I can't believe it kittens, Summer is very near the end of its one way trip into Fall and I've done it again. Oh yeah, I started the year with good intentions. I ran out as soon as the swimsuit clearances started and shopped for just the right little bikini to show off the sexy bod I planned to acquire through starvation...I mean diet and exercise. I stocked up on self tan cream. (UV is a no no.) I called my personal photographer, Miss Miranda, and told her to get plenty of outdoor film for our annual pilgrimage to the beach. (Or, as they say here in Philly, da shore.) Now, I look at my handy dandy computer calendar and I notice the days left in Summer can be counted on two hands (If you're a mutant) and I haven't been near the Atlantic Ocean in a lady's swimsuit even once this year. But never fear, I will get new swimsuit shots done. Who am I kidding, I'll be down there in October if that's what it takes. I'll put up with anything to get swimsuit shots to post on the Net. Maybe Cindy will put some more here. Let's all email her and ask for more swim suit shots. Now it's time to play....
Well, I don't know if it's me or if advertising agencies and filmmakers have finally caught on to the appeal of transgendered characters, but there have been a whole lot of us out there in the media lately. First the movies. Anybody see Trainspotting? It's a great film...if you like to watch Scottish junkies, well, shoot junk. It's a comedy. Actually, kind of a dramedy. You'll laugh, you'll cry, etc. Anyhow, it really is a well done film that rises higher in my estimation due to one scene in a disco. The lads, who happen to not be on heroin at the time, go to a London disco to celebrate a big win at the races. Don't some of the ladies on the dance floor look a touch different? Could they be? You betcha, and the main character makes some pretty trans positive comments after one of the other lads finds himself suddenly questioning his sexuality. Will I tell more? No way. Ya gotta catch the flick.
Then there's Jackie Chan, that Asian martial arts dude, who
has kicked more butt than that nancy boy Johnnie Van Damme and that
other lightweight, little Stevie Seagal put together. You see it
coming don't ya?
Yep, Jackie Chan in pantyhose, heels and a red suit,
spinning around and kicking somebody in the face. I caught a film
clip on one of the entertainment shows whilst in the midst of
something else. (Net surfing, putting on my eye makeup...) You can
tell Jackie enjoys the dressing up and has some dress up experience,
since as he twirls around you can see the cotton crotch of his
pantyhose and it looked like a pretty good tuck to me. No amateur
stuff there. The film? I didn't catch the title but Kalina the
Sexy Vampire tells me it is Streetfighter, and Jackie
actually plays all the main characters, including this female martial
arts expert. Be aware, this isn't the Streetfighter that
starred Jean Claude Van Damme. This is one Jackie did in Hong Kong
and while I'm not sure that's the title I knows whats I seen, as
Popeye might quip.
Rosie Grier is known as the ex-football star who ministered
to O.J. in jail and relaxes by knitting. Pam Grier, on the
other hand, is not about to be caught doing any knitting.
She's
currently strutting her stuff and kicking some... (shut your mouth, I
didn't say nothin'!) on the silver screen in the latest Escape
film, Escape from L.A. and her character is a TS. Snake
Plisskin keeps screwing up and calling her by the characters old male
appellation and she has to keep correcting him. Now, I know what
you're saying, another genetic female portraying a trans person. I
guess Tula wasn't available so they had to make do. They help
the illusion, and film is about nothing if it ain't about illusion,
by electronically lowering her voice a bit. Pam may not be a
transgendered actor but remember, Dustin Hoffman wasn't
autistic when he did Rainman, or transgendered when he worked
on Tootsie. (That we know of.) At least here's a movie with a
transgendered character who's one of the good guys... gals... er, you
know - even if the good guys are violent criminal types.
Keep your cable box set to HBO and watch for Taxi Cab Confessions III. If you've seen any of the others you know the premise, New York cabs are equipped with five lipstick sized cameras (Ooo! Hope it's Wet & Wild) and the cabbies are more than just cabbies, they're trained inquisitors who get even the most reluctant fare to bare their soul for the edification of the viewers. I mean, it's actually incredible what these people will say to a total stranger, and what's even more incredible is the fact that they sign the release form and let the things they said to the cabbie, in what they thought was privacy, be transmitted into millions of homes across the land. One young lady, who looked like someone's nice daughter, used the F word liberally in every sentence as she told the the cabbie about her boyfriend who cheated on her, and she was gonna fix him, and she shot him once, and he worked her over with a pistol butt. Unbelievable. Does the word dysfunctional ring a bell? But, what does this film hold for us, the transgendered viewer? They save it for the end cause they know we make a big finish. The last young lady who hails an HBO cab works at Club Edelweiss and she tells a poignant tale of parental abandonment because of her transgenderism. Her boyfriend broke up with her too, since she didn't have all the sexual equipment he wanted her to have. She's not a tragic character though. She makes a strong statement for transgender rights that closes the film. As America goes to the kitchen for another beer it may pause for a second and say, that chick dude has got it going on, or something like that. I saw the film in a theater preview so it should be coming to the TV screen soon. Stay tuned, check listings and order cable if you don't already have it.
Also keep an eye cocked to catch a look at George from Sienfeld, Jason Alexander, playing a gay man who participates in an all male ballet. He looks charming in his tutu with more than a hint of chest hair hanging out. The movie is called Love, Valor, Compassion and it will hit theaters sometime next year. Alexander said he wanted a break from the George character, a tutu is just about as far away from George Costanza as you can get.
On now to the media manipulators from Madison Avenue. The trans factor in commercials has definitely gone up. Can you say Dennis Rodman? Victoria's Secret can and they used Mister Rodman in one of their bra commercials. Before you get all excited let me calm you down by telling you up front, Rodman did not model the bra. What he had on under his shirt is anybody's guess. What he does in the spot is talk and walk around a little while lovely women lounge in their scanties. Maybe next time Dennis will do the modeling, or maybe they'll decide to use Ru.
Ford Motors has leapt into the flurry of trans inclusive ads with an addition to their series of spots featuring the dealers across the street. These guys have tried all kinds of ploys to learn the Ford dealer's secret. How can the Ford dealer sell cars that cheap? In one of the spots they use a sophisticated listening device to hear what the salesmen across the street are offering. In another they sneak in to the Ford dealership dressed as Navy SEALS. In the trans spot they decide that one of their sales guys has to get dressed in drag to infiltrate the Ford dealership. He's kind of roly poly and looks like somebodies mom, or a typical heterosexual crossdresser. These kind of premises always get me. I mean, how unobtrusive is it for Mr.Whipple to get into a dress and sneak into the supermarket hiding his mustache with his hand to check out the donut competition? Isn't a guy in a dress going to attract more attention on a secret mission than a guy in a conservative men's suit?
Whatever the case, even though they may be using what we hold sacred for a chuckle, it helps us for people to keep seeing men in dresses on their television. That kind of exposure could lead to the point where a man in the dress at the mall might be dismissed as just another guy with a secret mission. Hey, hand me my secret decoder ring and drop the cone of silence. I have to get my orders from the chief.
It seems that as much as we advance there are places that just won't stay abreast of the times. (Or a-falsie of the times.) La Cage aux Folles has been around for several decades now, as a film first, then a musical, and then a film again. (The Birdcage.) The characters are beloved by millions both straight and gay, and yet... it just ain't wholesome enough for some states. North Carolina (ain't that where that Helms character hangs out?) says that it's just not right for them. Even more disappointing is the reason it's not right for them. Is it the fact that the characters are gay? The fact that the main bad guy of the film is a religious conservative? Nope. The North Carolina Theater in Raleigh won't be presenting La Cage next season cause the characters appear in drag. It seems that Raleigh is blessed with an archaic ordinance that prohibits a business from offering entertainment featuring female impersonators. Having FIs in your show means you're running an "adult establishment." So, the theater is worried that they'll be shut down if the actor playing Alban appears on the stage in a dress and heels.
Of course it's more complicated than that. A club in Raleigh called Legends has already filed suit to have the ordinance tossed, but rather than join forces with the club and fight the good fight for artistic integrity together, the theater has caved in cause of other considerations. Considerations like possible budget cuts. The city contributes about $133,000 a year to the North Carolina Theater and the conservative forces who control the purse strings are more likely to cut the funds off if La Cage goes up than if they produce the play they're replacing it with - Annie. Personally, if I was in charge of the money and I heard another lovable little moppet sing Tomorrow in that phony stage voice those little girls get from somewhere, I'd pull their subsidy in a heartbeat.
But, in the final analysis it's all pretty murky. the local paper, the News & Observer , wrote, "The root of the issue, of course, is not really crossdressing at all. Otherwise, the furor would be about N.C. Theater's production of Peter Pan ... or the recent revival of Charley's Aunt by PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill. Let's face it: the problem is that a gay man in feathers is more unsettling than a straight man in feathers." Guess that depends on your point of view. Why not share your point of view with the city of Raleigh and the North Carolina Theater? Perhaps we should mobilize the Transexual Menace?
Are you a crossdresser of a certain age? Have you stopped trying to get rid of your wrinkles with alpha hydroxy acids and started to trowel them in with grout? Then have I got a newsletter for you. Our good friend, the Administrator of the Renaissance PenPAL Program, Georgia Hilbert has gotten together with some other golden girls and started a little rag for Old Hags & Sagging Bags. To keep things simple that's what they named it, too.
It's "a newsletter for the aging crossdresser and other older transgendered persons." They add, "With a need for an AARP for the transgendered we decided to create a forum for our special concerns. We want to cover subjects like: How to reduce those nasty wrinkles. What styles go well for the aging crossdresser. Should I think seriously of living full time or nearly full time now that the children are gone?" Valid questions that we may all be asking ourselves one day since Mother Time eventually takes off her four inch pumps and slips into Cobbie Cuddlers.
You can check out the newsletter online at: Old Hags & Sagging Bags and drop her a line with comments, suggestions or subscription requests (for a hard copy) at Georgia's email address Pass the bran girls, I'm on my way.
Before I get hate mail from overseas let me say I love the foreigners. Some of my best friends are... oh, never mind. Seriously, I love foreigners so much, that TG group I head up, Renaissance, has been working on a Community Film Project to make a "doco," as they say in Australia (documentary to us Yanks) about how crossdressing is viewed around the world. PBS took you around the world in 80 days with Michael Palin, we want to take you around the world in 80 gowns. What we need at the moment is input from various countries about how crossdressing fits into their culture. Japan, South Africa and England are of special interest a the moment but if you're in Greece or France please let us know what's it's like there for girls like us. The information will be used to write a funding proposal to help the project "get its legs" as they say in the biz. If it does get the funding camera crews could be coming to your town soon so let know if you'd be willing to be filmed. Send your info to me by email and I'll pass it on to our award winning director, Terri Randall. But now, back to those foreigners.
Like duh! Japan has finally started to get the fact that transsexuality may be treated by gender reassignment surgery. The Saitama Medical College outside Tokyo is the first Japanese med college to admit that they should provide the treatment. Japanese citizens who want reassignment have had to go out of the country to get it since Japanese laws forbid the procedure. The Japanese TS has had to go to South Korea or Taiwan to obtain the treatment they need.
Currently the college feels it must create, "an environment for wide-ranging debate" on all the issues involved with GRS and they plan to start doing the operations sometime in the future. Can you say Standards of Care? Somebody give them the Benjamin Foundations phone number. Even better, tell them to crank up their web browsers and check out Doctor Anne Vitale's website . She has the Standards there for one and all to peruse. (Lot's of other good info, too.) While the Japanese were busy making great strides in miniaturization we already had begun developing that "wide ranging debate" and it's still evolving today.
The gold medal winners in men's volleyball from Thailand are not going to be heading the ball in any international competition. The reason the boys won't be playing? They like to dress like girls. Most of the team admits "... we want to be beautiful, to wear makeup, long hair." I can relate to that. What gets my panties in a bunch is how the country, which is very accepting of crossdressing in general, decided to adopt a hard line on the team's glamour aspirations and not send them to international matches jsut cause they were worried about their reputation. I guess "real" Thai men don't wear dresses. It's not as if the team would have been playing in gown s by Dior, although that would make for a more interesting match, but apparently they're feminine enough to still cause the powers that be to have a problem. They're also feminine enough to win gold medals playing men's volleyball. I don't think they're sissies and I have one word for the Thai government that sums up how well people can accept crossdressing in sports if the CDs are winners, Rodman.
And now fair readers, I must bid you adieu. The demands of maintaing my manicure make it necessary for me to have some cuticle work done. See ya next month.