"Insta" SRS

Yes sometimes I'm an opinionated bitch I know and one of my favorite subjects is the availablity of non researched sex changes in places such as Thailand. It makes no difference if you have lived a week a month or a year as your chosen gender- just have the money.
My belief what this leads to is transgender individuals  (who may not be) may be led down a path of no return without proper socialization. I believe some feel that with enough cash, anything is possible and after a trip overseas and a couple months of healing- POOF - all life's ills will be solved. I knew a person like this. She merely became the best looking cross dresser in the room-even with her store bought equipment.
I'm not good enough to write about this as well as this post I read. It's written by Jillian at the Montreal Gazette:

"For those of you who are planning to physically transition, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of the real-life experience period. I know about the desire to get on HRT as quickly as possible, and to circumvent the accepted standards of care by getting hormones through online pharmacies and/or the black market and/or less-than-qualified medical personnel. Don’t do it. If you are going to make such great changes in your life, it is worth doing it properly, with the help of competent, objective therapists and endocrinologists. As for SRS, living 24/7 for a year or two as a woman (or man, if you are a FtM person) before having surgery is extremely important, for obvious reasons. Among them, you will see how the world accepts or rejects you, and you will have plenty of opportunity to change your mind, with no long-term consequences. I don’t often hear about people who regret transitioning, because most people who transition follow the traditional standards of care. But there are cases of people who have regretted transitioning — after going on HRT and/or having surgery. In some of those cases, the people circumvented the system and rushed into it. I’ve heard of cases in which people got the papers needed through less-than-ideal ways and faxed them to Thailand and, presto, they were on the surgeon’s table in no time at all. The trans community has pleaded with the gatekeepers to make it easier to transition. And it is easier now than it ever has been before. As a result, it puts more onus on you to really be sure about what you are doing. And the best way to be sure is to go through a prolonged real-life experience period. If you can’t do it, or are afraid to do it, then you probably should not be transitioning at all."

As my wife once told me years ago "you make a terrible woman". It's not what is on the outside. It's the inside that counts.

Blondes and Fun?

We got mail!
 From Stephanie: "I only have Dial-up internet so watching a video is out of the question. But.....if you have doubts that blonds don't have more fun, you being brunette, put on a bright blond wig, some bright red lipstick, and take a drive down the road. There will men hanging out of their trucks to wave at you! ....(someone who's been both blond and brunette!) on Blondes Do Have More Fun!"

Stephanie, I too have been blond and brunette and red! I agree with what you wrote but would like to add my two cents.
I have always thought that blonds do get more attention but how that translates to fun depends on the individuals! Ha!
One of my "best and worst" of all blond worlds is similar to yours. I had a streaked summer blond wig which I ended up naming "suicide blond".
The best of time was driving the interstate in my denim mini with mirror sunglasses distracting guys everywhere. The worst of time was when I stopped anywhere and continually getting busted as a guy. As one of my women bartender friends so "kindly" put it-"aren't you a little over the top?" Very simply I was attracting too much attention. Presenting female was sooo much tougher of course with all the extra scrutiny.

I don't know if there is a scientific reason why blonds naturally do get more attention or if the whole deal is PR motivated. Just a few examples would be classic blond movie stars Jean Harlow or Marilyn Monroe.  Of course there are beautiful women of all hair colors but somehow a blond just seems to stand out more.

Years ago, I did have a "kinder and gentler" long blond wig which I dearly loved and was able to negotiate the public gauntlet quite well in. Now though, my own hair is colored almost as dark as the picture at the top of the blog and is very close to my natural color (without the gray). I prefer to think "dark and mysterious".
My friends though are quite fond of asking me if I'm a natural blond when I go off on some sort of a totally "ditz" binge.

I smile and tell them to lay off the stereotypes...and go back to my own little off the wall padded world!

Horror Scope

Well kids, it's time here in Cyrsti's Condo for the new years second "Horror-Scope"! I have rebounded a bit from the first one:

Libra (September 23 - October 22) Good news is coming, and will make you feel more settled in your life and trust the direction you're taking. So, keep up the momentum and go with it, even if you don’t have all the answers! As long as you keep pace with the the action, everything will fall into place as it needs to.

Yay!!!!

As always, "Horror Scope" is my term and you can go get your own here!

Transgender Law

No it's not a new television show (unfortunately). My friend Bobbie was kind enough to send along this information from a police publication called "Dealing with Transgender Subjects". Here is an excerpt:

"Officers must often protect and serve members of special groups. Providing this service can bring challenges that demand agency guidance or targeted training. One such group that has rarely been seen or contacted by officers in the past has become empowered to step out and live openly in their communities. They are the transgender individuals. On every continent there is at least one culture that gives social recognition to individuals who don't fit the gender binary of male or female. Only until recently has medicine made it possible to match the individual to their appearance with surgical procedures. Our Western societies have forced these individuals underground (into "the closet") to survive by avoiding ridicule and persecution. Being transgender has nothing to do with who you are attracted to for sex; it is not attached to sexual attraction identifiers such as being gay, lesbian, or bi-sexual. You can be transgender and also be gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, straight, or none of the above. Being trans is about your gender identity; it's who you feel and know you are. Our society develops a spectrum of gender possibilities from ultra-masculine to ultra-feminine and every variation in-between."

Obviously it's refreshing to see law enforcement taking a look at the transgender community for what it really is. The huge majority of all of us are not sex workers or some sort of criminal up to no good. Which used to be the norm in how we were presented. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to be treated with respect in my dealings with law enforcement. Perhaps more information such as this will continue that trend for the entire transgender community.

Read more here.

Blondes Do Have More Fun!

I have a friend you sends me YouTube videos which we have a fun time critiqing and everyone in a while I find one out of the transgender transition type and find a drag one like this blond bombshell drag queen:

Male Privilege

Relax, I'm not going into a contrived emotional post concerning "male priviledge".
Talk about a horse that has been beaten into the ground!
Recently I read a article called "Sex change patients are getting younger and are more likely to be women".

That's right. "Transsexuals in Hong Kong are now seeking gender-changing surgery at a much earlier age than two decades ago, and those coming forward are more likely to be women seeking to become men. "It seems that more and more patients are in their 20s," said Dr Albert Yuen Wai-cheung, chief of service at Ruttonjee Hospital's department of surgery and the only specialist performing sex reassignment surgery at the city's public hospitals. "In the past, they were in their 30s. Now they are quite young, still studying," Yuen said. "With more information available, more are willing to see doctors." Also, women undergoing sex change operations to become men now outnumber men wanting to become women."

Granted this is a very small sampling but interesting none the less. I'm fortunate to know two trans men. One is exploring how he can finance his change and the other is in a very exciting exploration phase. Both could speak to this issue much better than I know but it seems to me I see more women where I live who are really masculine in appearance.  I'm not talking about the much maligned idea that women are allowed to wear men's clothes and not vice versa. I'm talking about women who would have given me a run at my masculinity in my macho acting days. Now,  I also know that having a male ready body does not make a person a transgender candidate. Most of you also know I'm a proponent of the increasing blurring of the genders. (Jamie) Is my small local sample an example? The last thing I claim to be is a statistician, so let's just call it an observation and move on.

Regardless of all of this, the true male or female privilege is the ability to change your body to the extent you need to feel comfortable.  If nothing else, new medical advances have the potential to completely blur the genders- if one has the resources to do it.

For more on the article above, go here.

Blond Drag Fun

I have seen a couple of this person's transformation videos and think his friend is just incredible!

Tran "S" Gender Voices

Most of us struggle with feminine vocalization in our transgender journeys.
We learn early on the process involves much more than just pitch.  Many genetic women have sexy lower pitched voices. Famous examples are actresses Lauren Bacall  or Jacqueline Bisset.
I recently came across this study:

"How can you tell if a person is male or female just by their voice? In general, men have deeper voices than women. However, according to a study conducted by Lal Zimman, a doctoral student at The University of Colorado - Boulder at the time of his research, the style of speech can impact perceptions of a person's gender as well, not simply the pitch of his or her voice. In fact, the letter "S" can, on its own, impact people's perception of the speaker's gender."

Read more here. If you are like me you need all the vocal help you can get!

Guide to Becoming More Manly!

Yes girls! A friend sent this to me (not seriously) so I will pass it along in Cyrsti's Condo to you.
Put down that mascara wand and pick up that tire jack! :