Jennifer’s Bloggallery

May 17, 2002

A recent E-mail exchange regarding Jennifer’s weight loss produced the following musing:

>>Don’t ask me why…but I watch America’s children getting heavier and heavier each year and it worries me.<<

Well you asked for it, hope you don’t mind a diatribe!

They sit in front of the tube too much. They’re bored.
Kids today have everything regulated in their playtime. Toys leave nothing to the imagination.

The detail on the action figures and dolls and video games don’t give enough room to project their own fantasies onto them. And marketing grabs these poor kids before they can even read, bringing peer pressure to bear at younger and younger ages.
When Elvis and the Beatles came to prominence it seemed that the entertainment industry shifted it’s whole focus first to teens and now to younger and younger people, keeping pace with the baby boom’s children.

Parents spend a lot of disposable income on their kids. Teen angst sells and now they’re creating angst for even younger folks. So parents pay for the very things that bug them the most- rap music, exploitation of women, violence, hatred of anyone with a different lifestyle, the dumbing down of all culture, all in the name of making kids think they’re “cool” because their parents don’t understand what they see in their music and culture.

Unfortunately the industry is tied up in making huge amounts of money at the expense of robbing the culture of any integrity. Kids just don’t grow up with a sense of individuality. I am not a parent but it seems to me that kids have very few creative outlets where they won’t feel scorned by the ugliness of peer pressure.

The sorry result is that all of society is affected and with each successive generation we seem to slide a bit further downhill in terms of communal intelligence and appreciation of art, beauty, and romance.

I don’t know what the answer is, I’m not another Tipper Gore or Dan Quayle but I don’t think they’re that far off base in some ways. The 1st amendment is still essential but when will the music industrialists begin to take responsibility for how they affect the quality of civilization?

I know air-conditioning and automobiles make life easier but there must be some consideration for people’s brains too. I know there are safety and emission control standards for the former. How about the latter?

Jennifer Leitham
May 17, 2002

May 1, 2002

While playing some concerts with the Detroit Symphony in April 2002 one of my friends in the bass section handed me this paper. I was moved to say the least and agree with most of it. It’s very encouraging to have a religious organization become so enlightened!

The following are some excerpts from a paper by a Presbyterian group called More Light Presbyterians:

BECOMING ACQUAINTED WITH THE TG INDIVIDUAL

- People with gender identity variations can be found in every socioeconomic group.
- Gender identity issues usually emerge before puberty for genetic males and throughout the life cycle for genetic females.
- Individuals with gender identity issues are no more likely to exhibit mental disorders(outside of the gender identity ‘disorder’) than the general population.
- Gender Identity, whether normal or divergent, appears to be irreversibly fixed by the time the child begins school.
- There are no know cures for GID
-Gender identity and sexual orientation are distinct but interrelated aspects of an individual’s character(e.g., transsexuals are not necessarily gay though many people view them this way.
- Diverse gender identity is expressed across a wide spectrum of behaviors, including (but not limited to): cross dressing, drag, transsexualism, androgyny, bi-gender, transgenderism, third gender, she-male, etc. A transgender individual through a lifetime may express several of these identities.

PRIMER OF GENDER TRANSITION

Individuals desiring medical treatment to effect changes in physical gender expression (most often transsexual or transgender individuals, but others as well) are often treated under standard medical guidelines. The most prevalent of these are the “Standards of Care of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association.
Medical guidelines usually prescribe psychotherapy and/or some period of cross living prior to administration of medical treatment, especially if that treatment is invasive or irreversible.
Both the transgender individual and her/his family are under great stress during and immediately after gender transition and often seek professional help.

WHO’S WHO?….IN THE WORLD OF TRANSGENDER

TRANSSEXUALS are individuals who have a gender identity(the sense of being a man or woman) different from their anatomical sex. They often seek medical treatment to change their physical attributes to correspond with their gender identity. This treatment may include hormone therapy, electrolysis, and surgery. Psychotherapy and real life experience in the new gender role is required for most medical treatment.

CROSSDRESSERS wear clothing usually associated with the gender “opposite” to their anatomical sex. Crossdressing may be part-time in the privacy of the person’s own home, public, and even full-time. The difference is that crossdressers’ gender identity remains the same as their anatomical sex. They usually do not seek medical treatment. Erotic pleasure is sometimes the motivation for crossdressing, especially in younger people. Crossdressers can be attracted to either same-sex or opposite-sex partners, or both.

INTERSEXED (hermaphroditic) individuals are born with genitals that show characteristics of both sexes or are opposite to their genetic sex. Many are surgically “corrected” in infancy, and some grow up to feel like they have had an essential part of themselves taken away without their consent. Even worse, many surgeries in infancy remove or diminish later sexual sensation and enjoyment.

TRANSGENDERISTS live as members of the other sex, but without the extreme need or desire to alter their bodies that transsexuals experience. Some live permanently as members of the opposite sex, while others assume gender identities outside of the male-female two-gender model (Third Gender) Transgenderists often take hormones, some have other treatments (electrolysis) but few undergo surgical transformation.

NAMES AND PRONOUN USAGE

In general, the appropriate pronoun is the one which best describes the way the individual is living his or her life. A cross-living male to female transsexual or transgenderist, for instance should be referred to with feminine pronouns (she, her, hers) regardless of surgical status; masculine pronouns should be used for female to male transsexuals or transgenderists.

When writing about transgendered people quotation marks should never be used around names or pronouns.

Sexual Orientation is different than gender identity. It is the difference between who I am (gender identity) and who I am attracted to (sexual orientation). Transgendered people can be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual.

For more information contact the More Light Presbyterians Liaison For Transgender Concerns:

Erin K. Swensen
erinswen@aol.com

http://www.erinswen.com

Some other sites from spiritual sources:

http://transepiscopal.blogspot.com/

http://www.integrityusa.org/

Some other informative sights on Transgender subjects and issues are:

http://www.KarenSerenity.com/OldSerenity/main.htm

Lynn Conway has one of the most comprehensive sites. Her statistical research and educational approach have been invaluable. Check out Lynn’s section on TS Successes:

http://www.lynnconway.com

Andrea James has a very comprehensive site. She was one of the advisors on the movie “Transamerica”:

www.tsroadmap.com

This address links to the most important resource in my journey:

http://www.lagendercenter.com

The subject of transgender childeren and teens is becomming much more common. There are a number of educational sites and support groups that have been doing wonderful outreach. It doesn’t have to be a sad story! Here are links to some helpful organizations:

Trans Youth Family Allies

PFLAG TNET

This is a Trans Family group in the UK:

http://www.mermaids.freeuk.com/

The next link is to an organization that provides mentoring programs and activities for LGBT youth:

http://www.lifeworksmentoring.org

The Trevor Project
Are you a gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans teen? Are you distressed? Do you need someone to talk to who understands? The Trevor Project is here for you. Twenty-four hours a day, the Trevor Helpline is the only national crisis and suicide prevention helpline for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

The Helpline is a free and confidential service that offers hope and someone to talk to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in distress, call. It’s toll free and trained counselors are waiting to help you.

If you feel like you need someone to talk to, but don’t know where to turn, try the Trevor Helpline.
1-866-4-U-Trevor
1-866-488-7386

Here are some links to media outreach, lobbying and advocacy organizations:

The National Center for Transgender Equality

The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition

Transgender Law Center

Here’s a link that applies to anyone wanting to maintain the health and beauty of their skin or remove unsightly hair. Layla and her daughter Jeanette are the best!

http://www.laylas-electrolysis.com/

Here is a link to the best beauty practitioner I’ve ever worked with. Donna Gast is an amazing Makeup Artist and an incredible hair stylist!

http://www.donnagast.com/