I'm not transgendered

Which is, Duh, unless you never met me, which you may not have.
But I'm totally obsessed with gender identity issues.
No, I don't know why.

I mean gender is weird anyway. I had an ex boyfriend who lived in SF who was constantly trying to pressure me to act more girly, wear heals instead of sneakers, make-up, what have you. But at the same time in the East Bay I was considered way girly just for having highlights and wearing flowers in my hair and colors that weren't black.
So think about it.

Anyway, there's a great article in the Stranger (which is Seattle's free weekly, which I'm obsessed with bc Dan Savage, of Savage Love fame, is the editor. Not to over advertise but they also have a great column called I Anonymous which I also love.) this week about a straight dude who's totally not masculine in any way, shape, form and his quest to find out if that's something he should worry about. There's a great part where he hangs out with some drag kings and they dress him up like a 'man'.
Yes there's pictures.

Just for added whatever, here's an article from NPR today about two families with transgendered little boys and the two very different psychological and behavioral paths they took in order to deal with it. The family that tries to masculanize their son is so heart breaking (for me, maybe not for you)

"We would ask him, 'Can you draw a boy for us? Can you draw a boy in that picture?' ... And then he didn't really want us to see his drawings or watch him drawing because we would always say 'Can you draw a boy?'" Carol says. "And then finally after, I don't know, a month or two, he just said, 'Momma, I don't know how. ... I don't know how to draw a boy.'"


Okay and then last, last lastly to totally BLOW YOUR MIND an article in the NYT about Body Integrity Identity Disorder, meaning you feel that a part of your body (finger, leg, arm...) should not be there and needs to be amputated. Many proponents of greater understanding of the disorder have linked it with the (slightly) more acceptable idea of gender identity disorder.
But an obsessive desire for a limb amputation - one that drives people to cut off healthy arms and legs - tests the tolerance of even the most open-minded.

This article is 3 years old but it covers the basics.
Totally, totally, totally fascinating.