones.

Now, back to Anne who writes:  "I realize that this is a difficult question and drives right to the issue of just what is a woman, as opposed to a trans-woman. However, until you can answer that question, and then meet whatever criteria YOU set to define womanhood, you will not be able to answer your initial question, "Is...presenting as a woman in public, (when in fact you are not)...'fooling' someone...?"
And even then you will have to contend with those that do not accept your particular criteria or definition, which I would suggest would be the vast majority of the 'mainstream', which in my estimation is no more "bigoted" or "hateful", than you or I. They are simply accepting of the "norm"."

I can only reference the increasingly biological evidence that indeed I am just being myself in public and not "fooling" anyone. The most important person to not fool is myself.
Bottom line, for whatever reason I tried to fool myself for most of my life. No matter what the "norm" is supposed to me, the only "norm" that is important is my own.

**Disclaimer: I have a history degree and sometimes get carried away with references I know. Just thought they were important here!
***Also, for some reason several very old comments to me just showed up in my in box and I posted them today!

Whose the Fool Now!

Every once in a while I run into a person who thinks presenting as a woman in public is compared to "fooling" someone.
Of course I get a just a tad frustrated. I am just trying to be me. I am definitately not trying to fool someone. I would be less than truthful however,  if I told you I don't crave any attention I may receive as any sort of an attractive woman.
Ironically for the most part, the people I have known the longest toss me into the "so you think you are fooling the public?" category.
I can understand them clinging to who I once was-but dammit I'm certainly not trying to fool someone.
Part of me wants to just shut them off totally from my life. Another part wants to educate them.  I'm not the fool, you are!
The truth is I am slowly moving past them. The way I have chosen to live my life with a gradual introduction of hormones will move me past them and you know, I never really have thought of them as fools.
As many of you probably already know, maybe a clean break from the majority of people is not a bad idea!

Thanks!

Thanks for alerting me to a dead or broken link to the "Winona 360" Blog which had the transgender article. Let's try this one!
Sorry!

A Great Read!

This is from the blog "A.E.Brain" and is wonderful!!!!
From Dear 15 year old me - how you can help.

If you are a LGBT adult, write a letter to yourself, but write it to the person you were when you were 15 years old. If you could go back to the kid you were then, what would you say? What advice would you give for surviving this time? 

(Especially good for a more mature person!!!)

So You Want to be a Girl Part II

As promised, "The attack of the Toilet Paper Monster!"
As I was told by a genetic female friend of mine, "TP" is not always a girl's best friend and we all learn the hard way!
This happened to me a couple years ago when I was out and about shopping till I dropped and had to potty.
I was in one of the big box stores when the urge hit and I headed for the restrooms. Fortuanately, the women's room was deserted and I took care of business, washed my hands, checked my hair and headed back out into the store.
I was about half way to the entrance when a clerk came up behind  me and said "Mam, Mam"! Naturally, my first reaction was I was going to be busted for using the bathroom but no I wasn't.
She very nicely pointed out to me the two foot length of toilet paper I was using as a tail. OMG was I embarrassed!
I guess I know now that women are doing a little more than checking to see how their rear ends look in those jeans in the rest room mirrors. They are checking to see if that mean old "TP Monster" didn't attack!

Telling Others- The Real Problem?

When you anticipate telling a loved one that you are a transsexual woman or man for the first time you have to look at the obvious. The person you are will make one of the most dramatic changes known to man. You will change genders.
Of course that fact alone makes the choice to tell the most dramatic life changing event of your life.
Let's look closer, take the experience a bit further and then step back and look at a couple of other factors: deception and trust.
Deception of course leads to trust. No matter how you approach it, you deceived some one.
Take me for an example. One of my first dates with the woman who turned out to become my wife of 25 years was to a huge Halloween party. We went to two or three straight bars with me dressed totally female. It was a wonderful night but was the beginning of a giant cover up. I presented myself to her as a guy who just liked to dress in women's clothes and just happened to be pretty good doing it. I can make an excuse (Excuses are like opinions, everyone one has too many of them and most are worthless in the real world.) Here's mine anyway: I didn't know how deep my transgendered leanings went (not even a well known word then). So true at that time but worthless to me now.
I was feeling attracted to her and she was somewhat accepting of my "hobby" so life was good! Well, in the short term it was. Long term it wasn't. 
Call it what you will, by not telling her then my attraction to everything feminine was much more than an innocent past time was a deception.
This deception led to a trust issue overtime. Not only did I "dress" on occasions she knew about I started to sneak around and do it when she didn't know. Of course I was discovered on several occasions which led to huge problems with trust. Does this sound familiar? Did it lead you to yet another "purge" when you threw away  everything feminine?  You didn't even trust yourself.
By this time my life took on many of the characteristics of a classic comedy show when one lie leads to more and more-except there is nothing funny! Finally my comedy show was coming to an end. Both my wife and I knew where the train was headed. Before it arrived, she died. No matter how bad the situation, just seeing tomorrow gives you the chance to do something about it. That's all you can ask for. The chance to tell your loved one you couldn't really help the deceptions. They tore you up!
So now it's time for your truth.  It's time to throw yourself on the sword. Tell your loved one and save yourself. This is the "Titantic" going down and you need a life raft. How do you ever expect a loved to at least toss you a line?
Why didn't you tell them before the life you built? Didn't you trust them enough? Shouldn't they had a chance to make a decision then about the process. 
Here's our dilemma.  In the great majority of cases, we didn't know enough about ourselves to know what to trust someone with. I didn't know thirty some years ago at that Halloween party, I was going to end up here on my transgendered journey.
The second biggest problem is we all had or have enough male brainwashing in us to believe we could tough it out.  Marriage and kids would certainly make us whole again and get the "monkey off the back".
Communicating all of this is exceedingly difficult. You need tools to soften the blow-information and time.
More than likely, any woman who is close to you can sense a problem. Ideally, when she finally asks you "Is there someone else" or "Are you leaving me?" you don't want to blow up and say "I want to be a girl and I'm leaving for Thailand" Monday. You may now call me "Bobbi" instead of "Bob".
A better choice is to plan ahead and start compiling information concerning spouses and transgendered women and men. There is a wealth of knowledge available on line and even in book stores. "My Husband Betty" comes to mind immediately.
All of this of course is contingent on if you make it through the initial gender change shock. This is where space and time comes in. Don't force the issue. Try to make it clear this is not anything the spouse did right or wrong. The situation has nothing to do with trust. You didn't understand the scope of the gender issue.
Then step back. Think of the time it has taken most of us to understand the life we are in. Let alone someone else.
Slowly begin to offer information when you can and hope for the best.
If you can convey you are trusting them with all your inner self, then you can build even a better life together!

****Disclaimer! This is only a true reflection of my life and experiences. It is a reaction to several of you  who have written to me concerning telling your spouse.  Do not try this at home unless you have an idea of where you want to go and how to get there!


 

What Would You Do With a Transgender Child?

ABC asked the very question on their show "What Would You Do?"
Of course you have to sit through the commercial but the video does have an interesting twist about half way through. The cynic in me says it was probably set up but still effective.

New Transgendered "Mollywood" Starlet.

Have you ever heard of "Mollywood"? For you cynical Americans, no it is not part of "Dollywood" in Tennesee! For those who don't know, "Dollywood" is named after country music star "Dolly Parton" who is known for her big busted figure and big blond hair. She also is known for corrupting a whole generation of crossdressers trying to dress like her at the mall! BUT!
One of the benefits of writing this blog is gaining a world wide perspective on all things transgendered and transsexual.
My latest "learning" experience comes from a publication called "The Deccan" Chronicles:

"It is an exciting phase for the Malayalam film industry, with new experiments on format and theme. One such experiment will see the birth of the first transgender star of Mollywood. Playing the lead will be Kalki, a writer, filmmaker and activist based in Chennai. Earlier, she had played the heroine in the Tamil movie Narthaki, which highlighted the problems of transgenders.

"Kalki"

The Malayalam movie, which will also throw light on the problems faced by transgenders, will be made under the banner of Ramkan Productions. While producer Ms Halin confirms that Kalki will play the lead, she says casting for the other actors is still on. “My Malayalam debut is going to be really special because I appear in a very poignant role and the theme is very interesting,” says Kalki, who made a visit in connection with the film."

"Kalki" has some very deep ideas of the way transgendered individuals are treated in her culture. Follow the link for more!