[Carol]

Thanks Caty and Sammie. This sounds good and is only a minor diversion from my regular route from the south coast to Sydney. I must make time to check it out on my next trip.

[Carol]

I agree Liz. My wife invited me to see it with her on Australia Day. Strangely I found myself empathising with Gerda, the wife, rather than with Lili.

[Carol]

I just checked my NSW licence and there’s no gender information on it either. It still has a very butch picture of me that I’ll have fixed in April when it needs renewing.

[Carol]

I’ll probably get dumped on for this but I think the male/female dichotomy is necessary for those who want to be neither. Otherwise what are they choosing not to be?

[Carol]

Thanks Claire. I’ve recently cancelled my subscription to STAN but I’d already paid for January and it seemed a shame to waste it. I’ve just spent a couple of hours on a lazy Sunday afternoon enjoying this movie.

[Carol]

I like this thread. Thank you everyone for your common sense, honest posts.
For me the big breakthrough came, after many outings where I tried to pass and didn’t know whether I was succeeding or people were just being polite, when I went to electrolysis on my beard fully dressed as Carol with 3 days of stubble. People, from petrol station attendants to mothers in the park, were just as accepting and gave me smiles, as much as people did when I was shaved with full make-up.
I think the theory that people accept you if you put an effort into your appearance but not otherwise is rubbish. Nice people are always nice people and that is the majority of the human race. So I don’t care whether I pass or not but I will try to dress appropriately for the occasion and smile at the people I meet.

[Carol]

If I’m honest I’d say “Sometimes yes sometimes no”. When I’ve had uninterrupted time to be myself or when I’ve made a significant step forward in my transition for example, I overflow with positive happy thoughts. That’s my mood right now. At other times when I need to suppress my true self for the sake of others or when circumstances block progress, it’s all too easy to wonder why I bother and on really bad days to get quite depressed. On balance though I think if I took the magic pill to stop being transgender I’d always wonder why there was a big hole in my life and what used to fill it.

[Carol]

There’s good news and bad re: Transparent.

Bad: I just heard on the radio that TG actress Holly Woodlawn has died aged 69 from liver cancer. Holly played Vivian in 2 episodes of Series 1 of Transparent but is probably most famous as the inspiration for Lou Reed’s 1972 song “Take a Walk on the Wild Side”. The song starts with lines based on the true story where Holly aged 15 hitchhikes from Florida to California en route plucking her eyebrows and shaving her legs, switching from boy to girl.

Good: Series 2 of Transparent has started. Episode 1 is available on Amazon and STAN.

[Carol]

Thanks Christina. I took the opportunity to look at a couple of links to the “old bird’s” other interviews. Well worth while.

[Carol]

Thanks Christina. As well as enjoying the pictures and shuddering at the questions I clicked on a link offered to April Ashley’s photo album. That really took me back to my early days but it’s another story.

[Carol]

Just about everyone I have discussed this with has had the shudders. A friend of mine had a long standing fight with the UK’s Gender Police but in the end gave up and stepped round them to gain a UK passport by waiving an Aussie passport with female tick in it. The GRC people seem to be a group determined to say “No” to anyone who hasn’t followed the approved route.
As for the Illawarra, I wander through all the time with no problems.

[Carol]

Once I went to pay for my petrol presenting as female. The pleasant cashier called me “darl” and I floated out happy. A week later I bought petrol at the same place from the same cashier but this time presenting as male. She called me “darl”. Sometimes the world is a bit random and sometimes we read too much into what people say. Just go with the flow I say.

[Carol]

I’ve been on anti-T and E for 2.5yrs. I switched to an implant for E 6 mths ago after talking to Dee. It’s definitely the way to go. Physical changes have slowed down but I’m hopeful they will get a kick along from my new implant which is just 3 weeks old.

[Carol]

This study was of 15 transmen and 15 transwomen in one State reporting instances of discrimination over their lifetimes. I’d venture to say that in modern times things are much better. I’ve certainly found no instances of medical discrimination over the past 5 years though I was too chicken to test the water before that.

[Carol]

Spot on Adrian. The hair loss problem is the most intractable hurdle for my gradual approach to transition The hormones have stopped the bald area expanding and even rolled it back a bit. Wearing a wig shouts out “fraud”, for me at least.
I grew my hair out for 12 months last year but when my selected hairdresser told me she couldn’t give me an acceptable female cut, I gave up and got a buzz cut and an expensive wig. Wrong, wrong, wrong I’ve met or heard stories from others who at a similar age and with similar hair coverage to me have a female cut and can be assumed as a result to be female even when all clothes are male and there is no make-up. Actually I think, for day wear, a lack of beard shadow without using make-up is very affirming.
So my plan is to keep growing my hair and find a better hairdresser (or maybe even a hat).