What's In A Name?

Walter?  Is That You?

I've been sitting on this for a week.  I wonder if this was intentional or not.

The woman vying for the title of Miss Universe in Canada is a transsexual named Jenna Talackova.  Her original last name was, in fact, Talackova.  She was born Walter Talako, or Talakov ~ I saw different references and I'm not sure which is right.  I'm pretty sure her birth name was not Talakova.  She said her mother suggested "Jenna" but I think someone put a lot of thought into this name.


Jenna Talackova = Genital Lack Ova.


Hmmmm.....

Happy Mother's Day (and other stuff)

I hope you all got flowers, candy, and pampered today.  And I hope you did the same to the mom in your life.  Call it Karma or the golden rule or "what goes around, comes around" ~ it seems to be the way the universe works.

Also, please check out Wednesday's post and take the poll. And let me know what you'd like to see next.

The new job, my mother-in-law's health, and other stressors may cause me to miss a day or two.  If I do, please come back.  I promise I will.

Remember: Friday the thirteenth falls on a Sunday this month!

And, finally, happy fourth mensiversary to a special friend.

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Variations on a Theme

It seems to be a popular topic.  My favourite is the last.  Yes, it is fun.  Thank you, boss, for recognising that!

As for #2...  John's a teacher?  She's also breaking Stana's rules for femulating.  Bad John. 

And why do the names of cross-dressing office workers always end in kins?

The Tom's They Are A-Changin'

I guess this is news because....  I don't know why.  Shock value?  Oh My God!  Someone is changing their sex!  Wow!

I'm sure it's a big deal for Tom, the same way it was for James (Jan) Morris and Richard Raskin (Renee Richards) and the now Jillian Page, among others.

The headline on the print Washington Post gossip page was

It's Tom for now.  Soon: Laura

and I had no idea what that meant.

The on-line version read:

Against Me! singer Tom Gabel plans to become a woman

and that made more sense than another on-line story that said he plans to "change genders."  I think I need to find the story editor and whack him several times with The Post style manual.  I'm sorry.  I'm not trying to pick a fight with those who call sexual reassignment surgery, gender reassignment surgery.  I just see gender as how you see yourself, and sex as what you are.  I know, others disagree.  I'm open to persuasion.  Until then... Whack!

The story in a nutshell: Tom Gable, lead singer for the band Against Me!, plans to take action on his transsexuality; he's not sure how far he will go at this time.  He is not attracted to men and plans to remain married.

I say "he" because I haven't seen any self-reference as she.  I mean no disrespect to the future Laura Jane Grace.

The Washington Post story can be found here, and an AP story, reprinted on The Post website is here.

But also take a look at Aeify's blog where she found a link to the band's The Ocean, and she includes the video and lyrics.  She also links to an MTV story.

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Therapy the Eighth

There are a couple of preliminaries here.  First please check out yesterday's post and take the poll.

And second, before I get into this week, I want to address a private message I received on last week's therapy post.

The writer pointed out that a win-win in the baby scenario would have involved my wife expressing milk for later consumption.  I guess I was unclear: neither baby was ever interested in a bottle.  It didn't matter if it had formula, mom's milk, hummingbird nectar, or fine wine.  And no, we didn't try those all of those things.

The other point where I was unclear was about the three hours of screaming ~ he did that when he was hungry.  Other than that he was pretty quiet, mostly busy trying to figure out the world.  My wife rarely had to handle a screaming child.  I don't begrudge her that ~ she had to put up with night feedings which I never had to (could) do.  The point was, I lacked the thinking time I needed.

On to this week....

This was another session that did not touch on t-issues at all.  Right now, everything's taking a back burner because on Tuesday her family was suddenly faced with trying to come to a consensus about what her mother would want: with no intervention she'll have about a week of life remaining.

It's a difficult time all around.

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Next Up: Bridesmaid Poll

Last week's poll was on whether you'd like to be a bride.
 Being a bride would mean starring in your own wedding.  That's a lot of expense, a lot of "being out," a lot of... well, there's a lot.  It means an incredible amount of comfort with your friends and family, once you get to the "let's do a ceremony" phase.

So let's step back a bit.

How about being a bridesmaid (or maid of honour) in the wedding of your friend the bride?

Your good friend is getting married and she asks you to attend as your female self in some capacity.  This is going to be a standard, real, civilian wedding.  Please choose the level you'd be comfortable with.  Your options are:

Attend as a guest.  Pick a party dress and shoes and gift.  Your invitation says "and guest."  Male guest or female guest?  There will be dancing and schmoozing and an attempt to catch the bouquet.   There is a second poll for you to choose whether you'd want a male escort, a female escort dressed as a male, or a female dressed as a female).

Be a bridesmaid.  The bride, of course, selects your gown.  You will attend dress fittings, the bridal shower, and the pre-wedding dinner.  This not a simple one-day thing.  You'll be dressed (and undressed and redressed) quite a bit.  You'll need to get outfits for the pre-wedding events.  You'll be paired with an usher and there will be more interaction with the guests, as a member of the wedding party.

Be the maid of honour.  You have all of the bridesmaid duties and more: you have to arrange a lot of the pre-wedding activities and support the bride.

And a little second mini-poll: Whatever role you choose, the expectation is that you should be escorted.  Will your escort be a male guest, a female dressed as a male, or a female dressed as a female?
Do you have any ideas for other female experiences I can add?  I have a couple of ideas.

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I Don't Get It

Menswear Chemise

But I guess I can wear these, right?  I mean without anyone looking askance, right?

The first one is listed here as a "menswear chemise."

I thought maybe it was a mistake.  I mean, I once found a Penney's ad for "men's skirts."  The others are on the Kohl's website; I first saw it in a print ad for Kohl's.

And they're all listed as unavailable.  So either that means they didn't sell and they ended up at Marshall's, or they sold out and there are a lot of men enjoying something sexy under their shirts.

Too bad they're sold out.  I don't really have a problem with wearing menswear, if they're going to add these to the repertoire.

Personally, I don't spend a lot of time in the men's clothing department, except to see what men are wearing so I can look for something similar in the misses' department.  But I really don't remember seeing a lingerie rack in the men's department.

I'll have to look.

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