Transgender Mirrors

Janie Black recently wrote a post which jogged my sleepy mind called Gender and the Wrong Body.
She wrote a very thought provoking post (here) which basically goes into the much debated ideas of why we transgender or transsexual people feel this way.

I'm going to greatly over simplify this topic by using the "born in the wrong body" argument.  Personally I can't use that as any rationalization for my status as a transgender woman. It could be argued I was born into the wrong body to hit the baseball the way I wanted or to play football the way I thought I should. OK, I can agree with those of you that are thinking "pretty shallow" Cyrsti.  You are right and wrong. Wrong in that those were important to me at the time.  Right, in that I learned to live with reality and they went away.

What never went away was the idea I was somehow living life from the wrong gender perspective. You could argue I was born into the wrong body but you know you have to go with what brought you here. I'm lucky the physical aspect of my body has allowed me to be healthy into my 60's and along the way has been pliable enough to explore the female gender.

Sure, like many of you I have thought of SRS very seriously and of course you know I started HRT sometime ago. So far I'm quite happy where I am although if my finances allow I would certainly be open to some sort of facial hair removal and even facial feminization surgery.  In my own way though, I see those as primarily vanity moves. No different than any other genetic woman. Would either help me to be more stealth than I am now? Possibly but neither would help me feel anymore feminine than I do now. Then, there is that word feminine. It's a stereotype. Right? Who knows if I feel feminine. I'm just being me, reflecting to the world. Which brings me to the word mirror. 

As I progressed down this transgender road, I found how I reflected my inner mirror to the world was much more important than my external mirror. I was lucky enough to cover the basics in public as a woman but just walking through a mall "undetected" just wasn't enough. Which brings me to the point.

No I wasn't born in the wrong body. Sure my mental processes don't match my physical gender but through my feminine socialization process I have been able to bypass the limitations of my physical self. I have been able to redirect a series of inner mirrors to give the public an accurate perception of my inner self.

All of this is a never ending discussion. No easy answer. It's as different and personal to us as life itself. Some of us have to go out and buy a vagina to feel whole. Some don't. Bottom line is though all that really matters is the inside and how you reflect it to the world. It took me years to figure it out. Now it's up to the world to accept it.

Patience as a Transgender Virtue

Autumn Sandeen

Here in Cyrsti's Condo we have discussed on occasion the power of patience. I don't have much of that specific power so I respect those who do.

SO! I really respected this post I just read from Autumn Sandeen.  She is a transgender vet I've referenced before.

Her article is called My Year of Bureaucratic Changes in Gender, but in reality covers the ten years since she began living as Autumn. 
Here's the link to read more but in the meantime I would specifically recommend all of you who are considering a transgender transition journey to check it out.
Indeed, patience is a virtue!  Another virtue is Autumn writing about her experiences!

Pejic Meets Warhol

"Edie"

As with many others, it seems we can't get enough of super model Andrej Pejic here in Cyrsti's Condo.

Recently we posted his new cover of the Serbian Elle and even briefly discussed him in a comment response from Gina.
Now he has surfaced in a fashion feature for the luxury magazine DuJour.  Not that Pejic doesn't look stunning in everything he does, but this feature channels Andrej recreating the looks of several Andy Warhol icons. Of course one can only speculate how intrigued Warhol would be with Pejic if he was alive today. 

"Candy Darling"

Here's an excerpt from DuJour from Glenn O'Brien (who actually knew Warhol): "Andrej is as pretty as Candy, although I’m not sure who is the more feminine character. Being feminine was definitely harder for a boy in the old days." He also goes on to state: "Andy would have been fascinated by Andrej. He liked pretty boys, and he liked boys who could impersonate girls. Andy thought boys made the best actresses because they could be more objective about femininity, and they didn’t have to worry so much about being politically correct in one’s femininity."

There are a couple more pictures and more for you by following the DuJour link above.

Princeton Beauty

Princeton's Triangle Club in 1916 produced this picture of a feminine lead to promote The Evil Eye production. The "woman" is actually F.Scott Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald was in his third year at Princeton when the musical-comedy troupe performed the bawdy lyrics penned by the future Great Gatsby writer. In a review of his performance, the Times referred to Fitzgerald as "the most beautiful" girl in the whole production.
Maybe he was writing the lead for himself? For more go here.

Casey Up To Bat

Over the years, I have been a fan of certain fashion makeover shows. I believe the shows provide invaluable style advice to all transgender women- especially beginners. Normally our male based bodies have something in common with certain female bodies. An example would be a genetic woman who has broad shoulders and narrow hips.
The TLC network has a show that I have watched off and on for several years called What Not To Wear who is going to makeover a transsexual woman named Casey. 
To my knowledge this could be the first time the show has featured a transgender or transsexual makeover. I have seen shows over the years makeover drag queens but lets say not your cross dresser down the street. I'm biased but most of us really could use a dose of fashion advice.
Here's the promo:

(This season) " Other contributors in need of drastic wardrobe overhauls include Simona - an overachieving scientist who needs to ditch her comfortable duds, Tristen - a New Yorker but self-proclaimed Jersey girl whose skimpy outfits are getting in the way of her finding a quality man and a promising career, and Casey - a transsexual who has been living as a woman for the past nine years, but has yet to find the wardrobe that reflects the confident, happy woman that she has become."

Here's your link.

By the Numbers

I just happened on the number of posts here in Cyrsti's Condo over the years.
Similar to the increase in government expenditures recently, here are the stats:

June 2010-Dec 31st- 189 posts
Jan   2011-Dec 31st- 518 posts
Jan   2012-Dec 31st -867 posts

Only one thing to say : "Blah, Blah Blah!!!!"

We've Got Mail!

Recently I ran a post called Skip the Makeup here in Cyrsti's Condo.  It's Gina's blog and she was good enough to drop me a comment back. I mentioned the lack of any mention of Andrej Pejic in her mention of transgender models. Rightfully so, as Pejic has never outed himself as transgender. for whatever reason. 

Here's more of Gina's comment!

"Heh, thanks for the mention of my rather neglected blog. Mostly, for the past 2 years, I've just been reviewing books and films with trans characters rather than doing cultural commentary. I think that post was before Andrej appeared but, moreover, he's never identified himself as transgender (from what he says about himself, he sounds somewhat genderqueer but doesn't call himself that). I would never ID someone as trans if they didn't personally identify that way. Needless to say, since I wrote that there have already been a lot more stories about trans models (especially in Brazil) and at least 2 or 3 more androgynes like Pejic. Really, my post was more about how people make every trans accomplishment sound like a "first time" (when those boundaries had been broken decades before) and how people project concepts like "androgyny" onto trans women whether they look even vaguely androgynous or not."

Thanks Gina for the comment and bringing back some of the transgender models of the past!

Horror Scope

With all the end of year activities, somehow I let our Cyrsti's Condo Horror Scope slide by! Perhaps if you read this, you will know why!

 Libra (September 23 - October 22)
Remember you like to get ahead of yourself a lot, thinking it's going to prepare you, but you forget that method doesn’t work for you. Slow it down, as this is when you're going to have to maneuver a bit more delicately to get what you want, as in step-by-step. Order exists for a reason in such matters, so respect it and practice it now.


Dammit! I never have been one to "slow it down a bit" or "maneuver a bit more delicately"!

Of course the term "Horror Scope" is my own and as always you can go to theFrisky for your own.

A Touch of Class!

We need all the "class" we can get here in Cyrsti's Condo.  I don't want you thinking "Cyrsti has a lot of class, it's just all low!" Ha ha!

Perhaps you have seen me reference my transgender friend Jessye from France.  She has just embarked on a journey I started over a year ago. The road to HRT is opening for her! I could just feel her excitement in her recent e mails.  Ironically, it was only a couple nights ago on New Years Eve I was thinking about her.  During the French themed production we went to.

Of course, I wondered if Jessye inherited any of the "in bred" style French women are known for and out of the clear blue (cold-snowy) sky she sent me a few! So I will pin them up here in Cyrsti's Condo for all of us to enjoy! By the way, she certainly did inherit the French sense of style!