Category: trans

Posted on

Approximate Transition Costs (MTF)

I had a friend who transitioned a few years ago put together a list of the approximate costs. Here’s the breakdown:

  • Uncovered therapy (primary therapist–until surgery date): $2000
  • Uncovered therapy (second therapist–Randi Ettner): $450
  • Orchiectemy: $2000
  • HRT (uncovered amount until surgery): $600
  • Electrolysis (up and down god damn it): $17,000
  • Genital surgery & breast implant surgeries (round one): $25,000
  • Round 2 of surgeries: $2500

Estimated total not covered by any insurance: $49,550.

Costs not included:

  • voice (dvd)
  • entire new working wardrobe
  • moving out and setting up new apartment
  • legal fees for name change
  • eating awful hospital food for a week.
Posted on

Money & Gender Stories

Here are some things that have crossed my path in recent weeks that I didn’t have time to blog about in any depth, but they are things that might interest you:

  1. A NYT article about lesbian communes:

    Behind a locked gate whose security code is changed frequently, the women pursue quiet lives in a community they call Alapine, largely unnoticed by their Bible Belt neighbors — a lost tribe from the early ’70s era of communes and radical feminism.

  2. The DABA Girls’ blog (DABA stands for Dating a Banker Anonymous. Briefly, this blog is the whining of women who are used to dating rich guys whose dates are a lot more broke than they were a year ago.)
  3. Why Natalie Dylan is selling her virginity
  4. Queercents’ series on transgender finances

(thanks to Joanne for the first three)

Posted on

Another Reason to Crossdress

It’s a good reason for lizards, anyway:

Charlotte von Mahlsdorf

Young male lizards in South Africa imitate females to fool aggressive older males into leaving them alone, in an example of transvestism in the natural world, according to South African and Australian reaseachers. They found that young male Augrabies flat lizards (pictured) delayed

displaying the extravagent coloration of sexually-mature males until they were able to defend themselves adequately.

Of course in the natural world that means dressing down, as the males wear the bright colors and the females are something like dun.

Then again, Charlotte von Mahlsdorf seemed happy enough in her plain black house dresses.

Posted on

This American Life: Tom Girls

NPR’s This American Life recently had a show on about two 8 year old (trans) girls who met & hit it off. It’s the middle/second segment.

Act Two — Tom Girls: Lilly and Thomasina have a lot in common. They’re both 8 years old. And they were both born boys, although it became clear pretty early on that they’d prefer to be girls. There aren’t all that many kids in the world like them, but recently, at a conference in Seattle on transgender parenting, they met. And they immediately hit it off. They could talk about things with each other that they’d never been able to share with other friends back home. And that’s comforting, even if they never see each other after the conference ends. Producer Mary Beth Kirchner tells the story, with production help from Rebecca Weiker.

It’s only about 20 minutes, & worth listening to.

(Thanks to Chris & Jess for the tip.)

Posted on

Benefit Performance

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City invite you to Christine Jorgensen Reveals: A very special benefit performance supporting the work of Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street (Between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Tickets are $40, and you can buy them here.

Posted on

Law & Order: “Transitions”

Law & Order‘s show tonight is about a trans teenager who is accused of attacking her father who insists she’s a boy and is trying to get custody of her from her mother.

9:59 PM definitely sympathetic. hopefully indicative of a sea change. still problematic in some ways, but pretty damn good for within the context of a police procedural.

9:57 PM crying.

9:54 PM history, violence, genitals.

9:52 PM oy.

9:51 PM hooboy. non trans advocate of trans youth loses her mind.

9:48 PM the kid can ACT. (& he’s from Poplar, WI.)

9:46 PM wow. sympathy for the loved ones of the trans person who don’t get it! & also the anger & frustration & sadness of the trans person, too.

9:39 PM getting worse. & worse than that. fast.

9:34 PM hooboy. weird turn. righteous trans youth activists who knock off pharmaceutical companies.

9:27 PM hrm. so far so good. inaccurate information, sure, but so far sympathetic. nearly an after-school special.

Posted on

Metaphors

(edited 2.7.09 because i completely underestimated the reaction people would have to it, & did an injustice to the sensitivity of the topic in the way i wrote about it. i will, at some point, when i’m feeling less cranky about it, try again to explore the idea.)

(edited 2.19.09 because i respect Kate Bornstein too much to allow anything here, or anything I’ve written, to hurt her. I’m sorry, Kate, for having hurt your feelings.)