Here is a scenario I proposed to some of my male friends ...

You are a few weeks away from marrying your dream woman. She is perfect in every way - looks, personality, intellect - she has it all. Your relationship is stable and awesome. Everything seems to be coming up roses for you two. You could hardly imagine someone to be more perfect for you than her. Then, she reveals that she is a post-op transwoman. She says that she has always known that she was a girl and believed to be born in the wrong body. Ten years ago, she underwent sex reassignment surgery along with hormone treatments. She has no hints of masculinity and you've had sex with her before and never noticed anything "artificial" about her genitalia, breasts, voice, etc. In other words, had she not told you, you would have never known that she is not a ciswoman. Would you call off the wedding?

I only had a sample of three but they all said yes! I emphasized that she is the DREAM woman and they said that she wouldn't be their dream woman if she wasn't biologically female.

Then, I proposed a second scenario ...

What if you are in the same position as before but now your perfect woman reveals that she has androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)? A person with AIS has XY chromosomes but because of a gene mutation, she doesn't react to a hormone that would otherwise cause her to become male. Thus, a penis never develops and testes do not descend. Externally, she cannot be differentiated from an XX female. Again, she says that she has always thought of herself as a girl. It was only when she hit puberty and failed to start menstruation that it was discovered that she was supposed to be a he. She got her underdeveloped testes removed and continued her life as a woman. Would you call off the wedding?

This time, two of them said no and one of them refused to answer out of supposed frustration. I asked the cooperative two what the difference between the two women was. They look, act, and are the exact same at this point in time. They reconsidered! They said that they would probably still go through with the marriage in either scenario.

Interestingly, no one mentioned childbearing as a problem. So the issue was entirely that she was born biologically male and the "ickyness" of transpeople. One of them said that he would prefer the transwoman to keep her past a secret.


So what of you, livejournal friends? Would you call off the marriage in either scenario?

Where the Wild Things Are was "okay".

School is going surprisingly well so far! I just need to power through and breathe a huge sigh of relief after December exams. Maybe I can even get a 4.0 GPA this semester. I wish I wasn't such a lazy, drunken bum in first and second year.

"I haven't written a segue since 1990." (props to whoever gets that)

I am obsessed with one shoulder minidresses with bows.




... but I have $20 in my bank account so I'll just resort to wearing my multi-way AA dress like this:

Okay, I just weighed myself and I'm 98.5 lbs. I haven't been that light since 9th grade. Wtf is going on?

I don't have an eating disorder. I eat unhealthily (e.g. too much fast food) these days but what stressed 4th year student doesn't?

Time to gain 5 lbs.

Being critical of Israel's foreign affairs =/= antisemitism.

Anonymous post. Comments are screened.


You can badmouth me if you want but depending on how legit your complaint is, I might leave it screened.

I write for my friend's music blog and we're hosting some pretty sweet contests at the moment. They're open to US residents only and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment.

Win A Beatles Lithograph

Win Collector's Editions of Radiohead's Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief


Good luck!

So because I am growing up and becoming more stricken with paranoia, I've decided to make my journal less public. I've locked most of my old entries (now that was a productive two hours) and my new entries will be public for a limited time. I know that sounds incredibly convoluted and I realize my journal entries aren't quite as delicious as free chicken wings (that are also frequently available for a limited time only) but I don't want to have to go back and lock a billion entries again so I'll be doing them on a rolling basis. I know I have at least one friend who isn't on lj who reads my journal (Hi Peter) so for anyone else in the same boat, this is for you!

Is anyone interested in a free pair of tickets to see King Khan and the Shrines at the Phoenix on Tuesday? You also get a copy of his new album, "What Is".

There is no catch, send me a message by tomorrow. This is a first come, first serve type deal.

Taken!

I don't know if any of you remember this post but we went to every subway station in Toronto and took a photo. We only did 2 out of the 4 lines last year but finished the shoot yesterday.








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So this is Toronto's main public transit system:

Today, we covered all the stations on the yellow and purple line.




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