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By Rebecca, January 31, 2012 3:32 pm

This past week I was at Butler University in Indianapolis, performing Uncovering the Mirrors and leading a workshop around trans issues. Everything went really well, and I met some great people. All in all a very good trip.

During the workshop, however, something came up that I had not previously considered. Specifically, someone asked about how trans youth are (medically) treated. I said that it varies, but that there’s an increasing use of hormone blockers to delay puberty. This allows a twelve or thirteen year old to age a few years and – hopefully – be able to make a more informed decision about transitioning. In my I-am-not-a-doctor opinion, it’s a good compromise: simply doing nothing can result in spending thousands of dollars to undo puberty, but launching fully into hormone replacement therapy opens the door to a twelve year old realizing they weren’t really trans at thirteen or fourteen.

Ultimately, I said to the questioner, there isn’t a perfect solution. Once a child realizes they’re trans, it’s a matter of picking the best choice from some bad options. Which, to be very clear, doesn’t mean that being trans condemns an individual to a life of misery. But it does, as far as I can see, necessitate some tough decisions and a difficult journey.

The questioner then posed something that has been bouncing around my brain this past week: Could allowing fifteen and sixteen year olds to be making informed consent decisions about their healthcare lead to the criminal justice system saying they were able to make informed decisions about crimes, and should thus be tried as adults?

Continue reading 'Trans youth and informed consent'»

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By Rebecca, January 30, 2012 1:48 pm

With help from the peanut gallery. This is a mix of FTM, MTF, and general silliness, so don’t try to overthinkg ‘em. Feel free to suggest more in the comments!

I really transitioned to get into bars for free, without having to pay cover.

I really transitioned because I heard there weren’t enough women in science, and I wanted to do my part.

I really transitioned so I could drink sweet pink drinks at bars without being judged.

I really transitioned because when I paint my toes pink, I want to be a boy with pink toenails!

I really transitioned so I could wear tight pants all the time without looking like a member of an 80′s rock band.

I really transitioned because I wanted to save on car insurance.

I really transitioned because the clothes are *way* better (so i still wear BDUs and t-shirts most of the time)

I really transitioned because I was born on Stonewall Day.

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By Rebecca, January 26, 2012 10:52 am

Welcome to Cocks of Love

Thank you for joining the Cocks of Love team! Through your contribution of time and energy, we are able to offer our award-winning service to transgender and transsexual (trans) clients around the globe. In this time of economic downturn, our services are more important than ever.

What we Do

Cocks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides body parts to financially disadvantaged trans individuals suffering from misaligned physical development for any reason. We meet a unique need for trans clients by using donated body parts to create the highest quality replacement body components

Our mission is to provide a sense of self, confidence, and normalcy to transgender and transsexual individuals by providing proper body parts for physical completeness. Our clients receive body parts free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on needs.

Our Process

Take two hypothetical clients: John and Jane. John is a trans man. He has breasts, a vagina, and reproductive organs he will not be using. Jane is a trans woman. She has body hair, muscle mass, and a penis she will not using. Cocks of Love allows us to match John and Jane and provide expert medical care for the safe and lasting swap of unwanted body parts. John ends up with the cock he’s always wanted, and Jane sports her new breasts with pride.

Continue reading 'Cocks of Love – Swapping Body Parts for the Trans Community'»

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By Rebecca, January 24, 2012 10:42 am

Whaaaat? Rebecca is posting semi-regularly? I shall fall upon my fainting couch!

Oh hush.

These have been sitting in a draft for a while, so some are a bit dated.

Being the Visible Femme – Thoughts from Autostraddle on how to be a out, visible, lesbian femme.

How to be a fan of problematic things – Amazing! A must read for fans of Lord of the Rings, anything Robert Heinlein wrote, 99% of comics out there, Orson Scott Card, or anything else that is both awesome and really problematic. The comments are also well-worth a read.

A 13-year-old hits a slam-dunk on why slut shaming is wrong - If you have a bad taste in your mouth after Taylor and the Girl Scout transgender thing, WATCH THIS VIDEO! She’s my hero.

Stuff cis people say to trans people – Part of the “Stuff ____ people say to ____ people” trend, but still hilarious. “So what’s your real name?”

Finally, I’ll be in Indianapolis tomorrow and Thursday, performing at Butler University. More info is at their website. Hope you can check it out if you’re in the area. Let me know if you’ll be there!

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By Rebecca, January 23, 2012 10:21 am

She can't even read that! It's facing away from her! Stop looking so shocked!

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine, Rose, about pornography and acting. She is involved in the sex industry, has worked as a prostitute and escort, and occasionally does both photographic and film pornography. She mentioned she’d recently finished a shoot where she had earned more in five hours than I’ve yet to earn in all of January.

Curious about her experiences, I asked what being in porn was like. Specifically, whether she viewed it as a sexual experience or a ‘this is an action I’m doing because I’m getting paid’ experience. Rose said that it was the latter: really not much more enjoyable than serving coffee or collating copies, just quite a bit more lucrative.

The conversation got me thinking about what we – as audience members – ask of actors. Because going to a play almost always involves some suspension of disbelief.  Perhaps Chicago’s Neofuturists toe the line  of theatre which requires no suspension of disbelief, but they’re in the minority. For the most part, going to a show involves allowing ourselves to believe that the actors are their characters. That they’re falling in love, planning for battle, forging alliances, destroying relationships, and on and on and on. When I go to a play I could sit there the entire time thinking, “Well, she’s not really in love with him. He doesn’t really find what she says so funny as to laugh out loud.” But that would make me miserable, so I suspend my disbelief and allow their actions to read as true.

That’s not how viewing porn seems to work, however. For whatever reason, audiences want to believe the people they’re watching are really attracted to each other (even if only on a physical level) and do reach a real, satisfying, climactic (natch) orgasm.

Why is that?

Continue reading 'What do we ask of actors? What about in porn?'»

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By Rebecca, January 22, 2012 9:20 pm

First, a great – if somewhat confrontational – video from a Girl Scout alumn (thanks to Summer for sending this my way):

Continue reading 'More on Girl Scouts'»

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By Rebecca, January 18, 2012 2:31 pm

A friend of mine said she was teaching an elementary school class and the question came up – as it so often does – “What would you do if your friend turned into a robot?”

The class quickly devolved into discussions of how to defeat their robot friends, when my friend asked “Wait, couldn’t they be good robots?” The class clamored NO, the only good robot is a dead robot. Over drinks, however, my friends were able to come up with some counter arguments.

1. Roomba

Roombatoombababoomba

This should go without saying. Roombas (and other cleaning robots) are awesome. They clean. They beep. They look adorable and invite slightly condescending names like Jeeves and Cinderella. A firm entry in the ‘robots are good’ camp.

2. R2-D2 and C-3PO

I’m counting them as a pair, and while this Star Wars duo isn’t always effective they are definitely good. ‘Nuff said.

3. Terminator

Sure, the name may throw you. “Terminating” isn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy job. But he was trying to save the future, so we’ll excuse his occasionally rude and destructive techniques.

Continue reading 'Robots: Evil or Wonderful?'»

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By Rebecca, January 16, 2012 12:34 pm

After reading about surgery exclusions and Girl Scout Laws and bigotry and narrowmindedness and the like, I realized I feel some amount of obligation to apologize for my body. For being trans. For having a penis and breasts. So I’ll do that now. Get it out of the way and off my chest, so to speak.

On behalf of myself, and on behalf of all non-normatively-gendered individuals, I apologize. I am sorry for being confusing. For being scary. For being strange. For being icky. I am sorry for raising awkward questions about what female and male means. I am sorry for not fitting into one box or the other. I’m sorry for questioning the need for boxes at all. I’m sorry for androgyny and ambiguity and flexibility and spectra and rainbows of infinite possibilities.

I’m sorry for my body. I’m sorry for having breasts that are the result of orally-taken hormones and not of gonadally produced hormones. For having skin that is smooth due to those hormones and thousands of dollars of hair removal. I’m sorry for having a penis between my legs, being able to pee standing up, being an outie instead of an innie. I’m sorry shopping is such a chore, that I can’t wear those yoga pants or that ever-so-cute dress without tucking my cock up between my legs and securing it with medical tape, I’m sorry my boobs are nice and perky because they came in at 23 instead of 13. I’m sorry for my physical strength, something I’ll always doubt it’s from working out and assume it was from the testosterone coursing through my system for twenty-plus years. I’m sorry for my wide shoulders, my big feet, my hairy toes. I’m sorry for my occasionally ambiguous voice, for still occasionally getting “sir”ed on the phone, for causing double-takes.  Continue reading 'I am so very sorry'»

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By Rebecca, January 13, 2012 12:52 pm

Exclusions. Covered expenses of the Plan shall not include … procedures, treatments, equipment, transplants, or implants, any of which are … for, or resulting from, a gender transformation operation. – 215 Illinois Compiled Statutes 105 – Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan Act

It’s unclear whether the State of Illinois has defined – through statute or the courts – what specifically “gender transformation operation” means. But it seems pretty safe to assume that the surgery I’m currently considering would fall under its purview. Surgery in which the “spongiform erectile tissue of the penis is removed, and the skin, with its nerves and vascular system (blood supply) still attached, is used to create a vestibule area and labia minora, which then are inverted into the neovaginal cavity created in the pelvic tissue.” That seems pretty gender transformative to me.

What’s interesting about the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan Act (or the ICHIP Act) is what other injuries, procedures, and categories of coverage are excluded.  Gender transformation operations (item 14.iv on the list of exclusions) is lumped in with cosmetic surgery (item 1), anything which exceeds “reasonable or customary” cost (item 4), injury due to war (item 9) , services that are “not provided in accord with generally accepted standards of current medical practice” (item 14), contraceptives (item 19), weight loss programs (item 21), acupuncture (22). Interestingly enough, the act itself does not, as best as I could find, mention abortion or early termination of a pregnancy, but the ICHIP website stil says such services are excluded.

Continue reading 'Some exclusions may apply'»

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By Rebecca, January 11, 2012 10:16 pm

This post is in reference to this video (here’s my transcript). For more info check out this Washington Post blog post. In regards to my video, it’s not up to my usual standards but I wanted to get it out ASAP.

Dear Taylor,

I wish we could sit down and talk. I’d like to think you would be willing to have a conversation with someone who honestly wants to find common ground. I’ve watched your video, and it really moved me. You delivered your message with skill, grace, and emotion – I wish my high school students were as comfortable speaking in front of an audience as you clearly are.

That said, a lot of what was in your video was hurtful to me. I’m not sure if you meant to hurt my feelings, or the feelings of people like me, but your video was painful for me to see. Because I’m a transgender woman. That means that I was born in the body of a boy, but realized I was actually a girl. I’ve been on hormones for a few years now, to help my body match my mind. And a lot of the things you said about what it means to be transgender didn’t match my experience, or the experience of other trans people I know.

Since watching your video, I’ve been researching the Girl Scouts, and I’d like to print the Girl Scout Law, which I found here. I admit I don’t know a lot about Scouting, but I think The Girl Scout Law is a good place to start what I hope can be a conversation between you and I:

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.

Continue reading 'My letter to Taylor, the girl calling for a boycott of Girl Scouts over “transgender promotion”'»