Kappa Beta Serving the transgendered community since 1988

By KC Tyler, from her Yahoo 360 page with permission

(I spent this week answering a TG questionnaire, which wanted to know “what message do you have for the TG community?” After discussing my answer with her, Shari Williams pointed out that if I have a message, I also have a vehicle to proclaim it. So here is my answer, expanded. I beg forgiveness from my non-crossdresser TG friends – to use a horrible Washington-esque phrase, I’m reaching out to my “base”.)

In my half-century of lifetime, I have seen a significant amount of progress in the conceptualization and perception of gender-diverse issues in the public eye. From my view at least, I’ve seen acceptance become relatively real for most of the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual parts of the gender spectrum. We sit here in 2006 with an incredibly popular movie with a strong gay theme, television shows that directly deal with lesbianism, and popular personalities comfortable with admitting, even proclaiming, their homo/bisexuality. This is not the 1960’s anymore, to be sure! Even the transsexual aspects of the T-community are in the first throes of acceptance, and let's hope the well-deserved Oscar nomination for Felicity Huffman’s incredible performance in “Transamerica” will provide a significant boost to mass appreciation of the TS issues. But sadly, the heterosexual crossdresser community has almost no positive movement or insight. When the best that we (and I’m in this group) can point to is the brother on “The Drew Carey Show”, we haven’t gotten much traction. Oh well, I guess I’ll grow into my old age simply regretting that some Hollywood script writer thought gay cowboys worked better than cowboys dressed as women. Maybe it’ll happen someday, but alas, I will have missed it.

Bunk.

If you’re like most of us, you didn’t learn how to measure yourself for clothes when you were growing up. But we T-girls also tend to shop online a lot (anonymity is the catch word). Here are some tips on how to get stuff that actually fits you.

To get the most accurate measurements, have someone else measure you. Use a good cloth measuring tape (they aren't expensive). Be sure to hold the tape straight and snug to your body.

One of the questions frequently tossed around in transgendered circles is some variation of the following: if you could take away your female/crossdressing/transgendered desires, would you? The question is usually designed to provoke interesting debate and conversation. It’s also a great way to get to know people, as everyone’s answer is usually different.

My experiences in people’s answers to this question varies greatly even when taking into account age, experience, and level of transgendered tendencies. I even heard one friend in online chat say recently she would absolutely want all feminine desires taken away. Like many of the important questions in our lives, our answers usually change over time. It makes for an interesting dynamic as many of my friends over the years decide either to accept or not accept this part of them.