Fluid Transsexuals?

As we continue to beat one another up internally and as a community for what we are,  yet another fascinating study is coming to light which proves once again much of our anguish is something we had no control over.
This look at being a man in the morning and a woman at night comes from the "Scientific American" site:

"A graduate student of famed neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran has found a group of men and women who report that their sexual identity can switch involuntarily to that of the opposite sex and back again. The transgender metamorphosis, these people assert, can occur several times a day and at inopportune moments. It is also accompanied by the sensation of phantom breasts or genitalia of the non-biological sex.
The research grows out of Ramachandran’s long-standing fascination with the study of body image and how it contributes to a basic sense of the self, work that has included investigations into the phantom limbs of amputees.
The preliminary study by Laura Case, Ramachandran’s student, raises the prospect of a new category of transgenderism. “Alternating gender incongruity (AGI),” the neuropsychiatric term the researchers have tentatively proposed, describes the involuntary change of gender identity, along with perceived phantom sex characteristics, a tendency toward ambidexterity and bipolar disorder, all signs that suggest a biological basis for AGI. (A related term, bigender, defined as blending or alternating gender states, precedes AGI.)"

Of course there is much more to this study. Just go to the "Scientific American" link above to read more. 

Another Look at Our Transgendered Image

Every once in awhile, I read a post which really describes a huge portion of my life as I know it and
this post certainly jumped out at me.
It's called "De Facto, Defect or Defector" from "Andie's Place" and this is part of the post:

"Defector

And then there are the gender politics. Am I an intruder, as far as women are concerned? To some I certainly am. Why are you in the ladies’ loo?! Well, it’s because I am not a man, and I am not disabled. And I am not a spy either. I am who I am, and I know where I fit easily and best. I do not think about you like a man does.
More to the point, for some men I am a threat. I am a defector from a place of privilege and power, who is undermining the solidarity of the male realm. Goodness! What would happen to male authority if too many people like me started to climb down and join the other side? If that is you, and you need reassurance, I was never on your side, never a part of your tribe, even though I made a decent presentation of it most of the time. I don’t hate men, I just never did man stuff very well and I never liked the idea of male privilege. Some people were most persuaded by my ‘male skills’ – that I was taught in school just because it was a boys’ school.
I am not defecting; I was just never legitimately in the right team. And I’m not taking sides now either. I am just being myself.

Summary for the newly puzzled

I understand that I have changed you without your permission. You are now the person who knows a transsexual, or a transgender person (please just don’t say tranny), and the closer you are the more difficult that may feel. I got over it, so can you.
De facto: this is how I am, so get used to it. "

Read the entire post here.

Shopping Part Deux!

Since I wrote the "Fun, Thrifty Shopping" post a couple days ago, I have heard from several of you about new and fun things to do on the shopping trail.
For you "high tech" girls I understand some chains now have "apps" you can install on your phone promoting bargains.
For others of you who think all of us this is too good to be true, let me tell why it just may not be.
First of all, you beginners just might find shopping is one of the easiest ways you can be accepted in your feminine role.
Here are a couple reasons:
Merchants want our money. Many now even have training for their staffs in dealing with people like us.
Other shoppers are on a mission-most could care less about anyone but themselves as they look for their own "finds".
So if you don't do something crazy like dressing totally outrageously, you can go about your business with very few problems.
Normally, most of our problems deal with the confidence to do all of this and that is very understandable.
Here are a couple more tips to consider:
Most sales people are open to helping you. Many are on some sort of commission and at the least that factor alone makes you more reachable.
Many store associates want to help you and they do have a lot of expertise to offer. You do have to be careful of becoming more of a dollar draw than a fashion challenge to some clerks.
If you are relatively presentable as a woman of course, all of this will be easier but don't get too sly. You may be hurting yourself.
I have two examples from within my immediate family alone.
My daughter and my brothers daughter in law both worked for a certain leading woman's lingerie retailer with the word "Secret" in it's title. They both have unsolicited stories about men shopping for themselves in and out of dress. In fact my daughter made major commissions waiting on one of us when no one else would. (Way before she knew about me).
The moral to the story is that both said if the shoppers had reached out for and accepted more help, it would have been a better experience for all involved.
Well, we can go on and on about this subject. 
Be on the outlook for Part Three!

"Glee" Introduces It's First Transgendered Character

Glee raised the bar for diversity on network television again last night, when it introduced a new character named Unique, a transgender African American student and performer in rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline. The character is played by Alex Newell, who finished as a runner up on The Glee Project; the Oxygen reality show in which a group of hopefuls competed for a spot on Fox’s hit show. Audiences first saw Unique as Wade, a shy student from a different high school who gushed with fandom for Kurt and Mercedes and asked for their advice on coping as outsiders. Wade recalled being tormented by other kids at school and even family members, and revealed that “Ever since I was a kid, I would play this game. Where I would pretend I was a different person. The person I dreamed of being. The real me. I even have a different name. Unique.” Kurt offers words of support, saying “I hope one day you have enough courage to be him.” To which Wade responds “Actually, Unique’s a her.” The education of Kurt came later in the episode when, with help from Mercedes, he attempted to deter Unique from performing as a girl. “I’ve worn some flamboyant outfits, but I’ve never dressed up as a woman," he tells Unique. "That’s because you identify yourself as a man," she replies. "I thought you of all people would understand.”

 With shows such as this maybe more people will understand! We need separation from the gay and lesbian cultures to be accepted and understood!!!!

Civilian Gender Crafts

I operate a shop at "Etsy". If you have never heard of it, it is a arts,crafts and vintage collectible sales site.
As I searched it the other night, I came across an interesting post about "gender specific" crafts:

"Gender crafts still exist partly because of past generations taking their sons to the 'shop' and their daughters to the 'sewing room.' Without any conscious effort my grown sons have sat at my sewing machine more than my daughter, who has learned the skill of tile setting. If we allow the next generation to be drawn to their own interests and not steer them to gender appropriate work it may well come back full circle as gendered."
Here is a portion:
“Women’s work.” It’s a phrase that’s often applied to tasks viewed as simple, routine, and “soft.” It’s a point of view made plain, surprisingly, at an avant gárde training ground for architects, artists, and designers: the Bauhaus.
From 1919 to 1933, this influential school in Germany combined fine arts and design with a craft-based curriculum that included metalworking, cabinetmaking, pottery, and typography. The result was a kind of utopian guild where artists and craftspeople together created functional and beautiful objects. Well-known architects and painters including Mies van der Rohe, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky were among the faculty."
"Those who led workshops at Bauhaus were called masters, and part of Bauhaus philosophy was an easy-going relationship between masters and students. But for all its modernist thinking and many female students, there was only one female master: Gunta Stölzel. In 1927, after significant complaints about the male weaving master, Stölzel was given the title of young master and entrusted with the leadership of the weaving workshop precisely because it was considered “women’s work.” She had been a Bauhaus student for six years"

Check the entire link for the whole story but the end of the article says it all:

In the year before taking over workshop leadership, Stölzel herself wrote: “Weaving is primarily a woman’s field of work. The play with form and colour, an enhanced sensitivity to material, the capacity of adaptation, rhythmical rather than logical thinking — are frequent female traits of character stimulating women to creative activity in the field of textiles.”
What do you think? Have attitudes have changed significantly since the days of the Bauhaus? Do gendered crafts still exist?

What a surprise!

Quote of the Day!

If you shoot for the stars and miss, you may just hit the moon which is way above most people!
Unknown!

Worse Than Tranny?

I so agree the use of the "T" word for a person such as me is the same as the "N" word for an African American or any other of the racial slurs.
There are other words however I see as worse. When someone calls me a  "Gurl" or "Grrl" it just drives me crazy. 
To start with both words just sound so gross.  I call them "grinder" words which roll off your tongue like a piece of gravel.
On a much deeper level the words question my true gender identification. Label me anyway you must Gender Queer, Transgendered or whatever but not Gurl, Grrl or Tranny.
I equate it to a person I ran into not so long ago that I told about the hormones I'm on and they said "Oh, you are taking this seriously!" Really? I wasn't serious before?
Thanks for reading my rant! It's nice to get it off my chest which is finally starting to mean something!

Transgendered Taxation Without Representation

Over the years as an American I have taken my right to vote very seriously.
I have continually told friends who didn't vote, they didn't have a say-even when they said it didn't matter.
As an educated citizen, I have tried to cut through all the smoke screens and BS to vote the best I can.
Now, I have seen my future and have read this article which I'm about to pass along and realize my history of voting could be in jeopardy.. Check it out here.
How sad is it when my civil rights and other transgendered brothers and sisters can't even vote?  It's especially wrong that many such as I have served in the military to supposedly  protect the rights that are being denied?
Just an aside. It is tax time and I'm sure if I didn't pay my taxes because of my transgendered status I would be penalized.
I would like to thank one of my Canadian friends for passing this along!

Fun Thrifty Shopping!

What is more feminine than a girls day out shopping? Surely very few other expereinces scream "GIRLY GIRL".
Unfortunately, most of us don't have the freedom or the finances to really enjoy a shopping day out!
Fortunately though, there are many ways to start down the road to "shopping till you drop".
I'm going to try to cover a lot of ground here, so stick with me!
First of all, I'm going to rule out Internet shopping in this post. Absolutely no problem with it if you have a fairly decent idea of your size and what you look good in.
If you don't, and are just beginning your quest to build a wardrobe lets start with a very inexpensive way to begin.
In my part of the world, spring produces a profusion of yard and garage sales as plentiful as spring flowers. These sales are wonderful spots to find different sizes and styles of women's fashion for as little as 25 cents per item. These sales are where I learned what size I really wore and was even able to buy more than a few items that I found I should never wear. (I recycled those to a thrift store.)
Now, speaking of thrift stores-that's where the fun begins!
Thrift shopping really began to take hold around my area when the economy went down the tubes.
If you are lucky, you can go with friends and make a fun day of shopping and lunch in several stores. Then judge who found the best bargains. OR, you go can alone and take advantages of benefits such as very unsupervised **dressing rooms to discretely try on your potential purchases and no prying clerks.
(**Dressing rooms are like restrooms. Nothing is ever the same from store to store. It is wise to observe before moving forward.")
Bottom line is you can find classic additions to your wardrobe at a fraction of the price from thrift stores. They are becoming so popular that (of course) a reality show is coming called "Thrift Wars" on the Oxygen Network.
Whatever stage you are transitioning from you can feed your inner girl and have some fun doing it at garage sales or thrift stores!
All the nuances of places you can go would make a small book alone and we will look at more idea's later!