Can It Ever Be Too Common Place?

Scarlett Lenh, (left) 16, is a junior at Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs and she made history on Friday, when she became the first ever trans woman to be picked as homecoming queen in the state – beating out three other nominees in the process. Cool!

I began to think though, how now we are beginning to hear more and more young transgender women and men stepping up and out of their closet to be recognized for who they really are at their schools.

Do you remember how not so long ago Scarlett's achievement would have been met with fireworks and marching bands?  Now it's more of a "feel good" story.

Unfortunately though, it's not universal.  I chat with a 17 year old self described pan-sexual genetic female whose friends include a young transgender woman.  They live in a Texas town where she says her and her friends have to be careful of outsiders coming into town.  If they happen to "interact", she believes they could be in physical danger.  

In a way she is lucky because her Mom is trying to pick up and move both of them to a more diverse town. In the meantime, change does come from the young.  The more "Scarlett" stories we hear of, the better off all of us will be!

The Object of My Obsessions

I was having a chat with Lynne this morning about a very accomplished cross dresser we knew back in the 1980's/1990's.  Lynne brought up the point this "accomplished" CD always told her "her breasts should be the most important point of her presentation" - not the overall feminine shape proper padding could give her in the hip/butt area. What did I think?

I told her I had always read, concerning the ideal feminine shape, a woman's hips roughly equaled the span of her shoulders. I went on to say, perhaps our CD friend was more concerned how she viewed herself as a man versus how the world viewed her as a woman.

That's OK, whatever is important to each person is their business and some women do dress just to please men.  I have always believed though the greatest majority dress for society as a whole.

Cross Dresser Heidi -an example

Then again, "cleavage creating" video's are becoming almost as plentiful on YouTube as any leg shots.  Depending upon how much money you wish to spend, you too can have your own set of removal one piece silicone breasts.  All you have to do is strategically position the right necklace or blend the right makeup and you can have picture perfect breasts.

As far as I go, I wish I was more the object of my obsessions. The more the world is my domain, I suppose I am no different than any genetic woman heading for the grocery store. Let's just say I wasn't too glamorous today as I mowed my grass! On the other hand, similar to any other genetic woman, I do have fun getting dressed up for the right occasion.  It just so happens I have been able to make it out of the closet - or wanted to at all.

Getting back to Lynne and I's discussion, the cross dresser we were referring to opted for SRS years later and I wondered what size breasts did she choose and did they define her femininity? I know my HRT home grown "C"'s help the process for me, but I'm not so sure I would need "DD"s to define me to me-but I'm sure they would be attention getters with others!  Maybe our friend was right?

Cyrsti's Condo "Wedding Day Blues"

Come on now Ian! Smile! You look great and no one will ever know you are an emergency bridesmaid replacement  in your sister's wedding!  You are right though-a bad choice of dresses!

Do not though...catch the bouquet or flirt with one of the groom's friends in the wedding party----GOT IT?

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

G'day to you all and ker plunk! It's time for another Sunday edition here in the Condo. Actually around here in Ohio we have found ourselves in the midst of a very fall like weather run with night time lows in the 40's. As they say in the old country-good sleeping weather!

Page1.- "The Week That Was-or Wasn't."  The story and video of NFL running back dominated the national news so much that at least one night last week, it got the opening spot on the CBS evening national news I watch over even the ISIS/ISOL problem in the Middle East.  It should.  For once, the wrong man hit the wrong woman and all hell broke loose.  The story followed the classic path of male on female domestic violence. He apologizes, she said it was her fault too and life goes on.  This time it didn't though and the greatest marketing/money machine in the history of the United States was brought to it's knees.  Incidentally, to really follow the NFL forget the games and  follow the money.  The league's  greatest growth market recently has been it's women fans.

Certainly, to any of us who have crossed the gender boundary at all as a part time cross dresser to a full time transgender woman, male on female violence is no surprise. Plus, it is worse with us. If you are a Cyrsti's Condo regular, you know we try to regularly  revue basic security measures we all should take when we venture out of the closet. Never think male on female violence can't happen to you. 

What the NFL situation ultimately does for any of us remains to be seen but certainly a bunch of men (for the most part enabled their entire lives from athletics) playing a violent sport and pumped up on who knows what steroids/hormones (roid rage)- this is far from over.  Best case scenario is as CD's and Trans women we can stand up, be counted and for once included.

Page2.-  "Hide and Seek" A couple well thought out comments from MIchellewhois enabled us to discuss the majority of us who have or are hiding in plain sight with our gender issues. Here is one:

Very Old "Blonde Picture"  of Me on a future post I will explain what I did to it!

"Thank you for quoting me. I always wondered if anyone really saw when I wrote a thought or two. Many of us camouflage ourselves out of necessity. The necessity of maintaining the mental and physical health of not only our loved ones but ourselves.

You are right about that Trans-Dar going off when we see someone that may be hiding in plain sight. I remember one site on transitioning, suggest that you slowly change your appearance over time so that others will get used to seeing you change your appearance such as the "pretty men" you mentioned.

As for looking down on CD's, I could never find myself doing that because I was one of them way back when. If every Transwoman thinks about it, we were all one of those CD's hiding in plain sight."

You are welcome Michelle!  I have never liked the "comments" part of this particular blog platform I operate under.  I'm sure there is a better way, but I'm not "techno-girl" and are afraid to fool with the system.  I can say I do notice comments and thanks!  Plus, slowly changing one's appearance is a great idea!

Finally, I too have taken great pains to never give the impression of being higher up an imaginary cross dresser-transgender-transsexual pecking order.  Over my life, I have been subjected to too many "high and mighty" trans terfs who have taken me to task for almost anything from being a pretender - to starting HRT later in life - to my sexuality.  They used to aggravate me, now I just think their attitude is just their male ego bleeding through.

The Back Page.- Well kids, that is going to be it for this week's Sunday Edition!  Thanks for taking your time to stop in for a hot "Cup O Joe" (coffee) and spending a bit of your precious time here in the Condo!

He Never Made a Great "Big Brother!"

Big Brother contestant  Rodrigo Lopes  is now  Rebekah Shelton, a Brazilian transgender woman. Shown here as a transgirl and young man (known from Big Brother Brasil 2004)

Hiding in Plain Sight?

A comment from Michellewhois:

For many of us in the community we have to keep those fears our whole lives like that masks that we are forced to wear. I too am forced to wear the mask so much so that it has become second nature. I always hold out hope that one day it won't matter and everyone will see us for who we really are and not someone that has to hide almost in plain sight.

Unnamed cross dresser

I often wondered about the guy down the street or in the office - who are the beautiful cross dressers I see here, there and everywhere on line.  I'm sure they run the spectrum from the heavy "closet dwellers" to those who live a part of their lives as CD's with understanding families.

We talk about "trans-dar" often in Cyrsti's Condo, and for years I often wondered about the "pretty men" I observed who were thin and had no eye brows to speak of.  Maybe they were the ones with seemingly a zillion "selfie's" on certain photo sites. 

As I got better,  I began to look at where the photos were taken (always in the same room) or out in the world. Then, were the pictures taken by a professional photographer and finally, were they actually a genetic woman or not.  (Pinterest has gobs and bunches of those!) But look, they are pictures-a moment in time, no more, no less.

Finally, I came to a point which in essence is what Michelle was commenting about: how many of us hide in plain site.  Those of us who are the Kristin Beck's of the cross dressing or transgender world and cover ourselves with a deep layer of macho camouflage.  

Surely I will never know.  If you take the Condo for example, I can't remember ever having a response from here in Ohio.  The closest I have came is from Shelle over in Indiana who I haven't heard from and hope is OK.  Facebook is worse.  Someday I'm going to have to go through my reasonably local "friends" and delete all of those who have gone.

Finally, I know too, if there is a cross dresser hiding in plain site across the street from me-she has a reason to be there. Plus, chances are she may labor under that well worn (and true) idea that we transgender women "look down" on cross dressers.  It just so happens I don't.

Michelle, thanks for the comment!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature "cover" today is the beautiful androgynous German male model Marta Styuart.

Laverne Cox Coming Soon!

Quite possibly, the best part of my most recent visit to my endocrinologist was when he mentioned a future Laverne Cox speaking engagement in December at nearby Wright State University. Fairborn/Dayton Ohio.

As I researched her visit, I was amazed at how dedicated Laverne must be to "spreading the transgender word." I count approximately 25 speaking engagements for her between now and Wright State.

If you follow the link above to her web site, you can read (among other things) this understatement:
  
Laverne is in demand as a speaker.  She has travelled the country speaking about moving beyond gender expectations to live more authentically. Additionally, she uses and encourages an intersectional approach to critically engage with our stories.

Needless to say, I'm very excited by a chance to see her speak on her own terms about us.  If you are here in Ohio by chance, she will also be at Kent State in November.  For other "stops" go back to the link above!

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Overheard on my Twitter account last night:

"Will the NFL now come up with a new concussion protocol when their players hit women?"