Ladies who expect male dates to pay for everything up front (1st date and beyond) should expect that those men will in turn be expecting things. Perhaps sex, perhaps housewifey things, but certainly some level of sublimation.  After all, who would pay for something (that is not charity) and not expect to gain something from [...]

A month or so back, I received a strange package in the mail from an old friend I’d lost touch with; it was Norah Vincent’s “SELF-MADE MAN: One Woman’s Journey Into Manhood And Back Again” and it was a fascinating and infuriating read.  What was fascinating to me was not so much the topic of [...]

1 in 1000. That’s how many babies are born in an intersex condition. That’s people who are not clearly male or female. Sometimes it is a chromosomal aberration (XXY); other times, it is a hormonal aberration; in all cases, the human could end up with “mixed” sexual characteristics (ambiguous genitalia or secondary sex characteristics that [...]

I’ve always felt a bit… transparent. Ever since I was a kid. Never quite one thing or the other, I slid between the lines. People often told me I was one thing or another (white, child, boy), but it never quite felt like me. People don’t call me a child anymore, but they’re still always [...]

Feminism (the “F-word”) has nothing to do with man-hating. Forget the rumors and hype, feminism is simply about equal rights and opportunities for women. Sound crazy? Do you think it’s fair that a woman would get paid less for doing the same job that a man would do or that her entire value as a [...]

It really doesn’t matter if you’re personally pro- or anti-abortion (or entirely neutral); if you believe women are valuable individuals and deserve equal rights, then you need to support the legality of abortion. When abortion is illegal, it makes women into second-class citizens, walking wombs. Men simply don’t have the physical responsibility of a pregnancy [...]

In the sense of “peacekeeper” (i.e., protecting people from violence), I have the utmost respect for the police – I think it’s a tough and very necessary role to play. In terms of monitoring traffic, I also approve as it appeals to my sense of order and I think most traffic laws are quite sensible [...]

Early last winter, my dad asked me to do him a favor – his best friend’s son had just moved to the Boston area and he wondered if I could give him a call and maybe show him around (he didn’t know anyone in the area). I groaned internally because I’m a bit of an [...]

Setting aside for the moment that I don’t really like the term “crossdresser,” I’d like to set something straight about crossdressing. It’s about gender expression, people – gender identity. It is not about sexual orientation or sexuality. I know in most people’s minds, they have very fixed concepts that all relationships are butch-femme (opposites attract [...]

I’m wading my svelte self into some very murky waters here, but I’ve never been one to shy away from controversy so here goes. The subject of weight, especially the “ideal” weight for women (seemingly to be mandated by everyone and anyone) is fraught with controversy. On the one hand, you have a very fat-phobic [...]