Being Me

Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to show celebration and support for all of our transgender and non-binary friends around the world. It's not an easy thing to be transgender or gender-fluid these days, there is an active and virulent anti-transgender movement in full swing. Much of it is tied to the ultra-religious right wing of the United States, but it's not just them. Even those in more moderate places on the political spectrum, as well as those on the far left, are generally okay with allowing, and even abetting, trans oppression. This is where I've never really been able to wrap my head around the persistence of this anti-trans prejudice across the political spectrum. I just don't understand why it's so virulent, why any should carry that much hate in them. Do they fear something? What is motivating them? I just don't get it. My company is, I think, among the top employers around when it comes to supporting the LGBTQ c...

On Stana's Femulate blog , today, she linked a photo of Oslo Grace who, as a gender fluid model, models both men's and women's wear. As usual, it has me thinking and, truth be told, again a little envious!

At long last, I have finally found a foundation that looks natural on my skin! It's actually been really tricky to find, for me, for some reason and that's despite my willingness to try samples in Shopper's Drug Mart. However, recently, we popped into Sephora looking for a particular eye shadow palette by Tarte when I started looking at the foundations and tried out a couple. I didn't immediately buy, though my spouse really felt Light Medium Honey was a good match, because I wanted to think about it. It is, admittedly, spendy, especially when you consider that I don't wear it daily. Fast forward a few days later and, when I discover that Sephora has a generous return policy, I decided to order the foundation, along with a few other goodies. It arrived today. Hooray! So, verdict? Wow! Once I really had a chance to apply it, I was super impressed at how well it blended into my skin naturally, evening tone, but not looking like I was being caked on. It just lo...

What a curious notion, the gender reveal party ...

This is the Alice Cos Group , a dance group from China that features only males in their cast. They are all, to put it mildly, simply gorgeous and dammit, I'm just a little jealous! Admittedly, at my current age (let's just say that I go back a few decades and leave it at that) there is zero chance that I would ever be able to pull off the look even remotely as well as they can, but hey, a gal can dream! I'm also really jealous that they actually live a life practically straight out of a Fictionmania story; I would have leapt at such a chance at that age. Ah well, such is the dice of life. Anyways, a sample of their work:

Back in 2017, the Canadian government announced that it would allow a third option for gender on the passport which, basically, is an X for unspecified. Fairly recently, US airlines have started to allow for two additional options when buying tickets: unspecified and unidentified. Canadian airlines are pending guidance from the federal government before they proceed. All of which leads to me to ask, why is gender even on either? The prevailing argument I have heard is about identity confirmation, but I'm not really buying that. My passport has an "M" designation, but there is no law that specifies that I can't travel dressed and appearing very androgynous or feminine as long as the photo and I match up, at least within and between countries that don't kill transgender people. It's not like they check inside everyone's pants or up everyone's skirt at passport control points. Airlines also don't stop to confirm your bits before allowing you t...

Ever wondered how to shop online as your lovely self? There's a way and it's called, in the credit card industry, the authorized user. What is that you say? It's simple... An authorized user is basically a second card on your account where you simply need to provide some basic information, such as first, last, date of birth, and the like, but don't specifically have to provide additional identity information. Why? Because the credit is still only extended to the primary card holder, they're just authorizing another person to make use of it and thus they still hold liability. That means that the credit card issuer doesn't care and doesn't have a legal obligation, known as KYC, to confirm. So, needless to say, I have a credit card as lil' ole me, set up with Paypal as well, that lets me shop online for lots of clothing, shoes, and other feminine products as Joanne and have them sent to my home address. For spendier items, where you need a signature, ...