Passing?

[justanormalgirl.livejournal.com]

So I was bus-hopping to save money instead of taking the Greyhound and I went through my home town. I was kinda hoping that someone I knew from high school would get on, but I knew it was unlikely. Well it happened and we got to catch up on each other's lives and talk about people we knew.

I was wearing a trenchcoat that my ex-boyfriend gave me so it wasn't obvious that I had boobs or was wearing a girl's shirt. However, I never have problems passing even if I'm dressed andro and I'm living stealth with three straight girls on-campus and I have a straight boyfriend.

Well, this girl and I talked and it was cool. I didn't tell her that I was now living as a girl, including a name change and everything and she didn't really act like anything was different. I wanted to say something but I didn't have the guts to. She said she was on MySpace (although I have yet to find her) and I decided that I might just send her a message on there about it.

To be fair, I was very effeminate in high school, to the point of camp, and I'd been out as gay since Sophmore year. Perhaps trans women who lived as more masculine men and now live as feminine women have more reactions (or even be not recognizeable) to people who knew them before. With guys, within a year of being on T, nobody would really mistake them for being their old selves (especially if they lived as butches, as most did).

Has this sort of thing ever happened to anyone (of any gender) where you're totally passing as your target gender but then someone who knew you before doesn't even act like there's anything different about you?

A moment of perfect passing

[mistwolf.livejournal.com]

So, my birthday was last week. I had been hoping to maybe get cash as presents from people, enough to get an IPL treatment, but fell well short; we're all pretty skint lately with all the moving and such, so I was neither suprised nor overly dissapointed. So, instead, I used some of what I /did/ get to get a lex wax. I've wanted to do this for a while, I like smooth legs and, really, hairy legs don't help on the passing front. I got done from just above the knee, down to my ankle; I don't have hairy ankles or feet, so we decided it wasn't worth the time.

So she starts doing her thing, spreading on the wax, and chatting to relax me. Talked about moving, about kids, so on, she asked how old my kids were, their names, gave the obligitory compliment on Rhiannon's name (People love her name. I love her name. There's a reason we picked it. :) ).

Then, she notices when she is almost done my first leg, that I don't really seem worried by the pain. She knows it's my first time getting my legs waxed professionally (Rosie did it at home once), and so she was commenting on that. What did she say? Something along the lines of "Well, after having two kids, I guess this is nothing."

I cannot even begin to describe how cool that felt. I felt no urge at all to clarify that Rosie had had the kids, not me. This person, talking with me, hearing my masculine voice, taking the hair off my masculine legs, never once seemed to even think I might be less than normal, or even not born a girl. I rode that high for most of the weekend. :)

Does anyone know about this? Is this a transparent?

[gendercrash.livejournal.com]

Any transgroups in North Carolina? Very concerned if this a a transperson...if folks have any other info besides the news stories please let me know
Thanks

Abduction Suspect's Identity Fools Even Her Children, Feds Say
UPDATED: 12:00 pm EST March 25, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A missing children's case took a strange twist Friday
when authorities said the alleged abductor had disguised herself as a
man -- misleading even the children who had been abducted for nearly
three years.

Two children -- then ages 3 and 5 -- disappeared from their father
from Globe, Ariz., in the summer of 2003. On Friday, officials
received a tip that the children's mother had them in Roanoke Rapids.

U.S. Marshals went to a house there Friday and found the two children.
They arrested Shellie Karnes, 30, who is their mother.

However, authorities said that Karnes was impersonating a man.

"They arrested a man and woman, but as it turns out the man was
impersonating a man who was actually the mother of the children," said
Charles Reavis, a U.S. Marshal. "The children thought the lady who was
representing herself as a man was actually their father and the
children thought the lady in the house was actually the mother."

The other woman who was at the house -- who the children believed was
their mother -- has not been charged.

Trans video short - call for interviews!

[amber-essence.livejournal.com]

"Because anti-trans discrimination is steeped in traditional sexism, it is not simply enough for trans activists to challenge binary gender norms - we must also challenge the idea that femininity is inferior to masculinity and that femaleness is inferior to maleness. In other words, by necessity, trans activism must be at its core a feminist movement"
-Julia Serano

This spring quarter I am working on a 10-minute video piece that will explore themes of sexual inequality from the unique perspective of people that have lived in our society in the roles of both genders, or are in the process of transitioning. I will be working with oral history and will be collecting video interviews during the first 3-4 weeks of spring quarter. The essential question here is: how has life changed during or after transition, and what does that say about our culture/society? What have you lost or given up in this process? Because I am focusing more on how people's lives have changed as a result of being women more than as a result of being trans, I will be focusing mostly on male-to-female transgendered individuals, but this project is open to any and all perspectives.

Like I mentioned, I will be doing interviews during the first 4 weeks of the quarter (April 7-30, mostly on weekends). If you are interested in participating, even if you are not sure, let me know! Even if you're not interested in being recorded, I'd love to hear from you. Email me at rachelkj@gmail.com. As the scope of this project is not huge because of its length, I am looking for people in the Pacific Northwest, mostly in the Olympia area (but Portland and Seattle are possibilities).

About the videographer: I am a senior and a gender-confused possible/probable mtf in the way awesome Mediaworks program at the Evergreen State College in Washington State.

Off the wall question

[soquili-gitli.livejournal.com]

( Regarding food allergies and HRT. )

Mikhaila