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Becky's T-Blog

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Here comes the new blog, same as the old blog

For a couple of months now, Blogger has been enthusiastically informing me "your new version of Blogger is ready!", only to own up after I pressed the upgrade button that "er, actually it's not ready yet, you've got too many posts and comments and stuff... sorry... we got overexcited".

But, as Selina points out, Google have started sending men in dark suits around who "accidentally" knock ornaments on floor and suggest that bigger things might get damaged if I don't, upgrade. So I decided to give it another go.

And, by jiggery, it worked! Look, it's all new and shiny!!

Er... new back end. Front end might stay the same for the time being. I don't think I'll bother implementing the fancy-schmancy new features just yet. That new archive menu thingy looks ghastly.

Right... I'm off to assign a new ID to my Flickr account, before Yahoo break any more of my limbs.

Update - ooh look! I've got TAGS!!

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Lynn Jones  Shame there's no back-out option because that put me off upgrading for so long. As you say, most things seem okay. The new comments system seems to throw a few folk. The new template system seems a little less forgiving than the HTML one... but hey, it's a learning curve.

I was hoping they were going to add a big fat XML backup option. [sigh] 
Alli' Cat'  "fotheringay", bloody FOTHERINGAY???
B.T.W. the new vsn. seems to have retro-borked your comments and labled people as "anonymous" 
Tiffany  Did this mess up your home page? Eh?

You'd think it'd work on a Mac... 
Becky  Pah! Minor problems!

:-S

The "anonymous" thing is weird. Luckily it's limited only to the home page at the moment. The individual blog pages still show proper attibutions. 
Stephanie Delacey  "I was hoping they were going to add a big fat XML backup option."

Wordpress offer that and MySQL backup. It's much better than Blogger :-p 
Becky  Well, my blog entries are stored with blogger, which are then copied to my web space, which are then periodically copied to my hard drive, so you could say that I've got two back ups.

And anyway, the best blogging software in the world won't make a bad blog into a good blog. :-P 
Samantha  I love the new look Becky, i wish i knew how to get rid of half the rubbish on mine:)

Samantha xXx 
Isobel  who won't get fooled again? 

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Last one

I said I'd link to everyone, so completists might want to know that Penny has blogged about Transpocalypse. :-)

Labels:

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

More angles

Isobel and Chrissy have blogged about Saturday, and Jane has written something rather nice prompted by the night. Go comment on all of them to show your appreciation, and come back here when you're done, m'kay?

Labels:

Alli' Cat'  Well it seems like you all had a reasonably good and hassle-free time; I'd told the border guards to 'calm down' and just wave you through, must have worked. :-)
Glad to see that you haven't broken the place, probably due to Siobhan not going ;-)
Gawd, the Lisbon; that takes me back. Who suggested that place - must be a 'local'. 
Becky  Yeah it was local lass Jessica who suggested it, nice bar!

And why weren't you there, Allison? ;-) 
Alli' Cat'  I don't meet the 'entry requirements' - I don't blog (apart from by proxy :D) and I don't have a web-site. And that's before we get into the whole 'too close to home' / 'letting the side down' / 'other contentious issues involving the "d" word' thing. Conflicted, moi?
Sill; the fact that you've asked the question has given me a 'warm glow'. :-) 
Anonymous  Proxy is good enough Alli so consider yourself on standby for TP III 

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Monday, January 29, 2007

Transpocalypse Liverpool

Hmmm... what to say about last weekend?

I've not got much to add to the usual comments like "it was great to see everyone", "getting everyone organised was a little fraught" and "I really wish I'd had more time to properly chat to everybody".

I did do my best to mingle, but inevitably I barely touched base with most, which is a real shame.

One of the great thing about organising a tranny even for a bunch of bloggers and friends is that you can guarantee at least a few of them will do all the writing-up for you afterwards. :-)

So, in the manner of those multi-angle things on DVDs, you can already see Saturday night's action from the point of view of Pandora, Clarissa, Valerie and Joanna.

Of course, the others don't have to blog about it, but if they do get round to it, I'll link to their posts too. :-)

Labels:

Anonymous  Haven't read Isobel's version yet ... anyway, for a blogger (even one as poor as myself) not to blog on the weekend's events... well that's a bit crap, isn't it?
You have till Saturday. No excuses! 

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Jane and Me... and Becky makes two

When it comes to being supportive about my cross-dressing, Jane makes no effort whatsoever.

Which is great.

I'd better explain.

She's supportive in the same way that the sea is salty. It just is.

It doesn't have to make any effort. It doesn't feel it's making any major sacrifices. It doesn't feel the need to join forums for salty things to discuss the endless burden of being salty with... errrrm... anchovies. It doesn't appear in magazine articles entitled "How I Learned to Live with my Secret Salty Shame". Salty is the natural way of things. Quite frankly, the sea is a bit surprised that other major bodies of water aren't salty.

Jane is equally a bit nonplussed by women who don't want anything to do with transvestites. Why some girls seem to get their knickers in a twist that some boys want to wear twistable knickers. She's blessed with enough common sense and wisdom to see that transvestism is a facet of a personality, not a defining trait.

I initially found it strange that I didn't have to endlessly explain my actions to her. Then I realised that her attitude was that while she might not totally understand why I do it, that's doesn't make it a Big Scary Thing. As long as I'm totally honest with her, and live to the fundamental ground-rules that any partner should, she trusts me implicitly.

That doesn't make her unique, I've met lots of other partners of trannies (including a few at the weekend) who are just the same. But it's still reason 3 of the 6 reasons I love her. (Before you ask - the other five a split into too many sub-categories to list here.)

That's not to say that I've got total free rein, and Jane doesn't have any opinions in the matter. She's normally pretty good at pointing out when those stripy tights don't go with that floral blouse or you might want to avoid bending down and/or being seen dead in that skirt. And that's just the sartorial matters!

Where Becky is concerned, things are working fine. As I tried to indicate with the title of the post, she's not the "third person in the relationship", she's just part of me. Who wears a skirt.

(Aside: FFS, if you're ever going to accuse me of just being a "bloke in a dress", get it right! I hardly ever wear dresses!)

It would be easy for me to rest on my laurels, happy that we've got "Transvestism in a Modern Relationship" sussed. But situations change, both gradually and in big jumps, and there are couple of big jumps coming up that we both need to factor in to the equations.

For example, when I first started going out with Jane I explained to her that cross-dressing was my "garden shed". Most men have some place to go to get away from it all, whether it's to tinker contently with a recalcitrant lawnmower, or to make exact scale models of the Titanic out of matchsticks. A place away from the complexity and vagueness of real life and real emotions. A place where most problems can be solved by WD-40.

Cross-dressing and it's related paraphernalia fulfils that purpose for me. Admittedly, I've not found too many uses for WD-40 yet, but I still use "Becky" — the dressing up, this blog, the community and social aspects — as a little walled-garden that I can escape to when the rest of the world is just too pointy.

I told this to Jane because I needed her to understand that sometimes I'd want to go off and "be Becky" on my own, and I didn't want her to worry that I wanted to do this to be unfaithful or because I didn't want her there. I don't really know why I want it, I guess it's just something that, even now, is fundamentally private to me.

Jane was cool with that, and really up to now it hasn't been much of an issue anyway. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in the last 18 months I've been out as Becky without Jane along for the ride. Because I really wanted Jane to see what I was getting up to, and meet my friends so that they became her friends too. I've been immensely happy that she's been there enjoying herself, there's not been an outing yet that I've regretted going to with Jane. And also because I've generally found my Happy Place with Jane, maybe I don't need to dress as much as I used to anyway.

But it has highlighted some differences. I don't think Jane will argue with me if I say she's not the clubbing type. She's got a wide and varied taste in music, but not much of it the kind of stuff that turns up in the boxes of the DJs at the kind of clubs trannies frequent!

I however enjoy occasionally enjoy swinging my lack-of-pants to popular dance combos, and it's something I'd like to keep doing. Also, there's still the whole garden shed thing. In the future I don't always want to have Jane along for the ride when I go out as Bex, and Jane doesn't always want to be there. We just need to set the ground rules for what acceptable and what's not, and adjust them when necessary.

This would be in danger of being one of those horrible tranny blog posts where the writer shares their deepest thoughts with the readers of their blog, without communicating it directly to the other person involved. That's not the case here, I've talked to Jane about most if not all of this beforehand, we've already set some new rules that will come into effect should X Y and Z happen in the future. And it will be an agenda topic forever more, no doubt.

'Cos that's what you have to do. Keep talking. Even when it's working.

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Miss K  awwwww! 
Anonymous  Great post.

You two will do well..... ;) 
Helen G  She sounds like one in a million.
...
...
...
Jane too.

Badum-TISH 
Charlee  Sounds like you two are far more ready for this marriage than some couples of 30 yrs are. And being able to communicate these things to us mere mortals, is such a blessing. Thank you. 
Anonymous  Lovely post.

My husband's "garden shed" is filled with comic books and sci-fi. Frankly, it'd be more fun if it was cross-dressing. I have way more opinions about shoes and outfits than the latest iteration of Batman. But, he's quite lovable nonetheless. 
Anonymous  Word to yo mamma, girlfriend... Or something like that...

I can relate to a lot of that post. In particular the fact Jane doesn't really see what the fuss is about: A chap who enjoys ladies clothes...

Anyhoo, it may be a contrasting point to some Trans* folk who bemoan that fact that there aren't any women out there for them... 
Anonymous  (To paraphrase) 'Transvestism is the new garden shed'

Ooo, there's a concept. :-)

Tranny's aren't just there for the nasty things in life, they'll lend you their shoes and clothes if you ask nicely. Hell, they'll probably sit through a episodes of Sex in the City / What Not to Wear without mentioning the footy once.

Lovely to read that things are going well! 
Anonymous  You really need to write a book about some of this.. You stuff is pretty well grounded. You have a really cool way of making it all so simple 
Stacey  Heartwarming post... enough to inspire hope in this sometimes defeated girl. 
NH  Yeah, I wasn't into the whole tranny club thing...I mean, what are the chances of hearing "Brain Salad Surgery" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer at Transmission? 
Anonymous  "...This would be in danger of being one of those horrible tranny blog posts where the writer shares their deepest thoughts with the readers of their blog, without communicating it directly to the other person involved."

That'll be me, then... :(

I admit it, if the person I wrote about knew it, I'd be vaporised with my own embarassment!
I cannot say what I think of a person to their face. Unless they're a twat, and then... restraint? What's that?

I think the pair of you are good together, but that's IMHO. Nice One. 
Anonymous  why is everyone going on about trannies let them be and they will let you you are all sad! 

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Mitchell and Webb are Mac and PC

...in the UK version of the Get a Mac campaign.

File that one under "Obvious in Hindsight"!
Anonymous  Hi Becky

The Tranny and TV post seems closed to comments now, but I just want to add my small voice of support to your delightfully humourous blog.

Thank you for being you and sharing that with us.

Daryl 
NH  ...File that one under "Somehow, Mitchell and Webb have seen Tranny and TV somewhere...or at least some advertising copywriter did". 
Anonymous  Hmmmm there are 5 things about those ads

1. Mitchell and Webb are highly suited.

2. Mini Mac on the Wedding list? (My brother could get it, Muwhahahah)

3. Mac are so bloody smug they need a good slapping, no viruses for the Mac - that's because it's not worth writing them for a machine that has such shallow penetration into the market.

4. Err...

5. That's it. 
Becky  Jane: No 6?

NH: I wish! No, unfortunately Tranny and TV were initially a spoof on the original US version of those ads. Shame really, if they'd copied Tranny and TV I could be as rich as Joel Veitch. :-) 
Anonymous  Last week I did a training session for the first time on a suite of wireless Mac books.. it took myself and the local "mac expert" about 15 minutes to try and get at least one of the Mac Books to work on the projector and the interactive whiteboard, and at the same time connect to the network. It was a nightmare.

I think some Mac users have a selective memory of all the problems you can get with a Mac. Admittedly there are many more PC problems, but Mac's are not immune to a good few themselves.

(but saying that I may buy a Mac mini sometime, just so I can finally use one without looking like a complete klutz) 
Becky  Sure... everyone start baiting the Apple fans on my blog... just as the heat had died down! :-(

;-) 

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Transpocalypse Nigh!

Just 48 hours to go before possibly the biggest Liverpool-based UK tranny blogmeet of this weekend, if not the whole of January!

If you think you're coming and you've not just received the final details via email then let me know as soon as possible and I'll sort you out. :-)

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Charlee  Sorry, won't be able to make it :( Got to visit a sick relative. Have a GREAT time though, I look forward to the deluge of pictures :)

And all come down to London soon so I can meet you :) 
Pandora Caitiff  OK... So I've packed; I've got the route plan; I've got the email details and phone contacts; got the outfit down to two options; given my mum the hotel details for emergencies :)

And got nerves!

See y'all there 
Anonymous  Have a good one and enjoy yourself. We'll be wanting a full report afterwards. :-) 
Karol Cross  Bugger.

Thats what you get for being off line for weeks. Missed it again. Sh*t.

Hope you have a great time though, although obviously not too great! 
Anonymous  Can NOT believe that I'm missing this again... (sigh) well have twice the fun for me and take loads of photos! (almost redundant, isn't it, to tell tv's to take loads of photos...) =) 

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Delightfully blasé attitude towards dangerous pharmaceuticals

Tranny and TV cartoon

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steph_angel  LOL... You really do have a lot of TS issues whizzing around that head of yours at the moment don't you ;-) 
Becky  "At the moment"? :-) 
Anonymous  mmm sweeties... 
Anonymous  Wise words Skywalker... I'm sure you won't even get a barrage of TS harumpfs, as your diatribes have no doubt scared them away!

Keep up the good work... 
Miss K  "Russell" Hobbs...

Now that's *very* clever :) 
Alli' Cat'  Becky 'nails it' again - great stuff! :D
(hammer, nails - geddit? Oh, suit yourself!) 
Stephanie Delacey  Brilliant! I can almost hear the voices of Pete 'n Dud.... 
Pia  Simon...
Were you were trying to make a valid point about the difficulties of finding out that a frock, trowel of foundation and tool chest of lippy didn't answer your questions about your gender anymore? Or were you just bashing ts's again in witty cartoon form? It does seem strange, almost ironic really that a man that wears womens clothes questions another person for wanting to be a woman full time. Even more so when you have friends dealing with these issues.

Picasso said "Every act of creation is first an act of destruction."...

Simon...Our distinguished spokesman...in fact most of you...I leave you with this question...When did you pick up the hammer?

and no...we are not scared...we don't paint at the weekend...we paint every day...

Love, Peace and Respect...

Pia. 
Anonymous  It depends how you look at the cartoon. You *could* say that it's a satire of non-TS folk being drawn into a world that they don't really belong in (see 2nd to last frame) and not being able to admit it to themselves or otherwise. 
Becky  "Were you were trying to make a valid point about..."

No, I wasn't trying to make a point about that, valid or otherwise. How did you get that from the strip?

"Or were you just bashing ts's again in witty cartoon form?"

No, in as much as the TV character is pretty much established as a rather stupid transvestite, and the Tranny character is also a transvestite who does rather stupid things sometimes. So I don't specialise in bashing T-Esses, I try to be a bit more even handed. Most of "Tranny and TV" is "bashing", to use your word, Transvestites.

But I don't see it as "bashing", any more than Peanuts bashes small children or Andy Capp bashes the working class male (not for a moment am I comparing my piddly strip with those works), but the point is the same. Comedy, be it in cartoon form or whatever, is about pointing out the idiosyncrasies of a group or situation and making fun of it.

Perhaps if you could give specific examples of how this strip or anything I've written "bashes" TSs, I can address them.

"It does seem strange, almost ironic really that a man that wears womens clothes questions another person for wanting to be a woman full time. Even more so when you have friends dealing with these issues."

I do have friends who are dealing with these issues. And, in my own small way, I've dealt with these issues myself. Nowhere have I questioned the fact that someone might want to be a woman full time.

I might question how they go about it because gender reassignment as you well know is not something that can be taken lightly. It deeply affects a person's relationships, and permanently changes their body. Calling hormones "sweeties" (as I've heard TG people do in the past), and promoting ways to short-cut what should be a properly controlled process is damaging and dangerous, and I feel strongly about that.

"When did you pick up the hammer?"

I'll take that to mean "when did you start making fun of T-esses?"

The same time I started making fun of Transvestites, and all the other types of trans-people. It's part of what I do.

If you don't like it, then you don't have to read it. But you're not going to stop me. 
Anonymous  I think any mature community should have the ability to laugh at itself from time to time. And that goes for the TG community as well. 
Alli' Cat'  I thought there was a clue in the title; and an even bigger one in frame four.
Unless I've totally missed the point - and it's really about confectionery!!! In which case, as a confectionery lover: <rant> £**$@@!! </rant> 
Pia  "I might question how they go about it"

Does that mean I can question how you comment on that?

"I feel strongly about that...And, in my own small way, I've dealt with these issues myself.... Nowhere have I questioned the fact that someone might want to be a woman full time. "

I'll take that to mean that at no point have you actually questioned what it may be like to live full time. Why then would your opinion would be at all valid? You have no real knowledge of your chosen subject and seem to show no intention to learn about it further.

"When did you pick up the hammer?"

I'll take that to mean "when did you start making fun of T-esses?"

No... I actually meant when you got a spine...to try to follow your name sake 'en Verite' which is some nod at you trying to educate us/yourself? to deconstruct the old Simon and to recreate a simon/becky hybrid that was less of a hypocrite...to look for the truth...to look for the light...that which is beyond gender...?

Having a website for your female alter ego is actually you trying to make a point? Hey I identify with the Female gender...I'm expressing a new area of my male role....Non?

So, If you weren't making any point-valid or otherwise...why fucking bother? why not call it bex-lite...because it has no real valid content?

"If you don't like it, then you don't have to read it."

"Specific examples"
I won't even bother trying to explain to you as obviuosly you are not whom you claim to be...not someone 'en verite' but a man in a dress as you so obviously are...however..I'll take Kats lead when she says..."I'm sure you won't even get a barrage of TS harumpfs, as your diatribes have no doubt scared them away..."

And no...I don't like it...so I don't read it...but it's nice to have an opinion sometimes,
wouldn't you agree... 
Tiffany  I think somebody needs some humor replacement therapy...funny is funny. 
Becky T  You know, I didn't see this edition of Tranny and TV as being TS-bashing. It is however a realistic, albeit simplified, portrayal of the approach of one notable professional, and the impact that's had on a number of his patients. I didn't actually laugh out loud at the cartoon this time because I happen to have spent the last few years doing things the jumping-through-hoops way and while there are certain advantages to some in early prescription - ways in which I too would have benefitted - I also don't happen to think it's a good way to proceed.

It's a pity though that some people are so wrapped up in being offended that they miss the intended send-up. 
Helen G  Kat said ...I'm sure you won't even get a barrage of TS harumpfs, as your diatribes have no doubt scared them away!

Well, I'm still here, and am not harumpfing! TBH, this blog is increasingly a pleasant refuge from some of the more, umm, 'ardcore (you know the score) TS sites.

Kat, I even agree with you here: Keep up the good work...

And I'm staying well away from that debate up there ^ (gestures vaguely towards ceiling)...

Thank you Becky for Tranny & TV. And all the other stuff, of course (she adds hastily) 
Becky  No, thank you. And you, Becky T. :-)

I really didn't want to scare away any T-esses from this blog, and I'm really glad you're staying. 
Stacey  Pia addressing Becky by her alternative moniker is the height of disrespect and very rude I feel. Also, surely the cartoon mocks the clinical approach of a certain physician, not TS's in general. 
NH  Tranny and TV remind me of the old Smith and Jones talking heads routines (one knows nothing and the other thinks they know stuff but in reality knows nothing) and you can't say that they're doing a savage indictment of East End men. 

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You couldn't make it up

A new series of the excellent phone-in comedy Down the Line started last week. This time Radio 4 are making no attempt to conceal that it's a spoof phone-in show, unlike the first series which was aired with no warning or explanation, causing more than a few calls of complaint to the BBC from Enraged of Tumbridge Wells!

Actually, the reason that the Fast Show crew have given up pretending that Gary Bellamy's callers are fictional is probably that compared to many real life callers to radio phone-ins, they're no more ridiculous.

Take for example this snatch of Jeremy Vine's show that I caught at lunch time. They were debating the morality of this news story about a couple who want a posthumous child for their dead son via impregnating a woman he never met.

A caller phoned in to support them, saying:

"If I died tomorrow, I'd want my wife to take my liver, kidneys, heart, etcetera, and put them into someone else. If that's okay, why not sperm?"
April Angell  Fabulous, thanks for that link. I love all that phone in comedy stuff. Reminds me of those Radio 4 tapedeck mashups Vicky Bennett (aka People Like Us aka We Edit Life) used to do.

...A quick google and they're all archived here - how about that!

Do check out I'm 89 and Millenium Dome (two of my favourites - both from the album Thermos Explorer) - the mysteries of pinnies and washing dollies explained! 
Becky  LOL! :-)

Again, the mashup isn't entirely dissimilar from the real calls you get on local radio. :-) 
Clarissa  I usually switch Vine off quite quickly because if he doesn't irritate me his callers certainly will.

Though for some reason I didn't yesterday reach for the off button as quickly as usual and heard, in response to the discussion on the church and adoption row, one female caller indicate that a lesbian couple would be ok but insinuate that a gay couple would be almost certain to abuse the child.

As I was at work I managed to restrain myself from shouting at the radio. 
Anonymous  but insinuate that a gay couple would be almost certain to abuse the child.

to be honest, I'd be more worried about leaving my child with a Catholic Priest than with a gay couple.... 
Clarissa  Join the club

/me waits for the inevitable complaint from and passing catholic... :-p 

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Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Well, it's nice to be invited

I just got an automated email from Flickr that I found quite amusing, and I thought I'd share it with you.

[Flickr] You've been invited to join Jane And Simon's Wedding

Jane Goth has invited you to be a member of Jane And Simon's
Wedding.

To find out more about this group[snip]


Good-oh, I was starting to feel a little left out. ;-)

(I'm so up for a slap.)

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Anonymous  Yup! And I was gonna promote you to an administrator too :p 
Jessica  When my friend got married a few years ago I webcast her wedding for people abroad, I think it would be quite fitting for you guys to webcast it on your blogs :) Makesure the venue has broadband! 
Charlee  I second that! 
Gordon  Hmmmm, wonders if someone WANTED a "slap"... ;-) 
NH  I wanted to webcast my wedding but Wifey vetoed it...I think her exact words were "I don't want anyone called "Chet" or "Bubba" from Asshole, Indiana watching our wedding with one hand down their trousers and the other around a shotgun."

She also vetoed my idea of hiring the Red Arrows, arriving in a helicopter, having a WW2 Jeep or a fire engine as a wedding car, hiring Spock's Beard (with The Hamsters as support) to do the music, having her walk down the aisle to the "Imperial March" from "The Empire Strikes Back" (and the Two Ronnies theme as the recessional music). 
Anonymous  wanted to webcast my wedding but Wifey vetoed it...Seconded.

BTW how many vetos do I get? 
NH  As all women have been planning for their weddings since they were 10 they tend to have unlimited vetoes until you get to the point where the groom starts to behave like he'll skip the country...then he gets to have a couple of ideas that can't be vetoed. 

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Monday, January 22, 2007

Am I a transsexual?

One of the reasonably common misconceptions amongst the TG community is that "all transvestites are basically transsexuals who can't/won't own up to it".

Admittedly it's mainly transsexuals who hold this opinion. That doesn't make all transsexuals morons, of course. Just the ones who think that it's true.

(I think that qualifying statement will once again spare me the wrath of the entire TS community for another day.)

But transvestites and cross-dressers who have no intention of taking the TS route would be forgiven for worrying if maybe they're hiding their innermost feelings from themselves. Maybe they are fooling themselves without realising it. Maybe there's a inevitable mental process going on in the background, which one day will make you decide that you want to be a woman full time.

And, even scarier, maybe this mental process then re-writes your memories so that you think you always wanted to be a woman. After all, you often hear transsexuals say stuff like "of course, I knew deep down I wanted to be a woman, I was just afraid of admitting it to myself."

So, as an aid for those transvestites who might be worrying along these lines, I present some tips on how to spot a pre-TS TV, by which I mean someone who's actually a transsexual and is pretending to be a transvestite/cross-dresser until they're ready to own up to it.

Just read the following traits and score accordingly.

Trait 1: Growing your own hair. If your hair is bob length, and you're not in a Beatles tribute band; or if your wig's currently perched on a massed thatch that's "not quite ready to be shown off yet" because it resolutely refuses to grow back over the shiny bit at the front - score 1 point.

Trait 2: The "Blatantly Obvious Secret". If you pepper your blog/forum posts with comments such as:
  • "I just wonder if I'm being honest with myself."
  • "I wonder sometimes if things would have turned out differently if I'd never married."
  • "I hate labels, but I guess I'd describe myself as transgendered".
and other statements that you think make you sound wonderfully unknowable and non-commital, but actually make everyone think you're fooling yourself - Score 2 points.

Trait 3: Passing
. If your idea of the pinnacle of TG achievement is a dressed-down visit to Meadowhall to buy a beige jumper without being clocked as a bloke - score 2 points.

Trait 4: Knowing far too much about the process. If the first thing you think of when you hear the words "Charing Cross" isn't railway station; if you don't have problems with referring to private medical consultants as "Uncle"; or if you've run the online COGIATI test so often you know how to get the secret easter-egg "You're actually Kylie!" ending - score 1 point.

If you scored zero, then be rest assured you're not (unknowingly or otherwise) harbouring latent desires to go the transsexual route.

If you've scored one or more points, it doesn't necessarily mean you're a transsexual. But it does mean that your tranny friends who've read this (or have a grain of personal experience) probably think you are.

If you scored 6 points... stop messing about, own up to being a transsexual and put us all out of our misery!

(A "I'm only joking" wink smiley is available for this post. If you'd like one, please send a stamped addressed envelope to BECKYSWEB c/o Microsoft Plc, 1 Microsoft Way Ste 8, Redmond, WA 98052-8300)

Labels:

Clarissa  Can I pick mine up from you on Saturday? :) 
Claudia  Next you need to come up with a way to judge how long a tranny will post/blog/publish about the wonders of their lives before disappearing back into obscurity. :D

I'm not offline, I'm just taking a rest. 
Anonymous  Nice one.... 
Sophie Green  oh it's like that is it? I'll be wearing that beige jumper on Saturday night ;-) 
Isobel  Beige jumper? They've sold out. Er, not that I was looking, of course.
And I don't have a shiny bit at the front, either.
;o) 
Siobhan Curran  > BECKYSWEB c/o Microsoft Plc,

I knew it 
steph_angel  "If you've scored one or more points, it doesn't necessarily mean you're a transsexual. But it does mean that your tranny friends who've read this (or have a grain of personal experience) probably think you are..."

Or you just happen to like having long hair :-p That just so happens to be in a kinda girlie style :-/ 
Natalie  Well, you don't have my wrath! In fact I was quite amused there for a good few minutes. I was one of those. Not all TVs are though, certainly. 
Anonymous  Hmm. Beige sweater. I have one of those. And a shiny bit on top. Two, actually. :-( (Little chance of that Farrah Fawcett hairdo?).

I have to ask... Does a red Vespa indicate anything? :-)

Carolyn Ann 
NH  Very nicely put, Becky. There is a legion of "one size fits all" trannies (TV or TG) that will work on insecurities until you're "One of us! One of us!" This is one of the reasons I got fed up with the scene:

Me: I'm not a transsexual
Them: Have you considered it, I mean REALLY thought about it?

Me: I'm happy enough as a man in my day to day life
Them: I used to say that, but now I'm more englightened to myself

Other great bon mots I've been subjected to are:

Of course, it's been hard on the wife and kids...my one regret was that I didn't tell them up front that I was taking 'mones until after they had noticed my tits.

Once you've been with a TS, you never go back.

Oh come on, you have to be gay/TS/gagging for me (delete where applicable) otherwise you wouldn't do this!

Have you read my semi-autobiographical novel yet?
 
Stephanie Delacey  Trait 1. There should a group for those of us who have tried growing our hair but gave up when it showed signs of turning into an 80s' footballer's mullet.

Trait 2. So you do read my blog!!

Trait 3. However much I might dither over labels I believe I can declare, absolutely, that I will never wear a beige jumper.

I have to say, though, I haven't really encountered that misconception that all transvestites are really transsexuals. On the contrary, in my experience once you've declared yourself as one or the other on a forum or whatever, then that is it, there are gender police galore to make sure you never change your mind. 
Anonymous  "removes real hair photo from flickr"

:-p 
Anonymous  > Does a red Vespa indicate anything?

Yeah, it means you work in IT... and probably have thin eyebrows. :-D

Can those Microsoft smilies be used in any browser, or do you have to use IE 7 to view them? [/nerd] :-) 
Tina Belmont  Becky, I understand ~completely~ where you are coming from on this! I used to get a LOT of that attitude from TS. They seem to want to justify their own decision by convincing me that I'm just like them. I'm constantly explaining "No, because if I'm at home, alone, and dressed, I'll be way too distracted to accomplish anything! If I had real boobs, I'd never get any work done!"

Of couse, my TS friends would say "Oh, but after you take the hormones for awhile, the sexual tension all goes away!"

That makes me think that they were really just like me (not the other way around), and medicated themselves until they became TS!

I'm not saying all TS are like that... just certain people. 
Pia  Please....whoever you are ...you are starting to sound like narrow minded bigots that live in the arse end of the world...maybe we are only really connected by a webpage in cyberspace.
I found that with the TV scene and got sooo bored of it. Although I'm not saying all TV's are like that... just certain people.

To tell if you are someone that would possibly like to wear a dress...check out these moronic and offensive sweeping generalisations...

trait 1) Confusion, depression and suicide...
0-3 points...Man! you are a man! you have a mans brain, a mans ability to communicate ansd a mans ability to admit to weakness and gender confusion...only option suicide.

trait 2) Confusion, depression, dressing as a woman at the weekends, having a weblog, and telling everyone your totally happy as a man (even tho His identity would never get a web page dedicated to His image)
questioning the ideals of other trans people in a belittling and derogatory manner(to try to maintain a sense of crediblity as it's sort of obvious that genetic women and ts's have all sort of hormonal issues and don't really have a valid opinion...but I do I'm a man...and I only wear a dress)...
4-7 points...Man! you are confused! you have a mans brain, a womans ability to communicate although you have a mans ability to admit to gender weakness and confusion...thats gotta hurt...only option hypocrisy!

trait 3) Confusion, Depression and living as a transgendered person...getting pissed off at people telling you "you know I'm totally happy as a man".
8-10 points...Well you may just be getting close to a truth there!!! not The Truth...but just a truth...your truth...only option keep looking for The Truth...

do you have any understanding for the gravity of the situation?

Love, Peace and Respect,

Pia. 
Anonymous  I would guess that one of the first questions should be "Do you have a sense of humour?" if the answer is NO, then you get 6 bonus points.... 
Pia  I suppose it hurts a little more when people are 'humourous' about you... eh joe? 
Anonymous  Not really Pie.... I can take a joke... 
Anonymous  Was just at Microsoft Plc the other day... didn't see you there. Musta been your day off. ;)
I'm going to be in Cupertino in April, d'ya think Siobhan would give me a tour of 1 Infinite Loop? 
Karol Cross  Phew, had me worried there for a minute! Thank god for beige!

(Never thought I'd say that!) 
Anonymous  Late as ever...

5 years ago everyone in 'the community' was telling me that I might be TS and I was certain that I wasn't. The old gag etc Q: 'What's the difference between a transvestite and a transexual?'A:'Two years'.

Now I'm looking at it, hard, and quite a few people are trying to tell me I'm not.

Curious. 

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Sunday, January 21, 2007

Is it just me...

... or does that woman who does the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4 sound really smug and spiteful? There's a definite hint of malice mixed in with the clipped RP.

Take for example this sample from tonight's forecast...

VIKING NORTH UTSIRE. NORTHERLY 6 TO GALE 8, OCCASIONALLY SEVERE GALE 9 AT FIRST. ROUGH OR VERY ROUGH, OCCASIONALLY HIGH. WINTRY SHOWERS. GOOD.

It's that "good" on the end. The self-satisfied way she says it makes it sounds like she's happy that there's going to be gales in the North Sea.

FISHER GERMAN BIGHT. NASTY CHILLY WIND THAT GOES RIGHT THROUGH YOU. GOOD.

TRAFALGAR. WE WON. BEAT THE FRENCHIES. GOOD.

BAILEY ROCKALL SHANNON. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS, 50 FOOT WAVES, SCORES OF DEAD FISHERMEN FLOATING IN SEA. GOOD. I'M GLAD. SERVES 'EM RIGHT.
Anonymous  nope... I think it's just you.... :) 
Isobel  Er, I'd check to see if your radio is actually plugged in. Have you noticed anything else strange, like furniture rearranging itself while your back is turned, a lingering smell of burnt toast, or cloven hoofprints across your carpets? 
Vic  The good refers to...

No. It's not worth the effort. 
Charlee  Vic, tell us, I'd like to know! I spent much of my childhood fearing this woman for the same reasons as Becky! 
NH  If you have a copy of the Eurythmics "Soundtrack" to 1984 (no music from their album appeared in the movie although it's a movie tie-in), then there's a track called "Doubleplusgood" and I swear it's the Shipping Forecast woman who does the narration on it.

However, I've yet to track down Spandau Ballet's version of "Sailing By". 
Becky  Vic will probably claim it's something to do with "visibility levels", Charlee. ;-)