This is my CAT!










<-----------------------NOT BUFFY

I have finished electroysis and not that  hairy.

Buffy

What's the hang up about photos ?
If you're in deep stealth then -

a) nobody will be looking for you here.
b) why are you here at all ?

If not stealth, what's the big deal, among however many 100 million Americans how does a photo without a real name or address give you away, or in any way affect your privacy (unless you think there are people out there searching for clues - but why ?) ?

& P.S. Tink, I still dont know whether your 50, even pushing 60, 40 - 45 (my guess) or the 20 - 30 something in the only avatar photo I've seen .... can't trawl thru 5000 posts to find out (!) .... do you really not want us to know    ?

Laura x

Quote from: Laura Eva B on June 30, 2007, 12:06:11 PM
[
Me in real life :

(FILE PATHS DELETED)
Yep ... that's me, warts 'an all !

As women we look different "month in month out", guys just remain resolutely the same (how sad and boring !).

Honesty you ask    !

Laura x

Laura, Thank you so much for putting your lovely pictures up and showing us that you are the real thing in your thumbnail picture!  I was particularly pleased to see them because although I am probably a good deal older than you I'm not unlike you in general appearance (and I too wear glasses) so.........you've given me real hope that "if she can do it so can I".  I hope you won't think I'm being too presumptious in saying this.
To get back to the subject of this thread, and to say that I'm trying to be "honest" in admitting that I'm too ashamed of my appearance at the moment to post a picture, but if and when I can get myself looking half as good as you I promise I will post my picture for all to see!
Louise

When I first found and joined this forum a few weeks ago it took me quite a while before putting up a pic of myself as I like to guard my privacy as much as possible on the net, and just as I wouldn't open my front door to just anyone, I'm generally very selective about the personal information I make available to others while I'm surfing.

However then I decided that given so many people here post real photos of themselves I'd do the same; it seemed a fairly natural thing to do.

But, now having realised just how obsessed some people seem to be with these 2D images, I've decided I'm using a cartoons from now on.

For me a forum should be about chatting, discussing, sharing, supporting, but not scrutinising people's photos as if we were taking part in some kind of virtual beauty contest.

MVER XXX

Quote from: mavieenrose on June 30, 2007, 05:36:15 PM
But, now having realised just how obsessed some people seem to be with these 2D images, I've decided I'm using a cartoons from now on.

For me a forum should be about chatting, discussing, sharing, supporting, but not scrutinising people's photos as if we were taking part in some kind of virtual beauty contest.

MVER XXX 

Come on ma vie, you transitioned young, but surely living in a culture that idolises feminine beauty, and where women do take so much more care over appearance (compared to UK or US), you must understand the parallells between looking good and self esteem ....

Trans women are naturally doubly sensitive to appearance .... could I go into a business meeting thinking I didn't look impeccable .... sadly looks mean a lot to women and their self confidence .... TS women doubly so as they have minimal self confidence to begin with.

I really think showing our pictures helps both newcomers and the "voyeurs" who visit, as it shows us as "regular women", nothing strange, nothing kinky !

No different from Lyn Conway's "TS Successes" pages ?

Laura x

My avvy is something I threw together one day and decided to use it. My real picture will not be posted anywhere here due to privacy concerns and due to concerns centering around if certain others decided to make just not my life miserable but others as well. It is a real possibility and no, I will not go into the details. I have had an interesting life and there is always a price that one pays for what one has experienced. My price is not being able to trust others, the possibility that the past may bite me and others in the butt, and dealing with PTSD.

If someone is not comfortable posting their pic, that is fine and no one should ever make them feel bad for not posting a pic. If someone misrepresents their image via a pic, they will eventually get called on it should they be not too terribly smart enough to use a pic of someone not well known at all. If someone has a problem with the image I have selected then that is their hang up and not mine. There are more important things in life to be concerned about.

Should one feel that another is misrepresenting themselves, then send a note to the staff here and we will look into it. Yes, every so often there are those who come here and misrepresent themselves for a multitude of reasons. It's up to the community to sniff them out and the staff to provide the appropriate level of action.

I come here to read posts not to see who is beautiful and who is horrid.  That's me in the avatar.  If some peeps can't believe that, it's their problem not mine.

Strangle.


I've wanted to use Ivy since I came to the site, but since I had to rebuild my computer I'm too lazy to acquire a photo editor that can add transparency. I said screw it a few days ago 

I've posted enough here that for who it would matter (two or three people) would probably recognize me, but I doubt they'll ever stumble in here. I don't want to post my face because, while yes, millions of people see you in a given year, but on the internet people can specifically seek you out.

OK, I started this thread in order to bring over an "off-topic" discussion from another forum and it has created a lively debate.
However, I think there have to be exceptions to every rule and in my case I am quite happy to cheat to make myself look good - most women do it all the time! A few extra inches here, a few less there, make all the difference to how confident I feel!
And although I wouldn't want to do it myself, if someone retouches their photo a little I don't think that's really dishonest - just vanity of the highest order! Nothing wrong with that!!!
Louise

Quote from: Tink on June 30, 2007, 01:21:55 PM
Well, as I said on a different thread.  Some of us wouldn't share anything about our personal lives on a public forum.  That's just how it is.  As far as photographs, I had one of my "current pictures" on my avatar until prior to my SRS.  Since then, I have decided to remove it due to privacy issues.  I think I have the right to do that, correct?

Nowadays, I only have an old version of myself from my younger years. Besides, some of you know me personally, so you know that I am "real".  Additionally, if someone really wanted to find out how I look like now, they could easily do so by searching this site, for I am sure that there are still photographs of myself floating around here somewhere... LOL 

tink

I know ur real babe & I'm dancin' I <3 U

Posted on: July 01, 2007, 02:37:44 AM

---

Quote from: Jeannette on June 30, 2007, 11:46:06 PM
I come here to read posts not to see who is beautiful and who is horrid.  That's me in the avatar.  If some peeps can't believe that, it's their problem not mine.

damn your a hottie jeanette

Quotedamn your a hottie jeanette

UR sooooo dead!   

I would never think to tell anyone else what to do, but I would never post a real pic on any public forum. I might trade pix with someone that I know, but it is a scary world out there on the net. I have seen way too many adulterated pics photoshopped into horrible characterizations of real people on many websites. There are trolls out there that look to steal pics and then do nasties to them, and then post them all over the damn place. I know that this site has security and all that, but you'd be surprised what a master troll can get away with, or talk their way into. It's too scary for me. I've never in 15 years posted a real pic anywhere on-line for that reason.

But, using my head, or anyone else's head, what's the difference, its a female head, they can put it one the body of a camel or elle macpherson, who cares really? 99.5% of photoshopped photos are obvious anyway to the observant eyes; its not that easy to do it right. Even if they'd try to blackmail me I'd laugh in their face, I don't care

Lol quite an amusing topic.  I've got to run to my nan's flat and get her old pic so that people can believe it's me looking weary & bent out of shape.  Lol.  Do I care if people believe me?  not really.  That's just a terrible pity.  I've got more important things to worry about.

see i stole that off a random natal female, she doesnt know shes missing....

I think the OP is missing the point that there are some stunningly beautiful trans women around, tink, debs, mawd, etc.
Just because someones photo looks good, doesnt mean thier faking thier photo...

Quote from: Rachael on July 01, 2007, 06:43:30 AM
'see i stole that off a random natal female, she doesnt know shes missing'....



I think the OP is missing the point that there are some stunningly beautiful trans women around, tink, debs, mawd, etc.
Just because someones photo looks good, doesnt mean thier faking thier photo...

I agree, but I thought everyone was real and stunning till some of them confessed it wasn't them in their aviator.  Obviously people can do as they like and post what pics they like and I think it's a good point you raise about people stealing photographs.

I'm happy to post my own pics in my aviator even though I don't look that attractive in comparison. I know the majority of the stunners are the real deal and I am very impressed at how they look. The stereo type TS we see in the media, magazines and newspapers is slowlly being eradicated.

the steriotype really isnt, but there are new ideas, like ugly bettys 'alexis Meade' and other such characters, showing transwomen can be beautiful, female behaving, and not colossal perverts.

Quote from: Yvonne on July 01, 2007, 06:36:13 AM
Lol quite an amusing topic.  I've got to run to my nan's flat and get her old pic so that people can believe it's me looking weary & bent out of shape.  Lol.  Do I care if people believe me?  not really.  That's just a terrible pity.  I've got more important things to worry about.

You say you don't care then proceed saying that it's a pity so you do care after all.

This is a thread about honesty. Why do you find this thread amusing? Do you find people wanting others to be honest amusing?

Anyway, assuming that is your real photo, you can only hope that you look as good as I do when you are 59, most women, even ex-models, don't, eat your heart out! LOL

Quote from: Rachael on July 01, 2007, 06:43:30 AM
I think the OP is missing the point that there are some stunningly beautiful trans women around, tink, debs, mawd, etc.
Just because someones photo looks good, doesnt mean thier faking thier photo...

Exactly. Guess it just blows some people's minds that a transwoman could be as beautiful as the most attractive genetic females.  They can't believe their eyes. It has to be a model.  

I have been participating in TS forum for years. There have been a lot of impostors outed over that time. It is not that the avatar is unbelievable, it is what the impostor says that gives him or her away. Unfortunately, on the internet, one can claim to be all sorts of things that he or she is not.

Posting an 80x80 avatar, even if it is stunning, doesn't say much about you or even say much about one's sexual magnetism. I found in AA that some of the most conflicted and troubled women are drop dead gorgeous. Beauty is only skin deep.

Seriously, I'm starting to think that in US culture, with women in particular, if you don't blend with the mass by exercising, gainiing weight and wearing the most formless, non matching clothes possible, which exudes asexuality... You're doing something wrong!!!!! In Europe, I never really seen or felt this. In Quebec, it does happen from time to time, with women from tougher socio-economic background, but not in general.

They showed through filming, that women within minutes of joining a group talking disparagingly about their body, about themselves in general, especially how fat they were, did the same no matter how they looked or how successfull they were. Like it was a badge of honor to look like crap or pounding yourself to shred. Talk about negative peer pressure. This fosters a woe me victim of fate mentality.

I find this very annoying. If someone in spite of zillions of warning, has mucho sun damage by the age of 35 so they look like 60, its not me fault. If they eat to too much, exercise less than they should and weight 250 pounds, why should I care. Plenty of women who complain about standards of weight "imposed by the media" are OVERWEIGHT by any medical standards, not media standards. They should shape up.

They're talking about pressures from the media for women to be thin, well the pressure from the media had any impact, women in the US would be thinner, so I guess the media are having a piss poor impact.

You can't imagine how catty SOME women can be. It boggles the mind. Its not because I look good by an accident of god after having living under a rock of my own making, that I should take crap (some DO believe that)! I'm not going to knife my face open to satisfy anybody.

As for beauty being skin deep, yeah, and... Others are so good inside that I cannot possibly emulate them! People are people and there is ugliness at all levels and all shapes and forms. I've been at the receiving end of mucho ugliness over the years so its first hand knowledge.

Yeah, I'm pissed off. Hey, I've dealt with enough crap, 95% of which I've not even broached here, because I don't like sounding like a sad sack, to enjoy whatever advantage I can get in life from now on.

Hey, feel better now. Phew...