Boi Polloi

Not a Compliment to a Trans Person

2011-05-20T17:44:00.001-04:00

Trans Related Links and Suicide Prevention Resources

2011-05-14T16:45:00.004-04:00

I hope people will find this information useful. I've collected a few links on Trans basics and Suicide Prevention. With such a high rate of suicide and self-harm among trans people, I hope perhaps this information will be put to good use. <3TRANS, CIS AND GQ 101Gaystapo's Trans BasicsThe definition of 'cis'Cisgender privilege checklistA Really Awesome Trans GlossaryBinary Subverter - Trans 101

Why Misgendering Is Bad (from Tranarchism)

2011-04-29T21:00:00.002-04:00

(a primer by Char C., originally posted on Tranarchism)The following is an excellent primer, written for a cis audience, on why using the wrong pronoun for a trans person is unacceptable.As a trans person, one of the more difficult parts of being around those who are not trans is the danger of being misgendered- that is, being addressed with a pronoun (she/he/etc) which is incorrect. This happens

How To Respect A Transgender Person

2011-04-29T20:32:00.003-04:00

(Adapted from "How To Respect A Transsexual" by Anonymous, with additional nods to "A Really Awesome Trans Glossary" by erinhoudini, "Why Misgendering Is Bad" by Char and the GLAAD Media Reference Guide.)This page is about trans and non-binary people, i.e. people whose gender identity differs from the sex or gender they were assigned at birth, and for those whose gender expression differs from

Black Velvet if you please

2010-05-02T18:02:00.003-04:00

I was shopping at the dollar store the other day, and came across a bottle of nail polish in the colour "Black Velvet". I started thinking a bit.Being in my position in regards to my gender - stuck somewhere that is neither male nor female - I have this tendency to completely deny the feminine and cling to the masculine. I have such dislike for my femaleness that I'll do everything I can to

Just a little off the top, please...

2009-11-08T15:21:00.002-05:00

This will probably be just a short post.I recently went to get a haircut. Baron (my partner) decided to surprise me with one, since I'd been complaining about looking a bit shaggy.The lady cutting my hair was older, and I tend to worry about older stylists, because they tend to be pretty rigid when it comes to how they cut hair. I told her I didn't want a girl's haircut, I wanted a men's

I am not my surgery!

2009-07-05T01:23:00.003-04:00

This is a story about terminology.Transsexual, transgender, transgenderist, crossdresser... Sometimes I think we do such a great job of dividing us into successively smaller and smaller boxes. The only thing we're succeeding at by putting people in little boxes is building walls between us all.Why do we need these walls? Why do we feel this perpetual need to label ourselves into nonexistance?

Keepin' it real

2009-06-12T13:21:00.002-04:00

Ok, this might get a bit ranty, so I apologize in advance.As of late, I've noticed a tendency for the trans community to divide itself under the notion that you are either a "real" transgender person, or you're not. By this definition, if I am not:- Taking hormones- Working towards surgical transition (top surgery, SRS, etc.)- Identifying as a Transsexual- Able to cleanly fit into the boxes of

Transgender murder, hate crime conviction a first

2009-04-23T13:47:00.002-04:00

Original Article Published on CNN.com HEREBy Jim SpellmanCNNDENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- A Colorado man was convicted of first-degree murder and a bias-motivated crime and sentenced to life in prison for killing a transgender teen he met on an online social networking site.Allen Andrade was convicted of first-degree murder and a hate crime in the slaying of a transgender teen.Allen Andrade was

"You throw like a girl!"

2009-03-15T14:37:00.003-04:00

When I was around 12 or 13, I tried out for Little League. Everyone told me to try out for softball, and one of my friend's parents ran the softball league, but I hate softball. My hands are too small for the ball. But I digress...I didn't make the Little League team - thinking back, I'm not sure if any 'girls' did - and was placed on the farm team instead. As the only female bodied person on

"It's amazing what a pair of breasts can do."

2009-03-10T22:03:00.003-04:00

Forewarned is forearmed, this might sound a bit "ranty".Tonight I watched a documentary called "Teen Transsexual" on BBC America. It's the story of a 17 year old Male to Female transsexual, the whole coming to terms and transition story that you find in a lot of documentaries of this type.I noticed as I watched the documentary I got more and more depressed.Interviewing Lucy's mother, she

Our Secret Hate

2009-02-27T00:34:00.006-05:00

I've been thinking a lot the last few days about discrimination against transpeople, and the LGBT community as a whole. It occurred to me that on a whole, we tend to expect the worst from people. Our life experiences have shown us that when we out ourselves to family, friends, religious people, work, etc., things tend to go badly. We're met with hatred, misunderstanding, miscommunication and

Irony

2009-02-21T01:44:00.004-05:00

I went to one of my favorite LGBT related sites, The Bilerico Project, for my usual favorites in LGBT Blogging and News. There was a popup from Nielsen Online for a survey to better understand site traffic. From what I can gather it's a branch of The Nielsen Co., a company I worked for a few years back doing data entry on television commercials under Nielsen Media Associates.I figure, if it's

Binding

2009-02-16T13:46:00.002-05:00

I figured since I get asked this question a lot, I should just put all the information in one place.Wikipedia states: "Breast binding is the material used in, or the act of reducing visible breast size in both women and men through the use of constrictive materials."In pre-operative FtM transsexuals, transgendered persons, genderqueer and crossdressers, this is done to minimize the breasts as

"No, she's a girl, she's just living transgender"

2009-02-13T22:43:00.006-05:00

In the few years that I've been out, I've been lucky enough to only face a few instances where my being transgender was responded to negatively. I lost a friend over it.Tonight I was faced with a tremendous amount of hostility for being me, from people who I thought were at least acquaintances, if not friends. People who will so willingly accept and learn new things and accept restrictions from

Flasback! 7th Grade

2009-02-09T17:53:00.003-05:00

So I went out to run errands today: picked up an Ebay purchase at the post office, went to CVS to get cold medicine for my sick roommate, and stopped by Arby's to bring home some dinner (forgot how expensive they are!).As I'm pulling out of Arby's, Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue comes on the radio station. Suddenly it's like I'm transported back to eight grade, and I'm twelve years old again.I

Relationships

2009-02-07T21:20:00.003-05:00

Relationships are an odd one in my situation. I'm transgender, identifying as third gender, and a lot of people really don't know what to make of that. My last long term partner, a bisexual man, had no problem with any of my gender expression. Since our breakup over a year ago, in my search for a new partner, I've come across a myriad of responses to my gender identity.Once, while sitting in a

Bashing.

2009-02-01T16:06:00.002-05:00

I'm lucky enough to have never been the victim of any kind of bashing, but I don't rule out that it might happen in my lifetime. It's sad that the word got co-opted like this. Dictionary.com defines bashing as:bash⋅ing–noun 1. the act of beating, whipping, or thrashing: a series of unsolved bashings and robberies. 2. a decisive defeat: We gave the visiting team a good bashing. 3. (

Invisibility

2009-01-30T17:04:00.003-05:00

First, let me apologize for my lack of updates. Between preparing to move, and a nasty bout of the flu, I haven't been able to update as much as I'd like. I hope to remedy this soon.InvisibilityI grew up invisible.Not in the Harry Potter Invisiblity Cloak kind of invisible, more like the "no one really noticed I was there" kind.I grew up in the shadow of my twin brother, born one minute before

Is Gay the new Black?

2008-12-10T15:45:00.001-05:00

But I don't want to be the mommy!

2008-12-07T23:50:00.004-05:00

One of my earliest gender alternative moments that I can remember came from kindergarten.I remember the way our kindergarten room was set up, desks towards the front of the room, the back of the room having a thick carpet to play on, low shelves full of toys, games and blocks, and in the corner, a "house" type setup complete with fully stocked kitchen, table, chairs, high chair with baby, etc.My

Definitions

2008-11-29T14:05:00.003-05:00

"Boi Polloi", derivation from the terms "Boi" and "Hoi Polloi", as defined below:Hoi polloi (Greek: οἱ πολλοί), an expression meaning "the many" (literally: "the citizens") in Greek, is used in English to denote "the masses" or "the people", usually in a derogatory sense. Synonyms for "hoi polloi" include "...commoners, great unwashed, minions, multitude, plebeians, proletariat, rabble, rank and