How to tell when you're no longer a tranny

The concept of "tranny-time" has been around for quite a while.

tranny time (ˈtra-nē ˈtīm ) n. The time between when an event starts and when a trangender person shows up, usually due to applying makeup and preparing to go out. "Ashley is usually an hour late since she's always running on tranny time."

I met with a few of the gals from TGSF a few weeks ago, and, while our meeting didn't quite pan out since only three of us had shown up inside the first half hour, we decided to turn it into a dinner meeting. Supposedly, though, a few girls had shown up after we'd left.

Allison was one of the ones that was there when I was there, and she's always great for new material. As we're walking to the sushi shop, we discussed the concept of time. Many of my cisgender friends have never heard of "tranny time", of course, and most of them do not habitually run late for events. In fact, if you asked them, they'd probably say that I am the one usually running behind. Is "tranny time" a mark of our transition or transitional progress?

For me, though, it all depends. If it is a social event, I'll admit it, I usually try to show up fashionably late. I used to show up on time, but I got tired of waiting on everyone else to show up. So, now, I usually run late to social events.

Meetings, dates, interviews, dinners, ball games, practice, and game times are different...I usually try to show up on time, if not a little early.

Of course, there are always reasons for being late. Finding parking in the city is not the easiest thing to do, especially if there are other events going on. Traffic in and out of the city has and will continue to be bogged down with the new S curve on the bay bridge. And surprisingly, considering the current economic situation, there seems to be way more traffic on the roads nowadays.

I have a bit more free time now, so I'm getting pretty good at giving myself plenty of time beforehand. Since I wear minimal makeup (moisturizer, eye liner, and lip balm), my prep time is spent mostly on putting conditioner and gel in my hair.

"Tranny time" is meant as a fun poke at ourselves. Not every transgender person is late, but there are some who run a bit behind on a very consistent basis. When I was first starting out, I know I spent a long time on my wig and makeup...because I still had a lot of facial hair to cover up. Time escapes you in the initial stages, and until one can get the routine down, a lot of people run late to events.

I used to go to a support group that started around 7pm. That usually gave me 2 hours after work to run home, do my makeup, get dressed, and drive to the meeting. I tried to make it on time, but since many people were doing exactly what I was doing, the meeting hardly ever started on time. Since I did make many of those events on time, though, it gave me a chance to be very social before the meeting. Perhaps that's the positive side of "tranny time"...talking with all the other girls who ARE there.

Political Showdown

I caught another news article this morning about a woman hoping to run against Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern...the same Sally Kern who was caught expressing blatant anti-gay remarks in the past.

The challenger is Brittany Novotny, a lawyer in Oklahoma City. Brittany is also a transgender woman, and would be almost the exact opposite of Sally Kern on many social issues. From what I have seen, it sets up quite a political battle.

National Geographic: Sex, Lies, and Gender

I got a notification on Facebook this morning (via TYFA) about a television program this evening on National Geographic called Explorer: Sex, Lies, and Gender. From what I can tell from the write-up and preview, it looks like they will be covering an FTM, a young MTF, and an intersex person who served in the first Gulf War. The intersex person may be able to give an insight into what Caster Semenya might currently be going through.

A lot of shows about trans or intersex people tend to go for the makeup and mirror appeal, but hopefully with TYFA and other trans-organizations involved, they will be able to skip past all of that.

Caster Semenya and the tale of the gender test

The results are in from the gender test on Caster Semenya, and they've concluded that she is intersex. She has external female genitalia, but she has undescended testes. This is pretty much what I suspected based on her having had female genitalia all her life, but having masculine features...the forehead, larger waist, small hips, deep voice, and larger size...not to mention the blazing speed on the track.

What does this mean for her? Well, I have no idea how the track and field authorities will handle it, but she did nothing wrong. She simply didn't know that she had the situation. She ran 800 meters as fast as she could, and she shouldn't be punished for something she didn't do.

As for the gender side of things, hopefully they have included some counseling and therapy for Caster. I figure she has some things to figure out for herself, but the main thing is to determine if she has any gender identity concerns.

Independent of her gender identity, she has a number of options. The first option is she can transition to living as a guy. Assuming the testes are in functional order, she can have surgery to release her testes so that they are no longer internal. With some testosterone therapy and perhaps a little surgery, she could have a penis similar to that of an FTM.

The second option is to stay female and have the internal testes removed.

Another option is to not do anything, but unfortunately, the internal testes could cause issues...especially if she has a female gender identity. She could experience even more masculinization of her body.

As for racing, I highly suspect that if she wants to run again, she'll need to have surgery or start racing as a guy. Her times for a man of her age aren't too bad, and I'm sure she could get a scholarship to run for some university. Her times aren't that great for a guy, though. She's about 2 seconds faster than I ever ran, but she still has time to further develop her speed. Perhaps should could be the first to win both female and male championships.

If she wants to race as a woman, I suspect she'll need to have the testes removed and undergo at least 2 years of HRT. This would be according to the International Olympic Committee's rules, though, and not the IAAF.

Either way, I wish her luck, and I hope we see her again on the track.

Dr. O Returns

We were fortunate to have Dr. O return to the TGSF End of Month Social last week after the little mix up we had in May. Unfortunately, there might have been some scheduling issues as Dr. O had to deal with some of the same stuff I had to deal with on my night before SRS. It appeared that Dr. O was having a routine colonoscopy the following morning. It was kinda ironic, in a way, especially since he and Mira had no idea that transsexuals went through the same thing the night before SRS.

I've seen Dr. O's presentation a number of times now, and, of course, I've had my own personal conversation with Dr. O at least once or twice. During this one, he mentioned that he had a book about FFS coming out inside the next two weeks. I scanned for it on Amazon and signed up for notifications on when it would be available. This morning's email from Amazon indicates that it is now available for pre-sale.

The last thing I want to mention is kind of a touchy subject. Some T's feel uncomfortable during Dr. O and Mira's "sales pitch", and I can totally understand. Sure, the people looking to have FFS will embrace his suggestions, but if you are just there to watch the program, you might feel paranoid about some masculine features of your face if they mention anything about yourself. It's a tough call to make, and I wish Dr. O and Mira were less about the sales pitch and more about the fundamentals of FFS. Unfortunately, their job is to perform FFS and get you to have the surgery. I will say, though, that my conversation with Dr. O was entirely "sales pitch" free during my pre-surgical consultations. If you are just there to see his presentation, though, don't sit in the front row.