Help Us Get Our Identities Back!

A glance at any list in Facebook will easily reveal many obviously made-up names. So why are only some people losing their accounts? Because Facebook uses their reporting system to identify accounts that users think are fake. Why would a user report a fake name account? One is that they are a troll. They hate people with opposing views and want a chance to find and harass them in real life.

Another is that they are a transphobes. 

By using pictures, posts and memberships in trans-related groups, transphobes have identified and had suspended hundreds, maybe thousands of accounts of people who self-identify as trans. This is embarrassing, humiliating and potentially dangerous for those closeted, part-timers and others requiring a level of privacy from those who wish to do them harm.

Corrine is one such person. It has been two months since she was forced to use her "dead name" account on Facebook. This is more than an inconvenience. This has caused untold misery in the face of her courageous journey of transition.

Facebook has made itself indispensable in terms of contacts with friends, contacts with support networks, including professional services. For those who are disabled or otherwise socially isolated, it has become a lifeline. Leaving Facebook is inconceivable for the many, who have experienced the benefits of social-networking, and have found that nothing right now can replace it, at least not for average people without resources like Caitlyn or Janet or Kristin or Jazz.

So why does Zuckerberg insist on continuing a policy that not only empowers trolls but strips victims of their privacy and protections? 

Does he not recognize that only certain groups of people are being targeted for account suspension? Of course he does, and he's good with it too.

We are fighting back and right now, we have nearly 1800 others who have signed our petition to fight back. Can you please sign our petition and share it wherever you can? 

Thank you, 

Corrine and Michelle (and Stana)

Wearing BB Dakota.

Actor/comedian Paul Lynde femulating in the 1966 film Glass Bottom Boat.

this and that

crossdressing is not a mental disorder

Sister blogger, Petra Bellejambes, of Voyages en Rose fame suggested that I mention the petition sponsored by the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE). It calls for the complete removal of so-called "Transvestic Disorder" (302.3) as a diagnostic category from the next Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). (The Manual "is published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders." )

In their petition, the IFGE delineates the reasons for removing Transvestic Disorder from the DSM. After reading the petition, I am sure you will agree with its logic and  I urge you to sign it as I did and tell the APA that crossdressing is not a mental disorder.

So, do not pass go, do not collect $200, instead go here and sign the petition now!

snarky comments

Read the comments to blog postings and you may notice that the snarky, rude, and nasty comments usually come from "anonymous" senders.

After receiving my share of those snarky comments, I considered deleting them because I felt that if a commenter was so gutless that he/she had to resort to an anonymous identity in order to post a  snarky comment, then his/her comment did not deserve to see the light of day.

However, I am a strong advocate of free speech and I let everyone have their say no matter how wrong they may be. It is just too bad that some of the commenters are so cowardly that they cannot stand behind their words.

By the way, the only comments I will delete are those containing foul language, i.e., those containing the seven words the FCC will not allow on television and then some. (You can look them up here.)

weighty issue

Good news!

You may remember my bout with a stomach virus a few weeks ago, which resulted in a large loss of weight. Well, I am fully recovered now and even better, I managed to keep off almost all the weight that I lost.

I guess I should start perusing the apparel catalogs to find a skimpy bikini to purchase real soon now. (I wish!)