Mr. Sandeen Can't Hide From the Truth

Well. apparently the man who loves censorship has convinced LGBT Weekly to again let him hide from the truth. For a while, they seemed to be preventing him from his usual tricks. Then he posted a self-aggrandizing piece called A decade of Autumn. When challenged on the fact that he clearly engaged in fraud when he obtained a falsified birth certificate, Mr. Sandeen first tried avoiding the issue, then finally published a link to a fact sheet from the Transgender Law Center on the law that streamlined the process.  Then, when certain facts, like the fact that the doctor who castrated him (the full extent of his surgery) was contacted, and without making reference to any specific patient, stated that anyone claiming that he had said that castration was a basis for claiming a change of sex was mistaken, and that he remains a male physically, he started having comments removed.  In another words, Mr. Sandeen conned his doctor, and lied to the courts, and does not want the truth to come out at LGBT Weekly.  

Then, the real irony is, the site flagged for moderation a post that quotes the San Francisco Superior Court as saying:

In order to ask the Court for a gender change, you have to give the Court an affidavit from your physician documenting the sex change. You must have undergone gender reassignment surgery in order to ask for a gender change order. 

This contradicts Mr. Sandeen's claims.  There are not specifics on the San Diego Superior Court site, but since this is based on State law, it has to be assumed that the standards are the same.  Mr. Sandeen has not had "gender reassignment surgery" (an absurd term pushed by TG extremists) and his sex has not been changed.

Apparently, Mr. Sandeen is getting all comments blocked without approval now.  Typical.  He hates the truth, and lies when he claims that he is a transsexual.  He is not a transsexual, not a woman, and most assuredly not a female.

 

I Don't Know Why Cooke is Confused

I just wanted to post a brief article about something that just showed up on Women Born Transsexual.  Suzan Cooke seems confused that Drew Cordes has a problem with gendered pronouns. The answer is simple. If Cooke just bothered with a bit of research, she would find out that Cordes, who had SRS relatively recently, almost immediately realized that he was not really a woman, and is now, as is sometimes sadly the case, yet another who has gone off the deep end for just that reason. I had doubts about Cordes, and was more than a bit surprised when he announced he had surgery. I was not surprised, shortly afterwards, when he started expressing regrets.


Of course, this sort of thing can be expected as, more and more transgender kooks push for surgery on demand. Like Cooke did not too long ago when she was telling people to "cowgirl/cowboy up" if they make a mistake.

Oh well....

Extreme Transgender Silliness

Sometimes a transgender kook will publish something that is so incredibly silly it seems beyond belief.  This mornings round of silliness over at Women Born Transsexual brought just such an example.  Now, as you may know, Suzan Cooke mostly republishes stuff from other sites.  There is very little original content, and today is no exception.  One of Cooke's favorite sources of late has been the Huffington Post, which seems to have become a major mouthpiece for the transgender extremists.

This morning there was an article entitledTrans* Invisibility, by "JamieAnn" Meyers that has to be one of the best examples of what makes "transgender" completely distinct from both transsexualism, and well, from sanity as well.  The second paragraph pretty much sets the stage for this:

My wife and I were visiting with a cisgender heterosexual couple, and our conversation began to focus on personal relationships. Because we wanted to be authentic about our life experiences, we came out to them as a couple, and I came out as a trans* woman. Almost immediately, both of them said, "That doesn't matter to us." The intent of their statement was to be affirming, but the statement's impact on me was profoundly different. Though it's important to know that people respect and accept you, it's also important that they honor the lifelong struggle that you have faced as a trans* person.

Now, think about this.  The normal couple, and yes, relative to to the kook writing here, they are normal, basically says "Okay, no problem..."  Sounds reasonable, at least to a sane person,  But this is a transgender kook.  No!  Of course that is not example.  They have to honor the struggle of someone choosing to play dress-up and pretend to be a woman.  This is wrong on some many levels.  It is insulting to women who often face very real struggles.  It is insulting to gay and lesbian couples who have had to deal with discrimination.  Simply put, it is outrageously insulting to anyone who has faced real discrimination for something that was not, quite literally, a lifestyle choice.  

This person shows the true nature of transgender.  It is not, as we are so often told, about being who you really are.  It is about being transgressive.  It is about being at odds with societal norms, and it is about rubbing society's nose in your misbehavior.

Seriously, this person is complaining about people being accepting.  He, and yes, this is another person I refuse to pander to and call by female pronouns, is complaining because they are not making a big fuss over him being transgender.  Give me a break.

I have a few friends who know my history.  I have more who I am not sure know or not, and then quite a few whom as far as I know, have no idea.  Out of the friends who know, there is basically one who I discuss it with much,  And even then, he pretty much understands not to bring it up.  He might rarely ask a question, but I am generally the one who broaches the subject.  For example, on Monday night, we were talking and I suddenly realized something. asked what the date was.  He thought and said, "I'm not sure, why?"  I pulled out my smartphone, and saw it was the 11th.  I realized that the day before had been the 7th anniversary of my SRS.  I hadn't even thought about it.  Not that is not a significant day for me, but as time has passed, surgery has ceased to be a major focus for me.  Before I had it, getting to that point was very significant.  Now, looking back, it simply marks the point where my life got a lot better.  

Somewhat ironically, four days before that was the "anniversary" of "Autumn" Sandeen's showing up for work in drag.  A day he makes a big deal of, especially this year because it marked 10 years of him pretending to be a woman.  He has no idea, of course, what being a woman is like, and he never will.  Ironically, his making a big deal out his "anniversary" is one of the indications of this.

But for me, the past becomes more and more distant.  When I first started dealing with my problem (as opposed to making up an excuse like Sandeen and other transgender kooks have) I wondered if there would come a time when it would be easy to forget.  The answer is yes.  Outside of this blog, and the occasional conversation with my friend, being transsexual is not a major part of my life.

Funny, but I find it highly offensive when someone tries to remind me that they know that I am  transsexual.  It is not something I care to discuss with most people.  The one person I do discuss it with holds a special place in my life, as my spiritual director.  But in most cases, no, I don't like to talk about it.

And I find it rather silly that the original author makes a big deal out of comparing all this to "race."  Now, just think about this for a second.  A lot of humor has been made out of how people react to having the fact that they are a certain race pointed out.  If you are a complete fool, you might feel it necessary to let someone know you are okay with them being black, or Asian, or Native American, etc., but most of us would consider that a bit gauche.  And we would also consider it odd if someone got made because we didn't make an issue out of their race or ethnicity.

If you meet someone who is gay, do you feel it appropriate to make an issue out of it?  Do you go out of your way to "affirm" that you accept their gayness?  Not very likely.  I find it amazing that the Huffington Post would publish such an absurd article, but then again, this is about the idiocy know as "transgender," where making sure everyone knows you are a "man in dress" is part of the fun.

Perhaps We Should Thank Sandeen

I imagine some of my regular readers, seeing that title, might think I have slipped a cog...  That I might have blown a fuse...  That I might suddenly have taken leave of my senses...  That I might now be a few French fries short of a Happy Meal...  That I might just plain have lost my mind!

But!  There is something we might well thank "Autumn" Sandeen for.  He is, quite frankly, the exception that proves the rule.  That is always an interesting phrase.  It is hard to explain, until an example happens along.  And then one suddenly realizes, "Here is just such an exception."  Of course, that is not completely accurate.  The "exceptions" are not really exceptions, but why quibble over such details.  For example, in Sandeen's case, he is not a transsexual, or a woman.  But he claims to be both.  Worse, he tries to force transsexuals under the "transgender umbrella."  He is a constant source of bad information, and seems to do his best to make transsexuals look as bad as possible.

But, in doing so, he provides us with a unique opportunity.  On very rare occasions I find myself in a debate with someone who is trying to argue that I am "not really a woman."  Such a person is usually approaching this from, to at least some degree, a rather bizarre mix of religious and pseudo-scientific arguments.  That is where someone like Sandeen comes into the picture.

Sandeen is such a bad parody of both a woman, and a transsexual, who claims to be both.  He provides a perfect example of something that can be pointed to and shown as a counterpoint to true transsexualism.  One can offer up Sandeen and say, "Now here is a classic example of what you are accusing me of being, and here, quite frankly, is where Ihe  differ from such a person."  And more to the point, it would be near-impossible to find any meaningful areas where I, or any other true transsexual, has anything in common with Sandeen.  Aside from the relatively superficial argument that we were both "identified as male birth" there really isn't anything else.  In that sense, Sandeen becomes the example of a person who identifies as transgender, but who is lying when he claims to be either a transsexual or a woman.  Clearly, he is neither, and as such is the exception that proves that we are different.  His counter-example provides evidence for our veracity.

Think of it as having a known standard to compare something fake against.  Looked at alone, it might be hard to tell if something is real or not.  If, for example, you don't have a real Rolex, you might be fooled by a good fake.  If it looks well made, if it is heavy enough, and there is nothing obvious to give it away, you might be fooled.  But next to the real thing, the fake becomes more obvious.  This is also true of any number of other things that are often copied.  In isolation, the fake may, or may not, look pretty convincing.  But compared to the real thing, the fake quickly shows it flaws.

Sandeen, I will admit, is pretty obviously flawed.  He is more like a cheap imitation.  No one seeing a video of him flouncing about in an outfit that no real woman his age (or probably any real woman, period) would ever where, acting like a bad caricature of how women act, or in a classic, explaining the virtues of a device that allows women to pee standing, would ever think...well, that might be a real woman.  But put him next to a real woman, and the differences are all the more apparent.

So, perahps, we should thank Sandeen for giving us a strong argument for the veracity of our experiences.

Ethics and Late Transition

The New York Times Magazine has a column called The Ethicist and he was asked the question "Should I Become a Woman and Risk Causing Pain to My Wife and Children?"  His response was very reasonable.  He said:

So the question you really need to ask yourself is this: Is your psychological damage from gender dysphoria greater than the psychological damage that its restoration will inflict upon the lives of any (or all) of your children? If the answer is yes, proceed. If the answer is no, don’t do it. Your sadness is tragic, but at least it’s confined to yourself. This advice might seem reactionary, but it’s not a position on whether transitioning is ethical in and of itself. There’s no inherent ethical problem with that decision. It’s about the possibility of improving one life at a greater cost to three others who might lack the intellectual and emotional maturity to comprehend what’s really happening.

Of course, this will not sit well with the transgender extremists who will insist that he should transition without regrets or apologies.  At least a couple have already objected to the advice given., here and here.

But, the columnist raises some good points.  This person has a happy married life, and a satisfying career.  This is not a person who has been tormented all of his life by gender issues.  It is almost certainly yet another aging crossdresser who wants to increase the thrills.  

I made my second, and final major transition a bit later in life.  My first ended because of stress over issues that were not directly related to transition.  My life improved greatly, and I maintain a good relationship with my ex and my child.  But they understood my need.  It was not easy for them, and there were periods of strain, and there are still occasional issues, but they do understand that it helped me.

Sadly, this is not always the case, but the kooks keep pushing people to move forward.

Exposing Transgender Idiocy...

Sometimes stories almost write themselves....  I was checking out the usual drivel that comes from the Transgender News mailing list when I came across an article entitled Exposing Cisgender Privilege by Nina Ember Nova.  Now with a title like that, you know it is almost certainly going to be a major bit of transgender idiocy.  And yes, it truly is.

Here are the examples of "cisgender privilege" that are alleged, and why they are so absurd:

1. Not having to face discrimination when going to bureaucratic offices because your gender identity doesn’t not match the sex marker on your id.

You know, one of the first hurdles a transsexual has to face is chaining paperwork.  Nobody claims it is fun, and yes, I was rather nervous, but the people I dealt with were professional about their job, and they simply followed the rules.  Now, for the first three years of my transition I was stuck with a driver's license that said 'M' because Alabama will not change the sex marker until you have had the surgery.  In that time, I had maybe two people notice it.  I was in a couple of car accidents, and got stopped a couple of times by a officer (once speeding, and once for an expired tag) and not once did they notice that it did not match my presentation.  Of course, I looked and acted like a woman.  Most discrimination occurs because they person looks like a "man in a dress."  Funny, but people find that a bit disturbing...
2. Be able to be called by the name and pronoun that matches your gender identity.

A trip to the probate judge's office took care of that.  My legal name has been Jennifer for quite a while now.
3. Not be called a pervert because of your gender identity is different from what was assigned to you at birth.

Actually, for the vast majority of transgender people they are called a pervert for exactly the opposite reason.  Their gender identity is male, and very obviously so, but they insist on dressing as, and pretending to be, a woman.
4. Not be bullied, sexually exploited, [abused] because you express your gender identity.

This is not because you express your "gender identity."  This is because of behaving in a manner that invites such abuse.  Funny, I have never had this experience because, well, I have not put myself in that position.  And on the rare occasion someone has tried to go there, I have let them know it was not going to happen.

5. Not be labeled “psychotic” because of your gender expression.

Maybe if you tried not acting like someone who is psychotic, it might help.  Believe me, the one's I have labeled as psychotic were not seen that way because of gender expression, though more than a few have tried to use their "gender expression" as an excuse for their behavior.

6. Be able to use certain facilities, such as the bathroom or locker room, and feeling safe and not be called a pervert, pedophile, or a rapist.
Guess what?  If you are being called a pervert, pedophile, or a rapist in the bathroom or locker room then you might want to get a clue and stay OUT OF THE LADIES ROOM until you are presentable enough to not cause people to be upset.  When I started my transition I never dreamed of just forcing my way into the ladies bathroom like, well like a pervert.  I eased into it, cautiously, until I felt confident that I was not going to cause a riot.  And if you have not had FULL SEX REASSIGNMENT SURGERY, then you have NO business being in a locker room.  It may be inconvenient.  It may seen fair to you.  But really, you walk around in a locker room where I am with your penis hanging out, and well, I carry pepper spray.  Your face, and an area that is clearly very precious are both getting a shot,

7. Your masculinity or femininity not be challenged because of your gender identity or trans status.

Maybe if you actually made an effort to appear as, and assimilate as, the gender you claim to identify with....  Ah, but they mention "trans status."  You see, they want, so to speak, to have their cake and eat it too.  They don't REALLY identify as women.  They want to force society to accept them as something they are not, and then they complain when people object.

8. Not be told that you are not man enough or woman enough because your genitalia does not “match” with your gender identity.

Maybe you should get a clue and stop trying to tell people that "women have penises."  If your gender identity is really what you say it is, then why aren't you seeking to correct it, and being patient until you achieve that goal.

9. Be able to walk down the street and not be targeted and be called a prostitute by the police because of your gender identity/trans experience.

You know, this is a lot less likely to happen if a) you dress like a normal woman, and b) you are not hanging out in an area where prostitutes are.  Funny, I have never once been accused of such, and I used to do outreach to transgender sex workers.  

10. Being able to go to the DMV and not legally be called the improper title (sir, madam, etc.) because of inaccurate identification.

This is a bit weird.  If you are going to the DMV, and it is not to update your identification then it strikes me that it is not the identification that is inaccurate.

11. Your birth certificate, the identity given to you at birth, matches your real identity and gender expression.

If you haven't had SRS then it should not be changed, and well, to be quite blunt, if you have not had SRS, and don't plan to, then it does match your real identity.  Birth certificates have NOTHING to do with gender expression.  If you have not changed your sex, you should not be able to change your birth certificate to lie about your sex.

12. Never having to go to court to prove who you are and get your id’s match your gender expression.

Well, boo hoo...  If you don't want to do that, then don't.  But don't call it cisgender privilege to not have to.

13. Be able to see people in the media who matches your gender identity who are not depicted as perverts, psychotic murderers, or the comic-relief/butt-end of jokes.

Okay, this shows what is really going on.  I see people in the media all the time that match my gender identity.  They are called WOMEN!!!  I would venture that about 50% of the people on TV are in that group.  So, what this kook who wrote this article is really saying and what puts the lie to all the rest, is that his gender identity is not really female, it is "trans."  He identifies as a dude pretending to be a woman, and complains that TV shows don't feature such people.

14. See a medical doctor anywhere who understands your health needs.

This has nothing to do with privilege, it is just a matter of choosing wisely.

15. Be able to undress in any designated safe space matching your gender identity without anyone seeing you as a threat, a sexual predator, or a freak.
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If you have a penis, stay out of the women's dressing area.  You have no business being there.  It is a safe space because people like that, who DO NOT HAVE A FEMALE GENDER IDENTITY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!!!!

16. Have access to medications and surgeries you need for your health, safety, and overall well-being and have it be covered by medical insurance.

Again, this has nothing to do with being "transgender."  It is a problem for a lot of people.

17. Find clothes easily and readily that matches your gender identity and expression.

Huh?  What, you mean like pantyhose with a place for you penis to fit into?  If you claim to be a woman, you should have no problem finding clothes.  If you claim to be a man, again, plenty of clothes.  Shoot, you can even find unisex stuff.  So, what is the problem?

18. Have a formal title, such as Mr., Ms., Mrs., Miss, that matches your gender identity and expression.

Again, it is clear that your gender identity is "none of the above."  So, don't be surprised if people have issues with you...

19. Being able to express your gender identity without the threat of being fired.

Try no insisting on dressing up in a manner that will upset your fellow employees and the customers.

20. Be able to join circles of men or women without the threat of being “exposed” and being harassed, shunned, bashed, and violently not accepted.

Well, since the person who wrote this clearly does not seem to identify as man or woman, that seems to be the cuase of rhis problem.

21. Not having to hear from parents “when you were a girl/boy then...” when you never identified as the gender given to you.

Cut your parents some slack.  This is hard enough on them.  If they are will to speak of your former sex in past tense, you are doing better than many....

22. Not be told you were selfish for not wanting to wear that dress/suit because it did not match your gender expression.

Again, people need time to adjust.  And yes, you might well actually be selfish...

23. Not have to come out to your parents, family, friends, and/or loved ones.

Then don't choose to be transgender.  And if you really are transsexual, sorry but that is part of the condition.

24. Be able to dress without having “tuck away” or “bind” anything.

Yes, just proudly have your penis erect under your dress...  After all, you are mighty fond of it.

25. Being comfortable in and not giving thought to a gender binary.

If you are not, then work to become so. If you don't want to, stop complaining.

Yes, this offers a great insight into what this is REALLY all about.  It is not a matter of need, but of choice.  And they want to force themselves on others.  They don't want to be women, they want to force people to abandon reality and make us accept and approve of their perversion.

Avoiding the Real Issue

A week or so ago, "Cristan" Williams, self-appointed alpha gender fascist, was crowing about how he had been asked to take over as managing editor of Transadvocate by Marti Abernathey. Well, now Mr. Williams has posted one of his typical bits of drivel...and it is certainly destined to be a classic example of his skill at avoiding the real issue.

Titled Insidious: Extreme Pressures Faced by Trans People, it starts off with this rather ominous sounding lead paragraph:

Studies show that the trans population lives under extreme psychological pressures unseen in even active military personnel. Fifty-five percent of trans people [1,2] were found to live with social anxiety. Within the general American population, similar types of anxiety are experienced by only 6.8% [3] of the population while these levels of anxiety were found to exist at a rate of 8.2% among military personal.

Wow, sounds horrible, doesn't it?  Those poor, oppressed "trans people"...  What Mr. Williams does not mention is the fact that the vast, overwhelming majority of "trans people," who are living with this terrible social anxiety, choose to be "trans people," and are, as a matter of choice, acting in a manner that they know is contrary to social norms.  In another words, it is their own fault.

In fact, I would venture to say that the percentage of so-called "trans people" who actually suffer from social anxiety is actually higher, as it is possible that the statistics cited my well include more than a few transsexuals who might not actually share the same issues as "transgender" people.

Think about it.  The people Mr. Williams is talking about are overwhelmingly men, who choose to engage in behavior that is offensive to a majority of society, and which is actually intended, by choice, to offend others.  These are not innocent victims.  Their identity is rooted in transgressive behavior.  They could easily avoid much of the problems they face, if they chose to, but for various reasons they prefer engaging in the very behavior that results in their social anxiety.  Worse, people like Mr. Williams refuse to compromise to protect the safety and comfort of women.  They prefer a world where the ladies restroom is wide open to men, with no regard for privacy or safety of women, even though the boys in dresses like Mr. Williams demand to be accepted, and treated, as "women," well at least as "trans women."

Now, these are not people who are actually trying to become women.  Their identity is as "trans women" which means that they have to hang on to their identify as men, in addition to their supposed identity as women.  They are, more often than not, demanding that society accept them as "women with penises."  I remember reading about this in Robert Stoller's book Sex and Gender: On the Development of Masculinity and Femininity. At the time, I thought the idea was absurd, but I have come to realize that there is at least some truth there. I mean, there is really no other way to explain the behavior of kooks like "Autumn" Sandeen, "Monica" Roberts, and others. They revel in their penises even as they claim, quite humorously, to be women.

 And yet, we are supposed to believe that these perverts are victims of discrimination. Again, they choose to engage in behavior that most people will find disturbing, but they are the victims. And yes, in spite of denials, like one posted on Transadvocate, for the transgender crowd, it is a choice. The denials are billed as "humor" and perhaps they are, because they are certainly not related to reality. The first talks about trying to achieve passability.  

Seriously, so many transgender types may imagine that they actually pass, but they are often mistaken. And even the ones who look reasonably credible lose any hope of "passing" the moment they start talking. It does not take long to realize that they are not women mentally. Their thoughts and behavior are 100% male.

The next reason given is cost. Of course, this does not remotely apply to transgender people who have no plans to actually transition. And for many, the costs of things like hormones are relatively negligible.

The third reason is "success." That transgender people lose out on jobs and such. Of course, again, this is not true for those not full time. And the number of transgender activists who are on disability, usually for mental health issues, speaks for itself.

The next two have to do with being forced to "explain" and being "gossiped" about. Hello? Look at the behavior we are talking about. This is what they are LOOKING FOR!!! They want the attention being "transgender" attracts.

The sixth reason speaks of having exhausted reasonable options. This of course is typical transgender co-opting of transsexual's experiences. Yes, for those of us who are transsexual, this is true. We reach our limit, after having led very miserable lives. For the men in dresses crowd, after long, successful careers, during which their crossdressing is a part time hobby, they decide to go full bore. They were not desperate. They just decide that the thrills need to be upped.

In the seventh reason, the person whines about how much harder it is to be a woman. This, of course, is also part of the motivation. For a transgender, the "lower status" is part of the game. Ever notice how transgender types seem to be very chauvinistic men? They think being at a lower status make them more "womanly" and they delight in it.

The eighth reason has to do with being alone. Again, a transgender trying to co-opt something that some transsexuals experience. Yes, dating can be hard. Then again, since my surgery, I have never revealed my past to anyone I dated. Now, if you are "out, loud, and proud" you might well attract chasers, of which their are plenty. But most of the men in dresses crowd are into women, and unless they can find someone who is as perverted as they are, or who has such low self-esteem that they will put up with a boyfriend who calls himself a woman, they are generally out of luck. But then again, they are the woman of their own dreams. For them, this is about sex, and well...I really don't want to go there. Disgusting.

The final reason is pain. Again, if you are a transsexual, yes, you may go through some pain. Surgery does hurt. Electrolysis is no fun. But for the men in dresses crowd, surgery is not a serious option, and increasingly, they don't bother with electrolysis. I mean, why give up that option of really freaking people out?

Interestingly, I worked with some of the people involved with one of the studies Mr. Williams cites. I conducted surveys, and I know the sort of people who were questioned. A lot of my opinions on "transgender" silliness came out of that experience. I saw first hand the sort of people Mr. Williams is trying to claim are "really women." Interestingly enough, you don't see the same sort of thing with FTM transsexuals. Most of them simply transition, and get on with their lives. There are a few rare exceptions, but most of them can easily assimilate and move on with their lives. Those who choose otherwise tend to openly identify as "gender queer" and tend to claim a "none of the above" type of gender identity...insisting on silliness like "gender neutral" pronouns.

No, the "social stresses" are not because they are victims, it is largely because they are transgressing societal norms and experiencing the resistance that naturally follows such behavior.