To being out of hiding. Like the woman's liberation movements "Yes Plural " there will be some mistakes made as we redefine ourselves and shake off the dunnage of the past so for now we live with outdated terms and concepts.

Even we in the community are still sussing out just what we are and those definitions shift and move around not staying put.
Within a few cycles around the sun we as a community will hopefully toss the insults away and come up with those definitions which work for us. The dominate society is self defining and they also demand to define every one else. This is what we must reject and redefine our self's.

Within the literature 'portion' of the discussion I think here is a place where the old thinking has taken it's time dying out.
I know one of my goals in writing is to create people who just happen to be transgendered living through the challenges every one else does. But also explore the real internal world we have with in our selves.

I no longer see coming to grips and the becoming comfortable with being who we are as just one mountain to climb. But many hills and peaks to master as we grow into a complete self defined person comfortable in there own skin.

Huggles
Michele

Okay, I’ve not gotten myself in trouble lately, so I guess it’s about time I shared my opinions and, as a consequence, been branded a ______ (you fill in the blank).

Item by item; here are my thoughts;

What is transgender literature saying about the community as a whole?
Answer: I’ll dodge this one since my opinion concerning ‘The Community’ would cause many here to stop reading and leave Erin little choice but to banish me to literary purgatory.

Are you happy with the message?
Answer: I once heard a quote; “If you want to send a message, use Western Union.” I myself endorse that sentiment. I am a story teller, period, not an advocate for a political cause or campaigner for social change. True, writers like Steinbach and Dickens used their stories to point out failings of their societies and were successful. But they succeeded not because of the cause they were championing, but because they put forth their message by telling a compelling story with well rounded and believable characters.

How do you feel about terms like Sissy, Tranny, Shemale, Ladyboi, Slut, Bimbo?
Answer: Words are tools, nothing more. They can be used constructively or as weapons. In a story, they tell the reader how a character thinks, what his or her belief system is without a long, boring narrative. A character gives insight to himself when he calls his girlfriend ‘slut’ instead of ‘love.’ To intentionally limit yourself to words the Political Correctness Police deem appropriate not only hamstrings your ability to tell a story, but falls into the push to replace the Queen’s English with Newspeak.

Do you think the majority of stories accurately represent your struggles?
Answer: If this were true, then I’d have to been; A confused college student who tried to kill himself off by doing a John Wayne, working for the CIA by becoming a Baccha, an effeminate French draft dodger, the son of an English peer who bid farewell to arms, a Dane wandering the lands between Saxon and Dane holdings, a pair of look a likes who swapped places in Tudor England, an Australian courtesan in Singapore, An English officer who takes the place of a German princess, a nine year old first degree mischling, a brother and a sister who hopped the gender line in order to serve King George III while dodging French revolutionaries, a twelve year old boy who loved Jane Austin and saved a girl from going down with the ship, an Irish officer who survived four years in the trenches but might not make it through the Irish Civil War and the son of an earl who turned his back on society and his heritage in order to fight for the birth of a new nation. Since I am not really any of those folks, at least not whole or even a lot, I guess the answer is no.

Do you think the current literature paints transsexuals in a positive or negative light? How so?
Answer: Good, well written stories with characters who have their stuff together do. Stories that are geared to one handed keyboarders and dwell on the fetish aspects of those who identify as transgender don’t necessarily do.

Okay, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Those who wish to, flail away, but be warned, I’ve been torn apart by professionals, so take your time and make your attacks count.

Nancy Cole
a.k.a. HW Coyle