LGBTAitp - Part Thirteen

[Serpentine]

I think Smee might be a bit too long and leggy to pull of petite very well
And yus! Phear mah bosom of DOOM! >=3

[SMEE]

Serpy is quite right on that account.
Being 6'1'' with very long legs definitely play against me when trying to look petite.

[Serpentine]

But long-and-leggy has its charms too

[Coidzor]

It's being long and leggy but otherwise having petite *ahem* proportions that leads to the difficulty of clothes, IIRC, but, then, well, women's clothing sort of makes that a given for anyone and everyone that isn't some kind of wizard.

[Derjuin]

A flat chest is status symbol!

I love you for that.

[Asta Kask]

Anyway, good things regarding the LGBT community happened here in Brazil yesterday, and other good things happened that made me feel more confident about my body image.

Can we get more details, or should I resort to Googling?

[Knaight]

Can we get more details, or should I resort to Googling?

The short version is that civil unions are now available for homosexuals in Brazil, where it used to be up to local judges. Better yet, a grand total of 0 people voted against it.

[Lissou]

About leg hairs... I know it's a cultural thing how you remove them, but I actually don't know many people in France who shave them (as in, with a razor). Waxing, using these electric machines that pull out the hairs and using a cream that makes it fall are the common ones I know.

I haven't removed my hairs for like five years now, but from what I remember...
Waxing looks best and lasts longest, but it hurts and is most expensive if you have someone do it for you. If you do it yourself, in my case the result was wax all over my hairs and hairs sticking to my legs but not getting removed.
The electric hair remover was my fav. It hurts and takes a while but it lasts as long as waxing since the hairs are removed, and you can touch it up whenever you want.

Both of these I had to do once a week, personally. The electric thingie took me two hours to get all my legs, but your mileage may vary.

The cream thing was my favourite painless one. A pain to do it everyday though, and it smelled terrible, and it irritated my skin a lot.
Used an electric razor too. Not as close a result, still had to do it every day and still irritated my skin a lot.

Never tried a hand razor. I was way too worried of cutting myself accidentally, and as I said they're not very common in France as far as I know. So I couldn't tell you how well they compare.

My favourite method is not touching them at all though

[Astrella]

I used a hand-razor. It's a very nice smooth close shave, and not that irritating / hurting. Not much risk for cuts either, unless you're moving the razor sideways for some reason.

[Coidzor]

....What do Frenchmen use for shaving if you can't find handrazors in France?

[Lissou]

....What do Frenchmen use for shaving if you can't find handrazors in France?

You can find them, I'm just saying it's not as common for women to use them, as far as I know. The ones I saw in stores in North America were different for women, although I guess that might just be marketing. But I thought maybe shaving your face required something different since the skin is more sensitive there. Or something.

At any rate, all the Frenchmen I've seen shave were using electric razors. But I know the safety kind is available too, I've seen them in stores before and seen commercials for them and stuff.

[Vaynor]

I think maybe we're committing a fallacy here. We're talking about being 'sexy' as if it's some absolute. Luckily human preferences are not so so focused. There's a spectrum of preferences in the various dimensions of body type, hair color, personality, etc. Most humans also have advanced filters for less attractive traits, especially if it's late at night (early in the morning) and you've had had a few beers.

So yes cycoris, you can still be sexy if you are thin and have a small skeleton - but not to everyone. And hopefully - mutatis mutandis - the same goes for me.

Relevant:

http://www.viruscomix.com/page542.html

[Astrella]

You can find them, I'm just saying it's not as common for women to use them, as far as I know. The ones I saw in stores in North America were different for women, although I guess that might just be marketing. But I thought maybe shaving your face required something different since the skin is more sensitive there. Or something.

At any rate, all the Frenchmen I've seen shave were using electric razors. But I know the safety kind is available too, I've seen them in stores before and seen commercials for them and stuff.

I just used my face-razor. Not sure if there's really a difference with ladies razor blades, but I don't have those and don't feel confident enough to go buy em. Don't think there's that much of a difference though.

[Coidzor]

Lissou: As far as I've ever known, it's mostly just marketing, especially for the middle of the road and lower.

Relevant:

http://www.viruscomix.com/page542.html

I thought the entire point of her art was that she was flawed and wasn't sexy.

...My mind has been blown and I now no longer know what context to interpret Frida Kahlo's work.

Oh well, I was always more of a Toulouse-Latrec guy.

[Vaynor]

I thought the entire point of her art was that she was flawed and wasn't sexy.

...My mind has been blown and I now no longer know what context to interpret Frida Kahlo's work.

Oh well, I was always more of a Toulouse-Latrec guy.

It says "Maybe."

Also, not "sexy," but "sexier than." There's a key difference.

[Nerocite]

Relevant:

http://www.viruscomix.com/page542.html

That made my day.

[Coidzor]

It says "Maybe."

Also, not "sexy," but "sexier than." There's a key difference.

Head... still hurts. x.x Existential Art Crises are weird.

[rayne_dragon]

Head... still hurts. x.x Existential Art Crises are weird.

Wheneve existential and art are mentioned in the same sentance, "weird" seems to like to creep in there too. Strange, isn't it?

[Coidzor]

Wheneve existential and art are mentioned in the same sentance, "weird" seems to like to creep in there too. Strange, isn't it?

Thankfully I managed to repress all memories of that part of art history class.

[Delusion]

I am starting to be a bit happier with my appearance. Not in the way that I like what I look like (I present as a femine man at mo) but I think that I will be able to pass in the futher. Everyone keeps saying that I will most likely look very pretty, which is a nice :D

[Miscast_Mage]

Relevant:

http://www.viruscomix.com/page542.html

I d'awwwed at that, especially the second last panel with the older couple.

@Delusion: That's the spirit! I'm sure you'll be a... wait, I can't remember if you were FtM or MtF. Um... uh... I sowwies!

Spoiler

Show

I... I think I need to start writing down a cheat sheet for this thread.

[Asta Kask]

I believe Delusion is a woman who has the body of a man. Temporarily. Since she is from Finland, she also loves tango, accordion music, Koskenkorva and won't let anyone touch her puukko. And she always carries that. It's a finnish rape-alarm, but more... proactive.

[Coidzor]

Gender symbol generally is the second letter in the equation round these parts, IIRC..

[unosarta]

At the LGBT support group at my school on Thursday, I heard a kind of sad story. One of the members of the group is FtM trans, and he was telling us about how he was binding (in the girl's bathroom, since the school administration isn't really that understanding about trans issues). A girl walked in while this guy was in the middle of checking his binding.

This is the conversation as far as I can remember:

Girl: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Guy: I am adjusting my binding.
Girl: What is that?
Guy: You know, breast binding. Where you bind your boobs so that they aren't in the way... and stuff.
Girl: Why would you want to do that?
Guy: Well, I am transgender.
Girl: ... what is that?
Guy: You know, where you are born in one sex, and feel a different way on the inside.
Girl: Why would you feel like that?
Guy: Well, I don't know, I just do.
Girl: No you don't. I mean, no girl would honestly want to be a guy.
Guy: Well... I do.
Girl: Uh, whatever.
Guy: *goes back to adjusting binding*
Girl: Wait, if you are a guy, why are you even in here?
Guy: Well, the school administration doesn't allow me to use the men's bathroom.
Girl: Well you obviously don't belong here.
Guy: *leaves*

I mean, yes, she was asking questions and not insulting said guy directly, but I was like "WUT."

And then, one of my other friends who was there was like, "yeah, my boyfriends does that all the time. And he uses words like 'gaytard'" (he wrote that on his friend's arm, and then didn't understand why she didn't want to talk to him) "even though I have told him several times that I am bisexual." He is in a band that plays in an LGBT youth hangout north of the twin cities all the time, so he even gets exposure. And I mean, it is getting better (hopefully), but like, a lot of people had stories like that. One girl left her denomination because she felt scared of the reaction they would have.

[Coidzor]

I like how she's still dating him despite the deliberate trolling though. That's fairly amusing. The rest not so much.

I mean, yes, she was asking questions and not insulting said guy directly, but I was like "WUT."

At what part? The fact that a girl would talk to another person in the girl's bathroom for doing something strange and new? That a human being would show the spark of curiosity to ask questions? The expected negative reaction to having a transperson using X restroom?

Seems pretty typical of human ignorance and curiosity... to the point where I'd expect you'd expect it by now.

Come to think of it, having one's breasts out for whatever reason in a public restroom at all does seem like it's asking for an emotionally draining experience, either from the commentary/confrontations or the looks of shame and/or pity from onlookers. :/

[unosarta]

I like how she's still dating him despite the deliberate trolling though. That's fairly amusing. The rest not so much.

Well, he seems like a nice guy otherwise. I know people who are perfectly kind people who use words like that. Which doesn't make it any better, but it does make it a little more understandable.

[Coidzor]

Well, he seems like a nice guy otherwise. I know people who are perfectly kind people who use words like that. Which doesn't make it any better, but it does make it a little more understandable.

Not really. Why would a bisexual want to stay with someone who is homophobic?

[Asta Kask]

And I mean, it is getting better (hopefully), but like, a lot of people had stories like that. One girl left her denomination because she felt scared of the reaction they would have.

I know what you mean. If I had a child, and that child told me xe was transgender I would be very concerned. Not because it's unnatural or weird or anything like that, but because it's a difficult life.

The only thing I can really do is say "These people are not speaking for me" and offer hugs. Boycott stores that are hostile to LGBTA (very rare in Sweden, fortunately and do what I can on election day...

*hugs*

[Serpentine]

What I find most puzzling is the sudden switch from "you couldn't possibly be a girl and feel like a boy" to "if you feel like a boy then you are and shouldn't be in the girls' toilets". They're both quite... if not insulting, then somewhat antagonistic, but from completely opposite ends. So maybe it averages out to acceptable?

[Coidzor]

What I find most puzzling is the sudden switch from "you couldn't possibly be a girl and feel like a boy" to "if you feel like a boy then you are and shouldn't be in the girls' toilets". They're both quite... if not insulting, then somewhat antagonistic, but from completely opposite ends. So maybe it averages out to acceptable?

It actually seems like a rather coarse approximation of the main interpretation of being trans, really.

At least, I seem to recall Transmen and Transwomen wishing to, for the most part, be able to use the men's and women's restroom facilities respectively.