So I have a family friend who is a fairly famous helicopter pilot, Bob Tur. He shot the OJ Bronco chase video, the Reginald Denny beating at the L.A. riots, etc. Bob was married, has a great daughter, and he's super bright. The last time I saw him was at at a wedding two years ago where we spent a lot of time together. He seemed so sad, deeply sad. My wife and I couldn't get a bead on why. Now it turns out he's going through gender re-assignment. He's taken hormones for the past year, and just had the first of two surgeries this week. He does seem much, much happier. The interesting thing is that he is so smart and articulate that he easily describes what it is like to go from a male to female brain. Here's an interview with him from TMZ today. Anyone else know someone who has done this? As a friend I have to admit it's a big change of course, even just referring to him as Zoey now. But man (ha!) it takes balls to do what he is doing.
Interesting topic. I can't contribute much. I know one transgender person and I only met her after the operations. I know her and her parents. Parents are loving, had a hard time understanding but supported her through the process. They say she seems much happier now. She is one that tries to not let people know. I asked her a question about her name because she kept original name and I always thought it was a male name. She danced around the issue and the mom jumped in to help explain the name a little more. It was only later that I found out she was transgender. Again not adding much, but there is my experience. I don't know what she was like as a boy/man (she is young, mid-twenties) . . . but she very much enjoys being a woman. I would think it would be easier doing it at a younger age then older age. Someone who is known to the public and has a career in the spotlight . . . that must of been a very hard choice. Has it hurt his career at all? What an interesting story . . . two high profile helicopter pilots and competitors go through gender re-assignment. What are the odds of that? I would think this was a publicity stunt if you didn't know one of the people.
I have never known anyone before and after, but I know two women who used to be men. One is funny, smart, happy and fun to chat with, the other is so scatterbrained and militarized about gender issues she sees attacks everywhere, even when nothing mean was intended. BUt I agree with your last line Stevenson, it amazes me any of these women have enough gumption to make the change. I don't know what they feel like, but I can't imagine any feeling being so strong as to make me go through all the shit they go through.
One of my friends Katie is trans, fully re-assigned and happy. She had a number of private blog posts chronicling her surgeries and her thoughts on transgenderism as it affected her that were really interesting. The notion that your self-image, basically, the shape you feel you are when you close your eyes, can be different than your physical shape, and that cognitive dissonance ate at her until she took action. She's much happier now.
I've known a few transpeople over the years. And of course I may have met transpeople whom I did not know were trans. It's best to begin transition early, if possible; after puberty, bone structure is set and can't really be changed, and some hormonal changes don't reverse entirely. As one transwoman I know said, having to shave every day does cramp her style.
I do have one funny story along these lines: In college, I was set up with this cute black co-ed. She was petite and incredibly sexy. We made out at the end of the night. It was a real fun date, and I thought the big deal was that she was black as I had never dated a black girl before. So you can imagine my surprise when, later, I was talking to my pal who set us up, raving about her, and he said, "Steve, I got to tell you something . . . she used to be a man." WTF!!! I couldn't get past it and never went out with her again. But I do have a good story to tell!
You never knew from spending the night talking and kissing? I wonder if your friend was messing with you after the date and she wasn't really trans. I know crandc says you may have met some and didn't know, and yes I suppose that's true, especially for quick interactions, but the two women I know who are transgendered are very obviously former males.
Well, all I can say is that this was at a time when transgender wasn't really even a word, so it wasn't even in my consciousness. Early 80's. She must have done it in Europe I suppose. But no, I had no inkling she used to be a man. As I said, she was quite petite actually.
Don't be so suburban, look if you're going to have a homosexual or whatever experience that is called I would much rather make out with a chick that used to be a dude than a straight up dude. Other than that unless watching Britney Griner play ball counts as knowing someone transgender, I don't, I know lots of gays who being gay is still hard for and other who relish it. But I am happy for your friend Zoey.
It's expensive as hell to replace public buildings, and even more so now that non-gender-specific restrooms need to be considered when designing a new building. It's the right thing to do, but it's going to cost taxpayers some extra to do it. There is no great answer for how to do it in a school building, either. If you build a half-dozen one hole restrooms throughout the building for transgender folks, the advocates for that group are unhappy because giving them a 'special' place to go makes them targets of the bullies. There is also the issue that you may build restrooms that don't get used. If you make all of the restrooms in a school building unisex, that gets a lot of parents upset that their child's privacy is being invaded. Or, you can leave the R/R's as 'boys' and 'girls', but allow TG students to use whatever restroom they identify with. Again, parents complain that their kids have a right to privacy. You can't make all of the people happy all of the time. Signs of the times. (Next up, lactation rooms.) Go Blazers
Could just make all bathrooms unisex like they are in forward thinking universities and peoples homes.
I have a friend who is teaching in Norway and was so surprised by this. Their first day, they went to the bathroom and thought they were in the wrong one, because there were women in there. He apologized and turned around to leave until one of the women stopped him and explained. He said he didn't drop a deuce in a public bathroom for the first several months there. Now, totally used to it, even in the lockrooms and changing for a workout all coed and normal.
I was just curious is all not trying to troll, I honestly believe Griner is or was a dude at one point.
You think? Obviously. Mention Griner, or women, or transpeople, or gay people, or WNBA and trolls come out of the woodwork.
