Another year, another Wellington Sevens rugby tournament, along with vast numbers of fans in fancy dress: 2012 Wellington Sevens fans gallery.

Phoebe Hart is a young Australian documentary filmmaker. She has made a documentary about her very personal story, being born intersex, her family's secrecy surrounding her condition and how she found out about it as a teenager. She talks about the implications it has had on her life and relationships. Her documentary: Orchids - My Intersex Adventure not only tells her story, but features other people living with intersex conditions. (31′50″)

Try this:

1. Go to the Home page of Big Closet Top Shelf.
2. Look at the set of links at the top.
3. Click the link entitled 4-YrsAgo. [I've even added the link here, so you can miss out steps 1 and 2.]
4. Scroll down, and there you'll see the first few installments of Bike.

At last, some rules that should prevent a re-occurrence of situations like the Caster Semenya debacle.

I'm looking for some help from the BCTS community.

“A place to discuss the more positive aspects of being transgender, with an aim toward gaining an understanding of how gender works for all of us.”

Anyone who remembers last year’s costume will recognise this gentleman:

If you haven't seen it, The Digital Story of the Nativity is worth a look.

Prophetic Sometimes

National Novel Writing Month
November 1st–30th: Thirty days and nights of literary abandon

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Further details are available on the NaNoWriMo Website.

Transgender issues in the workplace: HRD’s newest challenge/opportunity
by Debra Davis (2009)

“The purpose of this article is to present insights from a transgender woman to HRD scholars and practitioners, along with all organizational members, to help them understand the myriad of considerations involved in this emergent workplace issue” (Davis, 2009, p. 110).

The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations
by Laurie A Rudman and Peter Glick (May, 2010)

Newspaper story, worth a read. Loved the graphic.

On the 16^th of July, 2007, Angharad published Part 1 of this legendary tale.

2010 FIFA World Football Cup (played in South Africa)

The semis are now upon us. Scroll down for my take on the final four.

Right then! We're down to the last eight sides in the quarterfinals, which will be played this coming Friday/Saturday, or Saturday/Sunday depending on where you are in the world, and your time zone.

If you read Angharad’s Easy As Falling Off A Bike (aka Bike), you might just learn stuff!

Here’s an excerpt from Part 763 of Easy As Falling Off A Bike by Angharad:

Newspaper item from New Zealand:

Transgender group left with few options

“An attempt to help young transgender sex workers find new jobs outside the sex industry has been hit by the axing of a Government job scheme.”

The statistics at the end of the article make sad reading when you look at the proportion of TG folk who are working in the sex industry. The population of New Zealand is presently about 4.37 million persons.

Positions Severed

I'm an aficionado of getting out into the great outdoors. Walking in the back country goes by many different names, depending on where you live. Hiking, rambling or bushwalking are some common terms, but in New Zealand we call it tramping, and people who do it are known as trampers.

It seems that those with an interest in women's apparel will sometimes go to great lengths to obtain them.

• Cops: MSU thong thief caught with 79 pairs of pilfered panties
• Charges possible for g-string thief

Georgina Beyer, a former Mayor and Member of Parliament is considering a return to local body politics.

Beyer has eye on mayoralty

Beyer considers Masterton mayoralty bid

Georgina Beyer (Wikipedia)

I predict that if she stands, she will be successful in the October elections.

Political Service

Advice from an award-winning author:

“The more you practise writing, the better you get at it.”
—CK Stead

CK Stead wins inaugural Sunday Times short story award

Practical Suggestion

Seen at the Wellington Sevens (ostensibly a sporting occasion, but in reality a giant fancy dress party).

Reference

Panties Shown

The newspaper headline:

Sex-change officer recovering after being hurt at checkpoint

Sometimes, I wish the media would just report the news, and not try to sensationalise it. The officer was just doing her job, and her gender status had nothing to do with the incident, afaik.
[Click the headline to read the story.]

This story should have been reported as: “Police officer hurt at checkpoint.”

Imagine arriving home to find that all your possessions have been gift wrapped!

The following link includes a YouTube video:

Chicago man's friends gift-wrap everything he owns

And even better: The Recipient's Reaction

Prank Surprise

Lotus vs. Virgin Racing
Tony Fernandes vs. Richard Branson

F1 bosses in cross-dressing bet

And of course, The Sun has a picture of what Branson might look like should he lose the bet.

In the silly season, there's obviously a shortage of ‘real’ news.

Pace Spanking

Perhaps it's not surprising that we employ euphemisms for things that embarrass us.

How many different terms can you think of for ‘vagina’?

The following article has nearly 50, including a few that would surprise Peter Mark Roget.

The final taboo

Pussy Synonyms

The TLDEF has filed a discrimination complaint against an Orlando, FL McDonalds' restaurant which refused to interview a transgender job applicant. Here's the story from their website (including a YouTube voicemail message received by the applicant):

TLDEF Files Employment Discrimination Complaint with Florida Commission on Human Relations
Against McDonalds for Refusing to Hire Transgender Woman

• Surgery may allow women to grow breasts
• Successfully done on pigs
• Could revolutionise cosmetic surgery

“The breakthrough could also could also completely revolutionise the cosmetic surgery industry by allowing women to grow bigger natural breasts.”

“If the human trials follow the pigs’ success, the new procedure will result in breasts that look and feel perfectly natural – because they are perfectly natural.”

“A lipgloss that doubles as an anti-rape device has gone on sale to protect women from drink-spiking.”

• The lipgloss comes with a spike detector
• It tests for GHB and ketamine

2LoveMyLips detects drugs

The anti-rape lipgloss that helps protect women from drink-spiking

Foundations Revealed™ is a subscription website. Members have access to a huge wealth of corsetmaking and historically-themed sewing resources written by some very knowledgeable and skilled people. There are also free articles.