Free Wine - Geeky or not so Geeky Dinner Parties

Well who'da thought it? Stormhoek are sponsoring Geek Dinners by supplying the wine.

Now I know it's a US wine launch, but they've sponsored events in UK too (London and Cumbria). Their idea is that by supplying the wine they may get bloggers to comment on their booze and get a bit of publicity.

It's great to see companies taking a risk, laying their product on the line and easing off the "control" they've exercised over the marketing machine, you know, conventional marketing 'n all that. It must be exciting and scary at the same time - bit like going out in girly mode for the first time. Waiting to see what the reaction is like.

Anyhoos, Stormhoek aren't just sponsoring big events at flash resaurants, they want to see smaller groups joining in. Anyone see where this is leading? Anyone fancy some free booze and lively conversation?

Deal is piccies of the event get posted on Flickr - not that that would stop you lot posting your own. :)

Trannie Bender

Karol's post about her evening out in which she ended up watching the London Marathon next day before getting back home the following morning 2am got me thinking...

What about a week long Trannie Bender here in the depths of Devon?

Only about £1500-2000 per week - say £100 pp.

Mind you getting 20 trannies to agree on the week to go could prove interesting... :)

Diversity Audits Gone Too Far?

personneltoday.com's website, on their Latest News page, asks whether diversity audits have gone too far - and guess what, 79% say yes.

Why not read the article and add your vote to the survey (link at the bottom of the article).

Have to admit I don't agree on too many topics with Ken Livingstone, but read his views on the benefits of diversity. Sounds like he's on our side. Wonder if he's ever opened a Trannie event?

Nu High Heels - new name?

Came across a site that intrigued me tonight, The London Shoe Tailors who "use only the finest quality leather. We cut and sew each shoe and boot by hand, with a standard of workmanship being recognised as the very peak of its kind. Our craftsmen have over one hundred years of experience, making only the finest quality customised ladies' shoes and boots."

This sounded interesting, I thought, not only had this company over 100 years of experience, it had supplied "Cher, Dolly Parton, Prince and Liz Hurley". All no doubt mentioned to assure the reader of their pedigree.

Another interesting fact was that a selected range could be seen at the London branch of Transformation. Hang on a minute, if this was The London Shoe Tailors why weren't they suggesting visiting their own showrooms, presumably in London also.

Further investigation revealed on their payment information page that cheques should be made payable to CDC Ltd. Ah, now things were becoming clearer. CDC Ltd also trade under the name of Transformation.

Of course, this begs the question why a new trading name was deemed necessary (or desirable) when Transformation already has a line in shoes.

One can only make wild stabs at the truth...

Anyway, if you want to take a look - www.nu-highheels.com

Revlon Eyeglide

Following on from jane's post about eyeshadow (well she mentions eyeshadow) I've just discovered Revlon have launched a new eyeshadow, called eyeglide, and it comes in pencil applicator form. It's supposed to be creamy and avoid creasing. Sounds very convenient to me.

Gwen Araujo

You may recall Gwen Araujo, an american teenager who identified and lived as a girl was brutally murderd by a group of lads who dragged her away from a party - the events are being made into a movie.

I hope some lessons are learned, but probably the very elements of society in need of education will be the ones who would have to be dragged screaming and kicking to view such a film.

Sad isn't it?

Gwen Araujo

Education - who's in need of it?

If you want to make any sense out of this post please read my "Education, education, education" entry, and then read Jane and Debbie's comments on it.

I had seriously thought about emailing Pam to explain I am a trannie.

My thoughts were that whilst her comments weren't personal, had I been a trannie with issues about my situation her behaviour would have caused me far more concern.

My guess is her reaction would have been, "Well, had I known you were a trannie I wouldn't have made those remarks, out of respect." May be she wouldn't have felt at all apologetic, or felt her behaviour was inappropriate, but chances are faced with a real trannie in her group she wouldn't have made those remarks.

But isn't this the nub of the biscuit? Too many people feel it's perfectly OK to poke fun and ridicule trannies as a group, allotting them a series of characteristics and behaviours when really they know next to nothing about us?

Half of me still wants to point out to her my side of the story, whilst at the same time explaining that because I have dealt with these issues no personal damage was done, and I certainly wouldn't be complaining. But I feel she ought to be able to learn from this.

But I guess cowardice will win again, and nothing will be said.

Harvard Change Non-Discriminatory Policy

After nine years of continous pressure by a group of students, staff, faculty, and alumni, "Harvard announced yesterday that it would amend its University-wide non-discrimination policy to protect gender identity", so the Harvard Crimson reported.

The Crimson quoted University spokesman Joe Wrinn, “Amending the non-discrimination policy to include gender identity is intended to reaffirm that all members of the Harvard community, including those who are transgendered, should be judged on their own merits, not their status.”

However, what I find interesting is that "gender expression" has not been included so once again it could be argued the transvestite has been left out in the cold.

But perhaps the good news is "They will issue a statement in the coming weeks clarifying how gender expression is protected."

The Crimson also mentions that Harvard is now amongst over 50 other universities, including Brown and Cornell, that have amended their policies.

I wonder what differences this is making to american gender "rebels" at these universities - I suppose we'll just have to wait to see if our conterparts across the water decide to publish any findings. Still, I won't knock progress such as it is.

Education, education, education

It's been mentioned more than once in the tranniesphere (credit: Joanna) that the answer to poor attitudes amongst muggles towards the transgender community is education. Explain the facts, dispell the myths, and enlightenment will follow. So what do you make of this...

I started a two-week intensive teacher-training course yesterday. The tutor, let's call her Pam, is a middle-aged woman, very well-qualified and doing an excellent job. My fellow students are eleven women.

So here I am paying attention when Pam makes a comment about me being allowed to wear twin-set and pearls the next day if I want to - now where did that come from. A short while later I'm also invited to wear high-heels the next day if I wish. I treat this with good humour, thank her and make some comment about bearing it in mind.
Later on in the afternoon Pam mentions that two guys on the previous course turned up on the last day cross-dressed.

Today, Pam puts up on the whiteboard the initials CD (in an educational context) and asked us what they could mean. Various options were offered and then she says: "If it's a forces course it would stand for Crossdressers". And looks at me. Shortly afterwards, she makes a reference to appropriate attire for teachers and then again eyes me and says, "So make sure you don't have any holes in your tights".

Later on we're talking about evacuation procedures in the event of a fire and Pam mentions the use of a heel to break the fire alarm glass as it's too tough to be done with the hand, and promptly turns to me to say I can wear my high-heels tomorrow.

Now, am I being super-sensitive about this or does anyone else think that TG folk are being made fun of here in a belittling way that this person wouldn't dream of doing to gays or lesbians? For one thing she could possibly find herself in hot water for doing so.

The other thing that bothers me is that where transexuals are concerned they could claim discrimination, but transvestites, I don't think, would have any recourse.

It's not that I'm personally bothered by the remarks, but I do feel uneasy about the fact that nobody, certainly as far as I can tell, and certainly not education professionals, would dream of poking fun at gays/lesbians but seem to feel crossdressers/transvestites are fair game.

Now I wonder what Pam's reaction would be if I emailed to say that being a transvestite I was feeling ill-at-ease regarding her comments, and this was having an effect on my ability to study/concentrate, because of my concern at her possible lack of respect for transvestites.

I feel it is ironic that she has been teaching us about the need for learners to feel, amongst other things, they are respected by the tutor in order to be able to benefit from the educational process, and yet here we have a prime example of how a person can be made to feel uncomfortable and could possibly reinforce feelings of ridicule, and lack of self worth.

I may be overstating the issue but I wanted to "get it off my chest".

P.S. I won't be dressing up on the last day like those other guys - just in case you were wondering.

Going down...

Yippee! Was trying on skirts the other day round at a friend's, as you do, and discovered I'm back into a size 12.

Watch out size 10, here I come. If I reach my target weight of 9.5 stone I'll have arrived.

Not doing any dieting just getting more exercise. :)

Sorry mate

A friend of mine from Aberdeen arrived in town last Thursday and missed me when he called up on the jellibone, that was the Friday. I was out on a very rare pub visit.

But we managed to meet up Saturday for an hour. Saw the new(ish) car his father had bought him. He's been on incapacity benefit for a quite a few years due to a cat bite that rendered his left hand a bit useless - he's left-handed. Unfortunately, as a result, he never finished his PhD in genetic engineering.

Andy's latest news was his father had gone into hospital to have a disfunctioning kidney removed - a bit risky for someone in their late eighties.

Upshot was a phone call this morning to say his father had died on Sunday.

Sorry mate. I know you'll never see this although you know about Rachel, but I just wanted to record the fact. Take care.