A CD For The World To See

[deebra]

Michael Jackson, he was a Cd, TG or TS, not sure which is accurate and it doesn't really matter but he was in our ballpark. He had his skin lightened, nose narrowed so many times it feel off, lips tatooed red like lipstick, same with eyeliner, wore makeup, had long hair and presented more as a female than male. It was said he tried to look like Diana Ross. Wore sequins and outfits also worn by showgirls, was passive and easily embarassed (by Opera when she asked him if he fathered his children) and had very tender feelings, was an enormous talent and accepted by the world. They wanted more and more of him, so sorry he died. Did Micheal help us or did it just go over everybodys head?

[Kate Simmons]

I think MJ just wanted to be his own person and do the things he loved. He was successful enough to more or less live the dream. He wanted to break free of the mold he had been cast in when he was younger. In different ways many of us strive to do the same thing.

[Beverley Sims]

Kate,
I think that is a wonderful reply, an astute observation.

[docrobbysherry]

I would be surprised if even one out of every 100 people asked said, "Michael was trans".

[NicoleScott]

Never was a MJ fan, although I liked the Jackson Five a lot. I never purposefully listened to his music or watched his videos until after he died. Still, not my cup of tea, but he was an extraordinary talent, a genius, I think, and I appreciated what he did more than I liked it. Just not my style. Who knows what kind of sex or gender or race or other thoughts were in his head. He was unique in a lot of ways. He was also exploited, but that's nothing new.
A CDer? I don't think so. I doubt he thought in those terms. He just did his own thing.

[Miriam-J]

Like Nicole, I was never much of a fan. But his presence was ubiquitous for a few years, so I observed like the rest of you. I'd guess that his wealth, combined with a need to rebel against exploitation, enabled him to free himself from societal and family expectations. In his case it allowed him to express himself in a number of ways both masculine and feminine, and also in other ways that we might question.

I wonder how many of us would also choose differently if we allowed ourselves to be free of societal and family expectations. I suspect I would crossdress much more, but can't be certain. Still, I'd rather have my social and family support system than the lack of support Michael Jackson typically experienced.

Miriam

[Tina_gm]

I think that there has been enough evidence from so many instances that MJ had a liking to pre pubescent boys that went beyond a healthy one. So for that I feel that he was detrimental to CD's. More people than not feel that he has done inappropriate things with young boys. To many times he quacked like a duck on that issue.

[vallerie lacy]

deebra
He was showing off for the little boys he played with. I wasn't a big fan, but he certainly had talent. I wonder how far he'd have gone if he hadn't been the way he was.

[Chickhe]

What I think is interesting about him, is that even if he was TG, he never announced it, he didn't tell everyone his feelings and even in his death nobody knows. He just did his thing and tried to live his life. I don't know if it is a tragedy that he could not be 'out' to the world, but recently the tides have made this more doable for others. However, there is a practical side, that he had a certain public image to maintain and he held a very private life and sometimes that requires you to hold back on telling people. It supports my theory that people can only really agree on your motives when you label yourself...if you are yourself and you just do it they may call you all kinds of things, but nobody will be able to agree. So, you have to be careful how you label yourself...I think he just wanted to be remembered as a good person.

[GeorgeA]

Somebody once said or wrote: "Michael Jackson transformed himself from a handsome black boy into an ugly white woman".

[MysticLady]

Michael just didn't care what society thought of him. He did what made him happy. I'll bet that, he would rather have been a nobody, like me, just to live a more normal life.

[angela2112]

Never thought of him as a transvestite......He did come across as a bit of a paedo though

[I Am Paula]

Michael, as eccentric as he was, left behind a body of work which will become classics. As for his gender presentation, it wasn't male or female, it was MJ, and classic Motown.

[jenni_xx]

Kate's reply - the first reply in this thread - completely hits the nail on the head for me. I don't think MJ was trans/cd. I think he was a victim of an industry that can be brutal. And a victim of a family that was brutal. Throw those two together, then I wouldn't be surprised if MJ was pulled and pushed in every direction that he ended up not knowing who the hell he was.

I think his insistence on changing his appearance was because he wanted to distance himself from the manipulation of others that he had clearly endured when growing up. I think his fascination with young people was an attempt for him to live the childhood he never had through those people. When around young people, it gave him a sense of perspective in respect to seeing kids live out a childhood that he wished he had had. It may well be the case that in distancing himself from his upbringing, the greatest distance he could make was to transform himself from a black man into a white woman - perhaps the biggest distance one could take oneself away from their past.

I will say, MJ never was nor ever will be a public figure who was representative of the trans community. He was just an individual who was manipulated from a very early age because of his undoubted talent. He was a money making machine for others. Yet he viewed himself as a human being, a sensitive man, and because he was unable to distance himself from the "machine" that was created that resulted in his ultimate downfall.

[Stephania]

Michael was a performer. He dressed and acted like he did because he was a performer. I don't believe he was TG.

[AmyGaleRT]

We had a joke about Michael Jackson: that where else but in the U.S. could you start out as a poor black boy and end up as a rich white woman?

But though he kind of favored a bit of an androgynous style, I don't think he was TG. He may have had other issues, but that wasn't one of them.

I prefer to remember him from the days of the Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad albums...when he wasn't the grotesque, controversial figure he eventually became...just a young man with a whole lot of talent.

- Amy

[Vickie_CDTV]

Interestingly, there has been some debate among electrologists I know as to whether or not he had his beard largely removed. Toward the end of his life he grew facial hair (or just stopped shaving) had very, very unnatural looking, spotty facial hair.

One thing to remember, he was severely abused growing up, and that probably had more to do with his unusual ways than being a TV or TS. David Bowie and others back in the day actually wore women's clothing, MJ never wore skirts or dresses or heels etc.

[linda allen]

Michael Jackson was deprived of a normal childhood and made into a commodity. He turned out to be pretty strange but I don't think he was a crossdresser or transexual. I was not a fan.

[GaleWarning]

Although not a fan of his, I will admit he had talent.
And I think that the words of my favourite MJ song, BEN, probably say a lot about his loneliness as one very misunderstood and extremely strange person.
May he RIP.

[sometimes_miss]

I think that there has been enough evidence from so many instances that MJ had a liking to pre pubescent boys that went beyond a healthy one. So for that I feel that he was detrimental to CD's. More people than not feel that he has done inappropriate things with young boys. To many times he quacked like a duck on that issue.

Jackson was a tortured soul; never had a chance. His talent made him much too valuable to be allowed to go his own way. Was he a pedophile? Most likely. Was he himself abused? Again, most certainly; just watch his interviews. The kids he allegedly abused, well, they respond the very same way we abused kids were told to, to a T; exactly the way I responded when I was in their position. Was he ts, tg, cd, we'll never really know; perhaps a little of all. For despite all his talent, he was also most certainly mad as a hatter. From his interview with Mike Wallace (basically paraphrased, because I'm too lazy to go to youtube and search for the video all over again):
Do you think it's appropriate for a grown man to have young boys in his bed? (MJ) Yes.
Would you do it again? (MJ) Yes.
Said with a straight face. Repeated several ways. He was truly deranged. Guilty by insanity? Sure. But guilty.