Hello 
I'm Siobhan Curran/Kisa Naumova, and this is my weblog. I tend to write about stuff like crossdressing, Macs, code, cats, wine and Second Life, but in general it's just an ongoing conversation about all sorts of stuff. If you'd like to know a little bit more about what this all is, I recommend starting on this page which has a little bit of info on who I am, and what I'm trying to do — or you could dive into my five years worth of archives if you like.
Otherwise, feel free to close this box and explore...
A Question For You
Do you ever write something in the heat of the moment, and think to yourself "Ha! I am the greatest wit in the world! Everyone else will cower at my command over the comedic powers of the English language. Children will tell their children the tale of the hilarious comment that once was left on some blog or another"?
I do. Regularly. And then I wake up.
I've been elsewhere (again) recently. I might come back soon
Speaking of wit. I was going to put this epigram on my own blog, but I'm not sure its good enough so I'll stick it here ;p Besides more people will see it here and it fits in with your post.
Transvestitism — the triumph of style over content.
Transexualism — the triumph of content over style.
I often write stuff in the heat of the moment that I regret later
Chez Moi
This is an old picture, but it's one I thought I'd lost when my server went borked. You can tell it's old, because George is sitting on the table.
I recommend the large size, natch.
I like the way the window in the front door comes with real "Too hungover to see straight" action. 
It's built like that so that when you're drunk, it looks straight
Mystery Injury
When the hell did that happen?
(Please excuse the hair)
It looks like it could be Malbec, or a Malbel Cabernet blend
a 2003 Cahors?
I think it might have been Shiraz, rather unexpectedly 
(Virgin Wine sent me a case of them, I wouldn't have ordered them deliberately)
In Search Of A Turn Of Phrase
I am, obviously, an out--and-out, vehemently proud transvestite. I have no problem whatsoever with half the world knowing that I happen to like wearing ladies' clothing, going so far sometimes as to actualy try and look as much like a woman as (hu)manly possible. I will quite happily tell whoever I come across that I'm much more myself (sometimes...) when I'm wearing a skirt, or a big dress, or whatever.
I work along the lines that if someone then has a problem with that, then they're not the sort of person I want to be friends with in the first place. And I find this approach usually works.
Suppose, for example, I'm sat in a bar, having a drink, and I get talking to the guy next to me who turns out to be Steve Jobs, right? And suppose we get on so well that we go out on a regular basis for drinks to bitch about Bill Gates and how crap PCs are.
Suppose also, that I get to the point where I think that I should probably let old Jobsie know a little bit more about myself — other than my rabid mac-fangirlism — because, well, I hate trying to be 'someone else' when I'm with friends.
Then suppose that Steve turns round to me after I say "By the way, Oh Polar-Necked One™, I'm a transvestite", and screams "OMG YOU FREAKING WEIRDO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" ... well, I'd be disappointed that I hadn't already blagged a new Mac off him before I told him this, but I'd shrug it off and mark him down in my books as Someone To Ignore™
I'd still buy Macs though, natch.
So yeah, I have no problem with all that. What I do have a probglem with, is finding exactly the right words to use.
See, once you've got past the actual saying of it, it's great — you can start to elaborate on what that actually means for you, how much or little you do it, how you think that affects you as a person (and vice versa, obviously) — but those four little words, "I. Am. A. Transvestite." ... well, they're not really cool are they?
Now I know Becky 
wrote a thing all about how transvestism isn't cool and whatnot, but I have to disagree with her. I think transvestism is cool, it's just that some trannies are so immensely tedious that they negatively offset any cool-benefit crossdressing might have had on them.
Unfortunately, those same trannies have such a cumulative effect on the phrase "I. Am. A. Transvestite." that uttering those words instantly tars you with the Lame Brush™
What I'm looking for, really, is a phrase that I can use in situations like this:
Me: "Oh, by the way, there's something I should tell you about myself"
Student who's just graduated: "What's that then?"
Me: "[insert elusive phrase here]"
Student who's just graduated: "Wow — that's so cool"
I know this is just like the Pant-stealing Gnomes from South Park...
(1) Steal pants
(2) ???
(3) Profit!
...but I'm sure there's some really good way — just a turn of phrase — to say "I. Am. A. Transvestite." without losing dignity.
But I'll be buggered if I know what it is
Could it be, "Do you know, trousers just aren't doing it for me anymore"?
Nah, probably not. I'll have a think for you over the weekend.
No, do you know, I'm not going to come up with anything on this. I don't think transvestism is cool. I don't think it's uncool either. Transvestism in itself just doesn't sit on the spectrum of cool, as far as I can see.
-- You know, a bruise turned up on my knee and I don’t remember if I hit something.
-- Right here.
-- It happens to me sometimes. And they appear in my arms also.
-- Like you look and bang! you have bruises you don’t know where they came from.
-- Such a mistery...
-- That night...
-- At the count of three, we hit him and fly away.
-- Hehe!
elusive phrase
I always go with "we've come to destory your way of life".
works for me 
Oops, that was meant to the "Mystery injury" post. What happened??
destroy
MUST. DRINK. MORE. NOT. LESS!
I've generally broken the news by walking into the room wearing a skirt. Picture paints a thousand words and all that...
Ok, this IS related to this post
Well, I think the problem is with finding a specific term to refer to ourselves. Because you do perceive a difference between "uncool"/"bad" travestism and "cool"/"good" travestism.
In Argentina, we use "transgénero" (transgender) and proceed to explain. Some friends and I use that even when some are not really transgendered, but it's necessary to diferentiate ourselves from the "street transvestites" for whom there are a number of despective terms, all associated with prostitution.
We even avoid the use of "transsexual" until we have some confidence to explain it in full, because people often hear just the "-sexual" part and inmediately assume it's some sort of sexual perversion.
I think you could say something like:
-- Well, I'm transgendered, which means my gender is not female nor male, but I choose to (and I like to) express it by wearing female clothing.
-- Oh, you're a enlightened person!
PS: Excuse my crappy English please.
Me: "Oh, by the way, there's something I should tell you about myself"
Student who's just graduated: "What's that then?"
Me: "I'm Siobhan Curran"
Student who's just graduated: "Wow — that's so cool"
That should do it...
My two cents on it being uncool, at least:-
"I. Am. A. Transvestite" sounds like one of those phrases you say when you have a "serious discussion" with someone. It's the sort of phrase that goes hand-in-hand (As a phrase, not as a concept) with "I. Have. Aids", "I. Am. Leaving. You" "Honey, We're Bankrupt". There's a lot of potentially unnecessary gravitas attatched to it purely in the way that it's said as well as the content.
An anonymous coward
Yep, this little bit right here:
something I should tell you about myself
I should tell you... Like, if I don't you might be in danger, or something.
I should tell you... Because you might find it disgusting.
I should tell you... Because I need for you to know.
Hmmm. Interesting.
How about "There's something I'd like for you to know about me". Now it's less about risk and more about sharing an aspect of your personality.
Just mumbling to myself here...
We are the gender terrorists, and we fear the light.
Hmmm too much echo on that, maybe add a cackle at the end.
There's a lot of potentially unnecessary gravitas attatched to it purely in the way that it's said as well as the content.
Wow. You know, you're absolutely right. ANd I've never really thought about it like that before. It's always been a 'hurdle' — if you like — in my head that I have to get past. Something to overcome, not something to (as Kath puts is) to share.
I suppose this is what I kinda mean about transvesitsm being 'cool' — it's like saying "There is this fantastic and exciting — yet eccentric — thing about me, and I want to share it with you. Not because I think you should know about it, but because I think you'd like to know me better than on a superficial level".
Thanks for that Really
"we've come to destory your way of life"
Stick with "destory" — it has so much more lyrical possibilities
Me: "I'm Siobhan Curran"
Student who's just graduated: "Wow — that's so cool"
And the award for Most Flattering Comment To Siobhan's Ego tonight goes to Kath 
Wahey. This girl can make a point!
Also I worked something else out — Transvestitism can't really be cool in the Fonzie sense of it, mostly because things that are cool require them to be seemingly effortless. Like Jennifer Aniston was cool way back when because she didn't need any effort to look like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards — it just happened.
Trannying in the minds of people is very much an art which has to be honed, and crafted. It takes lots of practice and sometimes restrictive support garments et al. That's effort, which isn't cool.
But then that's no real attack of it. Trannying should be cool.
An anonymous coward
she didn't need any effort to look like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards
Hmm. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't it used to take hours of styling to make Jen look like she'd been dragged through a hedge backwards?
When I used to have short hair, it would take me a good twenty minutes in a morning, just after I got out of bed, to make myself look like I just got out of bed
I get your point though, and it's true that there's a perception — if not also an assumption — within the Vanilla World™ and the Tranniesphere™© that being a 'good' trannie involves time, make-up, preparation and (genital) torture.
(I do not tuck)
But, I think, if there was one thing I could foist on other trannies, it would be to recognise that Transvestism Is A State Of Mind™ — not some kind of end product of a laborious process, a process that hides and — effectively — is ashamed about who and what we are.
I'm a transvestite even when I'm not dressed.
And that, I think, is cool.
Hmmm....
But, I think, if there was one thing I could foist on other trannies, it would be to recognise that Transvestism Is A State Of Mind™
Well, that's all well and good, but how does it apply to the rest of the world? Because, like it or not, we do interact with people who are not always ready to accept our eccentricities.
I could have missed the point here (let's face it, I almost certainly have), but we don't all move in a world that transvestism is considered to be an "eccentricity". There are still many people who find it objectionable — or wierd at least. It would be nice to hope that they could be as accomodating as people you know (Hi Liz — hope you're still here) but not everyone is like that.
It's wonderful to know that there are some who interact with people who can accept this, and who have the balls to declare who and what they are. I just wish we all were in that position.
but we don't all move in a world that transvestism is considered to be an "eccentricity"
Yes. But (a) "eccentricity" is good, and (b) we move in that world, but we can change it.
And quit using the pipe character to quote stuff Selina I always have to replace it with >
Cool is a bit like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle — if you need to state it then it's not...
JoH
Unless, of course, you're me in which case you've attained a level of cool so cool that even if you say you're cool, you still are.
Or something
Siobhan: There's this great website tranniefesto.co.uk
Recently graduated student: That's interesting...
JoH
Actually, the last one I came out to (as I believe I documented), I just asked them to Google "Siobhan". THat seemed to work
Even you're only cool when you are, not when you say — and yes I have to admit on occasion...
JoH
Yeah, but you think I'm weird. Which is not cool
I mean, weird != cool. But thinking I'm weird might be cool. Ack. Fuck this. I'm going to bed.
Weird is cool, but again only when it doesn't know it's weird...
JoH
To state the bleeding obvious, wearing dressed is not weird
JoH
I'm not sure how I should "normally" quote stuff — sorry about that.
And I'm not saying eccentricity is anything but good. It's an irregular verb isn't it: "I'm an eccentric, you've an enquiring mind, she is round the twist."
And I so want this world to be more accepting of all lifestyles. BUT, it isn't. Sections of society may be more accepting than others, but they are not all accepting.
And I'm ranting because I'm pissed off that this time next week there will be no-one blogging.
I'm not sure how I should "normally" quote stuff — sorry about that.
Well, I do the quoting thang with <blockquote> tags — not sure if that's the thing to do, or not, but I'm sure our hostess will advise...
As for "telling" people — different scenario in my case, but the thing I learned early on (and which kind of echoes what the anonymous coward and fairly-odd said earlier — if you make a big of telling someone, can you blame them if they end up thinking it's a big issue? If you're all quivering with gravitas, you're sending a message that this is something that they should feel trepidation about.
If you want them to know, just tell them in a very inconsequential manner, and let them know that it's OK if they want to talk with you about it, and fine if they don't. That approach seems to have had the best outcomes, for me.
and that should have read, "make a big thing"
All the time. I was turning into a habitual blog-commenter, so I started my own. Now I can make a complete numpty of myself and no-one will ever know. Its so peaceful over here.