Quote from: Alyssa M. on March 03, 2008, 04:10:48 AM
Berliegh --

Please don't misunderstand me. I mean no disrespect toward Caroline Cossey at all -- in fact I didn't actually say a word about her. It's the depiction of transgender people in the media that I have a problem with (e.g, tabloids outing transsexual women living in stealth). And I don't think it's much better today.

I'm glad for you that Cossey's story gave you hope; not me (granted, I was 3). But I never saw anything positive in the media until I'd already seen it online; that is, personal, first-hand stories written with dignity. It's not much better today in the maistream media either. Maybe you saw past the sensationalism.

Even though it was in the media the story about Caroline in 1982 was very well presented and it wasn't at all degrading towards her or transsexuals. It wasn't filled with negativity like articles are today. I was older than you were then and I was in my first job since leaving school and read the story in my lunchbreak...

It had a huge impact on me and I still have the cutting.....

When I was a young teen, the only playboy I had was one I stole from my father that had Caroline Cossey in it...

It was a very well written interesting article/interview...  Its actualy where I found my first bit of hope and learned that there WAS something I could do about it...... Seriously it was a life saver....  Unfortunatly that coppy went up when my old house was set afire...  but still, it did give me hope and gave a name to something I knew nothing about prior...

Lynn proving once more, that only girls actually read the articles...
R >

Thanks, Berliegh.

I don't think I even heard about Cossey until much later, except perhaps in passing, and I so just assumed the story was treated like most are today. I guess I was too cynical. I can recall a number of stories in just the last year that were handled very crassly. Perhaps I'm seeing things through the lens of today's junk-news-flooded America.

Trans in the media is only interesting if its one of the two classics: pathetic unpassing man ->-bleeped-<-, or evil keniving deciving ->-bleeped-<-... You'll note thier rarely played as anything but those.... I think Cossey was  around in a random social window of attitudes.... 70s ftw
R >

Yeah, that about says it. Rachael knocks another one out of the park.

Quote from: Cindi Jones on March 01, 2008, 01:52:30 AM


I honestly had no idea what this was, that there was a name for it, or that there was anyone else in the entire world that had a similar problem.  I thought that I was the only one who had ever been like this.  Really.


Cindi

I, too, lived a very sheltered childhood and thought that I was the only person in the world who felt like this.

I remember that the first thing I did when I acquired an AOL account in the late 80's was to web search "transsexual."  That was when I learned that a) I wasn't alone and b) the VAST majority of us are not narcissistic freaks. 

So, would I have started transitioning if there was no internet?  i don't know, and that would have to be my vote...

Chaunte

'Vast majority arnt narcissist freaks'

r u shur?
R >

'Vast majority arnt narcissist freaks'

r u shur?

Given that the answer to that is only (and always) an inward thought, how can anyone be sure they are not?

Well, I'm just a pussy cat. Beat you up with a feather. To tell the truth is I don't think all transsexual are narcissistic. Well maybe one or two. Sheesh I must have been living a lllllllllllllllong sheltered life too. Well I was mama's little girl anyway.  Ya she kind of spoiled me, the runt of the family and my moms suck. Well what can I say, huh?

Cindy

Anyone who posts stuff on the web is a narcissistic freak 

nah, some are just bored, working too late, and have a computer on as part of thier job.  But I am a freak, I do love to type.

quite true....

Tbh, ive come accross a great deal of narcisism in the trans community... but then, no more than the rest of society
EVERYONE loves themeslves....
R >

and lots of people are bored and on the clock too.

wut?
R >

Well freak, weird, odd, strange, queer, sissy, witch, squirrel bait, cuckoo and more but I was never called narcissistic before though. But I consider myself a bit witchy.

Cindy

Here the growing acceptance ( 10 years again it was here very dark, little info) is mostly because internet has brought the knowledge. And in the recent years even the parliament made a law regarding legal sex change.

In case the law works it is one of the most progressives currently existing.

Looks like Cindy and I have something else in common.  I had heard of Christine and had seen a few pictures of her.  She was the first transsexsual I'd ever heard about.  I also read the book by Canary sometime in the early seventies while in the military.  A fascinating story.  I started dressing in my mothers clothes when I was around five, so I guess about '58.  Unlike Cindy, I've yet to transition and have a bit more to travel.  I've had therapy and was supposed to move on to rlt.  My marriage vows and the hurt I was causing were too much.  I've started that journey again.  Anyway, there was no Internet when I learned of this in the very early 70's.  I was, at that time, writing to Johns Hopkins and Stanford for information.  I am angry at myself for not transitioning, nobody to blame but myself for that.  Actually, when I was pre teen, I thought I was just a gay boy that felt best in female clothing, hanging out with my aunts and sisters. No, I didn't hang out with them while wearing female clothing, that was done in private. Geez, I'm rambling...

Nnnnnneeecrrro post!

I'm not too sure if I would've started to transition without the internet. The internet is the place I can look up things most people in my town don't discuss. In the town I live in I doubt I would've found out about it until later. I'm grateful for the internet