It's the 1995 Monas!

News Ii views Vision • Integrity •Quality Vol. 9, No. 4•April1995 Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Be Stupid ... It's The 1995 MONAs! That's right ladies (and gentl emen) it's som - transgender alli ance Pledge for ommunity: "\\ e thing w haven't done for awhile but we sa id , "Hey, ha to stop this b fore it g ts started! " I t's dust off those old MO A statuettes and gi' e The " Darwin Was Right" Award-to eryon out a ~ win the April issu ." MO Asar n't lik the who b Ii ved last year's Renaissance ews & Vi ews Philadelphia Chapter's Rennie Awards. Oh no, Apri l cover story. thos are giv n out to women that the chapt r picks The "All Fizz, No Socia" Award- to It's Tim a go cl rol model . The MONA is a Renais ance meri a. After a blitzkri g announcement of politi National pr s ntation and the name tands for: cal lobbying goals this summ r, nothing lse has Meaningless, Obscure, Nonsense Awards. b n h ard from th m. Thcs prestigious award ar picked b th eu;s The "We Ain't No Preverts" Awarcl-to J ri & Views ditorial staff. Do we have so me obscur L and Tmnsf ormations magazin for publishing a ritual or esoteric m th cl by which we pick these magazine with pornographic drawings and photos of luck')' winners? o. \\ h n v r w ~ l lik it, w it transvestit sand she-ma! s, and th n claiming to around, attired in elegant drag, sipping aperitifs, r present the transgender community. noshing on dainty fin ger sandwich s and thinking The "For Your Eyes Only" Awanl- to Spar about every tupid thing that we've observed in the tacus and Michael Salem for Hin g names from community over the past year. Then, we give th em th ir crossdresser mailing lists. an award. H re ar this years lucky winn rs : The "Preverts Need Not Apply'' Award-to The "Nobody Likes A Whine1·" Award- to th e Speaker of th e House, ewt Gingrich for this Linda and ynthia Phillips for complaining so gem of ewt Speak: "I am not prepared to establish loudly that th Int rnational Congress on Gender, a Federal law that allows yo u to sue your employer if Cross Dr ssing and S x Issues would draw people yo u end up not having a job because of a disagree away from th T xas "T' Party. It didn't. ment that involves your personal b havior at that The "Dale Carnegie" Award-to IFGE for level. Do s that mean, for example, a transvestite their remark that California Dr amin' is "for fun " should automatically have the ri ght to work as a whil IFGE's oming Together conference is "seri transvestite? I don't think o." ous." Registration at IFGE's con~ r nc this year was at an all -time low. That's it for th 1995 MO As. Just think, if you The "I Like The Dark Ages" Award- h r do or say something stupid in the n xt few months full presented to ev ryon who worked against th mayb we'll includ you when ver we g t around to ntral Oklahoma Transgender llianc . doing this again. The " Orkin Terminator" Award- to Laura B.: 11w MO A~ are a joke. o stat11 eltes, certifi aldwell of IFGE for this comm nt on the recent ca tes or poker chiJIS will he sent to th e winners. IFGE: Lynn-Out, Laing-In Th Int rnational foundation for GendC' r Edu At tlw same time, If'GE announced Ali son La cation (If'GE) announc cl th resignation of \1 r ing will fill th e position of Ex cu ti e Dir ctor of issa Sl1 errill Lynn, founder and philosophical archi ffGE at a date to be determined, probably late tect of th organization. The announcement was um me r. Ms. Laing currently serves as Chair of the made at the I f'GE annual convention in Atlanta, board of the Outreach Institute, and sits on the /\l arch 18. o official statem nt \\"as m·ai lable from hoards of AEGIS and Renaissance. '.\I s. 1.ynn, but insiders, who requested a 11 0 11~ · mity . ongratulations Al ison! ffGE couldn't have fl sa ~ 1 she was forced to resign or be nreel. picked anyone better. ~ He11"issa11 ff J\ <' tGs & \li1•1cs. \lo /. ~J . No . ../ ~ Chapter & Affiliate Information (£n Renaissance ~i~:~ & c:hapters Affiliates eal suppmt group. ) 0An11 Roberts ing, j, 0 3.30. Meets first atur

2 R<' 11niss n11 ce <' rus & Vi<'IVS, \ al. 9, o. 4

bitch . They haven't got anything on the gent who pens the Philadelphia fll(111 irer society column. "\Vhat did he say?" you ask. \\ e ll , he call ed David Blak 's tribute to C hanning a "dubious accolade ... .. Buddy, the only thing d11bi o 11 s around lwr<> is our unde r standing or drag. Oh, he's got me so upset, I've g tta calm down. f\l y seamstress will be hr re any minute with that copy of Carol's finale gown. Just a ff'w more alter ations and I'll be abl to si t down in it fo r the whole show. and breathe. Som people fo ll ow the Grateful Dead, othe rs find a diffe rent drum. l ~ vPr)' Apri l we here at Nc 11.;s & the phrase, "You got it going on." The 1,2,3,4--Dolly will never go away ..... Views try to corn e up witl1 some kind latest addition to the dream queen's or funn April Fools joke to sprincr Oil li st or acqui sitions is a fat contract with YOUR 15 MINUTES OF FAME the unsuspecting reade rs. Last ar we M.A.C. Cosmetics. I've been telling ch1ally it's our 200 to 400 words die.I th phon) front cover that was p oplc for years they should hire me to of fam e. The Un iversity of Florida is "written" by the "n w editor'' telling promote mak up. \ \ ho b ttcr than a publishing the second edition or a about how JoAnn and I \\'f'rP not doing d rau qu en to how what good textbook tit! cl Except ionnl People . the newslette r anymore. Th year 111 ak up an do for a girl ? I gu ss Th author is looking for stori s of first be fore w w r more subtl . Th only M.A. C. thought RuPaul's highe r pe rson exp ri ences about being nod to April Fools wa r placing the profile would b b tter in this covet d dive rse in our society. \\ hat have you Mona Lisa with a photo of noted spok smod I position. They're prob gone through as a result of' your dino. aur, Earl inclair. Wl1at can I ably ri ght. J 'm just not famous nough, transgend r cl nature? Accounts may sa ? We lov the fun tuff. yet. Till I am mayb I could get a cl al be eithe r positive or n gative. This ear we r turn to a Mona Lisa with Wet & Wild? C t m agent on Submissions wi ll b chosen for motif for April Fools, b handing out the phon ! publication on a comp titive basis. a 11 outrageous batch of MONA Thos sel ct cl must sign a release Awards. ( o troph will Ge present cl , HELLO DOLLY form . I[ your exp rience is published no sal smqueens, is the textbook. E:rceptionnl People is the spirit of fun. It's nothing personal. rolling around the country in a produc xp ct cl to be published be fore the Yeah, ri ght. And now- the steamy tion of Hello Dolly. It's being billed end of this year. sludg of script that worms its way out as h r last road how tour or the Submit your p rsonal account to or my word proc ssor, yes, the lat st famous musical. My word! The Mr. Craig Conley, D ept. of Special addition to that continuing opus, ws woman's in h r sev nties. How does Education, -315 orman Hall, Beat & R mind r! (Is that any name she do it? J couldn't do it. All that time Gainesvill e, FL 32611. For more for a column? I ask ya. ) on stage in heels. Brutal. Anyhow, on information you can call Mr. Conley at op ning ni ght in Philad lphia on of 904-392-0701, xtension 291. I RU MY REPORTAGE the local drag que ns (David Blake) ka , I'm not omniscient. I thought got a balcon box seat and showed her HAS ANYBODY SEEN SHIRLEY? f\ ls. harl s would do th Brady admiration fo r 1 iss hanning by Of cours• not, sill . Th e Shirley Bunch guidance coun lor gig in dressing like h r. 1 w, you and I think Show I told you about last month butch rnode. Wrong! Sl1 e did it in a that's a cut idea, and I'll bet even hasn't air cl yet. I 111 ntion this just in cute little bu in s suit a n

3 Hc 1/(/ issr111 n · 1•1cs & \ii1•1cs. \ 'of . .9 . To. ·I

wo111a11. 11 is hair is short ancl Ii i .~ 1:1c<' ra11ks . Ci\'C' that queen a !al t•l rnakt·r. News Beat ... looks manly, with so 11H' snlitlct;· Sill' can put them 0 11 cve1yone 's applied makeup. but tlw point is . forehead and the n W<' 'II k11 0\\' what n1ost bang for your buck and run it he re 's a gu . \ ho has told all or we're' dealing with. Of course, Eddie' d ming a rating pe ri od. lak s sense t England," J like to \\'Car d resses and doC's1i't need a labe l. I !e's just wearing rne. If you miss it on the tub , a copy make up." nd, in stead of shunning his owu clothes . .! think we all arc, will eventually be mad availabl in the hi m r r viling hi m, the 13ritish have aren't we? Let's l1ope Eddi hops the Re n Libra1y . heck with th · libra rian made him a star. 1 le has done strai 1ht pond and does some shows for u soon. for avail abili ty and feature tim ' S. acting roles in several plays and is now discussing a television s ri es wi th th GOLDDIGGERS WITH A TG TWIST FUNNY FELLOW IN A F ROCK BB . (" Jt's call ed The Cows. Cr at Miche ll e Lynn hand cl m an Ms. Alison Laing hand cl me a cor y name isn't it? It's a surreal ·c ri es about article from the F e bruary issue of of a story from an E ngli sh pap r about these cows who ll"Ove into society afte r C ntle111 en's Quarterly e ntitl cl , a lad nam cl Eddi Izzard. It seems the gene ral strike, gradually demand Golddiggers Of '95. The thrust of Mr. Izzard has been selling· m out in ing the vote and full integrati 11. ") th article was that the art of gold the \Ve t End for simply months and 1 I do s hav a proble n1 with the diggin a ( u s ing~ minine wil s to pry months with a stream of consciousne s label "transvestit but heterosexual. " cas h, j we ls and furs out of a sugar com dy act. I'm not talking al>o ut H says, " That's what they're always dadd. ) is still going stron 1 in the '90 . some dinky littl com cl club but using in th newspap rs about me. I'm l t's an art that has surviv cl bra real th ate rs with audien ,s in the 00 not "but'' an; t hing. J'm a transvestit burning, fe mininism and all the to 1000 p r on range. Th r all who just happe ns to be he terosexual. progress women ha\' made in their int resting thing about Eddie is, 11 's l'd be happ to fa ncy men, but fo r quest for equali ty. l n fact, the author, an openly transg nde r cl man. (Oh some r ason it just so happe ns that J one Freda Carmaise, postulates that boy, that' just like, "an openly gay don't. I happen to fanc women." gold digging ma b breaking new man." Tow we're makin' progr ss.) .! lov the word "fan cy." It's r ally a ground and pe rhaps transc ncling Eddie is v ry off-hand about hi s bettc r way to say you a r attracted to gende r ste reotypes. c rossdressing. ome ti m s he does hi s som one than, " 13oy she g t' me hot. .. Afte r going over archaetr pal act in "bloke" cloth , s m tim s he n allv. \\" me ricans arc so c rude. golddiggers fr m th movies, like wear a dress. I-l e say , " ... the fun ny Sorry, I transgressed for a moment. Marilyn Monrne and Jane R u ssell, thing about people goi ng on about me Eddie went 0 11 to say that one ti m e he sli talks about real !ife practitione rs wearing dress s is that r really don't \\'a pe rforming for an audie nce of like P ia Zadora, Marla Maples and conside r myself to be a transvestite. drag queens and whe n he said he was h C' r predec ssor, Ivan a . H aving given People sa I w ar "women' clothes" h te ros xual one of the disb li eving us this background th author po tu but I don't, they're my cloth s I'm ladies xpr ssed he r opinion in a crude lates that since transvestite dance rs are wearing. Sure I wear dress sand (almost Am ri an way) by shouting b coming mainstream attractions and make up and stuff, but I'm simply "Li ar! " at the stage. "That's th s0tt of many a suaar daddy has found his wearing what I want tow ar." thing you expect from some Nazi in golddigger by haunting th backstage The re is a photo of Eddie in the the audie nce, not from a drag queen. " door p rhaps th trophy wif of the article and h do sn't look as if h 's Yes Eddie, intole rance and ignorance eighties may giv way to the trophy D ' mad a great effort to "pass" as a a rc cv rvwh r , cv n among 0 11r O\\·n of the nine ties.

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4 lk 11 aissa11 cc Nc1cs & \ ic1cs, \ of. 9. J o . .J

Slit• says, ·· \\'ill tl1 t• corporal<· world , c: an 't actually down load books from t I1 e really love to dress up as nuns, all ow w!Jicl 1 took the trophy wife to its library (yet) but I can make compl ete ing the m to honor exual identity and bo "( >I l l and boardro lllS, ope n tl1 e n Id u ·e or th c mputcri zed catalog religion. Ain 't it amazing, th things to a wid r range o f" candidates? Wi ll it syste m. As Ro bin, T he Boy Wonde r you can fi nd in the li bra1)'? eve n p ut cre nde r prej11dice asid f' and wo ul d say, "H oly Dewey D ecim al If you want to spend a little cash ope n the fi eld to transvestites, mi ndrul Sys te m, Ba bnan !" you can leap out into the heavy traffic or the fa ct that, for pur d isplay, Back in the old days if you wanted areas of T he Inte rnet. W ith just nothing could bett r attest to the to find out if the li br::u)' had anythi ng li mited access to the Net you can send might or the leve r;wed buyout than a about crossdres ing or tra nsvestites, electronic mail to people all over the six-sLx (in heels), jewel bed eked you had to sli nk in, discreetly rumble world and you can scan through over beauty?" Ms. Garmaise goes on to through the card catalog and hope no fi ve thousand "newsgroups"(places mention T C show girls Pech e Melba on noticed you wer spending time in wher m ssages of common inter st and Cre m e Brulee. They app ar in a the t II -tale Ts. Of course you coul d are posted to be read by one and all show call ed Kaptain Banana (evidently always lin ger around the "transrorm er" and commented on.) My favorite in the Big Apple) and she says, " ... it area for awhil e... ti ll the coast cl eared. newsgroup is alt.barnie. dinosaur die woul d be ni ce if th se two could enter \\ho coul d say you w r n't an electri die die. It's sole reason for existence is the trop hy wife stak s and take their cal engineering student looking for a to count up different ways to ki ll the place in a new society ... the sort or hot 220 to 500 vo lt cl sign? ow, purple d inosaur. society we can onl y regret Divine is howeve r, the re is no n ed fo r sli nking. Of inte rest to you will probably be not he r to lead in the manner or a F ire up the mode m and log on to a the transg nder news group, alt. Gilded Ag dowager with a rope of libra1y computer n ar you. It's not transa ndered. T his is a plac where pearls dropping over her stout exactly th informati on superh ighway. T C people can get to know one 1n onobosom to h r ankles. " More li ke th informati on cul-de-sac anothe r and xc hange info rmati on and \V II , anything's po sible, and I fo r but it's surprising how much cool stuff expre s th ir opinions. All of th one thi nk it's high time girls li ke us you can find. n wsgroups ar bull etin board type w r rewarded fo r our b auty and In a recent computer search of things. You p 11 t your message 011t the re grac . Take us out and tr at us right, pe ri odicals printed d uring the last few trnd people either r spond in the same ) 'OU rich guys . \\ ho knows, maybe it" s years I round over 14 ::uticles with newsgroup or th y send you -mail. in vitabl . If all women cl cic>p the next centu t)'. An awesome bu rden call cl G houl Stamla rcl. Jt seems that thw cacd• ''"d elcctrnn• com;ng. A but one I'm sure our lip gloss and in D erry, Ir land sexual identi ty is a blush wil l stand up to. major the me of Hall owe n celebra tion . (Come to think of it, it is over CROSSDRESSING IN PERIODICALS here too. ) In order to celebrate T hat's magazines girls. ly wonder properly people there crossdress and fu l Mac compute r all ows me to call the since religion is such a major part of local library's compute r and s arch th Iris\ life they also dress up as priests pe riod icals and books li sted the r in. I and nuns. Of ourse, some of the guys

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5 H1·11 "isStllll't' .\'1·11 ·s l· \ 'i1 ·11 ·., . \ 'u /. ~J . .\'o . . / Central Oklahoma Transgender Alliance An Experiment In Community Building D11ring th C' FPhruarv n1 Pc ting of' the SI Cs foc: us<·s 0 11 a partic11lar area porl to thi .~ 11 c\\' 111 odcl for lra 11 sgend<'r Sigma Beta (Okla.), th(' f'utmP o f' trans orn eed wil h i11 th(' local lra11 sgt· 11 ckr c:o 1111111111ity. T he joint coop <' ration of gP nd r support groups was altered f'or co 111 111u11i t:y. Tlw three· prl'sc11t S IC: s tl1 ese 11alio11a l organizations in a local ev<' r. Sigma Beta, fo unded in 1992, arc: Sigma Beta, for hctcroscx1ial area transgc> nd<' r s11pport nf' twork is a was prima ri ly a support group for het crossdressers and the ir spousC's or f'irst fo r our community. C'roscx ual crossdressers and their partne rs; the Sooner Belles, an open Eacl1 of the thrc>e SLGs will hold spouses/partne rs. Howeve r, since its me 111be rship transgP ndC'r support their own 11l <'C ting · and several tin1C' s a formation, the group's m c> mbe rship ex group; and OK New Woman, a sup . car will host ''Unity Events." Th s pe rienced a great diversif'i cati on in port group foc 11 sing on transsexual wi ll be occasions when rn e mb<:> rs of all te rms of sexual ori entation. lifestyle 11 C'C' ds. COTA was fo rmed with provi three COT A SI Gs will come toae the r and goals. Over th past several sions to add additi onal SI Cs as needed. for sistc rship and to catch up with dear months a plan was cl vis cl and pre- The plan call s for each of the Siste r fri f'n ds. The new oraani1.1 ti on wi ll s nted to the me mb rship to mC'c t the I nte rc t C r ups to have a national af publisl1 a ncwslf' tte r called Tli e Sooner varied needs of this comnrnnity whik f'ili ati on. igma Beta will affi li ate \\'ith Bell<' , containing news and it 111 s ori n till re maining united. Tri-Ess, Th<:> Sooner Be ll es will affi li terest to all tl1r c rn cmb r groups. The result of that planning i the ate with Renaissance and OK c> w f or more in formation, OTA may creati on of The Central Oklahoma \\'oman will dcp nd on AEG IS fo r be conl'<1 ctcd at PO Box 60354 , Okla Transgend r All iance, known as support. ( ote: The Sooner Be ll es ar<' homa C ity, 0 K 73 146. COTA. COTA is an umbre ll a organi1.a now an offi cial Renaissance affi liate .) tion presently encompassing three Sis Represc> ntati vcs of the thrPe na te r Jnt e rest C roups (SICs). Each of tional organizations pledaed their sup- Alert: Electrolysis for Neovagina GPC Holds Meeting AECI S (Tli e J\ 11 wrica 11 £d11cnlio1111I AEC IS recom111 cnds that surgeons In Center City Gender !nfor111alion Service ) s<> 11d. 11 s doi ng malc-to- f<' male reas ignmcnt T l1e G reate r Philadelphia hapter 1\fl'rlical /\dvisoril's 011 a reg11lar /Jasis surgery be a,,·a rc that a hair-bearing is happy to announce they ar starting wit It good i11for111alion f or 111 e111uers of vagina is Pxtrc rn ely <' mbarrass ing for mo11th ly mcctiiw s in downtown P l1i la th e lm11sge11der co m11111 nil y. Th e f ol their transsexual patients, and proddc dc lphia. Meeting in th suburbs has al lowi11 g adviso 11.1 shorvs l101v ii is a good the m with materi als educating the m low d the chapter to reach many indi irl <>a to plan ah ead. about the prob! m and indicatin rr vi duals hut some peopl who live in Vagin oplasty using tlw pe nile and whpre they should conside r hm'inN Cente r C ity do 11 't hav<' transportation penoscrotal inversion methods, with or electrolys is to avoid the problem. to the King of Pruss ia area. ·ow, with without skin graf't s r kin naps, can r - Electrologists should be aware that th 11<' 1p o f' Dr. Je ffrey Wolper, CPC suit in a ncovagina \\'hich is lined with tran sexual women "'h arc seckin re will hold its fi rst downtown meeting at hair-bearina skin . As the hair gro\\·s, a. signnw nt s11rgcry kn·c legitimate his cente r c it~ · offi ce. Th big night is th<' ncovagina can become chokC'd reasons fo r st'cking c l ec t ro l~ · s i s in th April 19. The meeting wi ll start at :00 with hair. Not surprisingly, many trans pe rinea! an ·a. l'~I. o sp cial program wi ll be pre SPXLial women find this e mbarrass ing. Anyo ne ·eckin g 1nale-to-female re sent cl. T he evening will afford CentPr Some sex reassignment surgeons do assignm nt surrre 1y who has exccssi,·e C: ity rC's idcnts a chanc to get ac not appreciate the extent of this e m hair in th pelvic r<'gion sh uld con ult quainted with Renaissance. barrassment. During a presentation with their surg 0 11 in order to dete r Since we must pay Dr. \\ olpn for given at the October, ] 993 m e tina of mine whi ·h skin wi ll e entualh- be in the us or his space, all those attending the Hany Benjamin Inte rnational Dys side the vagi na so tlwy can de ·id wi ll b asked for a n,·e doll ar ($5) n phori a Association, one prominent sur \\'hethe r electrolys is is desirable and so tri bution. April 19 is a \\ edne day geon re marked that althouah hi s pro they can schedule electrolys is and sur ni ght so if' you don't ha e any plans cedure sometim s results in a ge1y accordingly. stop b. and ·heck it out. Doctor liair-b aring vagina, hi s patients do not All parti Ps should k pin mind that \ \'olper's office is located at 12 L I sc 111 to mind. Reports to AEGIS from electrolys is is a gradml process, and it C hestnut Street, Suite 810. post-op transs xual women indicate , can take a year or more to completc h however, that they clo care. clcar an area.

6 He11 aissa 11 c<' t•1cs J_ \ ie1us , Vol. 9, o . ../

The American Educational Gender Information Service AEGIS ANNOUNCES A NEW MEMBERSHIP POLICY

AEGIS is now a membership organization. Membership at $36/year includes: 2 issues of Chrysa lis, a theme-oriented magazine focusing on serious transgender iss ues; 4 issues of AEGIS News our quarterly newsletter; a 10% discount on al l publications so ld by AEGIS; a membership/LO. ca rd; and the right to vote for AEGIS boa rd members. Membership is open to anyone. AEG IS is a 100% volunteer, non-profit information and education resource for all people and does not discriminate on any basis. AEGIS supports SSSS, HBIGDA, SIECUS and other profess iona l organizations. AEG IS is a found ing partner of the Transgender Alliance for Community and an affiliate of the Renaissance Education Assoc., Inc. Write or cal l today. AEGIS • PO Box 33724 • Decatur, GA • 30033-0724 Call 404•939•2128 Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

This space donated as a public se n~ ce by CDS

7 He1111is.w111 n · 1·1cs & \ "il'lcs. \ 'of. i-J . No . . /

i11 tlwir o\\'ll j 11 risdict io ns as a wm· lo broa d< •11 tl H' ir scop<'.

STAND UP STRAIGHT, YOUNG LADY Elain<' Tc <' is tit(' ExcC11ti ve DirC'ctor of' the Co1111 ccti cut 011tn·acl1 Society in l"an11i 11 gton. In It r monthly column in their 0 11/ reoc/1 c'1i;s , E laine ai\'PS tips on fe111ini1 1e deportnlC'nt, bast>cl on he r observations of real wome n. In tllC' January issue Elain e ad dresses the topic of posture fo r cross The working of the organized trans less- until I saw that JoA nn Roberts dresse rs. She quite rightly points out gendered community is about nothing mentioned it in her !larch column. that most of us part-time ladi s ove r if it's not about politics. And, taking my COT A stands for Central Oklahoma look the fem inizing benefit of simply lead from our counterparts in Was hing Transg nder Alli ance. (See th e articl standing up traight and maintaining a ton, I am championing a sw ep ina s t on page 6 for more in fo .) dign ifi Pd, wo manly posture. Men have of proposals I li ke to call the Contract T h nub of the COTA idea seems to a tendency to stand in a way that accen With Transvestites. b thi - local membe rs wi ll be able to tuated their should rs and torso, a kind Among it's many planks are such choos whi ch national TC group they of Oat-foot d hulking po ture which is items as: a balancer! wardrobe anwnrl wish to affi li atP with and the Sigma dPcicle

8 Henaissance erus & Views, \ ol. 9, o. -I

I last 111 011t h"s ·o h111111 I 111 c11tionecl the amounts of money paid to our cul Gi rl and Partne rs. (Dina is so busy she 111~ · 1"011dncss for tlw l1i g l1 drag style or tural heroes, celebrities, is amazing, if dicln "t notice that NYG&P is now a Rl' tll<' old impersonators a11d c·vc·11 though not obscene. naissance affiliate. Ed.) I ff;-(1 doesn't scc> n1 tl1 at long ago to me Febnial)' 2 th was Mardi Gras. At From the outside, it wasn "t clear ex (I \\·as j11 st a slip of a girl back then, or one time , lardi Gras was a local 1 ew actly what moved the three de recting coursf') it is now a q11artc r or a century Orleans phenomenon that got marginal board me mb rs to leave and form a back in time . The photos in this issue m ntion in other cities around the new group. Heading between the lines, reconfirm d 111y liking for th totally country. In the last few y ars, the cel it seemed to have something to do with unnatural look or bouffant wigs , fal se ebration of Mardi Gras has become a l th gene ral administration of LI FE ac eyelaslws, and starchy evening gowns most a national event, not quite on a par tivities. There seems to be a long back o e r industrial strength girdles. with Halloween ... but give it some time. ground of squabbling that had gone on The re was one v ry int resting tidbit One cable channel carried Mardi Gras be fore this secession occurred. between the photo spreads. As a ervice cove rage li ve all day from w Orleans. Anyway, there wi ll b a new group to the ir read rs they had listed about He re in Philadelphia, there was a con form cl on Long Island in addition to, two doze 11 clubs whe re rc 111 alc imp r certed effort to "make" Fat Tuesday a or in comp titian with, the original sonators plied the ir gaudy trade. Al happening with newspap r articles LI FE group and this new group is plan though this was a "national'" magazine about wher and how to celebrate the ning to affiliate with Renaissance. publi shed in New York, the li sting in event in seve ral local watering holes (\\ e're getting to be the McDonald's of cluded eleven locations in the greater hosting Mardi Gras parties. TC support groups it seems. "Over a Pliilad lphia area. Even more inte rest 1t is a great opportunity to do a bit or billion groups transformed.") ing was that most or th nightclubs fan cy crossdressing in "straight" estab My question is: who on Long Island listed in our area we re locat · d in th li shments ' e wouldn't ordinarily haunt. wi ll make up the membership for the blue coll ar working class ne ighborhoods I know several or our Renaissance girls I ad rs of th new group if the mem or Frankford, Kensingt n, Port Rich- took advantage of it this year. (Pred ic bership of th old group was I ss than 1n ond and Fishtown. Only one of the tion: the traditional g nte I Easter pa namorecl of their leadership in the clubs wa located in the traditionally racl cone pt will ventually evolve [de first place? But that's a philosophical gay area of downtown Philly. volve?] into a gaudy, camp-it-up, show question on the order or, "whi ch came rm s11re thes working class bars time for citize ns who already miss first: the pantyhose or the L'Egg'?" and that onef' featured fe male impe rsonator tvlardi Gras and can't wait until Hallow far too vexing to tackle h r . rernes no longer do so-if th y ·till ex een. Remembe r, yo u read it here first. ) ist at all. Ir you'rC' familiar' ith Philadel Th inter sting thing about this na PICKIN' AND GRINNIN' AND phia, could you imagine going to a drag ti onal cultural mo ement toward find CROSSDRESSIN' show on Aramingo A\·enue? How abo11t ing more and more reasons to party is The re's an article in th Tennessee I• rant and All ghen. ? Or I• ifth and that the non-era sclressing public be Val's news! tter about a new nightclub Erie? And, if you we r traveling comes more and mar accepting of venture in Nashvill e call cl "Cowboys th rough South Philly you could have non-mainstream wa s to celebrate La age." It will be a featur cl revue at stopped in for a lip synch and an whatever it i · we're all cclebratina. That The Ace of C lubs and presumably OrtliC'b's at 27th and Pass unk. may not be th way we would like cross aim ed at the straight &\\ fans , not Tl1i s is rairly amazing hi story for a dressing to b a cepted but, "an port specifically th gay community. Phill. kid like myself. Those were tough in a storm" as they sa . And, it rein Auditions w r held and a sn ak ne ighborh oods all th way back to th forc s my beli f that Ameri cans will tol preview performance for an invitation nineteenth centu1y. Appar ntl. , these e rate almost anything ir it's done in pur only crowd got a nice '' rite-up in the few night spots tried to soft en those suit or a aoocl time. "Expressina our Tennessean newspap r. Female imper mean streets with fal sies and a little feminine personalitie ?" "Phoo y", they sonators do their versions of &\\ stars pancake makeup. wi ll say. But, dressing in drag b cause such as Reba lcEntire, Dolly Parton, it's a fun thina to do, THAT, Patsy C line, Lorrie Morgan and THE LEISURE QUEENS ve1yon 11 nde rstands. Wynona Judd. Othe r acts include a Our c11ltur and national economy comical ancy K e rri g an-Tonya ·C'e m increasingly drive n by Am e ri can's LEAVING LIFE BEHIND Harding due t. pursuit of recreati on. \\ hil e ste I mills Lifelines , the news! tter of the Long It hould be inte resting to see how and othe r old line manufacturing n Island Femme Expression aroup, car this venture pans out in the heart of the tf' rprisf's WC'n t be ll y up or downsized ri ed an inte rvi w with thr e of its top Bible B It. But country music always drasti call v. the film and musi · indus board members. Apparently, they are had a place for the comic element, so tries. national ports fran hi ses and lo- resi ming to fo rm a new group afrcr perhaps this down home drag revue is al le isure tinw busin esses seem to some disappointments with th aen ral not as off-the-wall as it may seem at have com or age. The amount or UFE memb rship- and vice versa. first glance. money being spent by consume rs and The n w group " ·ill be call ed ew York A

9 Hl'11ais.w111 u · .\'1 ·1rs ~· \ 'il'1n . \ 'n /. ~J . .\'o . . / Wandering The World Wide Web /Jy JoA1111 Roberts pl1 01w S(' rvicl' prm·icl c· r. tlwn· an· 111 - costs ,·0 11 to cal l tlwir local I lost. Tnist ! ow tlien· arr tecl1110-s nobs wlio tcrnct se1, ·ice pro\'iclc rs al l over tlw 111c " tliafs cl J('ap! be li eve· if you·re not co111wctcd to tlw place. Tlic service I 11 sc' is DSC and But. She ll account accC'ss. as cheap Inte rnet, yo 11 'rt' c ultural!~ · and so ·i ally tlic·v have access Illlllll JC' rS in over 3.'"0 as it is. cl ol's1i"t a ll ow you into the dPprived. f ear not. babies. I. your citi C's aronnd tl1 C' .S. 1" 111 vc 1:· pl eased coolest, 11 c\\·c·st part of the Inte rnet. Tck-K11ow-Tootsic, will give you the with the ir se1vicf' ancl tl1C' cost is q11itc· the World \\'irle \\'ch or\\'\\'\\'. \\'ell, straight dope on acttin r wired . reasonable. Call 1-800-521 -2733 to see that's not ·tric tl v correct. You can ac first, think of the I ntcrnet as a glo if DSC l1a s a 1111111hcr 1war vou. There cess the \\·c h from a She ll by running bal telephone netwo rk , complete with arc many otlwr providers ranging frolll I .y11x . 11 owcH·r, you won ·t get the directory ass istancP, phone books. etc. local (like C ross-Co1111 cctions at 1-8 1 '- graphi cs, so1111d , and 1novi<'s and that's OncP yo 11 get vo ur .. pl1 onc:· (in this 7, G-c 887) to national (like Nctcom tl1 e real point of the \\'cb. 13ut you can case a computer with a 111 odc m) con and Delphi ). Cct thee to a bookstore' at least get a taste from Lynx. nected to the network, and once yo u and pick up one or tlw 111a11. co111pute r ntil recently, it took humongous know som one's "phone numbe r .. (in magazines or one of the newe r I ntPr- l1ardware ancl lots or bucks to actually this case an 1nt e nwt address) 0 11 can 11 et-spccif"ie mac:rs like /11/ crn el \\ arid connect ~ · o ur O\\'n co111pu tcr to the In call anywhere and find i11 fo rmatio 11 on and check out th<' li sts of Internet ser tc rn ·t and most peopl e wouldn't want just about anything. vi ce provide rs. their machines on the let fu ll time first things first. Y0 11 nPed three You call the provide r and ask fo r In an ~way. 13ut, a couple of network pi eces: a mode rately fa st comp11ter (a ternet sC'rvices. You will be asked what wonks got tog<'thcr and cobbl d np 386 P , a Macllsi, or bette r) a te le kind of connecti on vou want. For our so n1 tiling called SLIP or Serial Linc communicati ons program and a 111 0- p11rposcs the re arc onl y two of eco lntc rfacp Proto ·o l. SLIP runs througl1 dem. The tPlecomm program I 11 se nomical inte rest: a She ll account and a a moderate ly fa st mode m (minimum r c:rularly is Mi -roPhone and it is avail SLIP/ PPP account. The She ll account spc·ecl of 14,400 bps) and uses your able for both Macs and PCs. but al is the simple t and cl1 eapest, both in servi ce providc r·s ·ompute r as a most any will do. The modPm 1wcds to te rms of actual cost and hardware ··switch .. to connect ,·our machine di- be a minimum of 2400 I ps, but 9600 ncedf' d. T o get into a She ll account re ·tl y into the Iut crnct. Your compute r bps is bette r and 14,400 bps is r e a ll~ · . ·ou only need tli e n1inin1um cqnip b comes, te mporarily. a part of the necessa1y for downloading graphi · · ment I described above. global 1nt crnet nPtwork. and browsing the \\'orld \\'ide \\ eb She ll account access means that you But, SUP has othe r advantages. By (WWW- more on that late r). wi ll call your service provider·s com a feat nothing short of magic, SLIP al A decent 9600 bps mode m these puter and log into an account set up lows you to mak multiple connections days can be had for less than $100 and just for you, complete with a user to the Inte rn t ove r a sing! modem a 14.400 for about $1.50. The late t name and password, just lik calling connc -t ion. Truly amazing! You will mod ms are 28,800 bps and sell for into AOL. C IS or a I cal compute r also sec these accounts r fe rred to as over $200. Remember, faste r is bette r bulletin board system. I !owe\· r, the SLIP/ PPP accounts. Eve1yon sa s in this cas . Most modems come with se1 ice provider's computer system PPP (Point to Point Protocol) is SLIP t lecomm softwar and many also in (the I-l ost) is connected to the Inte r done correct! , but both work the clude fax software as a bonus. net, so once you are logged in , you same magic. A non-comme rcial SLIP/ l f your compute r came with soft ty p the word "Shell" and you can now PPP account on DS is about $2.0 per ware for Ame ri ca On-Line (AO I ,), te ll the l lost what parts of the Inte rnet month for 90 hours of access, plus CompuServe (CIS ) or Prodigy, or if you'd like to call. Warning: Th Inte r whatp,·e r phone charges apply. you ·ve received such software through net itself runs under an op rating ys As you might imagine, maaic comes tlw mail, you may b able to get on the tcm call ed nix which can be difficult at a price . 1.n this case, that price is ad In ternet thro11 gh thcsP services, but to learn and r membe r. All of the utili clitional software' and th fo ste r mo the cost is high. or course, yo 11 have tiC's available in a She ll account arc dem. 1 alrcad;· had the mode m, but I full ace ss to th all of the se1vice's nix pro rams and you 1ui/l need to sp nt s ,·era! 1n onths lookin c:r fo r the oth r options in addition to I ntc rnet Jparn how to use the m to send and re hits and pie ·es of software . I fin ally access, but not all of the major c m ceive e mail, read newsgroups and do found th fnl l' m el Starll'r Kit for J\la pute r servic s provide full Internet ac anything else on the Net. DSC will c i11/osl1 by Adam Engst, publi h d b. cess yet, although it is ·o ming. provide you with a She ll account and Il avcl cn Books at an Encore Books. It So, let's assume you do not use 24 by 7 acces (i.e. 24 hours a day, 7 had almost evc1y thing l nePded to g<' t AOL, C IS or Prodigy, then how do you da s a " ·eek - in otlwr words unlim c:re t on the net? Like your local tele- ited ) for $12 a month plus whatc,·C' r it co11ti11 11 ed on page 21

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13 ZZ is about tl1<' lntl'rnahnnal Con which I think he ars rep ating. Dr. gress on C ross Dressing. ·ex, and C.:< •11- Gorski said tl1at the 111alc b rai n of pri d r Iss ues, held in Los ngeles at the mate: (in this casl' 111onkeys) makes all PIH.I of Fehrnar.. 13. any 111eas11re, it was o f the honnoncs nl'cessary to trigger a treme ndous success. bout 300 people ovulation WC'JT \l'C' abl to succC'ssfully attended the confab. or that nurnbc r, I'd implant ovari C's in a rnalc. Now, couple sa a third\\' re tra11 sge11de rcd. or those, that statc1n<'nt with the research dis about anothe r third we re presente rs. cussed at Sunday's plcna1y session where Pe rsonally, I found thl' dialogue he Xia Zhao Ji , l.D., showed thl' resul ts of twc 11 the two sides sti111ulating a nd his work irnplanting testes in Fti'vl trans wOJthwhile. Sur , th f' rc were so 111 f' co1 1- Sl'X 11als and O\«trics in Mt F transsex11al s. trovprsics. At o ne point, \l a rtine The testes s11n·iwd 9 rnontl1s and tlw Rothhlatt, author or the 1ww hook Th <' m-;u-ies for a year. The implication is that Apartheid c~f Sex , got into a shouting it 111a~ · lw possi ble in the nl'ar future to match wi th a transgenclered ph~ · s i c i a 11 i111plant ovari<'s ,uicl a ute rus in ;-..1 t F J\ny sujfici<' nlf y advan red lech11 ofogy. ver the I larry 13 nj amin 'tandarcls or transsexuals who would want to get preg lo a 11rimiliv<' c11f/11re, is i11disli11 g11isl1 - Care. But this ki nd of difference of opin nant and carry a baby to te rm , and that a/Jfe from llla gic. ion goes Oil at j 11 st about (' \ ' er~ · kind o r a functional peni s and testicles may he - Arthur C. C larke mcctina. O\·crall , I 'cl s a~ · the people who tra nspl antable to Ft 1'. I transsexuals. Rc- mad tl1 e greatest impa ·t of the confer 11ii11ds me of Sl r'cl Bcorh {j ohn \ "a rlc~ · I've 111 ntioncd th Internet several time ence were the Ft\1 transsexuals. Jam s fans wil l rccoanize the rpfe rence). over th past months and my cxcm ion .rpen was simplv scintillating. as was into the d pths of the net arc gettin r Ja on ~ romwell. I had the pl easure o f' tit er 11 OT 13 ZZ at th congress was Ion rer and deeper. 1\ ·e op n d a D me ti11 r Stephen \\"hittle, an Ft\! from th rather loud whining and complai n "sto refront" on the \\·arid \\'ick· \\"c b M anc li ester, England, who teaches at ing from th rganizers or th T exas '"T " which should be up and running by the the School o l' Law, \lanC'h stcr \letro Party because the I .. A. meet wa he ld on time you read thi s. The D ll o me politan nivPrsity. \\"hat a neat guy! tl1e sam \\' eke nd. lt was much ado Pag<' addr s is : http:// And, tal k about ph1gged into what·s hap about nothing since reports from people www.cag11 Ps fo r potc 11tial site . An informal

12 Ht·1wis.,·a11 r·<' l\/crcs & \ i<•rc.\'. \ of. 9, o. -1

f\ lak!'11p artist Kl'vin Aucoin was abl e lo ·· aiiovl' .. tlw wrinkles so thcv arc not so c:n·ale a pnfect to111ato-r<'d by c:o111bin visilil l'. C hC'c k ont RPvlon's AgP Oc ·f\·ing HOT•BUZZ ing a deep reel basC' and tl1 en covering it f\ lakcup. Pe rsonally, I still likl' 1\ lax "·ith IPmon-lime lip gloss. Cool! Silllilar Factor's Acti ve Protecti on best. sll'l'ri 11 g com111 ittcc· is talking lo several tricks arc performed with eye shadows, ac:aclc•1nic in stitutiom as potential hosts. like iriclr.sce nt hlue over black, and gray f'vP noticed anoth----er retro-trend: lining Once there is agrecm nt 0 11 the site, a and brown fini shed with a shimme ry the inside lower e elid wit l1 black. Didn't elate wi ll bC' announced. Stay tuned . gold. The combinations are endless. Ex the te ll us not to do that just a few years ----~.., pe riment and have fun! ago? If you wr?a r contact lenses lik I do, On to fa sl1i on nl'WS... I think this "recon lining the inside lowe r lid is a sure fir e struction" o f' fe mininity is bcinrr taken The March iss----ue of J\ ll11re lias a "Trick way to goo up your lenses. too far. I ·it he re looking at the clothing or the f\lonth" that we 've known for ads in the fa shion rags and all I can think years, thanks to make up mayven Jim I caurrht a quick---- sound byte about a one of is: Yu ck! A shapely snit or chf'mise is Bridges. L Jim taught me to use baby day, throw away contact. You put in a one thing, 1 ut overtl y corseted cl othing wipes to re move make up a couple of new pair each day. The 1 iece said they with fro 11 -frous and frill s is a bit n1ucl1. years arro at Fan I· air. \\'e ll , guess what were expensive, about $700 fo r a year's H's okay fo r a wo111a11 to want to look "trick" ,\/ltm! came up with fo r f\ larch. supply. I I ell , that's not expensive. At just st·nsual and feel sf'x:·, however, it is not Yeah, girl. That one. Toooo slow. unde r $2 a day, that's less than most oka:· to try to 111ake he r look like a mari smokers spend for ciaarettC's in a year. o ne tte. Som of tlw waistlines arc so \\'ome n of co----lor arc findina more and My ni cotine habit runs alm os t $900/~ 1 r. nipped in it must b hard to breathe and more co mcti c · designed just for them, So, "expensive" is a r lative t rm. If you impossibl to cat or drink. Come on de and that of cour e helps fe minine trans wear contacts. ask your optometri st or signers, get back lo the real world ! aendered peopl e o f color too. Lots of' optician about throwawa contacts. .., .., .., .., companies are adding sl1 ades of black to The new f mi11i11ity can make yo n sick, their product line , and whil an on can H re's a trend---- that won't last long: Cun lite rall y. One doctor has said that he use these products, they work best on Moll C hic. Fuel cl by the sncccss of' treats as many as 25 pati ·nts a year fo r African-ethnic skin. heck out Bobbi Quentin Tarantino's 1'11/p Ficlio11 , some gastrointestinal di stress he ·a11 sP thf' ir Brown's Black Be rry li psti ck and avy desi

that 2 p re nt aid uncomfortabl un Cettin 1 into that rc tro-40's suit may de rwear ruins their cla . The trend for ----foundation is away from mean some serious dieting. J've clone the the ultra-sophisti cated matte face and majors - utri-Sys tems and J nny Craig Jt's not just clot----hing. Eye makeup has toward sh en, bordering on shin . The - and they work... for a while. ThPn, taken 0 11 ex tre me looks. Most of the idea is that no one' skin is matte so why bang, you've gain cl it back and spent a mod Is in ads look like they'v b e n in mak it look that way? ew r base lot of money for what? I've found that liar brawls or be 11 date-raped. (An d, no makeups look d wy on the skin. But how the onl. real way to lose weight pe rma I a111 not makina fnn of elate rap .) Jeez, can we take advantage or ti 1at since many nent\ is watch what you eat, especiall y if I didn't know an b tte r, I'd think most of u need heavy coverage and thos fats, and exercise at I ast thr e tim s a or tl1 mod Is we re transv Stites. (And, thick cone · alers must be set with pow week for 20 minutes. l lost 8 pounds yes, I am making fun of th way . ome d r. T1y fu sing the powder into the base from just afte r C hristmas to the e ncl of transvestites dress.) wi th a solv nt like wate r, witch hazel or FebruaI)' by doing just that and J'm go alcohol. Take a wad of cotton and soak ing for anoth r 8 to 10 the same way. Ir IO U want to---- see my idea or sexy and it with the solv nt, then carefully press But, the re are some recent dev lop fem inin , look for th r cent ad for Flo the soak d cotton into th face. Th ments cone ming how our bodies make re nce Crome r. It's a simp le ad with a pressure plus solvent will fu se powder and store fat. The lat st BUZZ on fat is sult1 blonde in a cream colored leatl1 e r and base, restoring some of the natural C hromium Picolinate which can be pur sui t. Both th blond and the su it arc shine to your skin . chased at any h alth food store. It is knock-outs. Simple, y t elegant. thought that the chromium helps the Once a woman---- comes of a certain acre, body metabolize fat more e ffi cient!:" The recent tre----nd in real world makeup sh has to be cone rn ed with wrinkles. \\'ho knows, maybe it do s work. is to combine and layer colors to add I· oundation has a n;1sty habit of accumu d epth to the fa ce. One suc l1 layerina lating in wrinkles which makes the m © 1995 by re----ative Design 'ervi ces. All trick i to prime lip with a shocking fu s even more noticeabl e. The newest foun riahts reserved. Opinions xpressr?d arc chi a and then layer with burgundy or dations us silicone carri C' rs and special those of the author. If you don't like deep plum. The e ffect can be amazing. pigm nt that claim to I1 old the makeup the m, go write your own column.

13 l k 11aiss a11 1·1 · <' ICS & \lil'lcs. \ ol. !J . lo. -I Dining Out With Babs by Babs Casbar we' ll abov<' average and tire "Julia sc·enlC'd a little warlll r. \\'e wc rC' ac Jn January, fri e nds and I visited the C hild" sa l111 0 11 wrapped in potato crnst com111odatecl w it I1 our requested table newly r ope ned restaurant at th Cart was d c>scribed as "divin ." The o nl ' and the food was consiste ntly first ratC'. wh e l club in ew I lop , P nns lva complaint \\' ravioli du jour and \\ e found a casual, light and airy by New Jnsev sta 11 dards. with a con- tl1 c> Julia C hild salmon did not d isap Southwe. te rn decor and a lower . istC'nt C IC' n Ell c> n c hardonnav at 816 point anyone. OC' ss rts, again, we re ex priced , yet expanded , lll('llll reaturing and a ridwr KC' rnhll Jackson fo r 824 . c ll C' nt. and even the house win had a sandwiches and burg rs, as we ll as in T he snvice \\'as pron1pt and pro fes ni ce body. One note or caution for te resting gommc t sty! dishes. pC'cial s sional, ~ · C' t a litl'lc cool ·o nrparC' d to those who cannot tole rate> peppcr of the Day we re unusual and inte rc>s t S0 ll1 C' o l' the f'ri e ndly waitC' rS fro m th ask ahead! The re was a li ttle extra in ing. The resta urant was f'illc·d and old r stam a nt. \\'e got tire f'ccl ing th e ~ · the rice. As a lower priced, more ca the r was a mix up i11 o ur reservati on. \\'C' re limited in their experie nce with s11al eatery than the mo re up eale \\ 'hil e we wait cl , we we re offered a the TC communit '· Haven and Pre l11d e down the road, tl1e round o r drinks at the pian bar. \\ 'e On a re turn \·isit, on a Friday night new '' \\'lwel" rC'presents an e nj oyable we re give n a s 11 hstit11tt • tahl C' and sin i11 F c brn a r~ " fo 11r co11ples \\' C' rc \\'C' l alt e rnative. ·c> rC' apologiC's. co 11 l!'d ll\· Cc·organn, o rn· of' the C'O Cal'e ,\lo at tl 1C Cartwhee l ppetizC'rS ranged f"ronr a tas ty hut O\\'nc rs. \\ ·f' met several old friends -131 Old Yo rk Hd . ( Ho 11tC' 202) p ppe ry ri gatoni in \'Odka sauce' to av and regula rs f"rom the old '' \\'lwe l, " Ne\\' II pC' , PA • :2 15- 62-0 'O e rage' na ·hos. ThC' st11ffC'cl chi cken both in the· restaurant and at the piano \lajor credit cards acce ptc> d ravioli du jour a nd sh ri 111p scampi \\'C'rl' bar. ind11ding a f(>w "siste rs ... The staff fk servations s11ggestecl .

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14 l k 11r1issr1 11 c1 · f\'1'1cs & \ ic 11;s, \ o f. 9. 'o . ../ T-Speak: A Lexicon of Gender by A11gela Card11 er crossdressi11 g community to dcscribc tl1 C' proccss, ifs 11 sually peopl c who ~!an y pcople are confused abo11t themsclvcs. ) have all owpd the ir transvestite fantasy th C' naturc of the transgC' rnkrcd, and A ·t11a ll crossdrcssC' r is not a bad to take the m down the wrong road. cxactl:' what thC' many diffe rC' nt tC' rms word. It's useful in describin , anyone These p ople are call ed pseudo used in thC' tran sgencle re d commu who wears clothing, conside r d by so tra nsseA·u a ls. The J-/an11 Be1y(//11i11 n ity, (the r 's one now! ) mean. A whi le ciety, to be appropriate to the gender Standards vf Care wer written to help hack I was on the phone with a re opposit th ir phys ical aender; for any professionals in the psychological and porte r who was intcrcsted in doing an reason. Thus, we ma say that a profes medical fi elds sort out the true trans arti ·le on transsex uals. She had a m11n sional fem ale impersonator (FI) sexuals from the pseudo transsexual s. he r of quc tions, one of "'hich was, (som -on who imitates a woman 011 True transsexuals ar gende r dys " I J ow long do transvcstitcs crossdress staae or screen for mone ), who would phoric. Gende r dysphoria is a discom b fore the become transsexuals?" not be caught dead in women ·s cloth fort with one's ph sical gene! r. This Stop the presses! I fold cvervthing. As ing off stage, is, because he cross differs from a transvestite's feeli ng of Hi ck)' sa id to Lucy, "You got a lot of dress s r ularly, a crossdresser. cxcite ment at b ing dressed up. The 'splainin' to do. " This confusion exists (Most FI's would di sarree with this transvestite ma not feel as good when in tl1e gent:> ral public and within the due to their imp rfect uncl rstanding n t "clre sed" but acting lik their community itself. People arc throwina of transgender terminology. ) I k may physical gene! r will not be uncomfort words around without having a clear or may not be a transvestite. Som one able for tl 1e m. The gende r dysphoric undcrstanding of what tlwy mC'a n. Th lik Dame Edna, wh o cross dresses to may ex p ri ence anything from slight introduction of the term, crossclresser perform as a female characte r, co11 ld discomfort to outright loathing of th ir just added to the confusion. I don't be describ cl as a crossdrcsser, but phys ical gender. T he trPatment for a know how many ti111 s J'vc heard again we hav no idea if the motiva tion severe g nde r dysphoria is SRS. people say, 'Tm not a transvestite, I'm to create that characte r came from sns stands for Sex Heassignment a crossd resser. " \\'e ll big guy, why ar trans estism or tl1 eatrical flamboyance. Surge ry. Often re ferred to as T he Op you wC'aring that dress? A tra nsseA'llal is a pe rson who has e ration , sns is mor accurately d - Let's start the definitions ri ght always ~ It their phys ical aende r do s scribed a several procedures. More there. A tra n svestite (TV) is a pe rson not match th wa they ~ el inside. procedures ar required for a fe male who de ri ves a satisfacti on from wear They may cros dr ss to look more like to-male than for an M-to-F. (The ini ing the clothin' of the opposit s x. th way they feel, but they don't get tials are often used to describe indi This satisfaction may be an all -ove r the type of satisfaction a transvestite viduals who ar crossing the gender .mm-body good feeling, a relief of would from , "dressing up." Jn fact, bord r. M-to-F for male-to-female and stress, e rotic stimulation or all of th most transsexuals are not that con F-to- I for female-to-male. The initials above. The cl sire to engag in cross cerned with clothing. Matching the may be 11s ed for both transs xuals and clressed b havior is most often pr sent body with the mind is their number transvestites but are most often used at a 11 earl age and stays with the trans one priority. for transsexuals.) vestite for the rest of th ir life. The myth that transvestism is a st p Of cours this short article can't Th politically correct start cl to use on the way to transs xuality comes cover all the words used by people in crossclresser as the "proper" term in about, in part, from the difficulty many and around the transgender com111 11 - ord r to avoid negati ve connotations p ople xpe ri nee in knowing the m nity. For example, D rag q ueen s (gay that had b gun to accumulate around selves. Early ~ elings of transsexuality trans estites who always go for glam the word , transvestite. M idclle-aged ma b confused with homosexual our looks, or, more commonly among men with wi ves, famili sand an inex longinas or transv stite fe lings. It is younge r qu ens, wi ld and trashy club plicabl cl ·ire tow ar hair bows in important to talk with qualifi ed coun- looks) have the ir own te rminology that wigs that would r ally look bette r with s !ors and peN s who have "be n can get ·o complicated .I won't even t1 out one, de ·ided the word, "transves ther ·· to sort out exactly who you are. tog t into it girlfriend. tite" conj m ed images of hot (as in To further confuse the iss ue, some What do yo u call a TC p rson who ovcrtly sexual), fi ve inch heeled hook transvestites ar havina such a good has breasts and a penis? If sh comes e rs with boob jobs and several so ·ial time being fcminine and such a dull f"rom a middle class backgro11nd she is di s asc.' . Obviously the girl s with bows time b · ing me 11 that they feel they a tran sgen derist. if she is lowe r on in tl w rc ,,·igs couldn't b related to the hould hm·e a sex diangp and li ve fu ll the class ladde r, she is a sh e-male . street-walking transv stit - so the time as females. \\'h en davtime talk H er is a case where the words de- word "crossd resser" was born . (Girl is fests do shows about ·'sC'x cliangC's" a te rm often used by me mbers of the who have regr ts and want to reve rse conlinued on page 20

15 H<' 11nissn 11 l"I' 1•1n & \ il'rcs. \ 'of. !-J. f\o ..J Jimmy Olsen: Queen Of Comics Jimmy dccid C's to i11 v1·stigatc· " Big cl o\\' 11 s tair s·~ Or th at Jimmy is s11pposC'd Montf' .. ~'lcCra\\' , tllC' c·x-racket1·1·r s11 s to he watching Ln cy's pC' t CrC' at Danc pC' ·tC'd of being thC' 111astC' n11ind bC' hi11d whil l' slw is awa '? And that the ham a large jPwe lty l1 C' ist. SincC' no onC' is al bnrgP r J i111111 v prl'par<'cl for Mai sie wi th lowPd into th C' tl1 cater Jirnrny just saw thP slC'c pi11 g powd C' r i11 it was a ·t11all v Big Monte C' nte r, Ji111111 y dC'cid C's to gC' t dog food !IC' snitched from I .uc t's ice close to kCraw b~ r di sgui sing himself' box'? All of tlwsc plot ele ments in just as a irl and trying out for th C' cl1oru fiv C' page's! li nC' of th c> "Metropolis Follies" show ThC' nC'x t day, Julie wakes up and af that lvlcC raw is produc i11 g. Jim my pulls tC' r don11in g th C' sam C' drC'SS as the day a drC'ss and wig from hi s disguise trunk, lwforC' hC' ads off to practi ce wllC'rC' Big ( ·l evnly labeled ''disguise trunk" to dis Monte' tak('s a shin to hC' r. He tells her tingui sh it from his othe r trnnks) and to borrow an C've ni11 g go'' n from Maisie heads for the audition. His abili ty to bC'causc the 'rC' doing the town that If. catch a thrown baseball lands him a job niaht. McCra\\' arrive· and makes J 11li e in the choru s. He introduc s himsC' lf as remove' he r crummy old man's watch, Juli e' OgdC' n and is offered a pl ac to rC'p lacing it with a diamond watch and a by Robyn Dorme1· new mink coat. Julie lik C's the watch so At last we come to the nadir of comic much, shC' covC' rs it up with C' lbow book cro sdres ing-Jirnmy OlsC' n he r IC' ngth ve nina gloves and they !wad self. Jirn111y is the rC'ason I began this out to di1111 e r. The C've ning ends in a whole e ri es in the f'ir t placC'. It \ as ki ss and th C' nC'x t da , Big Monte is so about a year ago that editor AngC'la smitten by J 11lic th at lw proclaims hC' r Cardm·r did a write-up on a photo ·opy the f11t11rc \frs. ~ l cC rn\\'. ntil hC' s PS sh had r ceived of a Ji mmy Olsen t-l1 at Adams apple .. . story in wllicl1 he rnasqu raded as a As if thi story \\'as11 't pricclPss ga ngste r's 1110 11. Anaela stated that C' no11 gh, thc rl''s a wonderful shot of u the re " ·ere at least two othe r instance's pC' nnan unplugging that pC'skv electri c: of Olsen in drag and if an one had c.:op fan with lii s sup r-br ath! ies to sc> nd them in . As a comic fan from This \\'as 11 ot O lsen's first foray into way back, J ownf'd those iss ues and fC' malc impersonation. ho\\'P\'C' r. Jim m~ · man~ · othC' r instances of crossdr ss ingl OlsC' n donnC' d drag in the March. 1963 transg nd ri sm in comics. \\.hPn I i sue (#67) in a sto1y titled L <'slie Lo11;e, ope ned m comic store and usc>d my fron1 Cir/ Heporler. Ji mmy is upset that hi s Leslie Lowe coll ection as back stock, those prized is cr irlfri nd Luc makes twice as mncl1 as sues and the otl 1f'r titles I' C' reported li ve at the apartment of Big i\l ontC' 's he cl oC's (she mak C' . "·everal hundred on we re the only books not for sal . girlfriend Maisie. Mai sie' is not thrilled ow that the tore is cl os in a, J \\'ill with sharing he r placP with this pretty be donating the m to the R nais an ·e li n ·wcomer, and besides. sli P al ready has bra1y and I am focusing full attention a chimpanzee for a roommate. on my new career as a ''document con ''J uli C'" overhears Mai i t II Big trol cle rk," not a "se ·retaiy ." (Editor's Monte not to \\'Orry about th C' rubies ; Note: Oops!) This will be the last in she hid thC' m in hC' r apartrn c> nt \\'hC'n' stallment of TC Clraracter1o1 in tir e 11 o b od ~ · wi ll C've r find the m. Af't C' r dop Comics. And wh bette r to end thC' se ing Maisie with sl epina powde r cle,·- ri es than with the pe rson mo t re pon rlv conceal d 0111 ('\\'herC' on his r lll i sibl e for it in the first pine - Miss ni zc> d self, he scar ·h C's her apart1nent to Jimmy Olsen. no avai l. Did l mention that Mai ·ie has It was Superman 's Pal jilllllllj Olse n . a p t chimpanzee'? Or a small C' lectric.:

iss ue #95, cove r date Septe mbe r, ] 966 fan that appears in e\'C' ry shot inside thl' from / ~Ir. Act.ion \ \ that tl1 e "lvli ss Ji mm. O lsen" sto1y An apartment that i never turned off? Or 11 _.__...~~ '- ' 1 gela reported on first appear cl . For that Jimmy's girlfri ncl Lucv LanP , , _~ ~ those who missed hc> r summation. (Lois' sistC' r) Ii \'( s in th C' apartmP11t tJ~R

16 Re11aiss r111 n · f\ erc s & \lierc s, \lo/. 9, No . .J

Pe rry's desk. Lois and Jark Ke nt e ntrr tossed in the clin k, they throw hint 0 11 ! the office and t h e ~ · all ha\'e a good 0 11 his ear. Comics lauah. T hey knew it was him the whole Despe rate. ls e 11 b11 s some sec- time! He had fo rgotten to re move his ond-hand threads from " a111 ·s Used doll ars a 111 0 11t h .. ) lw quits his job at the Superman Signal-watch! Yo 11 'd thi nk lothing" store and dresses in an all ey Daily Planrt, be li eving l1e'll land a bet that a[h·r that epi sode he would re in a striped sweate r, pink mini-skirt, te r job at the Globe. T h Globe just m mber to take it off when he became stockings and p in k pumps. \\ ith a li ttle hir d a new girl repo1t e r and doesn't Jul ie Ogde n some thr e years late r. make- 1p and a wi g, he looks "lik e a slick nPP d anybody e lse, so Jimmy decides T he fin al episode of Jimmy O ls<> n in chick. " He decides to see if his get-up since e\'eJ)'body s ms to be hiri ng feminine fin e ry was in the August, ] 973 will rate a wolf whi stle fr om three guys girls, h 'II appl for his old Pla 11 el re iss ue (# 159). Ji mmy was in hi s mod pe on a corne r and he sashays past. .. and porte r job as a girl. Into the tru nk (Dis riod, with long hair, bell bottoms and 1 ait, it's the sam three guys who guises, Prope rty of J. Olsen) he goes white boots. In Th e Da y They U11 - boot cl him out of the abandoned and soon, in ti aht blouse, fl ari ng skirt, 111 asked Mr. Action, Ji mmy is forced to buil di ng! Ji mmy answers their lewd and "d sire me" li pstick, and straight stock hide from the masquerade squad he lascivious remarks with a "How DARE ing seams, Olse n is on the streets, fend had h !peel establis h fo r the police de you?!" and smashes the m in the kisser ing off advances from leerina men. partment because someone tipped off with his second-hand purse. Pe ny W hite hi res he r on the spot the police commissione r that Olsen has Conti nuing on, Ji mmy spots a mem and despite Ji mmy's best efforts to look been selling their anti-cri me p lans to ber of the masque rade squad masqu r like a dumb dame (which would make the unde rworl d. An apparently guil ty ading as a hot dog vendor. Putting ev Pen)' want to hir Jimmy back as soon Olsen dives out of a s cond fl oor win erything on the !i n , he makes the as possibl ) he becorn s a pri1.e m dow, do a cartw heel in mid-air and ultimat test of his disgui se and orders ployee. He is treated to lunch with Lo is escapes from police headquarte rs. a weenie, with mustard and re li sh. Lane, is attacked with a salad bowl by a On the lam, Ji mmy decides the re is What he gets is gun in his face and his jealous wife, takes a bath in the bathtub no way to escap the masquerade wig yanked offl It seems Ji mmy Ols n, of a mode l home in an exhibit (the squad, because an body he meets Mr. Action, the man of many disguis s, home is fo r sal for $25,000), and re could be one of the cops in disguise. He FORCOT'TO RE MOVE HIS DAM ceives candy and fl owers from his boss. tri es to hide out in an abandoned buil d 1IA 'S \\ RIST \VATCH! Thus endeth Aft er being offe red a fi ve year con ing but there are "three crooked profes the career of Jimmy Olsen, f male im tract, Ji mmy has had enouah and ex sional gamblers" in there shooting dice. pe rsonator. poses himself, slamming his wig onto Sine 0 1 en one helped get th m all

arenas of practice: enal:iling (counsel As an example, social work profes Letters ing). l:irokering (directing one to sors at St. Cloud University in St. appropriate resources), advocacy, and Cloud, Minnesota have attempted to activism (l:iringing al:iout change l:ie the gatekeepers of the profession to the through advocacy). l7y l:iarring entrance into the social Although through the four realms work program of anyone who has anti of the profession one may come l7y or negative feelings toward the Editor the impression that social workers transgendered community. All:ieit this are open minded, accepting-change my l:ie laudal:ile and relative to the Dear Angela, agents who are sagacious, knowledge cause, not to mention applauded l7y In the Deceml:ier 1994 issue the al:ile, and empathetic of all diversity; the Gay Association of Social Workers lead story, "Community Alliance which much to my chagrin is not true. (GASW), it certainly is not the Forms," reported the cooperative Social workers are human l:ieings who answer. While this faction of profes outreach effort undertaken at the maintain their own opinions, ideals, sionals have utilized their professional NASW convention l7y AEGIS, IFGE, ideology. and l:ieliefe- often unwar al:iilities to advocate and initiate Outreach Institute, Renaissance and ranted and exacerl:iated l7y their own change, they may very well have Tri-Ess. As a social work professor, religiosity, close mindedness, or violated their professional ethics and advocate for transgendered l:ilatant ignorance, resulting from a through their own close mindedness issues/community, I can not stress lack of knowledge regarding a particu regarding the diversity of other's strongly enough the importance of lar sul:iject matter. As with any human l:ieliefs; l:iut I do l:ielieve that you have this alliance; and the sul:isequent and faction this is certainly not the rule or to start somewhere. Unfortunately l7y long overdue education of social work the norm, and there are many social gate keeping only social work stu professionals regarding these workers who have attempted to dents there are still many other social community issues. Social work is a augment change from within the micro (l:iehavioral) science professionals who profession comprised of four l:iasic to macro levels of the profession. conUnuecl on next page

17 l k1111issr11wr· 1\'f'1cs J. \lif'1cs. \ ' n /. !J . No . ../

Letters

Dear Doctor also come into contact with the transgendered on a day-to-day basis. This then pose the question- can we or should we gate keep the profes Dr. William R. Sta yton answer your q11

18 HC' 11aissr111 ('(' 1 <' res & \'i<' rcs . Vol. 9, . lo . ../ gists, etc.- t hose in t he treating Sincerely, members. I am waiting t o see if they profession who can bring about Sharon Lynne Strayline, LMSW will publish 5omething in regards to change and initiate acceptance for Dear Editors, this cruelty to horses. the transgendered community I am a supportive wife of a cross I have not quite reached that point mea ning each and every one of us. dresser and I spend numerous hours in life where I may need to take What can we do'? Continue to unite, volunteering [in the tg community]. estrogen supplements but when that educate, support our cause and be Several months ago a crossdress time comes I will ask my doctor for an proud of who we are and what we are ing friend of mine who knows I am very alternative. I do know that there is a because this IS who we are. I person active with various animal groups sent homeopathic e5trogen that comes ally ask all sisters of Renaissance to me a COPY of the article on Premarin from a wild yam and believe the name support the tg community in conjunc that was publi5hed in the October, of the product i5 Proge5t. tion with the NASW's up coming 1994 issue of Renaissance News & Every day there seem to be more conference in Philadelphia so that we Views. I was upset to read in the and more members of the community can become the first class citizens January i5sue that the article on the who think they are transsexuals or that we are- not some anomaly of "Suffering Behind Premarin" was not that hormone treatment will change nature. We're not going to change, but taken seriously. their life. What little I have been we can make a change. I'll be there After reading that article, I involved in the5e situations has made dressed as Sharon, and if I'm recog immediately went out and made me realize that these people are not nized- so be it. It's worth the chance dozens of copies of "The Suffering willing to listen to reason. They are that I'm forced to take as an advo Behind Premarin" and mailed them to bound and determined to take cate, an activist, and a social worker various animal groups I am involved whatever is neces5ary to make them - for all of us. with to make sure they are aware of look like a woman and the suffering In conclusion I offer a quote from thi5 cruelty to animals. I even sent a that may re5ult from this is just too Abraham Maslow (1968) who was the COPY to the Humane Society of the bad. All they seem to care about is father of the "Humanistic Approach" in United States which is a national how large their bosom will grow, a5 if psychology- a theory utilized by social organization which trie5 to oversee breasts makes one a woman. workers of the time (as well as today): the humane treatment of all animals. I just recently had the experience to "Self-actualized people have a lack of Several local animal organization5 in speak with a cros5dre5ser who is fear of their own insides, of their own the San Antonio area have since going to start taking hormones and I impulses, emotions, thoughts. This lack published 5imilar articles and hope asked her to please read this article of fear enables them to live joyfully and fully a letter campaign has resulted. I that was in RN&V about the 5uffering comfortably. Through integrating our have also 5ent the article to the of mares and their foals in order to gender identity into our whole person, national Appaloosa Horse Club in produce Premarin. I wa5 told that she we can come to be comfortable in our Moscow, Idaho which publishes a would read the article but it would not own skin." monthly journal to over a thousand co 11ti1111ed 0 11 back pa ae

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19 lk w1iss1111 n · .\'l'ln .:_. \ ·h·rn. \ ·,,1 !J. Xo. ·I T-Speak Renaissance Gets Wired scribe· tl w sa 111 C' thing hnt the c:o nnota Nl'1cs J . \ ' i<'ll'S l ~ dit o r ~ 0 11 tl l<' lnt t' r ldt<·r. goi11 g to tlw post officl', standing ti o 11 or "' shc-ma lC' .. puts that individ11 al net: K<'C' pi11 g pa<' <' with rnod<·rn teC' h i1 1 lim·. paying f'o r the stamps. e tc tC' ra, i11 a diffe re nt class. ,o nno tations c: an nology, Hl' naissan T is happy to a 11 - •Is . C:arcln<'r may 11 t only run your gl't you in trouble in all ar as of' the 11ounc1· yo11 ca11 now se 11cl yo 11r <'l<'ctro 11i c lett1·r i11 eii;s & Views, hut transge1 dc r comm11nity. As stated be Le tters- to-the Editor and othe r sub das h off a quick rep ly via the Tnt e rnc t. fore, ome c rossdrcssr.rs don't like the mission via e 111 ai l. Our Editors invite Jo nn Roberts announc cl she is connotation or the word "transvestite ... those with an urge to co111111u11i cate to opening a \\ oriel\\ id \\ e b ite fo r Drag queens don't want to be c:a lkd address the ir e l c: tronic mis s i vP~ to: he r h11 siness which will include much crossdressers, since they don't see the be [email protected]. ince e lectronic informati o n about Re naissance and connection between the ir glamo ur and mail i · s much easie r than writing a the ability to nd e mail to th group. the D's desire to pass. (Have p opl think you are a gene ti c fe male .) or course, only the most blatant babes among us rev l in be ing call cl chicks Human Dimensions with dicks. (That one·s meant to b Gender Education de rogatory but I kind o f' li ke it.) Just r me mbe r, like the Bee Gees o nce Need help answering your tough sang "it's only words". ] r omeone u cs on of these words to describ you, gender questions? Individual & group and u don't like it, polite! : correct sessions with Dr. Lee Etscovitz. them and go on about your business. You will have the satisfaction of' know PO Box 471 •Willow Grove• PA 19090 ing what labe l you pr C r. 215-657·1560

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20 RP1wissn11 ce News & Views, Vol. 9, No. 4

you are connected. Once yo u see the sounds and play movies. The "Read Wandering The Web word "connected'" you're on the net m ·· fil es that come with the Browsers Th J nternet books described pro and the 1etscape Home Page will give win.. d. There is a similar volu m for vide you with shareware programs that you more in formation on these helpers PCs. T he most im portant piece of soft let yo u send and receive email and let you download them directly ware ou need is a system extension (Eudora) and read newsgroups (l ike from the Internet. called TCP/JP which stands for Tele soc.s upport.transgendered), and down Okay, so let's drop back a step. I communications Control P rotocol/In load software from other Hosts (via said you could get to the Web without ternet P rotocol. Remember, I said the FTP or File T ransfer Protocol). This graphics through Lynx. There are Jnternet is like a phone system? In the last part is important because you wi ll other ways to get to the Web with the case where you use the Shell account, use it to find and download other soft graphics through a Shell account, but yo u're IP address (phone number) is ware products like Mosaic and Net your service provider has to play along. actually the Host's address and the scape \\ eb browsers which is why we For both Mac and PC, there is TIA, Host knows who you are. But with a went to all this trouble in the first The Internet Adapter. Think of this SLIP/PPP account, you need yo ur own place. With SLIP/PPP you can read program as a three prong plug to two IP address. T he TCP/IP system exten newsgroups, send email and browse prong plug adapter. Place the TIA fil es sion is where you wi ll store this in for the \V b simultaneously. in your Shell account directory and run mation. On Macs, the latest Sys tem 7.5 I recommend getting etscape. TIA from inside the Shell. You can software includes this extension as The address for the ftp site is now crank up Netscape or Mosaic and MacTCP. Jf your Mac runs an earlier mcom.com and the directory you want surf the \ Veb. T here are two caveats system, get th book because it in is /netscap /. etscape is fairl y large with TIA. First, your service provider cludes MacTCP. For PCs, l presume so it may take a wh il e to download, but must have TIA running on their system the PC edition of tl1 e book contains a it is worth the wait. There are other (DSC does not run TIA), and second, simi lar extension. IBM 's OS/2 Warp browsers, Mosaic being the most com TIA does not all ow multiple simulta apparently has TCP/IP built in and the mon and the most recognizable. There neous connections, although this is much touted \\ indows95 will also have are shareware Mosaic versions for probably not a big deal. TIA is share TCP/IP built into it. So, once this ex Mac, PC and Unix machines, but all ware and will cost you $25. FTP it tens ion is installed in your computer, are bu&,ay. Mosaic is available as share from marketplace.com, and the direc yours rvice provider will aive you a ware on C IS and AOL. losaic is also tory is /tia/docs. series of IP addresses. These look ava ilable as a non-buggy commercial For \ Vindows-only users, there is so mething like this " l92.222. 15.00". product. Prodigy has it's own \\ eb SlipKnot which wi ll work from a Shell One address wi ll be for your machine, browser which is a version of \ Vin\ Veb account as long as your provider has one wi ll be for their mail se1v er, on and only fo r PCs. The Mac ve rsi on of Lynx too. SlipKnot, from MacroM ind for their n ws se1ver and maybe a few Win Web is Mac\\ eb. (Catchy names, will let you browse the \\ eb but does extras. Follow the directions in the huh?) But, everyone seems to agree not support forms or email. Jt wi ll let book and you won ·t go wrong. In addi that etscape is the best so far. yo u FTP fil es, though. SlipKnot is $29 tion to all these numb rs , you will g t \\ eb browsers use an address call ed fo r non-commercial users. FTP the an email address that looks like: a URL or Uniform Resource Locator fil es from netcom.com in directory name@provide r. com. Mine is: and they look like this - http://home. /pubpbrooks/slipknot. [email protected] net.com. This ad mcom.com/welcome.html - (this is Once you get on the Net, this will dr ss is ve1y important since you will not a legiti mate URL by the way). all become second nature. You 'll be us it to log in to other systems and C rank up Netscape and you will see cruising the Library of Congress and other people will use it to contact you. a special "Welcome" button at the top surfing the waves of data in New Okay, next step is to access your of the window that wi ll take you right Zealand in no time. SLIP account, but yo u won't do this to etscape's Home Page. The tg community is on the Web via the telecomm program as before. The first thing you wi ll notice about too. A really neat place of interest to At least for the lac, there is a little a Web page are words that are under the tg community is the Above & Be program call ed InterSLIP that does lined and in blue. These are links to yond Mall at http:/1199.170.0.46/. the call and log-in automatically. The other sites. Embedded invisibly within Chris Wells has done a fin e job of cre program runs a script (an ASCII text the text are URLs for other locati ons. ating a marketplace to serve some of fil e) that wi ll be provided to you by Cli ck on one of th e links and you wi ll our needs. Both ETVC and the Diablo your service provide r. If yo u ha e to be connected to that site. More magic. Vall ey Girls have really nice Web sites type th <' script manuall y, be ve ry care The other thing about Web pages and I beli ve they are the first tg orga fu l to t:'Pe everything exactly as it is that make them so neat are the graph nizations on the ' Veb. So, go get \Vired given to yo u. JnterSLIP gives you ics. \ Veb pages can also have sound and explore. I leave it to you to find minimal feedback, but it does let yo u and movies embedd d. Most browsers the many other tg \\ eb sites. A know that you are logging in and that requir "helper .. appli cati ons to hear

21 llew1issm11·1· !' IVS & \ il•rcs. Vol. !-J . 1 o. -1 Shopping With Jackie

l1y Jackie Tlwmas wa11tl'd (grin ). Conw on ga ls. dro p a fovorit<' catalog houses has added a11 Put 011 yo ur Easte r Bo1111ct , witl 1 all note a11d share yo11r so11r ·c·s. H<·111C'111 - 800 1111111bcr ( 1-800-525-66.50) whi ch the l'ril b 11pon it. a11d bC' th • gra11d est bc r. tl 1i s is ii national colulllll. Ir )'Oil saves <·xpe11 si\'C' toll ca ll s. (\\'e are bar lady in tl1 <' Ea. ter Parade. :rC' at k11ow a great place to find bargai 11 s in gain shoppe rs. right?) C hadwicks's is \\'Ords. a11d it sc·e 111 s that bonnets or Loui sia na, Ca li~ rni a nr Atlanta. let 111 <' gwat f'or outC'rwPar witl1 drC's es fro111 hats arc · ! ·ilck. I .ook aro1111 d tlw fas h know a11d I'll pass thl' inf'o on to my ~ l!:l. 00 and lllost ite 111 s in tl 1e $29. 00 ion stores a11cl \ 'OU will sc mor<' 111 illi readers. or less catf'gor~ ·. Thei r clothing is nice nerv. tha11 has bc•C' n aro1111d for 11ia11\. · a Las t 111 011th I told yo 11 ahn11t Sup and th e~ · offC' r grC'at S<' rvicc. Sizes of year. I I' yo 11 an' ii catal og shoppc·r. port P lus. Si11cc' tl w 11 I ha,·c· got!C'n f'c rcd arc f'ro111 small to XL (20 ). Paula Young, the wig place', has a IH'\\' th<'ir catalog a11 d 1' 111 i111prc·ssccl \\'itl 1 Kel'p ~ · 011 r c•n•s ope n for l.ia rgai ns hat shop call C' cl "Pa11la's I lat Box " a11 cl the sc lc- cti o 11 and priC'es . TltC'~ ' hm·f' and let me knm about tlH' lll. D rop of cou rsc you can gC' t a l'rcC' catalog hy nice prices on support hosl'. girdles. 111 e a note i11 carp of Shoppi11g at: H. C' - writing to Paul a Young, PO Box -1 8:3, bras. ga rter bC'lts, shoes (to 12), and 11 ais5a 11 cf'. PO Box .530, Be nsa le m, PA Brockton, M 0240.3-9967 or call I - other mi scC' ll an ous itc· lll s. Ir \ 'O U 19020. L' II pass th e m on to tllf' r st of < 00-3-(3-9695. 1lC'cd th C'se things. call for a catalog at om readers and we'll all savf' money ThC' re was no mai l this month to an 1-800-229-29 10. a11d look fo h11l ous. So, 11ntil next ·a. swe r. It rnakf's me (' f' l likc 1'11 1 not Chadwicks of Boston, onf' of 111~ · time ... 1 lappy Shopping. e

Coming Events Calendar April June Octobe1· 20-2.3 3rd A1111 ual lon11light In i\ Ianhat1a11 . i11 14 -1 -Ith A11nual Tra11sge11dt'r La\\' & Policy .'i-\J Tilfany lnh Fall Fling 0 11 ape Cod. Ne\\' York .il v. Call : 2 t2-7Ci5 -:3.5G l. onli: rl' IH.'l' in l lo 11 slt111 . T t" xa ~. ontad : \\'ritt·: T E. PO Box 22.'!3. \ \'ohurn, Phyllis Ra11dolph Fryt·. 5707 F in·117~ 1 I. . l\ IA 01 8''1. or ('a ll (GJ 7)-/;\J l -\J325. 20-2.1 California Orl'ami11 ' \J5 . in l311rha11k . Ca I lmuto11. TX 7703.5. lif. all: 7 14 -77\J-!JO l 3 15-22 21st Annual Fantasia Fair held in Prnv incelo\\'n, 1ass. \\'rite: FanFair R gis 21-22 First An nual Transgt· 11de r & Tra11ssex 11al July 2fi -.10 The Third An11ual ' PIC E in i\ le rnphis, lrar. PO Box 941 . SE PA LUOS7 . I lealth Cnnferenc:c, in New York Cit y. Tt' t11t . \ \'ril e. PO Box 2-103 1. Litt le Call · 212-620-7310. 28-2\J Fall 1l ar.,.est sponsored hy 11 1/\CCIE. Roc: k. AR 72221 Mid-Am erica Gender rnup lnfonna May September tion Exchange. \\'til t•: PO Box 9433. t. 17-21 OS Paradise 111 The Poc:ono.;, 10th A11 - Lo uis, G:! l 17. 14 -17 C DS Paradise 111 The Poc:onm. D nivc rs: 11y. all 610-640-\J4 4\J . P aradi~e In The Pom11os. Call (il0-640- 31 Henri David's Hallo\\'e'en Ball in Phila 17-21 Esprit in Por1 Angeles. \\'ash. \\'rit e: Es \J-149 . delphia. The largest I Iallo\\'e'cn party on prit, PO Box 873. Kirkland. \\'A 98083 the East oast. all : 215-732-7711 27-30 outhern 'omfo rt 0 11 fc rc nce in i\t- June la nta, Georgia. \\'rite. PO Box 775\J l . 7- 11 The 13th annual Be All l\J95 in inc:i11 - Atlanta. CA 30357. nati , Ohio. 0 11ta ·t rossp01i . PO Box 54657. incinnati, OH 45154.

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22 HP1wiss r111 ce Ne 11.;s & \!iercs, Vol. 9. o . ..J

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23 lk11r1issr111n · \ 1r·1cs & \'i<'lrs. \fol. ~J . N11 . ·I

spat'< ' sir re<· yo 11 took di(' s11fkri11g of Dea r Angela, Letters tll('s< · poor a11i111a ls to lwart arul lra\v It is a pleasure for us to see t hat takt' 11 il 11 po11 ~011r s<' l f to 111ak< · til(' members of t he other support groups make any difference to her because l'fforls \ 'otl 011t li11c ·d. with which we exchange newsletters Premarin was the only one that would U11forl 1111 at<'k I Ir an· rn 11 across tlt at are actually reading and using some do the trick! All I can hope for now is sa 111c 111 ;tl<' piglwad('( lrll'ss i11 sollH' of of the information we print. We here in maybe this crossdresser will help to the f\ e 11 aissanc:e 111 embcrs I di sc: 11 ssP cl Nashville are justifiably proud of the clean off the table the next time she th e arti cle witlt. Tl1 ey tol d me they long established performing tradition comes over for dinner. were going to take PrPmari 11 and let of our local gender community which Being a woman comes from the the horses be da111n ccl. Thank ou fo r has produced two Miss Gay USA's inside, it is part of our soul and no pointing 0 11 t how unfe minine thei r and one Miss Continental. amount of chemicals can change that. s lfishncss is. \\'hat g od is looking like While the old bars mentioned in our So listening to a crossdresser tell me a woman if you have no sen itivity? January newsletter are now closed, about his femininity and womanhood Keep up the good \\'ork. including The Other Side where I saw makes me want to vomit when he can my first drag show in 1977, we have condone this type of suffering. I am Dear Ms. Gardner, several that are second to none. The sorry you wasted editorial space in I have just recently received a copy Connection, which opened in its new your newsletter thinking that trans of the February, 1995 Renaissance location in November, is supposed to gendered people would take heed. I News & Views. Excellent publication be the largest gay-owned nightclub in have decided to spend my time talking ladies. I think it's really neat! I enjoyed the entire country. It will host the to my genetic female friends about all of the articles especially the National Entertainer of the Year this situation. Thank goodness the swimsuit page. I want to compliment Pageant this August. Furthermore, a November issue of Vogue magazine all of the ladies appearing in the new club called Cowboys La Cage, carried an article about Premarin. At swimsuit section. Very awesome! You which is scheduled for opening this least real women will listen to reason are all very sexy. I'd like to extend a June, has been getting a lot of media and open their hearts to this suffer special compliment to Dina-you are attention lately, including a story on ing. You should be commended for tremendously sexy. Entertainment Tonight featuring Reba being the first to publish this article Back to reality. At present, due to McEntire with the two Reba imperson about Premarin but unfortunately it the fact I'm incarcerated, I'm not able ators. The club will also feature a Cher, fell on deaf ears. to subscribe at this time. I'm working Liza Minelli, Barbara Streisand, and I plan to take copies of your article on it and hope to be able to subscribe three Tina Turners (Ed.Note: Three to the Texas '-r' party for distribution within a month or so. Tinas, no waiting!) in addition to the and hope you will do the same when It's amazing. All my life I've felt expected lineup of country music you attend the International Congress that I was alone. I felt I was the only stars. on Gender, Crossdressers, and Sex person on Earth who would sneak brief We hope that anyone who comes to Issues. Hopefully, some members of moments attired as the girl I've Nashville for business or pleasure, or the medical society will read the always dreamed of being. is just passing through the area for article and prescribe something I never had the courage to publicly any reason (1996 Atlanta Olympics?) besides Premarin for these men who display my true self. But I want to so will take the time to visit us and see think they are real women. Unfortu badly! I have worked hard on removing all that Tennessee's Capitol City has nately even the medical society is myself from the idiotic male stigma to offer. We have a lot more here than hard to convince since they are only which has been relevant to us all just the Grand Ole Opry. looking for a way to make an easy buck throughout the formative years. Sincerely, to make the payment on their wife's It's well past time that the real me Marisa Richmond Mercedes! rises above society's demand of place Board Chair Tennessee Vais Sincerely, and role, grab up my heels and purse (and unofficial Chamber of Bonnie B .. Boerne, Texas and sashay forth into the existence I Commerce Representative) ' desperately desire! Which is my Dear Bonnie, ultimate goal for my future. I 'm T he articl you mention \\'as written seriously committed to being a Ple.1se Note: by another Bonnie, Bonnie Sto Im and woman and I hope to become a The nmtents of this newsletter .ue \\'as publi shed fi r tin the Red1 vi11 gs member of your organization as soon copyrighted. If you want to reprint .m Horse Sanctuary Su111. 111 r Nl' 1vslet1 er. as possible. Once again, thanks for artide you see here, please nmtall \\'e w r th fi rst to bring it to the your courage ladies! the editor for permission. Most likely, we'll say "Yes" hut you doh.we to ask attention of th T community in the Oh, by the way, awesome pose on us firs!. U.S. (TransEssex publi sh cl it in the the beach Angela! .K .) It was not a wa t of e