[Emma_Thorne]

I think poor old Rev Smith has approached the subject purely from an intellectual viewpoint and any possible “real life” examples he may be drawing on for his conclusions seem to only confirm, not question or probe, his view.
I was brought up Catholic as I have mentioned before in my musings and although completely non-practicing (it would now take me far too long to confess all my holy sins that I would have little time left to commit any new ones) I respect anyone who finds comfort in their faith. I loathe blinkered views on any subject and enjoy debate…and my views can be changed via this.

Rev Rob has looked at only one segment of our community to anchor all his arguments and has not looked any further. I do not feel “trapped in a man’s body” though I know others do. I completely choose who I go to bed with. I choose what I wear or don’t wear in bed. Emma is as much a part of me as the broken down ex-footballer she inhabits although she most certainly has her own thoughts, tastes, and her own preferences. You cannot generalise a group purely on how they present themselves. I know lawyers and scholars who love nothing more than romping around on weekends pretending they are Vikings and I know prim librarians who spend all their spare hours making Harley Quinn outfits for cosplay. Not all nuns are vicious sadistic bitches for example….although many in my youth were.
I can’t help how I feel, how I like to look when I go out, and who attracts me…and I suppose to a degree who is attracted TO me. It has nothing whatsoever to do with my sense of myself. It is what it is I do not select it from a drop down box or off a menu…and that’s what, at essence, makes us human. The ability to feel.

I have read a few gospels in my time and most of it has no relevance to most people. The absolute exceptions however which we should all abide by are to show love and kindness to all and to live in peace…and to let others regardless of their choices to live in peace also.

Peace be with you Sisters….and to you Rev Rob xoxo

[Emma_Thorne]

Spot on Michelle…..it is never too cold and never too hot for girlie time x

[Emma_Thorne]

I’m loving the tangent that this thread has drifted off in to…..

I love being “read” too. There is no mistaking me for being anything other than what I am and, to paraphrase dear Claire, I have being tramping around Adelaide for donkey’s years and have never had any hassles whatsoever…quite the opposite in fact.

The ONLY thing that has ever happened of an eyebrow raising nature actually happened earlier this year. An older gentleman, clearly suffering some “bottle fatigue”, asked me where I had had my operation done. When I replied that I had my appendix out in a public hospital like most people he looked somewhat confused. C’est la vie.

[Emma_Thorne]

No photo ever does that view justice from Circular Quay…just saying

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi there Veronica, long time no see sis

A great list also…maybe we can add to it when I’m in Melbourne in September?

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Josephine
I’ve stated before that I really couldn’t care less about TG “rights” or any of that sort of stuff but your post, and accompanying article, piqued my interest. I grew up as a typical youngster in a rusted-on Catholic household. Actually that is probably too strong a description…Dad was an ex-serviceman who had (pre-war) attended a Catholic boys college but his experiences in conflict made him question his beliefs, which is an understandable position to have taken for many a serviceman. His view was that his children could make their own minds up. Mum hung on to the old ways primarily, I suspect, to please her mum. I come from a large household (there were 10 of us) and we all had to attend Sunday School with its constant tales of storms and pestilence if you didn’t do this or that. Good theatre, but not really relevant or engaging in the dawning Space Age of the 1960’s where a child’s imagination was captivated by the possibility of trips to the stars rather than remote seas being parted by escaping pilgrims thousands of years previously.
As a kiddie in these classes I wrestled with the two versions of God that were, and often still are, presented. On one hand we had a deity that wrecked storms and pestilence across the world killing almost everything and on the other hand He loved us all. On one hand He sent his son to earth who gathered up the weak, the lame, the poor, the diseased, and probably people like us, and was then allowed to be Martyred. There were always two extremes to everything and not much middle ground to be seen. I liked the nice stories and I was completely turned off by the nasty ones. I know now that they were meant to be allegories but they left lasting impressions on me that persist to this day. There is also, it must be said, nothing more boring than an atheist and a christian arguing about whether or not there is a God. Neither can prove their case and these often heated discussions descend rapidly until someone says “ah yes but that’s how the Nazi Party started” or “then how come a child gets cancer if your God is so good?”. Pointless.
With dwindling congregations in most western denominations it isn’t really that surprising that some will reach out to disaffected individuals who want to pursue their faith yet live a lifestyle that is at odds with doctrines that have been in place for hundreds of years. I personally have no problem with anyone who seeks to enjoy their faith with other like-minded people and so to the Anglicans I say good on you for putting your hand out and I hope those from our little community that this impacts on will have solace in what appears to be a genuine and sincere move by them. It is not all that long ago that the thought of a woman conducting a religious service in a mainstream religion was met with derisive laughter so this is just another step forward for those with faith to embrace.

[Emma_Thorne]

A great list Petra x

[Emma_Thorne]

Great List Alana! I shall comment on it

A new lipstick – oh yeah!
Sharing your life with a dachshund – it’s a cockerspaniel for me but I get it
When your make up just works – it IS a crime not to prime
The feel of either the sun or a breeze on your shaved legs when wearing a news skirt or dress – and they feel great on your bed sheets too on a summer’s night!
Friends and conversations – the best of times
Flicking your hair when you’re normally bald – I hear you
Truffle season – I’ve never tried a truffle. I shall give them a go!
Miles Davis – VERY cool

[Emma_Thorne]

Great additions Claire! Can I add to your adds?

Warm sun on my back.
• Raisin toast. With strawberry jam…but strictly NO marzipan. It is the Devil’s food.
• People who smile with their eyes. – Oh yes!!! Excellent addition!
• PG Wodehouse stories about Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. I loved the old tele series with Ian Charmichael. – I think the wonderfully camp Dennis Price was Jeeves? I remember it fondly. Dad made me watch it and I was hooked. I would kill to be a member of The Drones Club lol. If you haven’t seen it do yourself a favour Claire and watch the Stephen Fry/Hugh Laurie version…it is marvelous.
• The little thought in my head that I have been just noisy enough that people will remember me when I’m gone.
• Apple strudel…yummo!
• A 0.5 black felt tip pen. I have a fetish for pens. It is bliss to get one that writes well – I also have a pen fetish (amongst other fetishes too avant garde for a family site such as TGR lol)
The Goons and Python and probably Benny Hill, Morecombe and Wise.Dave Allen. – I forgot about Morcambe & Wise…hilarious!
• “Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael. The most beautiful song ever written (the best version is by Willie Nelson of all people!). I agree. Also ‘Summer Time’ – Agreed.
• The smell of new born babies. Especially my grandchildren
• A really good Biography/Autobiography.
• A deep kiss.
• That I grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
• Multi-cultural Australia
. The Beatles.

[Emma_Thorne]

………………oh I forgot one other thing:

“Transgender Rights”. I couldn’t give a stuff about them.

[Emma_Thorne]

The thing that always amazes me whenever we have a conversation along the lines of “Are we there yet?” is how quickly we can drive the thread from a discussion of us as a little niche community of supposedly like-minded folk to a person’s adverse personal experience. Even the USS Enterprise cannot achieve the warp speed to which this occurs.

Everyone’s world is different. Some have more opportunity or courage than others but different they are nonetheless. I get that. I will admit to the same level of frustration as Adrian experiences when these chats plunge into the tales of ladies who don’t enjoy the same level of freedom as we do but please bear in mind dear sisters that we, and others like us, have had a zillion private conversations with girls on the subject of getting the balls to be yourselves over many, many, years and the same old excuses do wear you down. I suspect sometimes…no, I know in most cases….that the girls we have these chats with think that they are THE only ones that have had these sad experiences but they’re not. There is not an excuse I have not heard ad infinitum but one thing I do know for sure is this: once a CD, always a CD. It lurks within you like Henry Hyde’s Dr Jekyll…only with eyeshadow and fake boobs which is a lot more interesting of course.

I am not fussed at all as to what anyone’s personal circumstances are. They have no affect on me and my decisions, or behavior, in any way . I am only attempting, in my small way, to be a bit of a pathfinder to those who want to do more but aren’t really sure how to go about it in a general sense. By writing of my experiences maybe, just maybe, the odd chick here and there might have a go themselves and see what is out there. I know also that there will always be a group amongst us that, for whatever reason, will always have reasons not to something, or even anything, but so be it. I DO care about my personal friendships within our community and always will. It is my personal friendships that have always given me the most joy from this lifestyle, amazingly even more than a new hot leopard print skirt even(!), and I value them .
Now that I’ve had my say I shall say some more:

“Are we there yet?” We are there as much as vegetarians , pentacostal religions, the newer version of Spicks & Specks, good Muslims, smashed avocado breakfasts, and Uber services are. E.G no one really takes much notice and if they do we are a bit of a novelty. Nothing wrong with that.

“Personal reproaches from anyone about what I do”. I don’t care.

“Am I passable enough?” I don’t care. I DO care that I look hot on the dance floor at the Lotus Lounge on a Saturday night and so should you if you’re dancing with me…just don’t look as good as I do

“Cock in a frock”. I LOVE that descriptor and use it all the time. I have great looking frocks btw.

“Caty”. A new friend. Chill out hun…if an online life is what it is for you then that’s what it is. At least you can say you once had a weekend away….

“Adrian”. A BFF. What a chick Next time I see her I’m going to pash her right on the lips xx

That’s probably enough from me.

………………oh I forgot one other thing:
“Transgender Rights”. I couldn’t give a stuff about them.

[Emma_Thorne]

Hi Caty,
On the contrary, speaking only for myself here, I have certainly considered all those negatives you mentioned and having done so arrived quite happily at the “damn the torpedoes” stance. Your experiences are atypical and could be related by the vast majority of girls. The only disappointing things I find in your story thus far are that you consider yourself to be “just a mere CD” which suggests that you’ve already copped a self inflicted pie-in-the-face when in fact most switched on girls consider you a sister regardless of whether you transition or not (a common misconception of how many see themselves and examined much more eloquently by Adrian than I could ever give justice to in other threads) and that you feel slighted that your current partner would not respond to your text messages from Katoomba? Sounds a bit like a First World problem to me and not something I would hang on to….if your partner’s not-so-subtle rebuff of your once-off activity is the price you had to pay well it sounds pretty cheap to me and fair enough on her part. As much as we would all like to think so, it is not all about us.

Don’t get me wrong Caty I’m not having a go I’m just putting things in perspective. This discussion has been going on since the first Neanderthal man put on his wife’s loin cloth. You do not have to be mowing the lawns or changing the oil in the Commodore in heels and sequins, or easing in the subject that you like wearing short skirts when you are with the lads at the footy, but you do need to find your own level and reconcile to that in whatever way makes you happy because at the end of the day, as I often say, you need to be happy. There is NO premiership ladder in the TG Community regardless of what you might think.

Now if you are black, gay, and/or disabled, then you’ve got a lot to deal with. Our issues are small potatoes.

[Emma_Thorne]

We do, as a so-called “community” tend to bang on about this subject however it has always seemed to me to be a pretty pointless exercise. Akin to an atheist and a christian arguing about evolution vs creationism (THE most boring of debates as neither side can unequivocally prove their case) the percentages of who does/doesn’t is really subject to interpretation. If I were to poll 100 people walking out of the Wayside Chapel on a Sunday morning I would get one result which would be a completely different set of numbers than if I had conducted the same poll on a Saturday night in Oxford Street.

In my own humble view, I think most of mainstream Australia does not mind one way or another what we do in the same way that I have no interest whatsoever in the National Soccer League or what a knob like Andrew Bolt has to say. I mean I know he’s there and I know he can be noisy at times but other than that who cares what he says or does as he doesn’t have any impact on my life.
Generally, it has been my experience that the most frequent pie throwers lurk within our own ranks and whip themselves into a frenzy over terminology and a self imagined class structure that apparently is determined individually and not collectively.

I don’t care what your lifestyle situation is….just be happy and not afraid of monsters under the bed which as we know do not exist. Most of the monsters I’ve come across have been on top of the bed anyway xx

[Emma_Thorne]

I’m definitely looking forward to checking out Oz when it opens Karly….if it matches the hype it should be great

[Emma_Thorne]

An update:
The girls and I thought we would check out Venue63 on Saturday night as (a) I had mentioned it above and (b) they had heavily promoted a disco night there and we do love a dance.

Verdict: It was terrible.