The question for Day Three: “Who was your first real-life crush?”
I had a few hard crushes, but the first? I think it would have to be Jennifer Docherty. I have no idea what’s happened to her, but fourth-grade me didn’t have a chance. She and I had known each other since nursery school. She had blond hair, wore jeans instead of skirts, and she was way, way, way cooler than I would ever be. She played soccer better than most boys, climbed trees, and took nothing from ANYONE. Plus, she had a 12-inch Boba Fett action figure. I hope she’s out there somewhere, doing exactly what she wants with who she wants, and that she’s happy.
Category Archives: Trans
30 Days of Coming Out, Day Two
The question for Day Two: “How old were you when you first discovered you were LGBTQ?”
28. I mean, I should have known. If I were growing up today, when the word “transgender” is out there in the world, and what it means to be trans is more accessible, someone might have figured it out. As it was, the only person who deduced it was an ex-Army sniper who stunned me when he said “Yeah, I always figured you had a gender problem. Glad you worked it out.”
30 Days of Coming Out, Day One
I started this challenge late, on the sixth day, so I’m playing catch-up right now. The question for Day One: “Share your name, age, and identity. Share a picture of yourself.”
My name’s Christine Frances Stewart, born Christopher James Hedberg. I’m 44 years old, and I am a late-onset transgender woman and a lesbian. For those who know about such things, I technically fit the criteria for autogynephilia, but think that it’s a bogus diagnostic category. And as for the picture, this is as good a description as any:
If you had ever doubted it, here’s evidence that I am either a toon or a muppet.
30 Days of Coming Out
So over on Facebook, some friends started doing a cool activity for this month of LGBT Pride. Every day, they’re each answering a different question about their queer history, drawn from this list. I started it on Facebook, but…well, I’m a writer, and I take my words seriously. Some of these answers deserve the real treatment, with thought and drafts and rewrites. They deserve to be remembered. They deserve to be real stories. So I’m going to post them here and rewrite them until…well, until they show my true pride.
Because It’s Mine
There’s a new article out from Smithsonian.com titled “How Transgender Women Are Training Their Voices to Sound More Feminine.” Sounds fine. I did voice training when I transitioned, and I’m grateful I was able to. That sounds like an article I would happily read. So, here’s the subtitle: “Does striving for some ideal female voice just reinforce stereotypes?” The article below the fold is long, and I hope interesting, but I can sum it up easily.
NO!
Continue reading
Remembrance…
Trigger warning: assault and violence
If you’re not transgender, November 20th is an average day. It’s probably cold where you are, and it may be cloudy or snowy. Where I am today, the world is shrouded in fog. Frost edges every leaf, and diffuse sunlight reveals mysterious and beautiful shapes through the universe of white outside my window. It’s a beautiful day, and I’m here to see it, and photograph it, and write about it, and take pleasure in it. And I am still very sad.
I’m sad because I know of at least 89 transgender people who died this year by violence for who they were–for who I am: ourselves. I warn you now, I’m writing this to break your heart. Continue reading
And speaking of GeekGirlCon…
The panel I spoke on was about sex, gender, and the complicated and unclear space they both live in. To sum up REALLY briefly, if you think that we have just two genders, you’re not reading enough fiction, biology research, or Tumblr. And if you’re a writer, and all your characters are straight white guys, your writing is suffering for it.
We tried hard to steer away from the standard “Gads, don’t you haaaaate the portrayals of gender, sex, and gender variance in mainstream media?” As our moderator said, “Let’s aim away from the Gender Studies 100 questions and try to make this a 200-level talk.”
GeekGirlCon: Mind = Blown.
Had a marvelous and educational time at GeekGirlCon, especially doing the sex/gender panel with Winter Ellis Downs, Janine Southard, Jill Seidenstein, and our esteemed and very effective moderator, Raven Oak. I learned from my fellow panelists, we learned from the audience, and we shared a bunch of laughs. I could have hung out with those folks all day.
The con itself was incredibly welcoming, friendly, and different from any other one I’ve been to. It’s hard to describe how it feels to walk into a convention where at least half the folks are women, and lots of the others are of indeterminate gender, or just don’t care about gender.
Hello world!
Yes, it’s the first post that tells you I’m using WordPress. Anyway, hi, everyone! My name’s Frances Stewart. You can call me Fran–my friends do. My insurance company calls me Christine. I have lots of names when I’m gaming: I’ve been Ardan, Diana, Ronelyn, Donawain, Goodwrench, Doctor Jeremy Rackham, Lilya the Bard, Phil the Merry Goblin Rogue, and many more. If some of those names seem familiar, it’s because I’m a storyteller, and some of their stories are too good not to tell. That’s the case with Grace Clayborn, the main character of my forthcoming novel. It’s definitely the case for Ardan and Diana, and you shouldn’t be surprised if the others show up somewhere either–I bet a lot of authors have great stories from their tabletop gaming days.
I’m a woman. I’m a geek. I’m a writer. I’m also transgender. An Eagle Scout. A feminist. A giant robot fan. Like all of us, I’m a complicated, evolving story that writes herself, constantly being revised and expanded, and (I hope) becoming better written. If you’re actually reading this, welcome! I hope we’ll be friends, or at least friendly.