Julia Serano interview with Velvetpark

To those who think I am a cross dresser

December 9, 2007

Nick K.D Chaleunphone


To those who think I am a cross dresser or anything else their warped mentally deranged min can think of. I AM NOT OR WILL EVER BE A CROSS DRESSER AND I AM FLATLY SAYING THAT I AM NOT OR WILL EVER BE A CROSS DRESSER. I am intersex and I have Kallmann's syndrome. For the record, Intersex people can not cross dress because Intersex is considered it's own gender. For the record, I will never ever be a cross dresser and I do not call myself a cross dresser because that is not me and I have no desire whatsoever to think about it.

To those who still think that intersex and transgender are the same. They are not looking at the genetic and DNA level. They see it as if they have something in common which is very remote and not even close. The difference is more clear, intersex is more medical and genetic based. Transgender is more personal and feeling based. Both are very different and you have people out their who find anything that says that intersex and transgender are the same despite the medical science that is out their that says otherwise. Those people are very delusional, very narrow minded and nitpick the ones they feel they can win arguments on. If these people can only pick up a med school text book on genetics and endocrinology and read it page by page. Then you will learn what it all means. . . .

Intersex groups and the intolerance towards the difference of views.

December 7, 2007

Nick K.D Chaleunphone


The one thing that gets me with intersex groups is that if you are against transgender, you are shunned, outcasted and judgmental. The problem I am finding with intersex groups is that you have to tolerant towards the transgender, which to me I am not the most tolerant person because of my views on the transgender community. The way I see it, if your not tolerant towards the transgender, most people in the intersex groups would shun you or outcast you because of your intolerance towards their transgender friends. See, I see it as those in the intersex groups as being intolerant of those views are different from those who have a common view.

For me, I am not tolerant towards the transgender and my reasons are obvious, I feel as an intersex person, I feel threatened by their presence. I am one of the old school intersex who feels that transgender should not be in any intersex only space because they do not have medical grounds to be in intersex space. I also I am not of a fan of intersex who do transition because to me that is saying that your more of a transgender than an intersex. I don't like having transgender in intersex groups because their would be confusion about the true intersex in the group. I am more of a traditional form of intersex where to be called intersex, you had to have a genetic DNA medical condition. The idea of someone being transgender in intersex space without having a valid genetic DNA medical condition dose not sit well with me. I am more of a science person and I go by what the current science on the intersex condition that is out their right now. I am not the one that goes by what an individual or what society feels. . . .

South Africa: Graduates working in brothels

December 8, 2007

By Helen Bamford


Some of Cape Town prostitutes working in brothels are former physiotherapists, nurses and teachers who lost their jobs or needed to earn more money to support dependents.

Nineteen percent of them have a degree or diploma and on average earn R500 a day, compared to street-based sex workers who earn R334 a day.

The Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (Sweat) surveyed 200 adult prostitutes in the Cape metropole to try to get a clearer picture of people who worked in the sex industry.

Researcher Nicole Fick said 104 of the sex workers surveyed worked in brothels or massage parlours while 96 worked on the street.

A total of 93 percent were women, 6 percent men and 1 percent were transgendered, while the ages varied from 18 to 54 years, but the average was 27.

The study looked at reasons for entering the industry and found that for street-based prostitutes 63 percent couldn't find another job while 11 percent said it allowed them to earn more than in other jobs. . . .

MALE CALL

The men's room: Brace yourself

Ross Werland

December 9, 2007

The move at universities to create "gender-neutral bathrooms" has provoked a morality backlash that makes little sense. The fear is that "gender neutral" means "transgendered" or "martian" or something. Ooooooooo. Scary.

We're talking about single-stall, lockable bathrooms. Your plumbing doesn't change -- poof, I'm a lady! -- when you walk in.

I, on the other hand, have a bathroom complaint that means something. I think "men" on the bathroom door means "transspecies," because something going into those public bathrooms ain't human. They don't just visit; they spew. . . .

The unique drag queen

pallavijassi

December 10, 2007


Chat show host Begum Nawazish Ali is a rage in Pakistan. Now watch her get up, close and personal on Indian TV.

Begum Ali presents a picture of demure, feminine beauty with perfectly coiffed hair and impeccable make-up. Dressed in a glittering red and orange sari, it’s tough to tell that Ali is a transsexual, until she speaks, in a husky, manly drawl. She’s in Delhi to promote her chat show, Begum, on channel 9X that airs on 15th December. “I interview people from different professions doing interesting things, with an element of fun,” smiles Ali. Her first interview was with Bollywood hunk, John Abraham. “He is such a cutie,” says Ali. . . .

Pakistan's Nawazish Ali to India: Don't love a dictator

Manish Chand - 12/9/2007


New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) "Don't talk about borders. Instead, look at borders in women's saris. And it's time India stopped rolling out the red carpet for a dictator." This is the view of the inimitable Pakistani cross-dressing diva Begum Nawazish Ali who is determined to add some spark to the ongoing conversation between India and Pakistan.

Ali, the famous chat show queen of Pakistan, is set to captivate Indians in a new irreverent chat show with 'her' glamour, wit and iconoclasm, and in the process rake up a controversy or two.

The unique show, to be called Begum, will air on Channel 9X on Dec 15 and will be the first to be hosted by a Pakistani television impresario in India.

"When a dictator gets a hero's welcome in India, then it hurts. You boast of being the world's largest democracy," Ali, clad in a dazzling orange sari, told IANS in a chat here.

"The government of India needs to be more sympathetic to democracy," said Ali - born Ali Saleem - literally asking India to meddle in what New Delhi considers the internal affairs of the neighbouring country.

"The Indian official reaction to the imposition of emergency was too mild. It amounted to tacitly supporting emergency," says Ali, whose "Late Night Show With Begum Nawazish Ali" became a huge hit and made her an icon in Pakistan. . . .

Xerjoff adds three new fragrances to line

by Danielle Osborne, 08 December 2007.

Luxury Italian house Xerjoff have announced three new releases for the end of the year: XXY, 17/17 Ensamble and 17/17 Irisss. They are a follow up to the Xerjoff 17/17 fragrances that were released earlier this year.

XXY (pictured) features bergamot, grapefruit, peach, ylang-ylang, jasmine de Grasse, orris, black pepper, patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood, labdanum, vanilla beans and musk.

XXY is inspired by the story of Hermaphrodite, a greek myth about the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. The young man was beautiful and on his travels a nymph named Salmacis fell hopelessly in love with him. When he rejected her she threw herself on him in an embrace and begged the gods to ensure that they never parted. The two bodies fused and became one being. Italian sculptor Marco Gas has drawn on this inspiration to create a statue of two bodies merged as one, in the base of which is the XXY fragrance. . . .

POV, Critique, Opinion: Sex change with public money

Another smart initiative of the “progressive” political parties in Mexico

December 9, 2007

The Social Democratic Coalition -- the group of political parties which last April approved unrestricted abortion in Mexico’s Federal District (which includes Mexico City), and in November 2006 approved the “Gay Marriage” initiative -- is now proposing to reform the district’s civil code and health law in order to provide sex-change services.

The initiative has two main goals. One, to expedite the name-change procedure in official documents; and, two, to include the sex-change surgical operations in health services of public institutions. In other words, the initiative seeks to finance sex-change operations with public money. . . .