More quality trans videos, blogs and books

 

Videos

 I've recently been impressed by some quality videos by trans people.

My friend Hannah Massie has a video on Understanding Gender Diversity, which is a good introduction to the whole subject:

Understanding Gender Diversity

She also features in a poignant video on gender dysphoria, The Invisible Prison, in which she talks, among other things, on the bureaucracy around transition, intervoven with other moving life stories from Chrissie Chevasutt and John Patching:

The Invisible Prison 

Both very suitable education tools in different ways. They also feature on the Gender Aware learning page, with links to articles and research referred to in the Diversity video: 

Gender Aware Learning

 

T-Central recently linked to Tish's blog which featured a wonderful video (with beautiful artworks) by her friend CM Ralph:

A Dream Deferred 

It's about fulfilling dreams, and I think we can all relate.

 

If you didn't catch Adèle Anderson's song I posted a few weeks ago, here it is again:

Prisoner of Gender

 

Blogs

 I have added three more blogs to my blogroll (right): 

Miss Twist Speaks Her Brains - I don't know why I didn't come across this earlier than last year. A psychology graduate, she has an authentic  scientific approach to important matters and an irreverent take on fun ones. And she looks great, too. (Miss Twist Speaks Her Brains)

Clare Flourish - I've been reading Clare for some years. Always thoughtful and genuine, she is also honest in saying what she regrets about transitioning. Her posts are often long. An elegant lady. (Clare Flourish)

Nikki's New Life Part 1 - my friend Nikki's blog should have appeared ages ago but because of technical difficulties (i.e. me not knowing what I'm doing!) it's only just come up on the right. Sorry, Nikki! (Nikki's New Life)

Fiction

Roz White continues to add to her series of Sisterhood novels (7 novels and 2 novellas), all well-reviewed and chosen by book clubs. You can buy them and read reviews on Amazon:

Roz White on Amazon

Roz is a good observer of the realities of the trans experience. Recommended reading.

Add: For LGBT History Month 2021, Roz has been reading extracts from her Sisterhood series:

Roz White on YouTube

There are others who write transgender fiction but so far what I have come across on book sites is either erotica (and there's more than enough of that online) or poor transgender SF. If I find any more mainstream fiction that's good, I'll let you know. I'm always open to suggestions for a good book with trans characters if my readers know of any more.

I hope you enjoy these suggestions as much as I do.

 

A dip in the archives

 In her diversity video above, Hannah mentioned a Roman emperor who may have been transgender: Elagabalus (also known as Heliogabalus). 

Born with the name Varius Avitus Bassianus in Syria around 204 AD, he was related to Rome's ruling Severan dynasty. He was hereditary priest of Elagabal (one of the local Baal gods of those regions so often condemned in the Bible) and on being acclaimed emperor in 218, aged about 14, he brought his cult to Rome and adopted the typically sonorous imperial name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus. He was nicknamed Elagabalus after his god. After a short reign that provoked scandal, he was assassinated in 222.

Roman sources (Herodian, Cassius Dio, Lampridius) suggest he was LGBTQI+ and then some! Dio (Roman History, book 80, chapter 16, section 7) mentions his seeking a surgeon for vaginoplasty and Lampridius (Augustan History, Heliogabalus, chapter 7, section 2) says he joined the worshippers of Cybele in their frenetic dances and duly castrated himself and bound his penis, as was required of her priests. 

These sources say he wore makeup, women's (or at least feminine) clothes, dressed up as Venus, slept with lots of men, was the bride in a marriage to a man, acted the female prostitute in brothels ...

One should treat all this with great scepticism. It's intended by the authors to be disgusting. Very briefly, this arises as it would seem he treated traditional Roman religion, protocols, culture and customs with some contempt, or maybe just with teenage and foreign gaucheness, and the Romans, being a virile culture, slated him with their long-standing prejudice against Eastern cultures and cults which they regarded as effeminate. Dio calls him a Sardanapalus, the name of the semi-legendary king of Assyria who allegedly preferred living in the women's quarters of the palace and doing women's work when foreign enemies were at the gates, and who has been used so often in political history as the epitome of an effeminate failure. 

So Elagabalus's alleged transsexualism is not intended as a compliment, or even a statement of fact. We have little idea of who this young person really was; his image and reputation have been destroyed by so much contemporary and later prejudice or offended pride. Politics is a dirty business at the best of times. Therefore, it is not clear whether Elagabalus really was a historic transgender person.

 

The Roses of Heliogabalus, one of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema's gorgeous Roman-themed subjects, illustrating an episode at an imperial banquet when rose petals were rained on the guests.

Sue x

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Oggi promuovo certi video, blog e romanzi in inglese, e spiego perchè è pericloso usare certi personaggi storici (Eliogabalo in questa istanza) come esempi di vita transgender. 

Speriamo che questa crisi di governo si risolva in un modo intelligente.

Sue x

 

Injured again!

 Last night I fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle, as well as bruising myself. Ouch! and ouch! And I wasn't even wearing high heels! 

I've not had the best night's sleep and it's pretty obvious that I won't be walking properly for a while yet.

Fortunately, I have some compression stockings left over from the last time I damaged that leg. I just hope this isn't going to become a habit. (The best laid plans)

In this eerie winter of Covid when there's little to do outdoors anyway, this is not the end of the world, and it'll be much like any other week! I have WiFi, I have reading matter, I have TV, I have hobbies, I have food. Life stripped to its essentials with lots to do that's relaxing is actually quite appealing. I feel a lot of people are beginning to appreciate a less hectic, less cluttered, more homely life in these weird stay-at-home days of Covid lockdowns. I can see an end to this destructive illness but maybe we've got some good from it and will better appreciate the benefits of home cosiness once we're out of danger. 

 

Burns Night

To all my Scottish friends, happy Burns Night. Lang may yer lums reek!

In my last year at university I shared a house with a Scottish postdoctoral researcher. He was into the chirality of organic compounds, I was into philology. We never argued as neither understood the other's field! Anyway, he held a traditional Burns Supper complete with address, haggis and bagpipes. He couldn't play the bagpipes but a Venezuelan student he knew could (believe it or not, he'd learnt to play the bagpipes in a band in Venezuela). 

So one dark 25 January evening a dozen people squashed into the small front room of a cottage in a quiet Devon village and the haggis was piped in by Carlos the Venezuelan Bagpiper. Now the pipes are a fine instrument for playing from the battlements or out on the moors; in the confined space of a small house the sound is deafening. What on earth the locals from the other end of the country made of the sudden skirling I do not know. "Oh croiky," they'd likely have said, "what in blue blazes be that! Ole Farmer Gearge must be a-castratin' pigs or zummat! Barkin'!"

Anyway, it was a successful if weird evening and I usually treat myself to a haggis on Burns Night in fond memory. However, haggis is not a delicacy available here in Italy so I may have a cotechino instead, which is a similar concept, but with pork not lamb. 

Sliced cotechino and boiled potatoes

 

Blog plans

Well, this wasn't what I had planned to write about today but obviously my plans got thrown awry because of my little accident. I will soon be sharing some videos that have been made on trans life by the people who live it, which are think are high quality, informative and not a little moving. And adding sections for photos and resources.

A dip in the archives

Elsewhere on social media people have been putting up black and white photos of themselves from better times. Here's mine, a proper portrait taken by professional photographer Stella in her home in 2014. One of my favourites.

Sue x

 

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Ieri sera sono caduta dalle scale e mi sono stortata la caviglia. Non posso camminare e dunque dovrò rimanere in casa per qualche giorno. Però, in questi giorni brutti, non è che ci sia molto da fare fuori di casa! La foto in bianco e nero è un ricordo di tempi migliori. 

Il 25 gennaio è un giorno di festa in Scozia dove si mangia la specialità nazionale, stomaco di pecora riempita di coratella trita. Viene portata in tavola al suono della cornamusa, che è uno strumento possentissimo e, secondo me, non idoneo agli spazi intimi come una sala da pranzo! Però la tradizione è quella.

Sue x

Cautiously optimistic

I am pleased to hear that the new man in Washington acted immediately to end discrimination against LGBT people and that the White House website has reinstated its LGBT pages that were wiped as soon as Trump came to power. It seems the new president will also end the ban on trans people in the US military any day now. This can only be good news for the trans community in the USA and help influence other governments too. This time four years ago I expressed forebodings about Trump's regime (Farewell Mr Obama) but it turned out worse than I (or anyone else) expected. Trans people deserve a break from the hate and need time to recover and build. I am optimistic.

I used to work in government, until it dawned on me that the main purpose of government is to brutalise. Authority is an imposition that plays on fear and hope in similar measure. It's bullying by another name. Who you are or what you do is usually subject to approval from callous officials and narcissistic politicians who change outlook and attitude in pursuit of their careers. I have some sickening stories involving some pretty evil people from my days in the ministries in London. Next hallowe'en I might sit you down by the fire and tell you them. Brrr!

I am trans because that is how nature made me, yet getting professional help or public recognition or avoiding discrimintion involves the intervention of government that will either help or harm depending on the prejudices of its members, its staff and its voters. In 2018 I wrote this post explaining why I won't approach doctors or clinics about being trans (Why I won't ask my doctor ... ). Following the Trump experience, and Britain's chaos and discrimination in the last 5 years, and the genuine possibility of fascism returning to Italy, one has to be cautious and not hope, assume or rely on governments to act or continue to act in our interests. In relative terms, news from Washington is good, at least for another four years. 

What makes me most hopeful for the trans future, though, is that a young generation has been growing up with far fewer prejudices about gender and sexuality than there used to be. And simply making our presence known by being out, by being visible, makes people aware that we are just trying to get on in life like anyone else. We haven't yet reached critical mass to ensure that being trans is no longer something to discuss but is just accepted, but slowly we'll get there. So the shift in US government policy is another small step in the right direction.

 

A dip in the archives

This illustrated article from The Paris Review about a short-lived trans magazine in Weimar Germany, The Third Sex, is worth reading. It also shows how some found their true selves under one regime ... only to lose that opportunity under another.

A Lost Piece of Trans History

 

Sue x
 

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Il cambio di governo negli Stati Uniti rappresenta una vera inversione di rotta e un futuro più sicuro per il mondo transgender. Però la crisi di governo qui in Italia mi preoccupa. Troppo spesso la nostra vita è ingiustamente condizionata da chi si trova al potere invece di essere trattata come un fenomeno naturale e normale.

Sue x

 

 

One tube or two? The skirts vs trousers debate

 Every so often I do a survey of what women are wearing. I mean real women out and about, not the styles that magazines and TV promote. This month I've been comparing the numbers who wear skirts/dresses to those who wear some form of trouser/pant, an exercise I've done several times before just to see the actual popularity of each.

It's not looking good for TGirl style choices! Of 59 women in my part of town one day last week, just 3 were wearing skirts/dresses. All the others were wearing trousers, jeans, leggings, ski-pants, etc. i.e. twin leg garments of one sort or another. Similarly, a survey of 76 women in the town centre gave just 3 in skirts/dresses. About 40 others near home yesterday revealed just 2.

This is totally unscientific, of course. There will be more dresses on a summer's day than in the depths of winter, more skirts in a business district or a trendy shopping street. But the point I am making is that, in a typical town in the Western world, women are dressing ever more in items that were once the preserve of men.

I do these little surveys not just so that I stay abreast of fashion choices but also because I feel that a lot of TGirls who want to be out in public are often out of touch with what women actually wear. The very short skirt or the twin set and pearls so beloved of many TGirls are just not reality. That's not to say you can't wear them - far be it from me to suggest you shouldn't be free to do anything that causes no harm - but if you aren't going to the club then leave that knockout minidress and killer heels at home; if you are in the supermarket then those elbow-length gloves are probably not suitable (although great for warmth when rummaging in the freezer chest); if you are on the bus then your suspenders shouldn't be on display. (Incidentally, pretty much the only people who wear stockings and suspenders these days are 'glamour' models and TGirls.) I have always felt that there is a right place for wearing certain items and a wrong place but, inevitably, TGirls who venture out only occasionally will want to wear that little something that's sexy or snazzy whilst they are out to make the most of limited T time - kill two birds with one stone, in other words - but the fact is they can often end up looking very odd and out of place. They don't pass.* That may not matter and they may like the attention. But on the whole, being taken for and treated as a woman is often the most important thing for many MtF trans people. It's certainly true for me. 

So do check what's appropriate for the season and the location. 

That said, sometimes when I have gone out with female friends they have asked why I have chosen a skirt rather than the more ubiquitous trousers that they also prefer to wear and my answer is twofold: I've been forced into trousers most of my life and something more exclusively feminine is a relief from that; and a skirt enhances my hips and therefore offers a more hourglass shape that would be diminished in trousers, and that helps with passing. These (and the limited time factor above) are significant considerations for MtF trans people.

So it's a compromise between our need to emphasise our femininity and maximise our experience and yet be part of the real world of women. 

Leggings or trousers won't suit every TGirl as they can emphasise a masculine shape that they are trying to hide. I have an advantage in passing in that I am petite and don't have especially masculine shoulders or broad chest or slim hips, but a more masculine shape is inevitably fairly common in our community.

My own compromise is to wear leggings a lot, which are so versatile, being a compromise between trousers and tights and therefore go with tops of all sorts. They have been the most popular item for the last 30 years and although you can go wrong, it's not often. My post "Stockings of sorts..." the other week shows some leggings styles, with dresses or tunics (Stockings (of sorts) and other leg styles). But if you can wear jeans or trousers cut in women's style without compromising your need to appear and feel feminine then do go for those.

Here is a small number of photos of my forays into twin-tubes, mainly hits (I think) and one fail.

Tunic dress, leggings, ankle boots. Couldn't be simpler or more contemporary.

Leggings with long boots, short black jersey skirt, T-shirt, short coat and scarf, ideal for a winter's day

Slacks and tunic top. Again a very simple casual style both indoors and out in spring or autumn.

Skinny jeans, tunic top and ballet flats. Very much the style in 2013 although the emphasis on very long jeans legs, giving most wearers a rumpled ankle, is not my favourite look

Straight-leg jeans with pink cotton top and ankle boots. (Oh, and a giant horse!)

 

Puffer coat and leggings with ankle boots. Now, the coat makes the upper body look bulkier and therefore more masculine. A skirt would have counteracted that. Instead I wore figure-hugging leggings with just a sweater (under the coat) and these emphasise the upper bulk even more. What's more, being very cold, I wore thick tights under the leggings and so two lots of elastane (Lycra) fibre created a sheen that made it look like I was wearing shiny disco pants. Yes, disco pants made a comeback in the 2010s, but the funky look isn't really what I was aiming for on this day of sightseeing. So here's a warning about how you can defeminise yourself and be out of place unintentionally.

Apart, perhaps, from the last, these looks all work well in an everyday out-and-about context. I try to pass so that I have a better chance of being treated as a woman, and what I wear is an important factor in that success. I do feel that more TGirls could leave off the minskirts, the jazzy tights or the out-of-date styles and embrace the realities of contemporary womenswear, subject to the caveats above.

* Passing for female and whether it's that important will be the subject of another post soon. 

 

A dip in the archives

Well, it's 8 years since the "Nottingham Invasion" started up as a monthly trans event that was intended to get TGirls out into normal clubs and bars rather than just LGBT ones. It was a huge success and this summary of my first night there is one of the most popular posts on my blog:

Nottingham Invasion

 

Sue x

 

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Oggi parlo del fatto che la maggior parte delle donne al giorno d'oggi porta pantaloni di vari tipi. L'idea di così tante donne transgender di portare solo gonne non riflette la realtà della moda femminile contemporanea. Senza compromettere il nostro desiderio di essere considerate e trattate come donne, e dunque di non enfatizzare un corpo un po' maschile, si dovrebbe (secondo me) vestirsi in un modo contemporaneo è naturale più che portare roba che consideriamo femminile ma che non si vede in giro.

Sue x

 

Recognition

 Thanks again to Anuj and his team at Feedspot for including my blog in their "Top 100 Transgender Blogs" for another year. I notice that Sue's News and Views is also listed among their "Top 50 Trans Woman Blogs, Websites and Influencers" as well. 

Click on the medal (right) or the links below for this useful resource and to see the other listed blogs, vlogs, forums and journals that all offer an authentic examination of trans life, whether personal or general.

Top 100 Transgender Blogs

Top 50 Transwoman Blogs 

You can also link to some of their recommended blogs on my blogroll on the right: YATGB, Femulate, Hannah McKnight, Male Femme, From "Me" to "Mandy" (and Mandy's Miscellany), KD's Blog (and KD's Life and Ramblings). The Bobbysox Blog is one of Feedspot's Top 70 Crossdressing Blogs (Top 70 Crossdressing Blogs). All highly recommended (or they wouldn't be here!)

Thanks also to other umbrella sites like T-Central, a similarly useful but wholly trans-related listing of active blogs and other resources:

T-Central 

In a world where, just for example, three-quarters of news on Covid-19 has been found to be false or misleading, resources like this serve to provide links to the genuine lived experience of trans people or their parents, help from allies and reports by responsible media organisations. A much needed injection of truth in an online and media world that's often distorted.

So, thanks for the accolades, Feedspot. 

Just think, I now have more online presence then even the President of the United States! 😉

 

Updating

I've been planning for a while to include a proper gallery of photos to this blog, various updates and links to more resources. More news on that as it happens.

A dip in the archives

Here's a photo from late autumn 2010 when I went out in Milton Keynes, UK, with friends. Later that evening we went to Pink Punters nightclub, which was a good venue for TGirls to meet at. We went there quite a lot in our early days out. Fun times.

(l-r) Maddy, Josie, Dee, Sandy, Bobby, Tiff, Gayna, Ange, Jo and me

 

Sue x

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Sono contenta che questo blog sia stato di nuovo selezionato tra i migliori in lingua inglese. In un mondo ormai dominato dai "fake news", vi presento invece le mie vere esperienze vissute da donna e i miei sentimenti e pensieri sinceri sulla vita transgender, senza falsità. 

Pensate, in questo momento ho una presenza sul web più diffusa e rispettata persino di quella del presidente degli Stati Uniti!

Sue x

 

Which half of the woman?

 The classic stage magician trick of sawing a woman in half is 100 years old this week and Britain's Magic Circle has a celebration that you can view online this coming Sunday. More info in this article: Sawing People in Half

I'd have thought the trick was older, but apparently not. When I was little we had a bookcase near the dining table that had all the odd-sized and unusual books that didn't seem to go anywhere else. One of these was Hopkins' Magic, a Victorian manual on stage illusions. It was fascinating and not a little creepy as men in top hats and moustachios did apparently dangerous stuff to becorseted ladies. Some of the more memorable pictures are below

 

Aimée the Human Fly. I always felt more secure when I turned the book upside down.

Creepy clown executioner. No sleep for you tonight, kiddie.

The levitating lady

The disappearing lady, still visible

The disappearing lady ... disappears

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mind is keen to see the coming Magic Circle show, but my legs have just walked out in protest!

This news did make me wonder, then as now, whether if you cut a trans person in half would you get one bit that's male and one bit that's female? The answer is, I think, no, despite the trans experience sometimes being presented that way. How male or female we feel fluctuates, as I've often said before; we experience an irregular tide of dysphoria. Whether you feel neither male nor female, or both at once, or only one gender, or mixed is something that varies between each of us, and varies for each one of us over time. My femininity is important to me, and when I present female I go the whole hog, as it were. Because of skin problems, I've had at times been unable to wear makeup, but presenting as a sort of androgynous person doesn't work for me in that it's not 'me'. When I have to present as male I do wear clothing sold in the women's departments, but I'm acting male and expecting to be taken as such. Frankly, being trans is messy. No neat divisions like Paul Daniels achieves on stage. For me it really has to be the whole Debbie McGee for me to feel 'right'. It'll be different for you. 

By the way, nice costume. (Oh, this old thing!)

A hug to the suffering

I can't pass over the ongoing suffering occasioned by Covid-19 and if you are struggling in any way I am sending you a hug. 

I am upset by the additional suffering caused to so many by bad governments and malign leaders. It takes quite an effort to be rid of these people. I wish there were easy answers.

A dip in the archives

Continuing the Victorian theme above, you may like this illustrated article on Victorian gender fluidity.

Gender fluid Victorians

 

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Oggi chiedo se si può dividere una persona transgender in parti uguali, maschio e femmina. Non credo, perché (almeno per me) la nostra percezione della nostra maschilità e femminilità fluttua tanto. Per me è importante essere trattato come una donna quando mi presento da donna e, benché io sia sempre trans, mi sento completa solo quando mi si può distinguere come donna.

 

Sue x

 

 

Stockings (of sorts) and other leg styles

I pulled down my stocking and found ... some sweets!

Well, it wasn't a proper stocking, it was an Epiphany stocking, like a Christmas stocking but redeemable on January 6th. In a lot of countries Epiphany is a public holiday and commemorates the story of the three kings bringing gifts to baby Jesus, hence the sweets. Here in Italy it used to be that kids got their presents delivered into their stockings on Twelfth Night by a kindly witch called Befana, rather than by Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Naturally, the Americanised Christmas has taken over and Befana is a now lesser gift to end the Christmas season.

I've been in France several times in January and they have rather a nice tradition of an Epiphany dinner ending with an almond cake that contains a bean (usually made of porcelain) and whoever gets the bean in their slice gets to be queen or king of the festivities and chooses a queen or king consort.

Fellow bloggerette Lynn was complaining of the long road through January, but in Britain and more secular countries all the winter festivals bar Christmas and New Year have been lost, whereas here we have December 8th, January 6th and a host of other major public events, from carnival (February 14th - 16th this year), the music festival (March 2nd - 6th), the cycle race (March 20th), before easter comes. Less chance for boredom and winter blues to set in.

So I'm sorry if you clicked on my post hoping to see me in sexy stockings ... you'll have been disappointed. However, I also had a query about leggings and will do a leggings lookbook soon, but I would like to put up photos for the friend who asked to see how a short dress works with and without them. It's a style that was especially popular 5-10 years ago, a little less so now, but still perfect for spring and summer.

 

Long-sleeved tee and leggings. Simple but effective.

The same dress with light leggings/footless tights

Black floral dress with sheer tights

 

 

 

 

 

 

Floral dress with leggings

The same floral dress with sheer tights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me this was something of a signature look at the time.

 

Musical interlude: Prisoner of Gender

Much as I would like to comment on the world situation, it would be better to keep this post more relevant to a trans blog as, quite frankly, I'm sure most readers are more than fed up by what's going on. 

This song, "Prisoner of Gender" by Adèle Anderson of the Fascinating Aida trio, has been in my mind this week:

Prisoner of Gender

The introductory speech by Dillie Keane on Adèle's bravery in being publicly out about her trans status and the trust within the group is worth listening to as well as the song.

A dip in the archives

Lots of past photos above, but given that, until today, there was nothing but heavy rain from New Year on, I thought I'd put up this picture from three years ago. The rain's all right if you cover up! But this was taken in London, where rain is all part of the winter traditions (and the summer ones too!)

 

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 Volevo parlare un po' della situazione internazionale ma sono sicura che ne siete già proprio stanchi. Dunque oggi ho deciso di condividere delle foto, e parlare un po' delle tradizioni che non esistono nel mondo inglese. Pensate, in Inghilterra non c'è nemmeno un giorno di festa e nessun evento tra capodanno e pasqua. L'inverno è lungo lì!

 

Sue x

The new and the ongoing

 

 Happy New Year! 

I hope 2021 is good for you. OK, I know the world is not functioning normally because of this pandemic so there's a lot of hope in that wish, but I think we all feel things are going to improve.

Stay safe, get vaccinated when available and don't listen to the ignorant. I've just read a novel* set around 1630 when plague devastated Europe. And how was it combated? By social distancing, by quarantine, by restricting travel and avoiding assemblies. Tried and tested methods. They didn't have such effective medicines or any vaccines, but we do, so get vaccinated. Any risks from a vaccine are far lower than the long-term, deadlier risks from this disease.

* I Promessi sposi (The Betrothed) by Alessandro Manzoni (1842), possibly the most famous novel written in Italian, set in the Duchy of Milan in 1628-30. It tells of wedding plans interrupted by the scheming of a local nobleman and what happened as a result. A beautiful story beautifully told.

 

Resolutions

I'm sticking with my New Year Resolution from 1997: I am a trans woman and every day I embrace my femininity in some tangible way. I dress as a woman, wear perfume, paint my nails, read women's magazines and chick lit, go out or online as Sue, decorate my home with flowers and pretty things, etc. Whatever the world says, or much of my body might suggest, I am a woman and I manifest it every day. I wrote about this resolution here:

Those biggest resolutions

Here's the photo I've chosen for my 2021 avatar:

 

Blog

Last year, like a lot of people, I had far more time to write my blog and I see that increase continuing in 2021. In mid-2019 I did wonder if there was scope for an English language trans blog from someone who no longer lived in an English-speaking country. But there is a lot to talk about in terms of trans news and a lot that I have wanted to write about and have never managed to. In this 700th anniversary of Dante's death I might tackle the subject that is still painful even half a lifetime later, which is the religious pressures I had on my trans life as a young person. Not exactly a Divine Comedy, it has to be said.

 

The third ring of the seventh circle of Hell in Dante's universe, where the "violent against nature" are rained on by fire. Although not specified, it is the most likely place where transgender people end up after death according to late medieval Christian theology. The Abrahamic religions have progressed a little since 1300 but there is still a very long way to go. One of Gustave Doré's famous set of 19th Century illustrations for The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri of Florence (1265-1321).

 

And talking of great Italians, I am getting (indeed, have always had) some readers from Italian speaking countries and will be adding a paragraph in Italian at the end of my blog entries. I've been living in Italy for over two years now.

A dip in the archives

I thought I'd share a post from January 2012 by way of complete contrast with January 2021 when going out is difficult. Not dissimilar to my description of sales shopping with friends in my last post, this includes a trip to the cinema. This shows how comfortable I had become living life as a woman and doing normal stuff.

First outing of the year

 

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 Vi auguro un felice anno nuovo. Speriamo che nel 2021 tutto vada veramente bene, soprattutto con l'eliminazione di questa malattia che ci ha fatto tanto tribolare. 

Aggiungerò qualche paragrafo in italiano ad ogni pagina futura, però questo rimarrà un blog scritto per la maggior parte in inglese. Chiedetemi pure spiegazioni nei commenti.

Fra poco aggiornerò la pagina biografica ("About") con dettagli su di me in italiano. Per adesso, basta dire che sono una ragazza transgender che si è spostata da Londra alla Provincia di Imperia, che cerca amiche e che vorrebbe anche qualche consiglio sulla vita transgender in Italia.

 

Sue x