Pride Month - positive press pages

 Certain parts of the world have noisy, aggressive politicians and opinionated media who are transphobic. Other places are improving and supporting trans rights. A few positive examples culled from my reading just this week:-

 

Daily press: transition assistance triples 

In Italy's north-west coastal province of Savona, inquiries to Arcigay (the national LGBT support society) about social and medical transition have tripled in the last four years. In response to this, dedicated medical services are becoming available in local hospitals. Up to now people have had to go to the main hospital in the regional capital, Genoa. There has also been an increase in requests for information from teachers and schools on how best to assist trans students. 

Trans rights are strongly protected by law in Italy, provided you are transitioning. So work still needs to be done to improve trans rights outside the officially recognised transition route. Whilst transitioning in a big city is less socially fraught, Arcigay are seeing how trans people in isolated mountain communities can be better assisted.

(Interestingly, the Arcigay enquiry centre in Savona is financially supported by the Waldensian Church through monies derived from charitable tax relief. The main protestant movements like Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism arose in the 16th century but the Waldensians are a much older, deriving from Waldo of Lyons in the 12th Century. Despite many attempts to suppress them through violence, as happened to other proto-protestant movements like the Albigensians in France and the Hussites in Bohemia, the Waldensians have kept going, mainly here in the Alps. English poet John Milton's famous sonnet, On the Late Massacre in Piedmont ("Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints ...") is about one such Waldensian genocide in 1655. Maybe it's this history of persecution that makes them support other oppressed groups like trans people. Anyway, it makes a nice contrast to the frothing transphobia of our local Roman Catholic bishop.)

 

Fashion press: Elle magazine

I have praised this mainstream women's magazine many times on my blog. It is regularly, consistently and unequivocally pro-trans, with frequent articles dedicated to trans matters. 

This week, Elle Italia has an interview with US-Chilean trans actress, Lux Pascal, especially on her last film role in Queen of Coal, a biopic about Carlita Rodriguez, the first trans woman to be a coal miner in Patagonia in a totally male dominated industry.

 

Science press

This month's Le Scienze, which is the Italian edition of Scientific American, and its sister publication Mind on neuroscience and psychology, have three relevant articles. 

One is a long piece on vocal cord defects of all kinds. There is a very nicely written page on the different vocal cord modification procedures for trans men and trans women. The tone is as matter-of-fact yet compassionate, as it is when describing other forms of dysphonia (i.e. when your voice goes wrong) and the treatments available. Trans is a thing and science treats it as such.

Another article is short but interesting summary of a study concluding that in queer relationships, communication is key. Nothing new there as far as cis and straight people are concerned, but trans and gay people often assume that if they are with someone like them then the communication battle is half won by their both having a similar queer experience. This is a bad assumption as, in fact, queer relationships have fewer standard scripts to rely on than cis/straight ones as each queer couple is, in many respects, breaking new ground.

Finally, there is a drama initiative in the mountain province of Biella in Northern Italy to help address young people's issues. The young actors are invited to ad lib and act spontaneously rather then follow a set script and directions. This has created much more real and immediate drama. Some of the issues include gender non-conformity. Actors and audience have described a visceral reaction against misgendering, even though here it's fictional. There's nothing like showing bare abuse for what it really is.

 

So there you have some pro-trans stories from my press cuttings this week. It's all steady, solid, accepting, even practical support in the print press, which is a shot in the arm, at least for this trans woman. I have some positive items from the world of arts and music to come in due course.

 

Preparing for summer

I continue to lose weight, I am getting tanned and I am looking forward to the outdoor swimming pool opening in a few days. To avoid any dysphoria like I suffered last year, I have made sure I am fully epilated (but I will take off this nail varnish). I'm still experimenting with new looks, nails and makeup - more on that soon.

I have also been doing a lot of gardening. My olive tree - now five years old - looks like it will have quite a crop of olives this year. And I've been admiring the lanes with their prickly pears in flower:

 

Pretty but dangerous. Maybe that's how we need to be! Happy Pride Month. 

Sue x

Listen to your body

 I thought a lot about whether to post something this personal. But I am going to.

I had to talk a lot last month about dysphoria as it's been affecting me way more than usual. Thank you again for your kind support. With the heatwave, I've been living mainly in swimwear or very light tees so my breasts, which have been expanding again this year, are very visible. I'm delighted with the extra boobage but, perhaps not surprisingly, I'm rather self-conscious about it, too. The left breast seems slightly bigger than the right, which is fine as asymmetry is normal enough, but what is puzzling (and delighting) me is that they are not the breasts of a woman of my (fairly advanced) years, which usually sag, but are rather perky and springy. Yay!

 

Not me, but an aspirational version of me. (Photo: Daniel Narsco)

 

I assumed that this sudden bout of gender dysphoria, or even body dysmorphia, was because the heatwave had brought a vast army of nubile, scarcely-clad women to the seaside here all at once. Irritatingly, I'd made my decision not to epilate so the contrast between the femininity around me and my current fuzz made it worse.

A four-hour train journey the other night, during which I felt a slight ache in my breasts that so characterised my original breast growth in 2010, set me thinking how my body has been a strong driver of my trans life. 

I will put here something that I have never mentioned before as it is very personal, perhaps unusual (I've not heard any trans person refer to a similar experience) and I've never been sure that I would be believed, but this is a transgender blog and so it is very relevant. In my 20s I experienced what I can only reasonably describe as period pains, a regular 4-week cycle of abdominal cramping. I became concerned enough to note it down, and so discovered its regularity, and I discussed it with my doctor who not unnaturally assumed it was an intestinal problem ...and I won't go into further details.

I went along with that diagnosis, though, even though my guts weren't the problem, as that was also the time when I was most suppressing my trans nature so any excuse for denial was a good one. I managed to spend over a year not dressing as a woman at all (believe me, that's a long time in Sue World), did a giant purge of my clothes, photos and everything else feminine, and even blocked any thoughts about being trans whenever they arose, which was very hard. I was determined to kill my trans desires off once and for all. 

In the end, though, that suppression exploded ferociously ... and the curious periodic cramps diminished as I finally embraced the knowledge that I was trans and started dressing every day. 

Move on several years and in 2010 my breasts grew suddenly just as I felt a strong need to get out in public dressed at last. And now that I have had a very subdued decade due to ill-health, emigration and so on, my breasts seem to be telling me something again.

I won't speculate on whether it's my body that responds in these very physical ways to a lack of fem time, or whether it drives my femininity in the first place and my need to be a woman, or any other theory. But my body has always been very much a living, responding part of this whole transgender experience of mine. I am curious as to whether anyone else has similar experiences, though I acknowledge that such personal things are not something one likes to talk about in public. I rarely do but here I have bared ... well, my breast! And more. This is a trans blog, so there.

The first thing I did once I'd got home from my train journey, despite its being the small hours of the morning, was paint my nails in clear varnish. I keep my nails long and feminine the way I love them. 

 

I'm now looking through the local directories for a waxing salon as, frankly, I'm not sure this "hairy for summer" idea is working this year. Full retirement is now approaching and then it may finally be time to talk to a doctor directly rather than by-the-by as previously about being trans and all these curious body events of mine. After all, breast screening doesn't seem an unreasonable request now, if nothing else, as I have sufficient breast tissue to be a routine concern. And possibly, just out of curiosity, look into any intersex, genetic, chimeric or similar issues that might be relevant here, which I guess I've not wanted to do before for reasons I'm not totally sure about. I remain very cautious about outing myself to the health authorities, though, given the current trend towards xenophobia all over the world, although things are better in European Union countries than in many other places, hence my move to Italy. (My thinking on this in 2018 is more relevant than ever in the UK, US, Russia and so on).

More developments as they happen, I guess. 

So, if I and my breasts may end this rather serious post in a more light-hearted way in Two Ronnies style, it's goodbye from me ... and it's goodbye from Pinky and Perky.

Sue x 

Body positive (or making a clean breast of it)

 True story. I had a phone number at work that was one digit removed from the Berlei Bras warehouse number and I would regularly get calls from London department stores and lingerie shops wanting to put in large orders. (I mean the orders were large, not the bras.) Sometimes the callers wouldn't check they were through to the right people and would rattle off the lists of pink French lace 40DDs and push-up Eye-Popper™enhancer bras before I could correct them.

My colleagues thought this was funny every time. But it was music to my trans ears, I can tell you. One cheeky co-worker asked me if Berlei Bras were for burly girls. If only she knew!

One day, following an apology from the shop buyer at the other end when she realised her mistake, my tongue disconnected from my brain and I said, "That's OK, we all make boobs."

I was so embarrassed! It just came out unconsciously. That is what comes from watching too much of the Two Ronnies and Dick Emery as a youngster. They say television corrupts the young ... and they're damned right!

Anyway, the point of resurrecting this story is that I seem to have been making boobs ... my real ones. My breasts first appeared in 2010. A classic case of gynecomastia. They came quite fast, they ached quite a bit and a female friend of mine said that's what happens when a girl goes through puberty. That was when I was first getting out of the closet and going out into the world. I wondered if the gynecomastia was psychosomatic, but since it's a very common condition, it may be just have been coincidence. Or my body was changing and the enhanced trans visibility was an unconscious response to that. Who knows. 

So I was happy enough with my A-cup. It was pretty affirming, and I wore breast forms or used various enhancer bras, even the explosive type, to get that ideal shape. But recently, despite losing a lot of weight and expecting my breasts to reduce accordingly, they actually seem to have expanded. I don't properly fill a B-cup but it's harder to add extra leverage in the cup than there used to be. I'm quite pleased with this new development. I hope it will continue. 

To B or not to B, that is the question.

And that brings me nicely to the next body positive event which is my return to a stricter slimming regime after the excesses of the summer - or rather the loss of control over food preparation, which always happens on holiday. Last winter (November to April) I lost 32 pounds. This time I want to complete the job by losing 28 pounds (12.7 kg) by the end of April. That's a pound a week, which should be easy enough. It will bring me well within my healthy weight range and will let me get back into those little dresses I used to love wearing.

Last week I lost 3 lb or 1.4 kg. A good start. Wish me luck.

I'm also setting time aside each and every weekend to epilate fully. It was a bit hit and miss before. Sheer tights over freshly smoothed legs feel wonderful and make the whole palaver worthwhile.

Kids' TV / TV kids

Talking of television influences on children, I was sorry to read of the recent death of actor and voice-over artist David Graham who did so many of the voices for children's TV shows, including Dr Who's nemesis, the Daleks, and Gerry Anderson's brilliant puppet series Thunderbirds where he voiced the genius Brains and, most famously, Parker, who was butler and chauffeur to Lady Penelope. Graham was 99 so we have to say he'd had a long and well-filled life. Rest in peace and thanks for the brilliant entertainment.

I had a real crush on Lady Penelope and wanted to marry her. To be fair, she's beautiful, intelligent and rich. And she has a pink Rolls-Royce! But I was told the pre-nuptial agreement would have too many strings attached. :-p

As if that wasn't enough, here's my age-old joke about Parker and Lady Penelope:

"Parker," Lady Penelope said, "Take off my dress."

"Yes, M'lady," said the obedient servant. And soon the dress was off.

"And now take off my bra."

"Of course, M'lady." And Parker duly fumbled with the clasp.

"Now, Parker, I want you to take my panties off."

The flustered flunkey did as he was bid and dropped the garment at Lady Penelope's feet.

"Now then, Parker," said the mistress, "I'll have to sack you if I ever catch you wearing my clothes again."

Sue x

Getting older (and uglier?)

 Well, my last post certainly seems to have generated a lot of interest, if the infallible Blogger stats machine is anything to go by. 

I guess the styles of our formative years have a bearing on how we see ourselves. Don't get me wrong - I no longer dress like a teenager of the 1980s, fun and desirable though that style may be (or not!), because I am a mature woman of the 2020s so, yes, my leather pants and boho blouse are now 'in' and rara skirts are not. 

I believe trans women are women and should follow contemporary fashion, as any other woman can if she so chooses. I know ultragirly clothes are especially attractive to trans girls as they compensate for years of forced masculinity, but if you want to be treated as a woman then behaving like one is important, and that includes style, which is always a key signal to others of one's own intent. Should you dress as a polka-dot goth lolita if you want to? Absolutely! But you will get noticed, which is fine if you like that, but if you're like me and would rather get on with life without being pestered or pointed out as someone odd then it's better to blend in and appear in something similar to what other women around you are wearing. 

I'm not sure that the ubiquitous 'casual' style of the moment is that great, although it can at least be cheap and easy to wear. But I am becoming very conscious that I am getting older, less flexible, more tired and it's a struggle for my face to look anything other than flabby and wrinkly. Losing weight fast has, I think, left me with wobblier skin on my face. I don't like how I am looking in photos any more - it's hard to take a good picture now that doesn't make me look jowly. It bothers me a lot because it's giving away more than I would like - no, not so much that I am aging but that I have had the crushing disadvantage of having had to go through male puberty and the damage to my femininity that results from that.

A lovely trans friend has emailed me saying how ugly she is -  according to her, at least, and to the nasty folk she seems to insist on listening to. Actually, she is gorgeous, with beautiful natural blonde hair and a lovely mouth and cute eyes and I would love to have even half the pretty features she has. But I can't easily reassure my friend of her beauty when I am having doubts about mine. It's hard not to feel that ugliness has set into my features as time has passed. Again, I don't have the natural advantage of as much female hormonal development as other women and that's bothering me more than before.

As for clothes, tottering on five-inch heels is no longer my desire - I'm not sure it ever was - but three-inch is still tolerable. Elasticated waists are a godsend and Lycra smooths out so much.

I did ask my genetic female friends recently about what I should change in my style so as to represent my aging better, in terms of hair, makeup and clothes, and they said that these days it's the thing for a woman to dress younger, to colour her hair and to wear it how she wants. Hearing that was encouraging as I have long since settled on a hairstyle that I love and I think suits me perfectly ("Carrie" in darker tones, by Noriko) and I'd like to keep it.

I do notice mothers and grandmothers in Western Europe dressing similarly to their daughters and granddaughters. Now any age, it seems, can opt for attractive, contemporary and stylish. Gone are the days when old ladies were expected to dress like old ladies! Here on the continent of Europe I notice very many older women (70s/80s) wearing leather leggings, short skirts or brightly coloured shoes. (A small, fluffy, gormless-looking dog carried in a basket or handbag really adds to the look, too!) 

I thought this look might have been a bit too much for a night out last month for a woman approaching retirement but, no, the somewhat seethrough blouse, leather skirt, mesh tights and high boots is perfect now even for a woman of my age. 

So thanks to my friends for their reassurance.

More food festivities

As mentioned last post, it's foodie time on the riviera. 

Roast chestnut festivals are the thing in most of the mountain villages in the province this month with huge smoking braziers in every village square. 

You won't be surprised to hear that pumpkins are being celebrated in various places, too. 

And codfish! Always a traditional staple food, but usually salted or dried. 

Mushrooms continue to abound and I treated myself to these beauties, which I had just cleaned and washed when I took this photo.

I then chopped them smaller and stewed them up with lots of the amazing local garlic from Vessalico (a village up the road that's renowned for its garlic that's twice as spicy as the boring stuff you get in a supermarket), and with the wonderful oil from the local Taggiasca variety of olives, a touch of the local vermentino white wine and my own home-grown parsley, mint and chilli pepper. Fresh local produce pretty much guarantees a delicious dinner.

This girl likes to eat. Thankfully, my clothes have elasticated waistbands and stretchy Lycra these days!

Sue x

Bikini, sunglasses, cool drink, good book ...

 It's officially the first day of autumn tomorrow but, here in the Med, the hot days of the last seven weeks continue unabated. I love the heat, as I've said so often, but even I like a bit of a change to cooler weather, even for just a day or two, from time to time, just for variety (hint). Apart from the wild thunderstorm a fortnight ago, it's been unvarying. So I lie around reading books in my bikini (no, sorry, no photos!). OK, I do other stuff, even the boring washing up (!), but it's not the weather for a lot of exertion. 

My books this week include a gorgeous edition of Jane Austen classic, a horrifying science bestseller (Ultra-Processed People), and a book on LBGT love (Altricorpi) that I mentioned a review of a few weeks ago. I'll talk about the latter two in due course but today, just look at this lovely edition of Sense and Sensibility from Chiltern Publishing:

Being a trans person, as I've said before, is not just about the clothes. My home is full of things that are associated more with femininity than masculinity. That feels right to me. This book is beautifully bound in floral decorated hard covers with gold edging on the pages. It's lovely to read, resting chunkily in the hand, as a real book should. It's not cheap, but it's not expensive either. I also bought their edition of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. It's so lovely in every way that I plan to buy more books from them. And what girl doesn't love a classic romance anyway?

Hot flushes

Thanks to people who commented on my last post about nightwear for hot nights. I must check out menopause nightwear. One of the main reasons I moved from cool, rainy, cloudy Britain to the warmer Mediterranean was because I developed an odd health problem in that I am cold in the day but too hot at night. Upright = cold; horizontal = hot. I've had no end of medical checks to see what's up: could it be a disease like lupus? or a circulation defect? or a vitamin deficiency? No doctor could work it out so in the end they reverted to the centuries-old suggestion of moving to warmer climes, like Robert Louis Stevenson or Paul Gauguin who went to the Pacific in the nineteenth century for similar reasons. Where I live now on the Italian riviera the typical winter temperature is 15C and in summer it's 30C. The lowest I've ever noted is 8C and the highest 36C. That's all fantastic for me, but cooler nights in summer are becoming an issue. 

 

Cute news

The beaches are still pretty full. (And are very regimented here to fit everyone in!)

I treated myself to lunch today at one of my favourite places to eat which has a lovely view within a palm grove.

But the cute news is that leatherback turtles, which are somewhat endangered, have been laying eggs on beaches here for the first time, right among the sunbeds and beach umbrellas. They don't normally do that this far north but global warming has changed their lifestyle patterns. Local environmental agencies provide protection and the eggs are hatching now, the first clutch at Laigueglia a few days ago. It's so lovely to see all the little turtles hurrying to the water as fast as their little flippers will carry them. There's another nest just five miles up the coast and Hatching Day is expected to be on Monday. Here's one video of the recent event.

 

Mama Turtle there got 43 live young and they all made it to the sea. I have no egg-laying capacity, nor even a womb. I wish I did but nature has her inscrutable ways. I wonder if there are trans turtles? Given how many species display trans tendencies, I suspect there are. Anyway, good luck to these little ones in a hostile world. At least they've got a hard shell to protect them. 

Sue x

The good stuff

 For all the noisy transphobia in the more macho yet minority sections of society these days, be it populist politicians, extremist media, radical feminists or kids' fantasy writers, I still perceive increasing understanding and tolerance of trans people in more normal, less deranged groups in society. We trans people worry about the haters but I'd like to note here the positive stuff I've read about just this week alone.

Such as the feature length article in my regular science monthly that has an unbiased explanation of our current understanding of the neurobiology of gender identity. Trans people are not mentally ill and being trans is a real and naturally occurring condition for a portion of the population, and always has been in every age and culture. How might this be brought about by biology, by environment, by conditioning, the article asks? The science is in its early days, but biology not social conditioning is the main player and the article debunks fears of detransition or of teen transgenderism as one form of teen rebellion. And this all being the case, how come trans people are still subject to discrimination? The well-balanced article is by Massimo Sandal, a molecular and computational biologist who is cisgender. There is no English translation to link to and I can't put one up myself for copyright reasons but I mention it as I feel his audience will appreciate the properly scientific approach to the subject.

Or Mexico City's new law against "transfemicide" that aims specifically to tackle the killing of trans people, almost always trans women. A much needed step to reduce violent hate crime.

France 24 article

Guardian UK article

My monthly Italian tourism magazine is recommending a drag queen version of Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard. Chekhov is a great playwright and, well, drag queens like to perform, so it could be a version made in heaven!

 

I also notice a new book, Altricorpi ("Other bodies") by Paolo Armelli, published by Blackie, about finding love in the queer community in an age when love and its pursuit is both changing and flexible. And not just romantic love but acceptance. It looks like a vast range of contemporary experience is covered, whilst referencing past lives, such as that of Julius Caesar, "the world's most famous bisexual". Well, I did know Caesar had certain bedfellows who were politically useful, although I suspect he'll always be better known for clobbering Gauls and invading Britain. But anyway.

 

The review of this I have been reading is in the Sunday supplement to my regular newspaper, which has always treated LGBT themes as a normal part of human life.

A bit of positivity helps us along.

Have a good weekend.

Sue x

Influential allies

 For every transphobe, there are a dozen allies.

I was about to sit down and pen this post last night when all the lights went out. There was a blackout of the whole area and while it lasted it was actually quite nice to have dinner by candlelight and see other homes with just a similar flicker in their windows. Strangely, at the same time, the fire brigade came to put out a small fire that had broken out in the telephone exchange opposite. And when I got to my laptop it had somehow got zapped, presumably in some pre-blackout surge and wouldn't work properly. Thankfully, it seems OK now. What a weird evening!

In a world where crazed men like Putin make promoting the international LGBT "movement" (as he calls it) very illegal, with penalties similar to those for murder for people and organisations supporting LGBT rights, you do wonder what we are coming to. But then Putin is rather obviously on the wrong side of history. And there's little doubt that many governments are trying to focus public disaffection about high living costs and other failings onto people other than themselves, such as refugees or minorities like us. For every act of hate, though, I continually see endless open support for LGBT people from influential quarters. All this year I have been able to report on art exhibitions, media promotions and news that shows trans people in a positive light or how they are mistreated and shouldn't be.

This week the monthly health supplement to my daily broadsheet newspaper has a four-page spread on the research into the Y chromosome that suggests its inherent weakness and uncertainty over whether it actually promotes masculinity as previously thought, and on human gender variety being normal and to be expected.

The Pope, leader of a religion that has been an inveterate enemy of ours for centuries, tells his peers to go easy on LGBT people. Maybe he's realising that his church's intrasigence and intolerance are putting people off.

Doctor Who, an amazingly popular and influential Sci-Fi TV show that has been running for sixty years, has a trans character, Rose (played by a trans actress Yasmin Finney), and the show's writer and producer, Russel T Davies, described transphobes thus: "there are some people who are full of absolute hate and venom and destruction and violence and would like to see that sort of thing wiped off the screen entirely... Shame on you and good luck to you in your lonely lives." High-profile actor David Tennant, one of the many who has played the Dr Who character, has been a ferocious trans ally for a long time.

I also enjoyed this article in the UK's Independent newspaper about a trans woman's major influence on the microchip revolution and how she overcame prejudice: Lynn Conway. Well done to her. Now, Lynn, about my laptop going weird on me last night ...

These are just the most obvious pro-trans items I have come across this week alone. It's the same every week. I don't despair yet, though I know we have a fight on our hands. Thanks once again to allies and supporters who keep pushing back against the hate, prejudice and ignorance.

Weight loss

I had hope to lose a bit more weight in November but I made the mistake of eating a chocolate sponge pudding on Thursday and that wrecked my losing streak. Chocolate, the devil of devils! Anyway, in November I lost 9 pounds overall, so I have 41 to lose by May. Still, that's a good loss and I'm not complaining. 

A dip in the archives

Here's another photo from my old memory card. Did they name the street after me? Or do I just gravitate vainly to where I will be recognised?

Manchester, 2014.

Sue x

They

 A modern day follow-on from the previous post... An animal species discovered in 2021 has been given a non-binary scientific name, in honour of a gay activist. 

Scientific names for living creatures are Latin and may have an -ae ending if named in honour of women and an -i ending if named after men or groups of people. This animal, Strumigenys ayersthey, has the unique suffix -they, which breaks with this tradition. It is an ant from Ecuador. I'm not putting up a photo of it as it's not very pretty!

It's been named after US artist and gay activist Jeremy Ayers (who passed away in 2016) so as to honour his LGBT activism and the non-binary community. 

Maybe there will be more such uses. Let's hope scientists find something cuddly for the next name.

Incidentally, on the subject of they pronouns, the museum mentioned in my last post isn't using "she/her" pronouns, as widely reported, but "they/them". I've added a paragraph to this effect but it does illustrate my point that if respected modern sources can't report today's news accurately, what hope do we have of being certain of the past as presented by poisoned or prejudiced sources.

Weight loss

Now news of that curious amorphous creature, Blobella susannae. This week I have lost just short of a pound, so we're heading in the right direction still, but I've not lost anything like as much as last week. 

I notice that losing weight usually goes in steps, not steadily, and not necessarily for any discernible reason. So big drops are followed by plateaux. This week's a gently sloping plateau. Next week I want a cliff edge!

So far I've lost 10½ pounds in four weeks. I'm very pleased with that. I'll try to make it 11 by the end of the month. And then lose as much as possible before the dreaded Christmas blowout!

Sue x

Trans positive performing arts and sciences

 I went to Liverpool with a friend the other day. We saw a bit of the Walker Art Gallery but mainly the World Museum, which is like a smaller version of the Natural History Museum and British Museum in London. Both Liverpool museums are free (and I hope the London ones still are). It was half term and so the World Museum was full of children, especially where there were dinosaurs to see. We all love dinosaurs!

But I was particularly struck by an exhibit in the aquarium, which was about LGBT creatures, like gay penguins and gender flexible fish. I though the lesbian, trans and other flags in the backdrop were irrelevant to the animals concerned, and rather anthropomorphised them, but education on the realities of the world is what museums should be about so I was very pleased to see the feature. Children will go away more knowledgeable and aware that being trans or gay is natural and is observable all over the world.

I was also encouraged by the support I read in Musicals magazine this month. I do like stage musicals. I guess the campness and spectacle has always appealed and it's clear that the LGBT community has always provided a very significant portion of the performers, producers and backers.

In Britain alone, musicals currently or recently on that are about trans, gay or drag subjects include Everybody's Talking About Jamie, La Cage aux Folles (just ended), Mrs Doubtfire, Hairspray (that traditionally has a drag role) and, of course, the Rocky Horror Show. 

Lisa Martland (founder and editor of Musical Theatre Review) ended her review of La Cage aux Folles thus:

La Cage is often complimented for the razor-sharp wit of Fierstein's book, the memorable anthemic tunes from Herman, and the eye-catching drag queens - and all of those elements are here. But most important of all is the message that if a life is lived with kindness, care and tolerance, then no-one has the right to respond to that with prejudice and hate.

Sadly, in the light of recent homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, this show is as relevant now as it ever was.

That really struck a chord with me not only because of the unequivocal support from this kind ally but because La Cage means a lot to me personally. I saw a London production of it in 2009 with the superb Roger Allam in the role of Albin/Zazar at just the time when I was getting serious about coming out and living openly as a trans woman.

"I am what I am", the show's best-known number, was almost anthemic for me at the time. Here's my favourite version, sung for Harvey Fierstein by Ginger Minj:

 

Most musicals are uplifting and the others I've mentioned are also about overcoming prejudice to be oneself. "Don't dream it, be it." Ah yes, the ever wise Dr Frank N. Furter there!

 

Packed and ready to go

I've packed my bags and I'll be leaving England tomorrow to return to my home in Italy. All shoes except the booties pictured in my last post are in my cases. And there are all sorts of pretty goodies alongside them. I'm glad to have my own stuff again.

Sue x

Pizza, apes and aliens

 Pretty much since starting this blog I have been trying to get my weight down. But recent visits by two friends and all the eating out that that entailed has made me balloon again. They both loved the authentic pizzas to be had round here but there is probably no food known to man that is more fattening. Now that I am in control of my meals again I have managed to get back on track but it's amazing just how much weight you can put on with just a few days of overindulgence! I have to admit, it was good, though!

I still want to get into those little black dresses I used to be able to wear. So the battle of the bulge continues.

Ape gender

I have felt for a very long time that being transgender is an inherent part of certain people's biological makeup. No matter what I or most of my trans friends have ever done to try to stamp out this tendency so as to conform better with modern Western society has ever worked. My body developed predominantly masculine traits, but my gender identity has always been feminine. But a hunch is not the same as certainty so I try to find evidence to support this feeling.

I am reading Frans de Waal's brand new book Different: Gender through the Eyes of a Primatologist. De Waal is a leading biologist who popularised the name bonobo as an alternative to pygmy chimpanzee for that species closely related to ours that, unlike the patriarchal and rather violent world of the chimpanzee, has a matriarchal society that tends to reduce conflict and increase social cohesion by maternal care and free sex throughout life. This has led male-dominated academic institutions and religious leaders to froth at the mouth since bonobo life flies in the face of centuries of belief that males are dominant in animal societies and (therefore by natural right) in human ones. This book is specifically about gender and I may comment more fully when I have finished it but what I have read so far seems encouraging. It joins an increasing number of recent publications by biologists that suggest that gender identity develops separately from one's biological sex. Whilst many trans people might say "well, yeah" at that, it's important to have evidence to support such notions, hence the worth of modern scientific methods in drawing conclusions from real-life observations of how living things actually work, rather than how we'd like them to be. 

Are there primates other than man who can be trans? De Waal seems to have evidence to support the idea.

I've just noticed that Crossdreamers has been reading the book as well and that blog provides some interesting quotes from it.

 

Sex and gender on other worlds

As recommended by Lynn, I am also reading Iain M Banks' 1989 science fiction novel The Player of Games in which changing biological sex is an aspect of life in the Culture. And three sexes, including a dominant cross-sex, is the feature of the Empire the protagonist ends up in. This notion of additional sexes is not new in science fiction. Just for example, in Ursula Le Guin's 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, the inhabitants of Gethen are ambisexual, taking masculine or feminine roles as required. In Isaac Azimov's 1972 novel The Gods Themselves, a species with three sexes has a significant role in the plot. 

The advantage of science or fantasy fiction is that human society, assumptions and outlook can be challenged, in gender as well as in anything else, by describing worlds that operate in different ways. The current restriction on what gender roles may and may not do or be in contemporary society is still largely dictated by the Abrahamic religions; as you head further from the West and the Near and Middle East where these religions dominate, there seems to be a greater acknowledgment of the realities of transgender life. I have been reading science fiction a lot in the last four or five years as it seems to provide a way of expanding outlook in the wake of increasingly restricted views of society perpetrated by a lot of the populist leaders who seem to be cropping up in our world at present.

Sue x