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More Trans on Oprah

As it turns out, Oprah will be recording a new show about trans – in fact, two shows (again!). We did not, unfortunately, make it on this time either, as the shows are focused on families & children. From what I know, the first will be about families in which there are children who are trans, and the second will be focusing on families where a parent (or both) is trans.

Thus, not us. And while I could rant & rave about the legitimacy of our family, because we ARE one, dammit, even though we don’t have children, I won’t, as the producer we’ve spoken to has been quite lovely and the whole experience very pleasant & encouraging.

I don’t know when the shows are airing, but I assume in not too long.

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Back, & Gone Again

I’m back from DO, but off to Andover. This is a nutty schedule, but thankfully it’ll settle down some in the next couple of weeks.

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Aurora the Tolerant

I love this one, of Aurora, closer up in her cone. Not a happy cat, but way more tolerant than we ever thought she’d be.

It’s been two years since we brought her home from DO, this week. Amazing. She’s such a grown cat now, all filled out, muscular, with a good layer of fat under her fur. She just looks like a grownup, finally, so much so now that I wonder if she wasn’t a full year younger than we thought she was.

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Santhi Soundarajan

Santhi Soundarajan, a female runner in India who was stripped of her Olympic medal has, perhaps, tried to commit suicide. She ingested pesticide but it’s not clear that she did so in a suicide attempt, and may have taken it for stomach pain. There are more details in an India Times article.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced she failed a sex test and implied Santhi had deceived the sporting world by competing as a woman when she was a man, effectively ending her career.

But Santhi, who returned home to live in humiliation, insisted along with her parents and coaches she had done nothing wrong. . .

Seven of the eight women who tested positive for Y chromosomes during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics had AIS. They were allowed to compete.

Because the International Olympics no longer do these tests, exactly in order to prevent this kind of outcome, and The Hindu reports that endocrine test results were probably not in when she was disqualified.

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DO & My Profile

Betty & I are off at that twice-annual conference we go to, & are looking forward to catching up with old friends & enjoying the green.

But in the meantime, a local arts paper called The Brooklyn Rail did a profile of yours truly.

Some things aren’t quite right, and “frilly feminine” is certainly not right – more like “trendy” or “stylish” – but it’s the first type of piece about me like this. I have decided it’s nearly impossible to talk about our past as a couple – when Betty’s identity was still male – and not have a journalist throw in a “he” when talking about our present tense.

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Forbes’ Top 100 Women

Forbes has just published their list of the Top 100 Most Powerful women. Among them, politicans and CEOs, a couple of Queens (of Jordan, & the UK), a judge (Ginsburg), a few anchors (Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric), and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, activist and Nobel Peace laureate (who is probably my favorite woman on the list).

Interesting, though, to see “Chairman” so frequently after a name. I guess “Chairperson” just doesn’t trip off the tongue the same way.

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Don’t Get Married

Had I known this before, I might have told Betty we had to wait until she learned to do more chores:

Within marriages, the study finds that women do about twice as much housework as men, even after adjusting for employment status and other factors. While men living with their partners do more housework than married men, women still shoulder the burden of household chores. (bolded for emphasis by yours truly)

What’s interesting, however, is that in cohabitating couples, the chores are split more evenly.

Every study I’ve read backs this up, and that women do more chores than their husbands seems to be true despite childcare breakdowns and employment status. One woman I know worked fulltime and made most of the family’s money and still came home to do most of the chores.