Being Me

On December 6th, the Toronto Star published an article, Defending human rights the goal of journalism , and in it they claim to fight for a world with equal rights and equal dignity, then it begs why they would then laud giving a voice to hate...

Marvel has released their first comic featuring a transgender hero, Rebekah, as a part of their Hero project featuring everyday people making a real difference.

To disclose, or not disclose, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler on the first date to be silent. To keep quiet and learn about each other, or take a moment to be out there early...

Shopping again... Aren't these the cutest?

It may seem dark now, with all of the news of yet a another assault on the rights of LGTBQ people, but I have hope.

It's a "me" day today! Yay! I don't get these too often, but its a long weekend and there isn't a whole lot of reason to be doing anything than enjoying the weather and relaxing. So, Joanne can come out to play!

The name is, well, a bit on the *nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink* side of things, given the history, but the Coochy shave cream is the best I have ever found for shaving my legs.

The history of nail polish is an interesting one; it goes back many thousands of years and was once worn by both genders. Today? It's very much a feminine choice and, while sometimes worn by men, it's not terribly common. I don't often wear polish on my fingernails, primarily because I don't dress feminine for extended periods of time and it seems like a fair bother if it's just for a few hours. However, I wear toenail polish almost all the time. This past week, though, I was on vacation and that vacation included extended time with my larger family. So, off came the toenail polish for what seemed a very long, and very less colourful, week. That time is past and a new coat of polish once again adorns my toes. What's interesting, though, is I wonder how many might have said something should they have seen my colourful toes? I didn't stop shaving my legs, they're pretty obviously hairless, and nobody has commented yet. At this point, I almost have ...

A really nice story about coming together as a couple at the start of a transition. I'm not going to go into detail, it's worth a read: After my wife came out as trans, we found her name together.

In what, I think, is a major signal of change comes from a great article in the Chicago Tribune: Boys are wearing U.S. Women’s National Team jerseys and that feels like progress . It is progress, huge progress I think, in starting to tear down the gender barriers that society has long put up. I'm not a soccer fan, but I think it's high time that a female sporting event was attracting as much attention as this one.

Pride Toronto isn't that far away now, though with the weather here, it feels like it should be a couple of months still. It's an event that often has me thinking...

Do you think about passing? Do you care if you pass? What does it mean when we ask if we pass? Does it matter? Tough questions...

I follow a few fashion houses, including the likes of Ted Baker, Kate Spade, and Maison Simons ( a really great Canadian company). Recently, I'm seeing a spike in their photography depicting models in really beautiful clothing wearing various forms of sandals with socks. Sigh.

Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to show celebration and support for all of our transgender and non-binary friends around the world. It's not an easy thing to be transgender or gender-fluid these days, there is an active and virulent anti-transgender movement in full swing. Much of it is tied to the ultra-religious right wing of the United States, but it's not just them. Even those in more moderate places on the political spectrum, as well as those on the far left, are generally okay with allowing, and even abetting, trans oppression. This is where I've never really been able to wrap my head around the persistence of this anti-trans prejudice across the political spectrum. I just don't understand why it's so virulent, why any should carry that much hate in them. Do they fear something? What is motivating them? I just don't get it. My company is, I think, among the top employers around when it comes to supporting the LGBTQ c...

On Stana's Femulate blog , today, she linked a photo of Oslo Grace who, as a gender fluid model, models both men's and women's wear. As usual, it has me thinking and, truth be told, again a little envious!

At long last, I have finally found a foundation that looks natural on my skin! It's actually been really tricky to find, for me, for some reason and that's despite my willingness to try samples in Shopper's Drug Mart. However, recently, we popped into Sephora looking for a particular eye shadow palette by Tarte when I started looking at the foundations and tried out a couple. I didn't immediately buy, though my spouse really felt Light Medium Honey was a good match, because I wanted to think about it. It is, admittedly, spendy, especially when you consider that I don't wear it daily. Fast forward a few days later and, when I discover that Sephora has a generous return policy, I decided to order the foundation, along with a few other goodies. It arrived today. Hooray! So, verdict? Wow! Once I really had a chance to apply it, I was super impressed at how well it blended into my skin naturally, evening tone, but not looking like I was being caked on. It just lo...

What a curious notion, the gender reveal party ...

This is the Alice Cos Group , a dance group from China that features only males in their cast. They are all, to put it mildly, simply gorgeous and dammit, I'm just a little jealous! Admittedly, at my current age (let's just say that I go back a few decades and leave it at that) there is zero chance that I would ever be able to pull off the look even remotely as well as they can, but hey, a gal can dream! I'm also really jealous that they actually live a life practically straight out of a Fictionmania story; I would have leapt at such a chance at that age. Ah well, such is the dice of life. Anyways, a sample of their work:

Back in 2017, the Canadian government announced that it would allow a third option for gender on the passport which, basically, is an X for unspecified. Fairly recently, US airlines have started to allow for two additional options when buying tickets: unspecified and unidentified. Canadian airlines are pending guidance from the federal government before they proceed. All of which leads to me to ask, why is gender even on either? The prevailing argument I have heard is about identity confirmation, but I'm not really buying that. My passport has an "M" designation, but there is no law that specifies that I can't travel dressed and appearing very androgynous or feminine as long as the photo and I match up, at least within and between countries that don't kill transgender people. It's not like they check inside everyone's pants or up everyone's skirt at passport control points. Airlines also don't stop to confirm your bits before allowing you t...