The "Ideal Cross Dresser"

On the Crytsi's Condo big screen, a clip from the British sitcom "Ideal"

Cyrsti's Condo "Glamour Drag"

Every once in a while I run across a video of a "boy" in drag who is simply stunning.  At that point I start to look for Drag Queen "secrets" such as hip padding and multiple layers of hose to shape and soften the legs.  This "boy in drag" does it well!

Trans Safety

Every so often here in Cyrsti's Condo, I get up on my soapbox and preach to the choir about our security as transgender women, or cross dressers or genetic women for that matter.
I'm passing along a video from Egypt which focuses on the huge problem there and I can't image how dangerous life would be there for a transgender woman.

Truth of the matter is, it's dangerous everywhere. Every time I write this post I receive wonderful feedback from women who have been navigating society much longer than I. If you are starting your journey into the world though, it's a whole new experience.

I've heard from trans girls who were bullied and beaten up when they were dressed as a guy too. Been there and came close before I developed a fake macho image.  Of course not to discriminate I have had a couple of real close calls on the girl side too.

Genetic women learn the process early. Simply try to use common sense and not be in places you shouldn't be. What they don't say is you need to develop better senses of who is in the space you are at the same time.

The worst misjudgments come from transgender women and cross dressers who think most type of male attention is great validation of their femininity.  The tragedy is when they get hurt instead of validated. I'm not a "male basher" in the strictest sense but it is no secret how fragile the male ego is and how easily many guys can reach out to violence to save it.

Finally before we take a look at the video, just be careful out there in the world.  The more you become comfortable in your female role, the more you will understand the nuances of safety.  Surely we can't insure nothing will happen but we can cut back on the chances.

Cyrsti's Condo Cross Dresser "Montage"

Nothing like a well put together video of more than a couple well put together crossdressers:

Cyrsti's Condo "Horror Scope"

Move over bitches read this scope!

Libra (September 23-October 22): There may be a few moments this week when you’ll feel yourself going into super alpha bitch mode. Who knows what will set you off. No matter, as the competitor in you won’t be having it and your primal instincts will be in control. So, get ready to discover sides of yourself you perhaps had no clue about or have spent time trying to hide.

I can't wait!!!! Some may say I didn't wait.

For your own "scope" go here to theFrisky.

**Horror Scope is my own term not that I'm bragging.

I Always Wanted a Sister!

A Ghost and a Queen

Paranormal Arabian Activity on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Ten Percent or More?

I recently wrote a playful Cyrsti's Condo post comparing my self as a "ten percenter" transgender woman with a "one percenter" outlaw biker gang person.

On a very serious level, Paula replied  ":I always worry about these sorts of stats, almost by definition they will be wrong, the first question that comes to mind is how do they know the person they have met is, or is not transgender? While we may well not deny it we will rarely announce it. Then again of course we are still transgender even when we are not presenting against our natal gender, so all those who have met us at any time have in fact met a transgender person even though they don't know it ~ if you see what I mean."

I do see what you mean Paula.  On one hand-like you I question the number of people who may have met a transgender woman or man and never realized it.  Stealth or not, no one has the responsibility to wear a sign which tells the world we are trans. Others of course transition so well, no one would ever tell. However, personal experience leads me to believe the number may not be that far off.

First of all, to get technical, I look at the definition of transgender.  At times I feel our own culture can't figure out exactly what that definition should be or if the average civilian on the street can understand it. If you take me for example, while it's true I can navigate society as a feminine person, more than likely I will never reach the point of being perceived as a genetic female. It's also true I have a fairly sizable amount of people who have met me enough to know something is up.  If you gave them a survey which asked if they had ever met a transgender person, I'm sure many would answer no.  There is no reason for them to identify me with the word. Conversations in the real world for me just don't start with "Hey Cyrsti, are you transgender?".

Here is another reason why I could be a believer in the "ten percenter".  I live in a relatively small town but within 100 miles or so of several fairly decent sized ones (Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Ohio).  Over the past several years, I have been in the "anti-closet". I have been out and not hidden.  You can reach me here through my email, Facebook or Twitter.  The grand total of trans friends I have is TWO.  Both are a joy to me, one trans man, one trans woman. In addition, I stay in contact with a couple others who live relatively close to me. So my basic math is telling me when I took the basic populations of the counties around me I came up with approx 3 million peeps. Ten percent of course is 300,000 transgender folks around me. So around here at least I'm thinking my "category" is well below the 10 percent.  But that's OK.

I have never had a problem with who I was and if I'm a trans five percenter, I'm even more rare. But all you stat freaks out there- I know my small sampling is not enough to sway the stats!

All Dressed up and Scared to Death

To catch everyone up here in Cyrsti's Condo, I'm putting together a "Ten Greatest Hits" list for my book. This one comes from around 1995:

For the longest time I was treading water and trying not to drown. For the right reasons of trying to discover who I was and the wrong reasons of sneaking around the backs of my loved ones to do it, I made the giant leap of faith into the real world as a trans girl. As you may guess, a very scary proposition. For years I had been testing the waters in gay venues and harmless shopping trips but never had I hitched up my big girl panties and went out into the world.

The place I decided to go was a slightly upscale chain restaurant with a busy bar. I chose it because at that time I managed venues similar to it. I knew what to expect from the crew and management. Company policy would dictate as long as I didn’t create much of a stir, my money was good. Remember, this was way before any discrimination laws concerning transgender patrons in public places. I also had scouted this place and knew the clientele around 9 PM included quite a few single working women just getting off of their jobs at a big nearby mall. To blend I would have to attempt go dress in a professional business attire but not go over the top. Actually a perfect match to my wardrobe of the day.

All of the process was easy until I summoned enough courage to actually do it. I dressed in black dress slacks and a burgundy blouse with flats and my long blond wig I was fond of then.. The place I was heading was nearly 20 minutes or so from my house so the good news was I had a chance to calm down and regulate my breathing before I got there. The bad news was I had a longer time to stay a complete nervous wreck before I arrived. But arrive I did.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I made a futile attempt to find the non existent oxygen tank in the car for breathing emergencies such as this. Instead I pulled down the lighted mirror in the car and made one last stab at fixing my make up and hair. After the 15 minutes which seemed like a life time, I summoned up all my courage, left the safety of the car and headed for the entrance which I knew held the keepers of the castle, the Hostesses. From experience I knew “Hosti” are a finicky and funny bunch. They are the “gate keepers” who in a second could sound the alarm of an intruder in their midst who wasn’t all she appeared to be. My experience also told me though to time my entrance at a moment when they were seating others and then make an end run for bar seating. The “end run” seemed like a mile but I made it to the bar area without falling down or making any other kind of a spectacle of myself.

The bar itself was in the shape of a “U”. The closed end was supported by two columns which went up through the ceiling and ended on the bar. As I approached, I felt like I was back in Army basic training looking for cover. As luck would have it I found a seat next to one of the columns and tried to make myself part of it. After all of the drama though, here I was dressed as a woman in a world full of strangers who oddly enough were not paying me any attention. A person who would was on her way! Without a care in the world she invaded my thoughts with “how are you, can I get you a menu to get started?” Really? Was that it? Wasn’t she going to say “we don’t serve guys in dresses, get out?” No, of course she didn’t and as it turned out she served me drinks and food for over a decade at the same place. I felt like I had arrived as a woman (wrong) but I felt this experience made the list for more than the obvious reasons.

The evening did make the top ten because I did make the gender jump to the other side, or thought I did. But then I had to consider if I indeed could continue to exist as a trans girl in the everyday world, did I want to? I had opened Pandora’s Box and had to decide if I liked all that I discovered. From the outside I was drawn to all glitter and bling but would soon continue to discover a multitude of other contents in the box. I was to discover later I had just scratched the surface with my stick on nails, and many not so pleasant learning experiences were to follow. Plus I had the biggest issue of all, the continuing issue of the effects of all of this on my wife. 

So, at this point I just decided the absolute wrong path was the right one to take - the  status quo. Stay tuned!