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I chuckled when I read the part about toileting. My transgender girlfriend has been using the women’s restroom for her entire life - 34 years now. She has never had a problem. She has lived as a woman from the time she was a small child. Lucky for her, her family and friends have always accepted her. Many, maybe most are not so fortunate. As an adult she has made a living as a hair dresser and now owns her own salon.

I'm pleased for your girlfriend
 
I understand some of the trepidation with kids and being potentially trans or gender queer whatever, the whole rush of kids supposedly id'ing as trans gives me pause, in that I sometimes wonder if parents and others,with the best of intentions, are pushing kids rather than letting them figure out what they are. If a boy likes to dress as a princess, immediately think they must be trans,etc. I have some concerns w some of the gender clinics and how they approach kids. That said I also am getting pissed at those basically saying kids don't have the right to be themselves, and worse deny them androgen blockers ( hrt is a major step,it is only for when someone is sure). It doesn't surprise me the one supporting the person who sued and ended up w the UK.de facto denying potential trans kids were the religious nuts,they are a mean bunch of bastards. If a kid is trans, blockers allow them room to find themselves out and if they are trans, it stops the agony of going through the wrong puberty. By blocking the effect of hormones, if the kid is trans and then does HRT,either way, it will leave them with a body that won't be distinguishable from a cis girl/boy. M to F won't have to deal w beard removal, prob won't need facial surgery to clean up the hard features testosterone gives them,won't have to deal w the larger bones and hands and feet,no body hair, and will have head hair like a cis woman. F to M will be the opposite, will end up with a body like a cis boy with,won't need top surgery,will grow taller,male features will form. Transition after puberty both ways is extremely difficult and some things simply can't be fixed. The assholes know this, they want it to be difficult,they think in their pea brains rotted out by reading the bible that this is going to prevent ppl from transitioning at all. Not just the religious, the TERFS have jumped on this one,too.
 
Well here we are on 31st March - Transgender visibility day, which is self explanatory - we here to stay so get used to it.

I'll focus on one young trans woman whose timing to start a new job in sports journalism couldn't have been worse! Good thing it's in the UK

Unfortunately this year sees a raft of anti trans legislation, at least in Republican America states: Lawmakers in Republican-led states are passing bills to bar transgender athletes in girls’ sports. Well you know, 1.2% of the population deserve all those laws against them or else we'll be raping women in the locker room and stealing all the trophies because that's why we transition. :rolleyes: Don't expect to see me set foot in America - not that I'd be welcome.

Which all boils down to Republicans not being able to win elections so they'll pick a fight they know they can win.

So yea. Happy visibility day... kinda ironic that it equates to being banned on sight
 
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Yes, in America, we need to boycott those States. They pick on 1.2% of Americans in order to have a scapegoat for the lack of fulfillment in their own lives.
 
I live in one of those states. God loves stupid people...that's why he made so many of them.
 
Better trans news in the UK. After a high court ruling last year that banned the use of hormone blockers for children without a court ruling ...
"High Court Family Division ruling that parents can consent to their children being prescribed puberty blockers without needing to go to court, and that puberty blockers are not a special category of treatment which has to be authorised by a court order. This is welcome news for those fearing the Keira Bell ruling would prevent them from accessing ‘puberty blockers’."

Previously a high profile case ruled that children under the age of 16 could not give independent legal consent for prescribed puberty blockers. The new ruling means that, with parental consent, treatment can go forward and pause the permanent physical changes of puberty. The caveat is that parents must consent but if they do not then a court riling is required.
 
Hey Sticky,

Great card! Thanks for introducing me to the art of Sophie Labelle. :rose:

Oh she has a world of art and cards. I met her once in the UK.... well she was giving a small seminar: she was late; there were respectful questions; everyone wanted to hug her but we sat on our hands; it was an odd evening :D But good. Good odd.
 
Oh she has a world of art and cards. I met her once in the UK.... well she was giving a small seminar: she was late; there were respectful questions; everyone wanted to hug her but we sat on our hands; it was an odd evening :D But good. Good odd.


Lol. Odd? Her comic characters are adorable. If she's anything like them I can imagine how everyone would want to hug her. I saw a page where her character is talking about being trans and autistic.. ;)

Is she the pink haired girl that shows up in the first image search results?.

Her comics are so poignant in a perspective that is still so new to the main stream. I'm not really trans but I've felt so misgendered much of my life -- her stuff really speaks to me.
 
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Yes, that would be her! Pink hair - of course!! She nails it every time with her drawings... hadn't seen her asd posts but I shouldn't be surprised - she seemed as aspie as fuck looking back at it :D Could you save me the time and link the autistic thing? x
 
Sure. It's the fourth plate down in this link:

https://www.serioustransvibes.com/listing/640626586/we-wont-be-erased-comics-by-sophie

I was wondering how you might relate to what she's saying.

Incidentally, that character has 100% my preferred dressing style. :)

How very cool. That makes sense to the experience at the seminar which was mildly unhinged but in a good way. Yup - another trans ND person here of course....if only Mum had given me that bleach to drink as a child, all this weirdness could have been driven from me ;)

That presents the question: chicken v egg or, which do you see yourself as trans or asd ( implied - you can't have both because diagnoses are rationed ). Like Sophie, I am a clusterfuck of both: a smorgasborg of crackpot cheeses and pickled herring.

I think she was wearing a kinda smock and leggings thing that evening. She'd been hopping from one student floor to another as she toured campuses, poor thing. Low budget but much appreciated.
 
Great new trans movie!

Cowboys (2020) directed by Anna Kerrigan

Staring Sasha Knight, Steve Zahn.


From Wiki:
'Trans boy Joe's troubled but well-intentioned father Troy takes off with him into the Montana wilderness, pursued by police, after his wife Sally, from whom he has recently separated, refuses to let Joe live as his authentic self.'

Preview:
https://youtu.be/PLPhK_Ax9us


Beautifully done movie about a young transmasculine kid coming out to his parents and the fallout that insues. The actor Sasha Knight is true ftm trans and brings touching authenticity to the role. Steve Zahn plays the father who is struggling with bipolar disorder who goes all in to support his son.

The mother's reaction highlights how harmful, hurtful, and stifling an unsupportive yet loving parent can be.
 
'What it feels like for a girl' Paris Lees 2021

https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/2414/9780241450123.jpg

'What it feels like for a girl' Paris Lees 2021

I’ve just finished reading the first novel by trans personality Paris Lees. It is largely autobiographical with names changed and recounts her life from teenager to young adult.

The phonetic dialect of her first person narrative needed careful reading - ‘cun’ means ‘couldn’t’ but wurra and owt are simple enough to decipher. The language reflects the chaotic culture in which she grew up: abusive father, absent mother and various token aunties, or Mammas, who provide her with somewhere to sleep but little else. Her grandmother is the only person who provides her with love, but as she starts cross-dressing and clubbing, her circle of Diva friends become her adopted family.

She is surrounded by British-style poverty but soon discovers, that pulling tricks in whatever toilet or backyard is handy, gives her enough cash to get by. Her world is full of misfits and petty crime and she is lured into a sting to rob a man - a crime for which she does time in a young offenders institution.

Hitting rock bottom and realising she is wasting her life in drugs and crime, she decides to finish her school education. With encouragement she eventually makes it to Brighton university to study English. On her first morning, she decides to take a taxi, knowing that despite being in a strange town, she’ll make some cash easily enough - old habits die hard.

Today of course, Paris is on the editorial team of Vogue; has appeared on prime time television debating political topics and is now an author. What is clear from this book is that she is fiercely proud of her background and that she found the resource in herself to make the best of her life. I hope any young transgender or disenfranchised teen will find this book and realise that with luck, determination and support, you can make the best of your life whatever that might be.

Rating 7/10

https://champions-speakers.co.uk/sites/default/files/2021-02/paris-lees-thumbnail.jpg
 
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I have followed Paris Lees on social media for years and I am interested in reading her book. It seems that many young transgender women have to turn to sex work to make money - author Janet Mock has written about her experiences. I don’t judge anyone who has been a sex worker - God knows how rough it is to be transgender. Nevertheless I am thankful that my girlfriend never had such a difficult path in life.

I found her account surprising in as much that she didn't immediately perceive herself as female, simply as a feminine male - it was only later that it made sense to her. It sounds like she didn't mind the sex but you need to set that against the background of her life as a teen that was frankly a train wreck. Turning tricks, drugs ie ketamine, drink... from her book it doesn't sound like she was sober for five years till she wound up in prison.

I've always admired her and now even more so. I've seen other people not emerge from their train-wreck, but she knew she was worth more and then had to prove it. Fair play to her.
 
Yes, I have always admired her too. I have read the articles she has written for various periodicals and they were a revelation - there was one she wrote about rediscovering the joy of swimming after so many years. To think that even the pleasure of swimming was [is] denied to transgender people. It’s really too much to bear even just reading about it let alone experiencing it.

I saw her swimming article and understood her trepidation. Other trans women I know, myself included, used to disguise well enough, but even changing rooms can be an issue. Thankfully these days every changing area I've used has cubicles.
 
I’ve read your comments from time to time in the AH (I rarely stray outside that Forum) and I don’t know whether it demonstrates my stupidity or not but I’ve only just realised you’re transgender. It was in the thread about what people expected when they began writing. The extract below was the part of the comment that made me look down at your signature and click onto the link to this thread.

“I didn't know what to expect but there's a hungry audience for chicks with dicks so I guess I ticked the boxes.”

I referred someone recently, on another thread, to a transgender writer for an answer to their question and I now have another source for reference.

I was interested in your comment about Emma Smith. I’ve never heard of her so I followed your link to the BBC Sport website. There was one particular point you made which made me quite sad (even after writing it Im not sure that’s the correct word to use) but at the same time made me feel proud to be English.

“I'll focus on one young trans woman whose timing to start a new job in sports journalism couldn't have been worse! Good thing it's in the UK

Don't expect to see me set foot in America - not that I'd be welcome.”

I didn’t realise there was such an anti-transgender lobby feeling in the US. I’ve heard ignorant anti-transgender comments in the UK, along with the more common anti-gay comments, and I suppose I should expect the same, but to a higher degree, in the US. I must say at this point I’m not anti-American. I’ve travelled there extensively as a tourist over the last 50 years, visited over half the States, and visited friends and relatives all over the country. But Americans do tend to be more extreme with everything compared to the British.

I’d never thought of a transgender person having difficulty when going swimming. Maybe because I’ve never been in a female changing room. But it made me want to ask you a question which has probably been asked before (I’m not going to trawl through 89 pages to find out) but what’s your opinion as to transgender women competing in sport? Going back over 40 years there was a tennis player, Renee Richards, who transitioned and had a successful career beating some top ranked players and herself getting into the top 20 rankings. Despite having an advantage in physique I think she didn’t get any higher because she’d reached the peak of her ability. But to get that high in the rankings still meant she was ranked above hundreds of other players.

What is your opinion about transgender athletes competing in sporting events?
 
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Thanks Emirus - I've always enjoyed your posts in AH and now here! :)

Before I address your question, I’d like to look at the wider picture, because it has a bearing on the subject, not just for trans or LGBTQ people, but other minority groups. I read the other day an article that implored politicians and social media to stop looking for extremes and outliers to justify pushing back against sensible, prudent steps for equality.

I checked again just now and both the UK and USA news media is full of Politics versus People over racism, vaccinations, overseas aid, environment… The average American ( such a thing ? ) and Britons know very well what decency is, but get stirred up by the easy pickings of sensationalism.

Bathroom bills and restrictive legal challenges are being mounted against LGBT and women’s rights in both countries. Where did trans women take a leak before the politicians saw it as low-hanging fruit for their gain? How did women get abortions? They did it sensibly, discreetly and did not court controversy over what are intensely personal matters.

So… trans women in sports. You’ve named one very public athlete - can you name any more off the top of your head? No? That’s probably because there are so few and even fewer that win competitions at national levels. Sport should be inclusive; it should bring people together not have parents bickering that their child lost the sprint because that other child isn’t really a girl because: muscle; limb length; bone density; lung capacity…

You’re correct, it has been discussed before in this thread and there are a number of readable/watchable links here and a British Medical Journal study comparing before and after transition

Bone density and muscle mass are reduced in trans women taking testosterone blockers and estrogen and the Olympic committee requires two years of continuous treatment as an acceptable time for the differences to become negligible. Limb length? Tall sports people exist in the cis-gender world as much the trans one: should basketball players have different leagues based on height … even ethnicity? Should boxers include bone density as well as weight as a means of defining classes of competitors?

How do I feel about it?
From a personal pov, I've always loved swimming but I've been lucky to have a sports centre at my university where I feel safe. Until my surgery I chose costumes that hid my genitals. Sailing is a sport and I'm a keen dinghy sailor where men and women can truly compete on equal terms.

When it comes to top level sport, I think individual trans athletes can only adhere to the current rules - they can't be blamed if later the rules are changed. The other evening the black footballers who missed penalties in the Euro shoot out were abused for being black. Transgender athletes get blamed for winning. Haters gotta hate.

Instead of Priti Patel, the UK Home office minister accusing athletes taking the knee of gesture politics, she should look in her overprivileged Asian mirror and realise divisions in society start at the top - where she is. Boris should apologise for using the term 'piccaninnies' and then maybe the Conservatives could rethink cutting the foreign aid bill to countries full of piccaninnies and poverty.

Phew... that got heavy :cool:
 
The average American ( such a thing ? )

Average American? Lol. Just remember that on average, everyone is born with one testicle and one ovary.


I was just hanging out with my youngest son and his girlfriend and was informed that our house is known as a place local trans-kids can go anytime they need a place to feel safe. I came out to my family as non-binary several years ago and never thought much of it, but all of my sons have friends who are in transition or have transitioned. They've let it be known and that we are a trans-friendly family.

I guess I should have realized it before. There are several trans kids that come by on a fairly regular basis, some have had my wife (she's a paralegal) help them with their change of gender paperwork at the courthouse so I figured that was the reason, but apparently it's also well known among young local LGBTQ that I'm queer.


Yesterday a bunch of kids, (actually mostly young adults) were over talking about trans MMA fighters. I don't know anything about the violent sport, but they were talking about a local cis girl several of them grew up with who is an MMA fighter who was the first to defeat a particular mtf trans fighter. I would have thought they'd be rooting for the trans athlete, but the opposite was true. Their reason was that, to them, having a cis girl beat the trans-girl proved that birth-gender is irrevelant.

Hmm.
 
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I'm sure there's an expression for that kind of "exceptionism" : where you can have 99 cisgender people win an event, but if one trans person wins the immediate assumption is that it's unfair on cis folks. The other side of that is if trans people lose at everything it's because they are weak and unworthy of anything and bring their failure on themselves... :cool:

Yup... nuff said.

Just tipping my hat back to Emirus - you weren't dumb to not realise I was transgender, because after physically transitioning I'm in the happy position to focus on normal things in life. Just like IRL I don't hide who I am but I don't make a deal out of being trans because .... it isn't a big deal in my life anymore. That's how it's supposed to work! :) I'm actually quite glad you didn't know :D
 
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