Former webmistress and still prolific writer and thinker, Diane Frank, offers up her "must reads."


This is a page of articles, essays and links that go a bit beyond the normal fare.  No, I don't mean erotica.  I mean thinking that challenges assumptions about gender, or illuminates transgendered experience.  Some were sent to me, some I found in the press or on the web.  Once in a while I write one.  Have something challenging you think ought to be here?  Let me know.  I'll move selections in, out and around as whim strikes me.

Four sections have now been consolidated on their own pages of introduction - psychiatric writings, material relating to Amy Bloom, material about female-to-male CDs and my two cents, which consolidates links to articles I've written.

Diane Sofia Frank
Director of Outreach 2003-2007





Let's Start off with Something Funny

Or is it funny?  Humor is in the eye of the beholder.  So are myths.  What myth do you believe?  This is a link to flash animation.  If you don't have an up to date browser and sound on your computer this won't play.

Setting the record straight

So this Guy Walks into his Psychiatrist's office and Says...

Here's the deal.  The amount of material keeps growing.  The need to keep the quality of information high remains the same.  Plus I'm a pack rat.  Can you guess I've never purged?  So like the pages about Amy Bloom and Conservative Men in Conservative Dresses, it has become time to organize all the psychiatric pages and links into a separate section.  I should add a warning that some of this stuff is pretty heavy going, being collected from psychology textbooks and papers.  It may be acutely disturbing to read.  It may also be wrong, given that psychiatrists have a pretty poor track record when it comes to distinguishing between variation and pathology, and failing to distinguish how  adherence to cultural norms removes credibility from the profession. 

Selections from psychiatrists and psychologists

Amy Bloom, Normal, Conservative Men in Conservative Dresses, and Critical Remarks

I've found that the selection of material about Amy Bloom, her essay on "Conservative Men in Conservative Dresses is taking up an awful lot of space on the Webmistress selects page.  For that reason I'm dedicating a page to these topics alone.

The Amy Bloom page

Female-to-Male Crossdressing

I've been collecting these articles that illuminate things from the other direction and decided to consolidate them on one page as well.

Female-to-Male CD page

My Two Cents

Those of you who know me, and even those of you who don't can guess that I'm not a plain vanilla character....all sugar and no spice.  This whole section represents my collecting things I think are important for people to know.  But even then, I'll collect opposing points of view...for example the above section.  So I thought I'd set aside a page that linked all the things I've written, especially so there is no confusion between my viewpoint, and anything official from the Alpha Omega Society.  Again, I know that it's a fine line between being an officer of AO and running this web site and abusing the control I have over the website.  So what's on the link at the right is my opinion...not AOS.  Be aware.

Diane Frank's writing

Opposites Distract

Eventually I suppose I'm going to create a section of links to other people's sites, where there is a great deal of personal writing.  Here are two that are almost totally opposite in approach.  In fact the tension between the two points of view is so great that it seems entirely appropriate to suggest you read them both together and see how you feel afterwards.  One of these days I'll dissect both points of view with a very sharp scalpel, but in the meantime, you're big kids, form your own views.

Why be a CD?   Website   Blog

Rachel Miller

A Fellow Traveler

Here, much to my amazement is a section of a site dedicated to some serious thought about all this.  Sort of like this section is supposed to be.  Serious person, worth serious consideration.

Cathy's essays

"Reciprocity is the Spites of Life" (to quote some character in  Walt Kelly's "Pogo")

 Two very thoughtful and somewhat iconoclastic internet friends have been linking to this site.  I thought I'd return the favor.  They are quite articulate and can introduce themselves.

Transblog

A Dahl's House

What the Bleep do we Know?

Here is a collection of surveys about crossdressing.  Please send me more if you know of them.

Polls and surveys

A Different Kind of Con Man in Dresses

I thought about putting this article the What's New section, when it was freshly out.  We seem to have a surfeit of criminals in skirts there.  Here is an excerpt from a soon to be published biography of a rather extraordinary crossdresser, psychologist, philosopher and con artist.  But who conned who, and what was the real truth?  

He died with his heels on

And A East German Fallen Angel

By an amazing coincidence we have the story of another Charlotte, this life long crossdresser living in Berlin through the Nazi's and the Communists.  What follows is a link to a play about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, but after that I've linked to our book store entry of a decade old and apparently self-serving autobiography on Amazon-dot-com.  The book and a 1992 movie show Charlotte as a heroine of gay rights, while the play shows a much more complicated picture of betrayal and survival in dealing with the Stasi- the East German secret police.

She was her own wife

Another review

Book review

The New Girl

Here's a book review I wrote recently.  Different subject that "Normal".  This is the story of a normal, heterosexual guy who for some reason decides he wants to understand what it's like to be a woman.  To walk a mile in a woman's shoes.  So he does for six weeks.  I've put it here as I need to have an easy reference to it rather than just leaving it buried in the newsletter.

Book review

Surveys About Crossdressing

Are you a "normal" crossdresser?  Are you sure?  Here are some benchmarks.  

About the surveys (US)

UK survey

Do you laugh when you look in the mirror?

This review of Sorority Boys provides a good summary of why we laugh at men-in-skirts comedies, and why girls-in-pants movies  are dramas.  Odds are you know this already, but then again, remedial material or refresher course may be useful to some.  Is the woman you see in the mirror the same type you snicker at when you see her in the mall?

I dreamed I chipped a nail, wearing the wrong shade of lipstick in my Maiden Form bra

Teaching Boys and Girls to Be Girls

Here's a another piece from the NY Times that hits an interesting point.  Is it really so different for Ms. Vera's School for Boys who want to be Girls to conduct training sessions than much of what we see written for women about how to be women?

But what is it they learn?

What's it All About

Have you ever been to a night spot and seen t-girls teetering on heels, anxiously anticipating some moment to come?  Ever wondered what they (or you) were looking for?  Ever wondered if this was a unique phenomena? Here's an article about a gaggle of young women that may indicate that t-girls in bars aren't all that unique.  No, the article doesn't contain tips on how to find that good time...but the friend who sent me the article pointed out that your odds are much better if you perform and take responsibility for your performance than if you just sit and watch, hoping to be entertained.

Searching for a good time

Sugar and Spikes

Girls are nice, girls are passive, girls treat each other like sisters.  And I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.  Next time you want to complain about missing being a girl, read or re-read this article.  See if you have what it takes to be a queen bee.  Or not.

To bee or not to bee

Man in a Dress

I like this essay.  It's challenging and scary to read.  It's tough to survive.  Read at your own risk.  Then follow the link at the end to more of the writings of this author.  My caption for this article also seems to get called up on search engines a lot.  I suspect mostly by people who are most probably disappointed by what they find here.  So it goes.

Wardrobe

About that "Coat of Many Colors"

This article by an orthodox rabbi has been floating around the internet for a couple of years.  The kind of approach to the Bible demonstrated by Rabbi Tilsen may be surprising to Christian readers unused to the idea that Jews might view their own holy books in a rather different fashion than most Christians are taught to.

What the Rabbi says

Self Indulgence

Ok, once in a while I write something mordant enough to think it might provoke some thought.  Here's one such little confection

Larynx and beyond

A Wardrobe with a View

This article showed up and gave one of the most complimentary pictures of a cross-dresser I'd ever seen.

A delicious addiction

An Izzard Before Harry Potter

British Comedian Eddie Izzard has a few things to say about his crossdressing worth paying attention to.  It doesn't hurt that he's a tremendously bright comic.  Links to web-sites and to radio interviews.

Izzard kinks

Miss Manners

If you ever go anywhere besides an Alpha Omega meeting you may find yourself wondering about the mores of the subculture you accidentally or deliberately stumbled into.  Have no fear, there's a guide book for you, and you can read all about it in this clever review

Etiquette for outlaws

Can You Hear Me

This one is a link, and you can only listen to it.  J.T. Leroy is interviewed by Terry Gross of Fresh Air on National Public Radio.  High voltage content, but possibly the beginnings of art growing from great pain.  Not every boy grows up competing with his mother for tricks at a truckstop.

J.T. Leroy (audio)

Jennifer Boylan Interview on Diane Rehm

There are some issues discussed here about transition for the recent MtF that are of interest to spouses...that dealing with some aspects of transsexualism relate to dealing with crossdressing.

This is a link to the NPR interview of January 30th, 2003.  Discussions about spouse reactions to the crossdressing and other phases start about 16 minutes into the program

Jennifer Boylan (audio)

I Share This

911 has shocked the heart of America.  But some other truths emerge from the wreckage as well.  When we start talking about what this country means to us, sometime its important to look from another viewpoint.  If you're reading this website and have gotten this far and think this cartoon doesn't apply to you too, please let me know.

Tom Tomorrow

A Bad Reflection

If all you want to read about CDing is pink fluffy stuff, then this article isn't for you.  A feminist sociologist looks at cross dressing and finds it has a culture similar to hit-men and drug dealers.  Normalizing the abnormal.

Diane Wysocki thesis

Rants From the Other Side

Articulate, outspoken and fun to read.  Not your average S.O.  Not your average relationship.  A healthy antidote to either the "woe is me" or the "everything's just ducky" points of view.

Kathy's Rants

Its Nice to Know Some People Read this stuff

Melody Shores suggested this essay by Transgendered Philosopher Michael Gilbert (aka Miqqi Alicia) from York University in Toronto.  This article called the Transgendered philosopher is 16 pages.

The Committed Crossdresser

Not a Happy Picture

I suppose the positive side of this situation is that no one is heading into this marriage blindly.  But would you get married if you were either the author or the recipient of this letter?  This letter was in the the first AO newsletter I ever posted to this website.  I've always wondered what happened to the people involved.

Sharing a husband

Image Counts

A family friend sent this,  noting the remark about size 14 dress shoes being easy to find.  Ha!  Fetish shoes yes.  Plain ordinary pumps for a suburban house wife in size 14?  No.  But then what do admen in Minneapolis know anyhow?  I'll bet they kept the clothes.

But advertising is a drag

And So is Crossdressing in Bulgaria

Bad subjects is a strange Berkeley Journal of left-ish cynical politics.  Every so often they come across something gender oriented.  A while back one lesbian feminist wrote a denunciation of transsexuality, only to turn around having come to terms with her own trans (FtM) issues.  As for drag queens in Bulgaria, the flavor here is so different it amused me.

I don't think there's a Tri-ess chapter in Bulgaria