The Public Scrutiny of Bruce Jenner’s Gender Identity

Bruce Jenner is changing. Yep we all know that. It does in fact even look like he might be in transition. Now as he is a ‘public figure’ people feel entitled to know more about him than he has released. He is mercilessly hounded by paparazzi and rumors are posited on TV shows about his changes. I hear this snooping into his business as justified as he is on TV. No. People are not entitled to all the information they can squeeze about their celebrity obsession. People are only entitled to watch the TV shows the Kardashians put on the tube, and only if they have paid for the cable or satellite, or they are viewing from a set that a friend has paid for the privilege of viewing said shows. That is it. He has a contract of some form with a production company to be part of a TV show. What they show you on the show is all you are entitled to know about this family. If Bruce is going through a private transition that he is not comfortable speaking on publicly, then it is a violation of his humanity to pry and speculate publicly about his private life.

I hope Wendy Williams and all the other gum flappers who have the audacity to speak on this personal private issue, feel like scum for how they are treating Bruce. He does not owe any of us any explanations. We are not entitled to gossip maliciously about him just because he is on our TV sets. It is not healthy and it is hurtful when we pry into people’s private lives. I know humans are prone to gossip but we need to strive to be better.
Sure go ahead and discuss all the stuff you see on the shows that Bruce is part of and have fun. But whatever is being kept private should not be violated.

If Bruce is in transition I feel for them with all my heart. I cannot imagine the personal hell it must be to go through something so personal and intrinsically private as transition, and then to have the gossip sharks circling all around the issue. Transition is not a public mater. Transition is a personal issue and it is not your business to pry into another person’s privacy.

My advice to Bruce Jenner if they are in transition: Just jump in and get it over fast. Come out with a statement from your publicist and move away for awhile; transition in a country where you will not be hounded by the paparazzi and gossips. When you are ready for public life again, come out with a fabulous splash and a new reality show. {Hey you gotta pay bills like the rest of us right? And a reality show is easy money for you and your family.}

 

TVTP, Transgender Violence Tracking Project

The TVTP:
http://www.transviolencetracker.org/
Allison Woolbert over at the TVTP is dealing with some issues with TERFS trying to mess with her.


Here is Allison Woolberts recent post on Facebook:

OK friends and allies of Allison Woolbert. I need some help. Can you write about 3 paragraphs with about 3 sentences in each? I know this sounds absurd, but I need your help in displacing the TERFs from taking over my name once again.
This seems to be an ongoing situation and is problematic on a number of levels.
So here is what to do- We need as many writers as possible to write a few paragraphs with my name in the title, several times in the text, and then put in as ...a keyword in the meta tags. I know most wont' know what to do with the metatag info- but we can fix that here.

If you are willing to write a three paragraph post on Allison and give us permission to reprint, we'll get them on the web and start displacing the TERF hate group Gender Identity Watch...
Subject matter might include the Transgender Violence Tracking Project, the ongoing work with your groups that I'm involved with, the calling out of the hate group GIW, the formation of TERF Tracker, or frankly anything else POSITIVE you might like to say that others could read. So- please consider giving me a hand to reclaim my name from the haters.

So here you go Allison. :)


If anyone else wants to help her, give her a heads up when you do.


Have a good day Alison Woolbert and Lizzy over at TVTP.

Choosing testosterone ~Sevan

The bigender girl by Anibunny

This post comes with all the normal warnings about this being my experience and only my experience and of course, I don't speak for anyone but myself.

In today's episode, I attempt to explain what motivated me to start HRT testosterone. We'll see if I can explain this in a way that makes sense to anyone but me.

Around October of 2009 I discovered the language surrounding non-binary identities. Before that, I didn't even know that anything outside of male/female binary existed at all. Cyndi had come out just a month before as trans feminine and I was looking for spouse support online. What I found instead was a section for "androgynes". That was such a HUGE "ah-ha moment" for me. Then came the few months of trying to figure out what to do with that information. I struggled with concerns about being accepted, being seen as a "freak" should I choose any transition action.

I was (and still am) adamant that I am not male and had huge concerns about being perceived male. Due to that, I was quite sure that testosterone wasn't going to be for me. I looked for transitional paths to follow, what worked for other genderqueer/non-binary people but struggled to find much information at all. I didn't know what I needed, but I was pretty sure that what I was doing wasn't working. I had a very hour glass shape and large breasts and ass. These features made it near impossible to dress androgynously. I also didn't like many of the styles that were considered androgynous. It just wasn't me. I like skirts and tshirts, and I'm still genderqueer when dressing that way. I tried to bind but found it extremely uncomfortable and unsuccessful. Binding seemed to make me more aware of my chest, not less. As a result, I rarely if ever wore a binder.

I planned to have a breast reduction and knew that it was gender based for me. I thought I'd be able to bind more once I had a smaller chest, which may well have been true but I found I just didn't need to bind. I was ok with my breasts after surgery. (That was a whole process, it wasn't just waking up from anesthesia and being ok. But I don't want to get into that tangent.)

My main support network was a group of transsexual women online. There was a great deal of talk about hormones and how people felt on them. The great sense of peace they experienced sounded wonderful. I started to think that maybe testosterone might be what I needed in order to find that mental peace. My mental state was unraveling from dysphoria. Knowing what was wrong, but not being able to do anything about it was a pain that was terrible. I looked everywhere for information about what testosterone might do. I found a few genderqueer people who had gone on T for short time and had success with it to get a more masculine appearance, but that wasn't what I wanted or needed. My search was wholly mental. I didn't hear anyone talk about that aspect of their transition with T.

Prior to Cyndi starting to transition medically she was prescribed T. The doctors said she had low T (go figure...) and could do well and have more energy on testosterone. She had some left over when she went off T and started estrogen therapy. It was so tempting, just sitting there on the shelf.

Finally, one day in early February I'd had enough. I was forming suicide plans and they made too much sense. Testosterone, with potential side effects were far better than suicide. I went and got the gel and started T. I thought perhaps it would prove silly, and not be worth it. All that hype, surly for nothing.

I looked through my journal and found this quote from when I first started T:

"Finally got dress and out the door headed for work. In the car I felt....almost hyper. Actually rather happy. I'm rarely happy on my way to work. Time to think means time to be depressed. But today I just bounced down the road singing along with my Ipod....having a very peppy drive. Huh.

Does this mean I'm a confirmed FtM now? I don't think so. Still me. Same person I was yesterday. Though it does seem that my body responds well to testosterone. So far. And that's all that means."

I had convinced myself that with a low dose of T I wouldn't see any physical changes, but would only experience the mental peace that I needed. That, was not true at all! I absolutely experienced physical changes. My voice lowered quickly, my emotions shifted, my dysphoria lessened significantly. My face structure shifted in ways I can't really express.

Here is a link to an article that does a wonderful job of talking about low dose T in more general ways: Click here to see Neutrois Nonsense

Please post comments.

When I write and no one responds, I feel no further need to write. Why bother, if it isn't noticed.
I imagine other writers feel similarly when their writing fails to elicit a response.


I see from the traffic monitoring programs in this blog software that I am getting views. But rarely do I get any response.


I try to write and make people think, not me.