tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785052391761134022.post1336695423366632961..comments2024-03-23T06:00:13.243-04:00Comments on Kristin Berkey-Abbott: Call Me KristinKristin Berkey-Abbotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16841824206762029363noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785052391761134022.post-56496825090179517372015-06-05T07:23:58.376-04:002015-06-05T07:23:58.376-04:00You are an amazing writer. I love you sis!You are an amazing writer. I love you sis!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785052391761134022.post-8185831292079728712015-06-04T09:39:18.390-04:002015-06-04T09:39:18.390-04:00My thought of the photo shoot and cover was less a...My thought of the photo shoot and cover was less about her bravery and more about shoot, I guess I could look that good if I had that much surgery---the average person cannot. <br /><br />And the average trans person? I read an interesting article yesterday by the transgender actor from "Orange is the New Black". I don't watch the show so I don't know her, but of her----anyway, her take on the cover/photo shoot was that she didn't know if it would be somewhat negative on your average trans person, who is not going to get implants or facial surgery, who is not going to doll up---sort of similar to your comment about the average woman (how come you can't look like her, who isn't a real woman?)<br /><br />I also wonder about her decision to alter her top half but then not have genital surgery. NONE OF MY BUSINESS and probably I shouldn't be thinking that/questioning it at all, but unfortunately, since the cover shot was over her in lingerie, I couldn't help thinking of that. Because it makes me feel like it's the outward that is important---how you present (the makeup, facial, the breasts) when i thought it was really about what's inside and being able to express yourself.<br /><br />Perhaps when she was a man knowing she was a woman, her idea of a woman was a glamourous one---or maybe it's just the photo shoot was such, and her everyday will be every day. Who knows.<br /><br />I applaud her courage but it does seem kind of in your face in a way. I heard a third grader talking about "Bruce Jenner" the other day and it kind of made me wonder and worry... Lucille in CTnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785052391761134022.post-75004410136220948462015-06-03T14:45:03.622-04:002015-06-03T14:45:03.622-04:00Wendy and Mary Beth, thank you so much for respond...Wendy and Mary Beth, thank you so much for responding!Kristin Berkey-Abbotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16841824206762029363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785052391761134022.post-65011329425255411072015-06-03T11:27:41.447-04:002015-06-03T11:27:41.447-04:00I have worked a long time (I'm 50) to move awa...I have worked a long time (I'm 50) to move away from cultural ideas of how a woman should look. Makeup, heels, all the stuff I was a slave to and now eschew. <br /><br />So I am simultaneously glad for Caitlyn that she can do what she wants to, show the self she has wanted to be, and also wonder if, after a number of years as a woman, she might go through the same thoughts. It's all so very complicated. Mary Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02970052534402740820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5785052391761134022.post-75352343414482204102015-06-03T10:55:02.620-04:002015-06-03T10:55:02.620-04:00This is very small and somewhat tangential, but th...This is very small and somewhat tangential, but the beginning of your post brought it to mind. My spouse's parents are in some ways quite convention and seem to be extremely sensitive to the idea that someone stand out in a way that might get them shamed. For instance, my spouse's father, when he was 5 or 6 changed his last name to a standard English name because his original Danish name stood out (and it was not his mother's name and his father was out of the picture. He took his maternal grandfather's name, also not his mother's name, and that is the same we all share).<br /><br />So my spouse's parents had my spouse undergo surgery when he was 5 or 6 to have his ears pinned back. This came up when we were getting married because genetically, horror of horrors, our children's ears might stick out. My son's do, a little, but not to the extent, evidently, that his dad's did. I found and continue to find this disturbing. Were they that afraid of the schoolyard? Is the schoolyard that unforgiving? I was never teased as much as I might have been and others with whom I share characteristics (glasses, overweight adolescent, bookish) have been, for reasons I've never been certain of. As my spouse has pointed out, I don't have a problem with the idea of braces to straighten teeth and I would condone surgery if my child were hurt in a fire or had some other issue that could be corrected.<br /><br />I still find it disturbing that his parents made that decision for him, and it troubles me because I am not particularly conventional and neither are my children--their grandchildren--and I wonder sometimes how many ways we offend their sensibilities, but I am not as offended by it as I was a decade ago.<br /><br />I try to change myself through diet and exercise. I happily wear glasses, but also consider eye surgery. I wear make-up most days. I color my hair. I am a mix of contradictions and ambiguities. Can I let other people be that, too?<br /><br />(Sorry for the long comment. This would be a good post on my blog, but I try not to put what might be sensitive information about my spouse in that space, so I am going to leave it here.)Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15399916226004495031noreply@blogger.com