How Far We Have Come!

 I have mentioned before some of the amazing research and work "Zagria" does on her blog "A Gender Variance Who's Who".
Here's more of her work which illustrates how far we have come as a transgendered culture.

In most trans histories Virginia Prince and such people tend to be shunted into a separate section.  The gay transvestites, with the notable exception of Stonewall seem to disappear altogether.  As we saw with Susanna Valenti, the reality was that some of the same individuals who attend FPE meetings, would also go to gay bars and the drag balls.  This article is a summary of the various activities in New York City in the 1960s.

Unlike in California and elsewhere in the US, neither cross-dressing nor being homosexual (as opposed to homosexual acts) as such were criminal in New York.  However the New York police regarded homosexuals as morally depraved and arrested persons assumed to be such on whatever grounds that they could.  In particular they used entrapment, and raided clubs and bars and arrested those found within.  By 1966 the NYPD was arresting over 100 men every week on charges of 'homosexual solicitation' -- mainly resulting from entrapment.  The wave of decriminalization of homosexuality that spread across Europe, East and West, and to Canada never reached the US.  In 1953 then President Eisenhower signed a government order adding 'sexual perversion' as a reason for investigation and dismissal.  Police and military records were shared with private employers.  Thousands were dismissed from their jobs with no recourse.  No known 'sexual pervert' could gain or retain a professional license.  Cross-dressing was taken as evidence of homosexuality even when the person was married. The police had an informal rule that you should be wearing at least three items 'appropriate to your sex'.  The New York State Liquor Authority had its own laws: homosexuals and transvestites were decreed to be 'lewd and dissolute' and their presence in a bar made it disorderly and subject to closure.  Because no gay bar could be legal, the mafia ran most of them, not caring about licenses, bribing the police and blackmailing the customers.  The very harshness of the penalties led to many judges being unwilling to sentence gays, lesbians and transsexuals, and giving a fine or probation instead.  However the possibility of getting the wrong judge stifled expression and inhibited lives.

Read more: http://zagria.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-york-city-in-1960s.html#ixzz1s44Q2DiM
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

In the "Passing Lane"!

I ran across a very long and complicated blog post concerning one of our culture's "sacred cows". It has been so long since I have even seen the term used, I almost forgot it existed. Of course I'm referring to "passing" and I thought it had been relegated to the "tranny" pile.
If you have a second to read this article called "Pass/Fail", it does bring up some relevant and long forgotten ideas!

"In the Life of a Transsexual Porn Star"

From the "Huffington Post" comes this interview with transsexual porn star "Madison Montag":
Here's the beginning of the interview by "Jincey Lumpkin":

Madison Montag

"While on the red carpet at the AVN Awards back in January, I couldn't help but notice a cute, petite girl in a mirrored dress coming down the carpet after me. Waiting in line to be interviewed by Showtime, I found out that that the tiny woman was Madison Montag, who was nominated as "Transsexual Performer of the Year." She has a real magnetism and a disarming kind of charm. A few weeks ago, I asked Madison if she would open up about the intimate details of her sex life, her struggles, and what it was like growing up trans. She revealed both titillating secrets and sweet dreams for her future."

Follow the Huffington Post link for more!

Psst! There are Cross Dressers Amoung Us!

This Cyrsti's Condo post comes from 2012 but is still very relevant today:

Over the months and years here in the condo, we have labored over many different labels. Out of pure simplicity I have just decided to stay with a couple main ones such as transgender and transsexual. To take the whole step further the terms "culture and community" have come into discussion too.

Having said all of that, I wonder where all the semantic babble we indulge in leaves the cross dressers who often exist like the "elephant in the corner". First of all, here are some of my ideas of a cross dresser:

In the most basic sense, we are all crossdressers. If you came out of the womb as a male and dress as a female (or vice versa) you are a cross dresser. All the tons of information, ideas and theories why don't matter in this discussion. Where I'm going here is where being a crossdresser may take us-or not.

For a fact I know more than just a few of you who are content to be just a cross dresser  You may love the feeling of the clothes-physically and or sexually. You may not have any desires to experience the world as a female in any sense and that's all good. Then, comes a much bigger cross dresser segment.

I use the term "transition crossdressers". You are the ones who are not certain what all this means. Is a sex change in your future? What about your life as you know it now? The bottom line is you know this is so much more than just putting on women's clothes in the privacy of your home. Exploration begins in so many areas  ranging from attending meetings to going public as a member of your chosen gender. (No matter how successful)

I was a transition crossdresser. What ever sexual thrill I initially experienced from women's clothes went away quickly and I was left wondering what was missing here? Like so many of you, I dug a hole, jumped into it and tried to bury that part of me. I was the crossdressed elephant in the corner of the room.  Silent and largely ignored by the rest of the transgender community and invisible to the transsexuals.

For the most part nothing has changed in our culture for the transition crossdresser except for the enormous amount information available today.

The only positives I can offer here are I know you are sitting in the corner and I remember the enormous struggles I have gone through to arrive at this point in my life. Referencing you becomes the problem because in some senses I believe you are the "silent majority" in the transgender culture because of necessity. Some seem to think if you have not made the blind leap of faith into absolute gender transition it makes you less of a person. I of course do not believe that and in many ways write this blog to provide any insight and help and can provide.

Yes Virginia, there are crossdressers among us!

Low Brow Comment?

Over the past couple of weeks I've had a couple "eye brow" questions. How did I shape my brows?
As a rule, I stay mainly away from makeup questions.  All of you either have found a path to your own style of makeup or are still exploring and my recommendations are far from being expert.
Eye brows and basic skin care are a different subject however and are rather easy to comment on if I can help.
Early in my feminine progression, my eyebrows were a focus for me-maybe too much so. I became rather aggressive to the point I think my thin brows were rather noticeable. I always assumed they would grow back and they didn't. As I shaped, I also thinned my brows to the point they are today.
I basically got away with it because I wore glasses which kind of covered my rather feminine brows.
So my brow advice is to go slow! Certainly you can cover them with certain kinds of makeup which you can see on a few of the "YouTube" makeovers.  If you are trying to look your best in a normal public setting, that idea is not the best way to go. On the other hand you don't want to walk around with a "uni-brow" look and feminine brows can go a long way in enhancing your look.
I'm sure others of you here have your own "brow beating" story.
Again my advice is to go online for brow shaping advice and go slowly!

Quote of the Day!

"The biggest thing you don't know-is the biggest thing you don't know!
Cyrsti

Just a Question

Far be it for me to be negative but it has been a long day and I am a little tired-So!
It occurred to me the first people to turn on Jenna Talackova will come from our own community.
To quote Jimmy Buffet "Fins to the left, Fins to the right (sharks) and she's the only game in town!

A Chinese Womanless Pageant?

Close!
 Read this story from "China Daily":
"Male students dressed up as models perform during an animation show in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, April 8, 2012. About 20 male students from several universities in Wuhan formed a group to perform in various animation shows and became popular locally. Each student makes on average 500 yuan for one show, Wuhan Evening News reported. A member, who wanted to be identified as Hao Ge, said he learned to act feminine in speaking and walking from his girlfriend. "This is only a temporary student group and we will not continue this job after graduation," the group has announced."
 (Unless they were asked, got paid or liked it?) 
Then again I might just  be cynical. After all, they are just a bunch of guys working their way through college!
We all should have been that lucky or looked that good!

I also added another picture of one of the performers in the "Den"!

Odds and Ends from the Gender Spectrum

I came across a video from "Genderf*kation" which I'm actually going to going to post over at "Trannsnation".
I believe it follows closely in the "Gender Queer" theme I passed along here in the Condo not long ago. The video is very interesting in the sense it covers a wide spectrum of gender issues. Just not our own inter community binary of transgendered and transsexual. (No I'm not leaving cross dressers out of this-that is more complex and will be a topic in a coming post).
Speaking of the trans binary, I saw "Jenna Talackova" this morning Abc's "The View".
Not only is she drop dead tall, blond and gorgeous, she comes across as a very sweet and real spokesperson for our culture.
Having written all that, everyone of us should be as lucky to have her attorney "Gloria Allred" on our side!
Allred (pictured right with Jenna) is known for representing high-profile clients, such as: English actress Charlotte Lewis, who alleged that director Roman Polanski had sexually abused her as a teen; Nicole Brown Simpson’s family during the O.J. Simpson murder trial; and a number of Tiger Woods’ ex-lovers.
It's no wonder "The Donald" Trump threw in the towel so quickly!