For whatever reason, the message boards are loading slow, people are getting database errors, and their performance is generally not so hot.
Just so you know: it’s not you, and switching browsers will not help!
We’ve got calls in to our hosts, and hopefully we’ll get some answers shortly. Better yet that the problem will just go away.
Five Questions With… Gina Lance
Gina Lance is the former publisher of Girl Talk
Magazine, current producer of TGLife.com, and too fabulous for words.
< Helen with much shorter hair, and Gina in all her nearly 5’11” glory.
1) As a public person, does “being Gina Lance” ever get in the way of your life?
First of all Helen, thank you for asking me to participate in your ‘infamous’ Five Questions! As far as being recognized as Gina Lance, it’s very flattering to be noticed for the work you have done. When I had a local crossdressing television talk show in Los Angeles back in 1997, I realized how many people were watching because they approached me wherever I was. After I launched GIRL TALK Magazine, it just exploded. I’ve had people too numerous to mention tell me everything from I saved their lives, to I was the one responsible for getting them out of the closet. It’s very heartwarming and I do appreciate it.
As far as the downside of being Gina Lance it’s mostly comical. I’ve been cornered by people who wanted to talk to me (very flattering!) for almost an hour on my way into a nightclub in Los Angeles. I love meeting people but one girl had to even pull her blouse up and show me her new breasts. She said I had inspired her and given her the confidence to get them. Somehow, I don’t remember writing/suggesting that. I’ve had people tell me everything from they’re on hormones to they’re getting their sex change because of me. So I’m usually very careful what I write about now; I see myself as a transgendered ambassador of good will, not a physician!
One of the former GIRL TALK covergirls, Jillian Diamond, looks like my younger, shorter daughter, but she is occasionally mistaken for me by people who don’t know us. I think the funniest thing was when some girl called her a ‘bitch’ for not using her as a covergirl, thinking she was me.
All in all though, I love being Gina Lance. But I also love being my male self and I think that’s very important in keeping me balanced. My wife, KC, loves both of me which is fantastic. Although we steal each other’s makeup occasionally. In male mode I just don’t tell everyone who I am and love being anonymous sometimes – it gives me a break to clear my mind. I recently chatted with Cassandra Peterson who people know as Elvira and we both agreed it is great to go unrecognized when you want to. It gives you some time to relax.
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Times Five
Well, it’s official: the fifth printing of My Husband Betty has now been ordered, and will show up in warehouses around the first years of 2006. That’s five printings in two years, pretty much.
Thanks, all.
Our Little Nest
My hand is in the picture for size comparison purposes, of course, but isn’t that a beautiful ring, too?
Since we couldn’t access a lot of websites today, Betty and I ended up catching up on a ton of chores we needed to do, one of which was to take out the air conditioner. Yes, we’re way late, but really – it was pretty warm in NYC until like a week ago.
Anyway, we finally took it out, cats carefully locked in one room while we pulled it out of the window, and what did our wondering eyes descry? That nest we entirely forgot about. It made the cats nuts this spring – the birds scritching and peeping right there but entirely out of reach. Now we’ve put it in a box in hope that we might do something cool & groovy with it, though I don’t know what.
Two questions for all you, then:
1) What do we do with it? Art projects type, do let us know.
2) What kind of birds were they? We never even got to see them. Can anyone tell just from what the nest looks like?
It is an engineering marvel, to be sure. We’re thinking now we may even use it to fashion the inside of a bird house, because it’s amazingly, solidly, built. That way it’ll make some birds a good home again next year, too.
Reproductive Rights
Nerve seems to be getting a little hipper these days: after that cool special they did on bisexuality (in response to His Idiocy’s Recent Study), they’ve currently got a Reproductive Rights special issue up (because we can’t all be having all this fabulous sex without preventing pregnancy, you know?).
Not bad. Maybe someday they’ll review my book, even.
Two Americas
I’m voting for Edwards, and that’s all there is to it.
Feminist Blog
Thanks to Katha Pollitt, I just discovered a great source of feminist reading, a blog called Feministing.
I’ve put a link up in the blogroll, but wanted to call your attention to it. It’s a good mix of stories, from pop culture stuff to book reviews to news.
Gossip & Calumny, Pt. 2
The real problem with having stupid gossipy things happen is that I have to deal with them instead of answering an email from someone in need.
Last night I got the email from the person who told me that Bobbi Williams was repeating that tripe. In the same session, I also got an email from a woman whose husband went off the deep end – convinced he was transsexual, he had a therapist tell her instead of telling her himself, and then backed off the whole idea, only to realize he’s just a crossdresser. She’s freaked out, needed resources, and instead of getting back to her asap I had to cool down a while first.
That’s why being gossiped about is so annoying.
Dinnertime…
… or breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, supper, elevenses, or just a snack.
Five Questions With… Vern Bullough
Vern L. Bullough is a SUNY Distinguished
Professor Emeritus, was a past President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, was honored with the Kinsey Award for his research, and is the author of Crossdressing, Sex, and Gender, along with 50+ other books on various subjects, most of them involving sexuality.
< Helen with Vern Bullough at IFGE 2004.
1) In terms of trans and gender subjects, what do you think is the most important piece of your scholarship?
The field of trans research is rapidly changing as it moves more into the mainstream of variant sexual behaviors. I think the best back ground is the book that my late wife Bonnie and I did, entitled Cross Dressing, Sex and Gender. The best survey of the field up to l997 was also one that Bonnie and I edited entitled Gender Blending. The best for female to male transsexuals is that by Holly Devor, entitled FTM. There are more specialized books coming out now but I think these three are the basis for a good understanding.
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