Is this the new Jenneration?

[Ilsa]

Now that Caitlyn has publicized her transition will we be seeing more of the same? Will more well knowns be proclaiming that they are CDs or even better and showing themselves at public functions or will they be discreet. I'd hate to see this become a circus that was only performed in the interest of publicity from a celebrities point of view. I question whether this would be beneficial to the transgender community in the long run. If it were done in a discreet manner that sustained awareness of the trials and tribulations of the transgender community I would be inclined to accept it. However, if it were sensationalized, I'd think it would be more harmful.

I do admit that it has brought up more awareness of the transgender community; whether or not this is a good thing or it can be sustained to our advantage will remain to be seen.

As always,

Ilsa

[Kate Simmons]

As Ceri told me in another place, the Media is trying to make a sale. Just note what wonders makeup does on the VF cover.It's the same with me really when I make over. Pics we saw last week ( of Bruce) didn't look that great. I just can't get over the fact that when a celebrity transitions, it's a big deal and they seem to be extolled for it. When a regular person transitions it seems to be just the opposite. I feel good for Caitlyn/Bruce but as to whether this will help us as an overall community, time will tell.

[Adriana Moretti]

hopefully the vanilla public at least gets educated a bit.......I would like to see us all have our OWN day...like make June 1rst " Coming Out Day" or something ...and once a year we invade EVERYWHERE in LARGE numbers. I would like to see Caitlyn speak at Keystone, First Event or SCC....THAT would convince me SHE is really trying to change the world!

[bimini1]

If Caitlyn stays the path and keeps that same energy she had during the Sawyer piece I believe she can neutralize a lot of the sensational aspect the media will try to pimp. I think this is the tipping point.
It's an interesting time in the world, in America. I didn't live thru it but from what I gather about the 1960's what we are seeing today has that same flavor, vibe. Lots of revolutions underway in the culture. Folks are standing up to stuff, be it police brutality, bigotry.

[OCCarly]

Will Smith's son Jaden just recently did the genderqueer thing and wore a prom gown to his high school prom. I say the closet door is not just busted down, but is in the process of being trampled by folks on their way out.

[PaulaQ]

What makes you think the heavy makeup wasn't before the big reveal? She's had FFS, and I'd wondered if guy mode wasn't the big makeup job at the point of the sawyer interview. We aren't talking about someone with typical resource constraints.

[Jennifer-GWN]

My initial reaction was.. The pressure is now one... General public (my public to some degree in my coming out in the next couple of weeks at work) will expect such a dramatic change in looks. I love Caitlyn is doing and support her cause but there's a tad bit of I can't compete with that feeling knowing full well I shouldn't need to. Guess a bit if insecurity coming through as much as my confidence in myself remains high and strong.

Cheers... Jennifer

[flatlander_48]

hopefully the vanilla public at least gets educated a bit.......I would like to see us all have our OWN day...like make June 1rst " Coming Out Day" or something ...and once a year we invade EVERYWHERE in LARGE numbers. I would like to see Caitlyn speak at Keystone, First Event or SCC....THAT would convince me SHE is really trying to change the world!

National Coming Out Day (NCOD)
October 11

DeeAnn

[gailbridges]

RE: Caitlyn Jenner

Cracks me up how there is a certain contingent out there in the straight world that is "sick & tired" of this story already?
Really?
There's been ONE interview and now today with the VF cover.
Really? TWO days worth of stories and you are sick and tired.
They just sound trans-phobic to me.

There are a lot of people out there who don't know what to make of this story. It's challenging people's perceptions on a whole new level. Most of them were just getting used to Rock Hudson and Billie Jean King being outed.

It might take a couple of generations for widespread acceptance. But don't count on it. Black people in the US have been free since 1865, and we still don't live in post-racial America.

But still, Caitlyn has made a HUGE step forward for the T community.

Something just occurred to me: Caitlyn's pics are.... well, HOT!
There are probably a lot of confused straight guys getting boners over her pictures and wondering if they are gay. Be prepared for some ugly public backlash.

[Melissa in SE Tn]

Bimini is right on target. The best is yet to come

[irene9999]

I think it will certainly educate a lot off people on the issue, which is always good

[IMkrystal]

It has been exactly one year since the Time Magazine cover " "The Transgender Tipping Point" Like other minorities change will continue to roll downhill from here.




Thank-you Caitlyn!

[LexiMay]

Even if this only makes people more aware itll be a good thing.

[Beverley Sims]

Like a roller coaster, highs and lows.

The flavour of the month is on a high at the moment, 2 steps forward and one step back is on the advance, the roller coaster is on the peak of it's travel, it is a slow news week.......And so it goes on. It will all level out again and then we can speculate with a little more accuracy.

[Lauri K]

This is great for getting the word out and educating others, so much work to do so little time to get where we need to be so folks can live their lifes as who they really are or feel like they are.

I am going to be optimistic here, and say better times for us are indeed ahead......but much to be done in the interim

[Lena]

I'll probably get chastised for my comments again but my opinion is that it is naive to believe more "celebrities" would come out now "because it's cool" or because the media pushes it.

I wish the tg communities would be more focused on her and her situation instead of thinking "how is this going to affect ME?

Her coming out publicly is a big deal as far as a teaching tool. It's reached a demographic/generation that's avoided involvement. Her generation is currently the most vocal anti-lgbt demographic and they are now forced with facing one of their own going through this. It's someone they can relate too. The younger generation will not be affected much. Must young adults don't know who he was our who she is.

More power to the guy. He's suffered long enough. I hope she enjoys the rest of her life!

I wish the coming out picture wasn't so revealing. It is the stereotypical cd wearing age/societal inappropriate choice. ....just my opinion, I would like to have seen something more conservative that people wouldn't see as extreme

[kimdl93]

Those of a certain age remember Christine Jorgenson. Those my age remember Rene Richards. More recently, Chaz Bono...and several notable military people...whose names escape me. All garnered a lot of attention, some of it salacious, but all of it shed some light on the transsexual experiences.

But I don't think any public figure ever tackled transition so late in life as Caitlyn Jenner. Her story is remarkable because she has lived a carefully closeted life for so long. Perhaps, despite the certain amount of voyeurism involved, her coming out will shed even more light and garner more compassion for those who have lived a similar life.

[msniki48]

I agree Gail,

there was no way for her to transition in private, So being up front takes the paparazzi right out of it. I just hope there is more empathy than ridicule.

I think it will be a learning experience.. at least I hope so.

hugs

niki

[shawnsheila]

My wife was really amazed by Caitlyn's transformation and i think it made her feel better about me. She told me she was amazed at how beautiful she looks. I wanted to tell her thats what I want really bad but I'll slowly let her know when I think she is ready for that.

[AnnieMac]

My own first reactions to the VF Cover Photo Of Bruce aka Caitlyn, is that this should make any GG (and perhaps us posers, too) feel really good about ourselves! Hey we all know how hard this is to do - to look as attractive and natural, and beautiful, not only as a GG but as males trying to look female as most of us here are too. So obviously not only is this an incredible professional make-up project, it's also an incredible Photoshop retouching project as well. No real woman could ever hope to look like this everyday in their natural lives. So we can't possible either! Oh sure a lot of us here are quite lovely, but nothing that approaches what fashion mags and films can make some look like.
OK now is the time for GG's to get even and let us CDing posers have it between the eyes - "OK y'all wanted to look and be like women, so now deal with what we have had to for so long" It's Ok you know we deserve it -. The only other thing I have seen that approaches this are those websites with incredible before and after pictures of women with no make-up and then with a professionally done look (and probably some photoshop too)
So why should this make us all feel good? Because we know these images of beauty are just smoke and mirrors. Naturally pretty GGs, or a CD that can pull of a reasonable attractive look for real, get my "we're not worthy, we're not worthy" bow. My admiration goes out to you all. Ok Let me hear you say an Amen Sisters! . . .as Annie gets down from the pulpit!

[Rogina B]

Most all transitioners will never have the advantages that Caitlyn Jenner has...She can afford professional makeup every morning,noon and evening ! I am not sure that her transition will really help those that are struggling to exist and being accepted as human beings..

[Kate Simmons]

Even Cindy Crawford once said something like: "You would look this good too with 5 hours of hair and makeup." There ya go.

[sometimes_miss]

I'd hate to see this become a circus

It's already a circus. Read any of the message boards and you'll find a huge number of people who are horrified at the idea that a freak is among them, in the news for all their children to see. It brings out the nutcases like crap draws flies. And the fact that he looks pretty damn good in a lot of the pictures in the press annoys the conservative block even more, all worried that they're going to get 'fooled' into finding a 'guy in a dress' attractive. We're seeing the reality of how many people out there hate us just for being who we are. It's not pretty. Don't get me wrong; I support Caitlyn 100%. But I wonder if she'll reach the breaking point. Gotta wonder what the knuckle draggers in show business are all saying behind her back at this point. I guess it'll all come out eventually.

I would like to see Caitlyn speak at Keystone, First Event or SCC....THAT would convince me SHE is really trying to change the world!

She already said in her interview that she came out in public to change the world. I don't think she owes anyone becoming a public spokeswoman 'for the cause'. She's already way out there due to the family's TV show (now isn't that an interesting play on words!).

Something just occurred to me: Caitlyn's pics are.... well, HOT! There are probably a lot of confused straight guys getting boners over her pictures and wondering if they are gay. Be prepared for some ugly public backlash.

Not just from homophobic guys. There are going to be a whole lot of women out there who are going to be REALLY pissed off that a 65 year old MAN looks way better than she does. Caitlyn is just proving once again that the same drive that got an olympic gold medal still burns hot when it comes to pursuing a goal. Even at 65. And still a role model for the rest of us. Maybe that's what scares the homophobes out there so much: That a 'fairy' is so much more driven, and successful than they ever will be, and it makes them look like HUGE failures by comparison. When she had her TV interview, the days after one of the guys at work said something derogitory about his coming out, to which I mentioned, 'You win any decathlons recently?' Then he changed his argument to,' Yeah but that was a long time ago before he was a fag'. To which I responded, 'Well, did you win any decathlons a long time ago before you became a fag?' I could see he wanted to hit me, but I'm way bigger so that saved me; besides, it got a whole lot of laughs from the girls we work with, we love to poke holes at his attempts at being macho, he's one of those pretenders that's tough in a group but quickly shuts up when alone. But it just goes to show how all the knuckle draggers think. They can't stand it when other people succeed.

Thank-you Caitlyn!

^ Absolutely!
I have to wonder, after this, how many others will think to themselves, Hmmm. It CAN be done, and done well. Well maybe if I..........

I wish the coming out picture wasn't so revealing. It is the stereotypical cd wearing age/societal inappropriate choice

See, that's another thing we have to get over; that old people should avoid trying to appear sexy and attractive. Why? Why should everyone's goal be to look like their grandparents did? It drives me nuts when women chop off their long beautiful hair just because 'that's how it's supposed to look at my age'. Says who? I don't see it written anywhere that you have to stop being attractive just because you get older, and for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would want to aspire to that! 'Gee, I can't wait until I get old so I can look dowdy and frumpy'. Why would anyone do that to themselves? I don't get it.

there was no way for her to transition in private, So being up front takes the paparazzi right out of it.

I don't think it will. The rag newspapers have followed the Kardashian clan for years. This will only give them more material. And will keep Caitlyn up front in the news on a regular basis, hopefully to the point where she'll become just another celebrity. And that will trigger the point where it will become normal to have transsexuals around. People will discover that TS aren't any different than anyone else. Bruce had his day in the sun back in the seventies, and helped every kid in America realize that if he worked hard enough, he could do well in sports too. Now Caitlyn's working real hard towards proving that being TS isn't a social sentence of solitary confinement. She's going to be out there. I kind of wonder what's next.

[TrishaTX]

As a pure crossdresser who works in a very male centric industry, I'll give you my two cents. Each steps in the news or social media is another step in people accepting people. Now I am a conservative person, in my regular life I am feel what you do and what I do should not cross paths unless we want it too. That said , you should be able to do what you want. For me that is mostly behind closed doors in the bedroom, maybe because of my career, may and what he wanted.be because I was brought up that way, maybe because I am married...who knows. This is what I am comfortable with.
This Jenner coming out can only be a good thing. Yes he has money to do this but so so many others. It was brave and no matter how old, he found himself and what he wanted...maybe needed. I personally know the pain of lying and feel unaccepted/wanted. There is no cure for that until someone does. My guess is he finally found someone who does accept him, maybe it was one of the kids...who knows. I wish I could have had that earlier in life...but so long is it has started now Ill take it.
Lesson of the story...be true to you and find someone who will love you and accept you!. Thanks

[Rogina B]

Yes he has money to do this but so so many others.

NOT SO !!! Most transitioners will never be able to afford any type of surgery and many are lucky to find work or be accepted as human beings rather than freaks. Sad reality,but too true..