"Becoming Chaz"

[Daywalker]

I'd be interested in viewing a Study that tracks brain changes in folks
who take T Shots ~ before and after; which areas seem more stimulated,
if there are areas more active after the T, broken down by factors that
include geographical stats, emotional predispositions, etc.

[Linus]

I'm having the worst time doing quotes with my iPad. Anyways, I do prefer Lisa Ling's piece on trans individuals for "Our America". I think that was far more informative on a non-celebrity basis as to what it's like.

[apretty]

And OH MY God--That house he's living in. If he couldn't afford his surgery why not sell that house? Downsize like a "regular" person would choose to do.

I wouldn't care so much if this was supposed fiction but it's being billed as a documentary.

And why is his sponsor paying for his surgery? A sponsor that pays for stuff is *so* inappropriate.

Also, it's bizarre to me that Chaz has a sports-bra tan line. I have never been with any butch/transperson or otherwise that would go out in a sports bra--In the sun! I am sure that I'm not saying this right but it seems to me that there are so many incongruences with his presenting "maleness" and his ease and comfortability with his female-parts. --It's like I blinked and missed that part of the documentary.

Also, has the depression been looked at? Is the chest surgery supposed to fix the depression (lying on the couch for a couple of years seems like depression to me)? And how can you live with an addict if your sobriety is at all important to you?

And why don't these people have jobs!

...They do have cute dogs, however. (But who brings a DOG to a doctor's appointment!)

[theoddz]

Originally Posted by apretty

Why doesn't Chaz work--Am I the only a-hole who doesn't get his finances and thinks that "finances" are a super-relevent part of the picture?

He had money to be an addict for 10 years and, according to the documentary he laid on the couch for a year(s) playing video games...

What does he do besides the trans-stuff?

*Again, curious.

I imagine that he got a nice advance on a book deal he made when he publically announced his decision to transition. My guess is that that is probably how he intended to repay his friends for the money they loaned him for his top surgery.

I don't know what he actually does for a living, either, and like you, I've been curious about these same questions that you ask. I, normally, don't make issue about the financial affairs of others, but money is a HUGE issue and sometimes OBSTACLE to others with transitioning. If Chaz is going to hold himself up to the public eye with his transitioning process, then yes, I do think that the financial aspects of transition and his own financial circumstance, insomuch as what he does for a living (and not the details of just how much he makes at doing whatever it is he does) should be addressed. In other words, yes I think it's altogether fair to ask just what he does for a living/support himself.

To me, this is totally proper and a relevent question. Thanks for bringing it up again, Dressy.

Theo .....on the Blackberry, so please excuse any typos!!!

[DapperButch]

My partner and I saw Chaz today at a trans conference we attended. It is a conference in Philly that I attend every year for both professional and personal reasons.

Chaz mentioned how crazy insane it is the privlege that he started to feel after being read as male. He said he was invisible as a masculine female and that it is amazing how that changed after he started being read as male.

He was also taken to task by an audience member for his comments others could read as sexist in the documentary.

Transfolks also asked that he make sure to clarify with the media as often as possible that this is HIS experience.

All the things I have heard people say here, I heard said there to him.

I really liked him and found him to be very, VERY genuine. I ended up caving and bought his book and got him to sign it.

tf and I tried to video record it on her phone but the phone kept cutting out over and over again b/c it is a new phone and we couldn't figure it out. Subsequently, we have an hour of footage of short clips (we finally got it down after a while though).

She needs to get something from work next week to download it to her computer before she can upload it to youtube. I will post the many clips next week.

P.S. Was anyone else there?

[DapperButch]

I seriously considered asking him (when I was getting him to sign my book), to let me record him saying HI to the Planet, but then I thought he may get all worried we would try to use it as an advertisement.

I should have asked though...Medusa, et. al would have loved it, I am sure. Fun thing to have on the front page!

[T D]

Originally Posted by Daywalker

I'd be interested in viewing a Study that tracks brain changes in folks
who take T Shots ~ before and after; which areas seem more stimulated,
if there are areas more active after the T, broken down by factors that
include geographical stats, emotional predispositions, etc.

That would be interesting to see. I know that my own thinking process has changed, as well as how I view and interpret things. It's been a fairly interesting process to say the least.

[T D]

Just an observation, but Jen also got taken on this ride of Chaz's. He decided to transition and there she was on the roller coaster with him. Depending on her personality (which I honestly have no clue about from the documentary) this whole experience could have been a very overwhelming thing for her.

I also think it's difficult to make a documentary and choose every single word in such a way that people won't question things that are said and/or what they actually mean. I would not want to be in Chaz's shoes for anything!!

I also believe that Chaz's comments about his sex drive and the T was directed at Jen, and as I recall I think he said he wished she could feel what it's like (but maybe he said women in general). My interpretation of this comment is that it's a feeling like nothing he's ever experienced before and wishes that women (Jen) could experience it as well since he absolutely did not while he was a woman (and neither did I). Just my take on it. It really is something altogether new and different, and yes, exciting as well. Nothing wrong with that.

That's all... stepping away now.

[Rockinonahigh]

I have read nearly all the post hear,but the thing that has me wondering is,why Chaz was siting at a playstation for a year playing vidio games?I understand he was probly dealing with depresion at this point...but a whole year?I dont mean any disrespect buy any stretch of the imaganation about being in depression cause I have delt with it in my life so know its effects on anyone.Shurely with his opertunities to gert help or find something constructive to do to get past this.Being Cher's son there had to be many ways to get help or just " man up" as my son would call it.Dont get me wrong hear cause im not trying to say he didnt try it just loks like all he did was have a pity party for a while,I hear it was booze then the vidio games I herd something about maybe drugs at some point.Many of us who dont nearly have the resorces as Chaz manage to be part of life and deal with how we feel about how we build our lives as best we can.
I realise how hard it is to deal with disfunctional familes,I guarente you my family almost invented the word or shurely put it in the capitial letter bracket.
Im wrighting this thinking about all ive read hear and herd on tv shows lately.What im thinking is about so many of us who manage life with way less chanches to get where we are today but have made it anyway.Im shure I prolly pised off someone hear,again my applogies.Geting off my sope box.

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by Rockinonahigh

I have read nearly all the post hear,but the thing that has me wondering is,why Chaz was siting at a playstation for a year playing vidio games?I understand he was probly dealing with depresion at this point...but a whole year?I dont mean any disrespect buy any stretch of the imaganation about being in depression cause I have delt with it in my life so know its effects on anyone.Shurely with his opertunities to gert help or find something constructive to do to get past this.Being Cher's son there had to be many ways to get help or just " man up" as my son would call it.Dont get me wrong hear cause im not trying to say he didnt try it just loks like all he did was have a pity party for a while,I hear it was booze then the vidio games I herd something about maybe drugs at some point.Many of us who dont nearly have the resorces as Chaz manage to be part of life and deal with how we feel about how we build our lives as best we can.
I realise how hard it is to deal with disfunctional familes,I guarente you my family almost invented the word or shurely put it in the capitial letter bracket.
Im wrighting this thinking about all ive read hear and herd on tv shows lately.What im thinking is about so many of us who manage life with way less chanches to get where we are today but have made it anyway.Im shure I prolly pised off someone hear,again my applogies.Geting off my sope box.

Rockin, your post did not upset me. However, I can see how someone might spend a year in front of some sort of monitor zoning out. I also understand about some of us not having the option to forgetaboutit and must work to earn an income to survive.

Maybe if I was born into Chaz's situation of having more options, I may have been able to veg out, fall into my addictive patterns for extended periods of time. Money can buy a person things. I don't think it is a given because we may have money that we will know/have happiness.

[DapperButch]

I think it was actually two years the documentary said (I believe it was Jennifer who said this).

He would have been sober at this point, but sometimes the depth of depression can be so low that a person becomes immobilized. If the person has the monetary resources to "stay in that state", so to speak, it is even slower for them to move out of it b/c they do not have an external force pushing for the change.

[Rockinonahigh]

Greyson im glad we arent at odds with my post,I understand veging out ..I have my own devils with it but in a diffrent way,for years I denied that my weight gain was cause of meds only..truth is im a foodaholic it has taken me years to admitt it and to finaly deal with it,and I do 95% of the time now..but I do have my moments.When I have those moments I acknoledge them and go do something totaly away from food.
I just wish ppl who are haveing a problem and veging out could find better ways to adjust to and with life...so much time waisted, so much time that u cant get back.

[T D]

2 years worth of being depressed and "zoned out"...... totally been there, lived through every single second of it, and not for a moment of most of it did I think I would actually survive it. Depression is a devastating, crippling illness. People respond to it in different ways, just as they do to the available medications and treatments for it. Because someone is "zoned out" doesn't mean they're not trying to find their way out of it. I spent more than 2 years working my way through it and I honestly did not think I would ever make it. I spent most of that time with a hand held poker game in my hand, I couldn't go anywhere without it. I totally get the video game thing with the tv. BTW I was in therapy 3 times a week for most of that time. It can be a deeply dark place.

I'm just glad that Chaz is in a much better place now!

[Rockinonahigh]

Tonight on the own chanel they are showing the doc on chaz again,this is one I havent seen yet,gonna tape it so I can rewatch it later.Its on at 7:00 central..check your time zone if u havent seen it.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Linus

I'm having the worst time doing quotes with my iPad. Anyways, I do prefer Lisa Ling's piece on trans individuals for "Our America". I think that was far more informative on a non-celebrity basis as to what it's like.

I agree. I preferred "Our America" as well. I wrote a whole fucking blog rant on "Becoming Chaz." Some aspects were good, but others really irritated the hell out of me and I don't feel was representative of transguys and their transitions as a whole. And the sad part is that a lot of people who watched it are going to think he's completely representative. He counts himself a trans activist, and yet there were a lot of statements made in his doc that he should have known people would have taken as "all encompassing" as far as trans attitudes. I get it was about his personal transition and experiences and feelings, but at the same time he should have known better; that he was pretty much the first transguy to make it into mainstream television, that most people watching would have ever seen, and that would most would take his image and word as gospel.

It's good to have the visibility, but some of it isn't good visibility, imo. He acts like being an asshole and being misogynist is somehow a part of being on T and being a transguy in general...then goes and calls himself a trans activist. I dunno. I call bullshit and was kind of disappointed.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by apretty

Also, it's bizarre to me that Chaz has a sports-bra tan line. I have never been with any butch/transperson or otherwise that would go out in a sports bra--In the sun! I am sure that I'm not saying this right but it seems to me that there are so many incongruences with his presenting "maleness" and his ease and comfortability with his female-parts. --It's like I blinked and missed that part of the documentary.

Just wanted to talk about this part of your post. I originally raised an eyebrow myself when it came to the sports bra tan lines, but then checked myself. I do know some transfolks who are not as dysphoric as others or some who are barely dysphoric at all. Some transguys might have a male identity and want to have top surgery, but don't feel the same kind of nausea around seeing or exposing their chest pre-op that others feel. We have to be careful not to put all transfolks into the same bucket, so to speak. Extreme dysphoria doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with being trans. Also, I don't think transfolks should be judged on how they bind or if they bind at all, or what they happen to wear/expose etc. It's a bit like transwomen who never have bottom surgery, but who may not entirely exclude their natal sex organs during sex (though it's evidently a different experience on estrogen than without). Or transguys who are ok with using the sex organs they were born with during sex, while others like myself can't stomach the thought of doing so themselves. Everyone's different and I don't think it's possible to judge one's "transness" based on that.

I think what confused me mainly was that Chaz said that since puberty he had suffered a lot of dysphoria and still did up until his op, and that didn't seem to go with the whole tan line thing. But at the end of the day that's really his business and not mine, and all I have are my own feelings as a point of reference and not his.

Anyways, that's my two cents on the sports bra tan line issue.

[J. Mason]

I rewatched Becoming Chaz on tv this evening.

Made me think of the tough road ahead of me and how much support is needed in dealing with transition.

[DapperButch]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...6pLid%3D121522

[Rockinonahigh]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...6pLid%3D121522

This really dosent surprise me,I had hoped it wouldnt happen.

[Cowboi]

I watched Being Chaz.... He ask her to sign a prenup stating that she would not drink anymore. She told him that she just couldn't sign it.
Maybe some time apart will help.