Sunday Morning Ramblings

Been busy chasing my tail lately. The worst part is I didn't catch it and I wondered where I would have found the time to do all these things if I had not retired!
Normally when I go through these times I have bits and pieces of ideas run through my mind which I would like to pass along and just don't get around to it.

The first was an animated chat a friend and I had about transphobic gay men. Do they have a tendency to be more transphobic and why. Sometimes I think they do and here is why. First, in some ways transgender women and men are forced on them. We go to their hang outs and sometimes don't interact so well. I've seen more than one cross dresser make a fool of himself in a gay club. On a deeper level though, a gay man has no more understanding of us than a hetero normal one does. If you throw in the drag queen culture, the average gay person has as much reason to wonder as the rest of the population. Plus on a deeper gender level, do we represent a "trip to the dark side" for an effeminate man who may have been teetering on the gender divide anyhow.  I'm biased but I certainly feel coming out gay is definitely easier than coming out transgender. We all know if you protest too much, you may have a dress hanging in the back of your closet hidden from the world.

Of course, I don't dwell on anything long, so it was time to move on.

The second thought that buzzed through my noggin came from a transgender vet blog reader who asked about how should she approach her first visit to a VA therapist. The whole question led me to thinking how much of a personal decision this was and how to handle it. My easy over simplistic answer was-just be yourself.  Easier said than done. I could only give my own rendition of hiking up my big girl panties and walking through the VA center as me. It was easier for my therapist to connect the dots since she never did she me as what was left of my guy self...BUT...my personal situation made that easier for me. I'm widowed and didn't have that part of the puzzle to wade through. My therapist wanted to make sure I had some sort of support system to fall back on if I started HRT. Also if I use the VA as an example, every center or clinic is different. From what I hear, my center in Ohio probably rates a B-. I would give them an A for wanting to do the right thing and a D- for having the tools to do it. While we are on the alphabet, let's toss in a "B" for bureaucracy on their end and a "P" for persistence on mine. I would guess the bottom line is somehow, someway you need to convince your therapist you need to go on a hormone path for your own mental well being. You notice I say "mental well being" not "mental illness".
As a final  point of reference, keep asking for another appointment with another person until you get one who you can relate to and ALWAYS remember to ask for the VA patient advocate in your center. The VA is directed to help you. Don't let them out of it!

As I embark on another busy week with the coldest weather in four years, I imagine my mind will go into overdrive again and I will certainly pass on the ramblings to you.
By the way, if you want to get a hold of me, my email is cyrstih@yahoo.com and if nothing crazy happens I should get back with you quickly. It helps if you put the "blog" word in the subject title.
Also, I never get into personal things by name in Cyrsti's Condo without your permission.

It Sure Looks Good on YOU!

One of my favorite YouTube transsexual transitions.

Catfishin...

MTV recently came up with a show based on the motion picture Catfish which is based on people who pull elaborate identity scams on social sites such as Facebook.
Of course already they have had an episode which featured a woman who developed a on line relationship with a person who turned out to be a transitioning trans man.
Coming up this Monday it seems a transgender woman is involved. We transgender folk don't need any more bad public relations and I hate to see us being the "scammers" at all. But with ratings and all I figured it was just a matter of time. On the positive side the trans man episode ended with a happy ending when the couple stayed together. We will see what Monday brings.
It could be worse though, at least the Heisman runner up from Notre Dame (Manti Te'o) who has blown up the airwaves with his Catfish scandal hasn't been placed with a transgender woman...yet.
Here's the MTV promo:

Get More: Catfish: The TV Show, Full Episodes

Maid Service?

This YouTube video crosses a couple of fantasy lines in the cross dressing community.

All that Jazz

Perhaps you remember Jazz the young transgender girl who was spotlighted several years ago. She's back with an update interview with Barbra Walters:


Here's the promo from ABC:

Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News

" Barbara Walters will sit down with 12-year-old Jazz on 20/20 tomorrow, a young girl whose life seems like every other kid her age, only Jazz was born a boy but identifies as a girl. What’s more, Jazz has been living as a girl from an early age. From the brief preview of the interview, which you can watch above, Jazz seems to be one of the most well-adjusted kids we have ever seen, forget the fact that she is transgender. Jazz has the support of both of her parents, who have identified her as a girl on her birth certificate and even had Jazz record a video explaining that she thinks like a girl and is a girl, but with boy parts, that she is encouraged to share as soon as she makes new male friends. The segment will also deal with the concerns now that Jazz is entering puberty. You can catch what is sure to be an incredibly interesting and informative edition of 20/20 tomorrow at 8 PM."

Brazilian Transsexual

By now I'm sure you have read the story of the furor which came out of this comment:

“we [women] are angry with ourselves for not being happier, not being loved properly and not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual.”

Of course all the trans nazi's and trans feminist's jumped hysterically on this.

I hang out almost exclusively with genetic women and I have to say most of them and I would kill to have a body like Brazilian transsexual Lea T  shown on the right.

Look, all of us know we are never going to develop a body such as Lea's. She is a model for a reason!!! As far as a role model for girls and women's struggles around the world- that's a bit of a stretch. My point is feminists have a real reason to criticize society as a whole until all women have equal treatment around the world. I don't care that most don't consider transgender women "worthy" of joining their gender inner sanctum. Don't need their support, it's their loss.

The problem with the quote was she didn't take it far enough. I have my own prejudice against gender nazi's as being bitter one sided folks who have found this box of toys called the internet to spread their ideas. I don't suppose she would have ever added the idea that people of both genders and between have problems with being loved, being happy and how we look. But angry? How about we all should be working on our problems. Not just bitching about them.

Transgender In America

Representing a very informative look at being trans in America. From NBC News:

 

Mama Said-

"If you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all." She really didn't say that but it sounds good!
There is no way I can sugar coat the way I think about some of the cross dressing pictures I see on a site called "Flickr".

First of all, let me say I'm not an appearance elitist. I'm not a huge fan of pictures- especially my own. I see everything on Flickr from photo shopped beauties, glamour shot lovelies, naturally beautiful cross dressers and then tragic fashion mistakes. I'm thinking what was this person thinking? Many have quite a few feminine qualities but when they are out in the back yard in a bathing suit and heels it was all I could do to not jump in on the comments. Not in a positive manner. I didn't but could not have help noticing the nine or ten positive comments this person received. I did the worst thing I could. I stayed quiet. The best I could have done was offer a "for what it's worth" comment. You all know I have lots of "push back" on some of my comments in Cyrsti's Condo and that's fine so I'm used to it.
For whatever reason, I didn't want to step into this person's fantasy of thinking he was some sort of a blond swim suited beauty and others agreeing. Really?
My assumption is his next step won't be the cross dresser in the mini and heels in the mall. I hope I'm wrong. I think the caption was something of what the neighbor's would think and I thought ...the cops! Just my cynicism slipping back in.

Eventually, I passed along my ideas of this person as a bad example to a friend of mine. Specifically I passed along my thoughts on all the positive comments. His comment was a classic:
"This (cross dresser) whole subculture is like a snowball rolling down the side of a mountain. It grows larger and goes faster until it hits the oak growing in the middle of the valley."
Well said.

Mark Your Calendars

All of you who are kind enough to read my babble here in Cyrsti's Condo and are in the Ohio area will have a chance to hear my babble at this year's TransOhio Trans and Ally Symposium. I have been accepted to provide a workshop called "Better late than never, Transitioning late in life."

The event is April 26-28th in Columbus.

Seriously, I'm honored to be accepted and hope I can provide a little guidance to others. Meeting any of you there would be extra fun! I will have more info for you later!