Before Transgender?

As you all know, some of us who have been on this planet for awhile grew up in the information dark ages and what I called the gender "black out".

I found this story from The New York Times Magazine about Ethel Person by Stephen Burt.

" In the 1970s,  she one of the first mental-health researchers who tried to meet cross-dressers, transsexuals and (as we now say) transgender people on our own turf, or on our own terms. She visited cross-dressing societies and drag-queen balls; she interviewed all the transsexual patients of the celebrated Dr. Harry Benjamin, and she drew on those visits, those interviews and on hard-to-find publications, including porn. At once a sexologist in the tradition of Alfred C. Kinsey, a psychoanalyst in the tradition of Freud and a writer sympathetic to feminist critique who knew a sexist culture could change, Person asked how we come to see ourselves as men or women, gay or straight or neither, and how to help people whose sense of self causes them pain."

To out this in perspective, I was close to graduating college in 1971. Here's another excerpt:

Person's results make unsettling reading." In papers like “The Transsexual Syndrome in Males” (1974) and “Homosexual Cross-Dressers” (1984), Person and her collaborator, Dr. Lionel Ovesey, distinguished “core gender identity” (whether we think we are truly men or women) from “gender-role identity” (whether we act macho or demure, no-nonsense or girlie-girl) and both from sexual-object choice. Those distinctions can seem obvious now, but they had to be explained at length back then, when those explanations — for psychoanalytic thinkers like Person — often led to broad claims about unconscious origins."

For all of us who lived through this era, this is a good short read. For those that didn't this is a great look at a few of the processes which have opened transgender information doors today. Follow this link.

Star Gazing

As 2012 rushes to a close, the site where I follow my own Libra "Horror Scope" every week or so runs an Astro Guide for the coming year. I curled up in my fuzzy "Jammie's" with a tasty cup of Hot Chocolate and gave it a read!

The segments were broken down into Love, Madness and Obsession:

"Love" turned out to be a little spooky, prophetic and motivational. Here's an excerpt:
" You may feel a great sense of relief when it comes to where you have been and where you want to go, as the life you lead now will greatly reflect how you have spent your time and knowing if it was done wisely. If all has been going well, time to enjoy what you’ve earned and peacefully be in the moment. If you not, then try out new methods to get where you want. Don’t worry, what one person needs a few years to do, you can do in one — but there is no time to waste, as your time is now!"  So true!!!!!

"Madness" on the other hand describes my weakness's exactly:


"Money will be pouring in and out (mostly out) but don’t lose focus. You must make investments into your beliefs, which will cause you to feel uneasy, but ride it out. Big bets need to be made and the only way is through effort and sacrifice. This will mean being more thorough than ever, which will call for skills that you haven’t used in a while, but will become old hat if you keep at it. Start with making sure to dot all your i’s and cross all your t’s and do not wait for others to give you approval. You’ll get the hang of it all in no time. Just be willing to sweat it out, as extraordinary results can only come from your extraordinary actions."

Finally"Obsession" says I'm going to feel like I'm 16 again, which I can't even remember plus a couple other interesting observations:

"Your brain is going to turn into a sponge, absorbing the world around you voraciously. It’ll make you feel as if you’re 16 again, with a sense of wonder filling you. While it’ll be great to work off this energy, it can be a bit tricky to keep your discipline in terms of following a linear path. So, be aware of building your story layer by layer now, sequentially. Enough with fragmenting it all together and then trying to think of a way to make it sound all good, when you know it’s not. It’s okay to admit to yourself when you have to take control with more aggression and show your teeth. Yes, some will call you a bully, but whatever, this is your time to shine and turn out your best work. If anything, those onlookers should thank you, as this year, you’ll be putting on one hell of a show."

Truthfully, I've always taken Astrology with a grain of salt. I love to pass it along here in Cyrsti's Condo for amusement purposes for all of us.  I don't know if it my transgender lifestyle or what but quite a few of the signs fit me to a "T" (no pun intended).
At any rate, if 2013 comes close to 2012, the year will be one hell of a ride- if not a show!

Before I forget. Here's your link for an Astro Guide from theFrisky.

Skip the Makeup

No! Not me! I need all of it applied the best I can all the time!!!!
It is true I don't use as much as I did these days but that is not the reason for this post. I happened across a blog about transgender transsexual models called Skip the Makeup which seems to be a little outdated. Andrej Pejic is not even mentioned for example.
I did however find the blog  interesting as it featured a few of the other models who were outed and lost their jobs years ago such as Tracy Norman (left) and Lauren Foster (below).
Here is a link for more.

Akhiro Miwa

Singer/female impersonator a.k.a. Akihiro Maruyama is seen here from
Black Lizard (Kuro tokage) (1969) [Black Lizard]: Playing a female role, "she" commits suicide by taking poison rather than be arrested; "she" dies in Isao Kimura's arms shortly afterwards. Black Rose Mansion (Kuro bara no yakata; Black Rose) (1969) [Ryuko]: Again playing a female role, "she" is drowned, along with Masakazu Tamura, when their motorboat collides with another boat.

The New Hair Smell

Most of us have encountered the fabulous "new car smell". Normally it's the expensive smell which fades all too fast when you buy a new car.

Yesterday was hair appointment number three. The salon was very busy due to all the forthcoming New Years Eve parties so I encountered a full staff . Most of whom have not seen me. I have not had time to acclimate them to a transgender woman. The two owners have a very successful charity drag act. Perhaps the drag queen tag is following me with a few of the workers. Overall, I encountered the usual range of  reactions from nothing to little smiles to curiosity. No matter, the clientele didn't seem to notice me at all.

I decided to go a shade darker this time which turned out to be a good decision I think  My stylist worked her magic a little longer this time (especially with the shampoo) because I never have felt my hair feel so silky and nice. Then of course there is the "new hair smell"!

Unfortunately I can enjoy the smell only for a day or two. Now I'm hoping I have learned enough about my hair to manage it better for our New Year parties.

Certainly, during my next appointment I'm going to have to ask my stylist if she will bottle that smell!.

Two out of Three is Great!

From AsiaOne Diva:

Beauty runs in the family. 

"She (mother) was torn when two of her three sons decided they wanted to become women. It was a double whammy Madam Monica soon grew to accept. Her sons, dressed as girls, took part in transvestite beauty pageants and made waves. They then went for sex change operations. On Friday night, more than a decade after they first told their mother about their sexual inclinations, one of them emerged a beauty queen again – at the age of 38. Ms Angel Aurora Jalleh-Hosey beat 12 other finalists to be declared Miss Exotica 2012, a competition for transgenders in Singapore and around the region at Talent Cafe in Tanjong Pagar. The title is apt. Ms Angel was formerly a Mister and so was her sister, Ms Jessie Jalleh-Hosey, 37. The sisters dropped their original surname of Hutchison for Jalleh-Hosey, an amalgamation of their parents’ last names. Ms Angel’s latest win was her second attempt at a beauty title this year. Her sister, who was in the audience dressed in a tight black lace dress, is also a former beauty queen."

Boy meets Girl

Oh! Canada's Miss Universe transsexual pageant candidate Jenna Talackova, 24, has teamed up with Toronto’s Peacock Alley Entertainment to make a show about her life called Boy Meets Girl. The television production company is developing a pilot for Bell Media, according to Peacock Alley executive producer Carrie Mudd.
Let's hope it happens!

It's a Slippery Transgender Slope

Just when we think we are making real strides as transgender women, here comes a story from Iowa that demeans women everywhere trans or not.

You have probably heard the story of the dental hygienist who was fired sometime ago by a male dentist who said essentially :"she was too attractive." The case worked it's way to the Iowa Supreme court (all male) who upheld her termination. A few of the details in the termination included the role of the dentist's wife who also worked in the office as well as a few of the definite sexual harassment quotes from the Doc himself.

I suppose the "rad fems" would point out this case is a stark example of losing "male privilege" when we transition.  Then again if you have spent anytime in the world as a transgender woman- you had to know what you were walking into. Here are a few of the realities. (Be aware I'm writing in broad strokes you don't want me to write a thousand words here).

If you like it or not, you suffer an intelligence loss as a female. Questions all of the sudden get routed around you. Your space changes as you step aside for a guy to walk by and most surprising to me was how men reach over you and get too close. So DUH femme nazi's, most of us figure it comes with the territory and adapt. Blah, blah, blah... We trans folks are adaptable critters.

Every once in awhile though a story like the one in Iowa comes along which does graphically show how far women (either genetic or trans) still have to travel. Let's be careful out there girls. If you transition too well, not only do you have to fear for your safety on the streets- you will have to fear for your job too.

Signs of the Apocalypse

Maybe the Mayans were right. The world as we know it will change. You all know I don't really prefer to get real in depth into non transgender happenings in the world here in Cyrsti's Condo.  After all, who the hell am I anyhow? But I can not help commenting  now on certain events.

The Newtown shootings in Connecticut truly caused me to be ashamed of our country and of course feel the unspeakable grief for the families. Then the following insane event when the first responders were killed in the fire/shootings.

Now of course our country is rightfully embroiled once again in the gun control debate.  Yesterday during our family Christmas get together the gun debate raged on. We have a mix of real NRA advocates all the way to me who they consider a radical liberal (which isn't exactly true).

In essence I just said the problems are so totally out of control I can't fathom an answer. Don't quote the "right to bear arms" constitutional guarantee. (2nd Amendment)  I agree with that. Don't tell me the criminals are always going to have weapons...DUH!  I just said what do we do when you can drive to the super box store down the street (who has already destroyed industry and small businesses all around this country) and buy an assault weapon for approximately a thousand dollars? After you buy one will you go down the aisle and buy a bullet proof back pack for your child?

Of course they had no answer. I could only come up with a theory we helped this along years ago when we cut much of the mental health funding.  Around my parts at least. It was no secret to all of us that many individuals around here were on the street who shouldn't be.

Is this the apocalypse? Consider the Christmas weather map in this country:  The south was getting hammered by tornadoes. Here in the Midwest where I live we are having a real blizzard with thunder and snow. It also looked like the west was getting snow and rain...all accompanied by a Trans Siberian Orchestra heavy duty Christmas song. My cynical nature told me the true sign would be if the Cincinnati Bengals made it to the Super Bowl then Hell would freeze over.

Like the rest of you I'm just an "itty bitty" cog in a huge wheel with some sort of access to write about all of this. Essentially I can't even spell apocalypse without spell check. I'm also no Nostradamus but there is going to be a bumpy ride coming up. I'm not stocking up with 400 boxes of crackers and a 50 gallon drum of Australian "Vegemite" to get through all of this yet though and the only assault rifle I ever touched was an Army M-16.  I do sign petitions and try to help whenever I can.

At the least, my transgender life style has allowed me to become more accustomed to a bumpy lifestyle.

Excuse me, I have to go out and shovel ten inches of blowing snow.