Published inPrism & Pen·Nov 13Transfeminist Manifesto: Coalition Politics & My Epiphanies in ChinaBeijing’s Sweetheart reappeared this week. How can I encourage her to stick around? — It was a champagne moment when I handed in the first assignment for my Gender Studies MA course. I’d risen to the challenge despite the misgivings that popped into my mind as I typed, threatening to derail the whole enterprise. It’s that auld devil called the Imposter Syndrome again. This glitch of the mind has plagued me for years, on every possible level. …Transgender8 min readTransgender8 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Nov 6Legally Blonde: Transsexual Womanhood and Judith Butler’s Polysyllabic AriasThere’s a lot to be learned on a Gender Studies M.A. Course, lol. — I stared at the red submit button with my heart in my throat. My trigger finger had been hovering above it for a few days now. Now was the time. Here for the Grace of Goddess go I…. And… Hey presto, my first assignment for the Women’s/Gender Studies M.A. course was carried away for marking by a digital angel. There was no going…Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Sep 10I’m Being Followed by a Noon Shadow: a T-Girl’s Battle against Facial HairMy first session of facial electrolysis went well. It hurt like a motherfucker though. — I lay down and closed my eyes against the blinding halo of light. It was all seeing, like a minor God. I could feel the warmth of its gaze on my skin. With a clenched gut, I waited for the pain to start, my hands joined tightly across my stomach. Come hell or high water, no matter how uncomfortable it gets, I’m staying…Transgender5 min readTransgender5 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Aug 27Would you Madam and Eve it? A Trans Woman’s Struggle With FaithOr Pinky and Perky fight back. — It’s funny how I noticed it. I have a navy nightdress, flecked with tiny white stars, that I got in Dunne’s Stores for 6 euros. Goddess only knows how or when it ripped at the right breast. For the last few weeks, I’ve been lollygagging around the house with my right ta-ta sticking out. I’m like…Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Jul 26A Sudden death and a Black dress: T-girl takes the plunge in a small town.Carpe diem. Today’s the day, Mary. — Last weekend it happened again. I went arse over tit, back down into the doldrums. Wouldn’t you know it? A fit of dysphoria so intense my life withered suddenly. Why was this happening again? I’ve never been the most grounded of people, I’ll admit, but since the 12th of December last, when I received my…Transgender7 min readTransgender7 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Jul 8When I grew my tits, I found my wits: The Transgender spirit in motion.Maybe my personal tundra is thawing. — The best thing about working on the registers is that time flies. I’m just another cashier in a long line of them, 15 in all, if not more. An expressionless female voice, the siren of the queue management system, trills my till number so the customer knows they are next. …Transgender5 min readTransgender5 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Jun 22The 20 Minute Uberfrau: The Little Black Dress and Other Transgender ReflectionsLove is a shop floor. — I almost went arse over tit just now. Just awake, I was off on my frizzy way to check for mail at the bottom of the stairs. I’d just opened the door to my apartment when I tripped over something in the murk. Well, would you look at that? …Mindfulness7 min readMindfulness7 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·Jun 13Legs and Personality: A Transgender Woman’s Night Out in Her HometownA character-forming mini epic. — I made a dash through the café with my eyes on the bathroom. I didn’t look at anyone. I didn’t need to. The café was a regular haunt of mine last summer. It had the best sitting out area in town. Tables and stools ran parallel to the river Lee and was complimented by birdsong. It was the perfect place to go sit…Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·May 28My own private Magdalene: A Transgender Recollection.Chorine-legged icons, censorious fathers and Dolly Parton. I think all of us Transgender ladies have a deep secret archetype. A sighting, a vision we have when very young that stays with us down through the years. Sometimes remembered but more often not, lost as it is in the catacombs of the self. …Transgender6 min readTransgender6 min read
Published inPrism & Pen·May 7This Transgender Life: Wrack’n’Roll, Victorian Curls and Muriel’s WeddingBetween Rock and a hard place. — It’s not every day one can say they were present at the birth of a star. But I was. Last Saturday in fact. If I’d been able to peer through the murk with a calm mind, I’d have been delighted, if not honored, to witness it, the local guitar hero’s sudden apotheosis. He’s a lad I’ve known since he was knee high to a grasshopper. I’d…Transgender8 min readTransgender8 min read
