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We had an interesting discussion with Lee Harrington, author of an eclectic set of books.  His latest is "Traversing Gender", which provides a "newbies guide to other genders", with many references throughout the world and history.  It also reviews the differences between all the various terms like "transgender", "transsexual", "trans", "intersex" and a multitude of others.

As a transgender person, the realities of "play" in both the swinging or BDSM lifestyles is completely different and very challenging.   Lee explains the differences in treatment of transgender folk throughout the years, and his own transition.

Other stories:

• Visiting the San Francisco Power Exchange club, and confusing the bouncer as to what door rate to get
• Freaking people out by masturbating with a Hitachi.
• Dealing with rejection
• The bath-house scene for gay (and other) men
• How to be an "ally": Skills and information
• How to approach any play in a "gender-fuzzy" environment
• Using the "Safer Sex Elevator Speech" in between trans and cis
• The wide array and types of trans experiences
• Challenges based on gender, race, class, age and disability

From the book blurb:

In the current age of gender identity and transgender awareness, many questions are coming to light for everyone. Whether brought about by media and cultural attention or personal journeys, individuals who have never heard of transgender, transsexual, or gender variant people can feel lost or confused. Information can be hard to find, and is often fragmented or biased. Meanwhile, trans people are getting a chance to dialogue with each other and finally be heard by the world at large.

In Traversing Gender: Understanding Transgender Realities, author Lee Harrington helps make the intimate discussions of gender available for everyone to understand.   Bringing these personal matters into the light of day, this reader-friendly resource is written for students, professionals, friends, and family members, as well as members of the transgender community itself. It is here for you and those in your life, helping create an opportunity for overcoming the challenges trans people face through awareness and action, making the world a better place one life at a time.

One may think that in this day and age,  the problems of the LGBTQ community are a thing of the past, but when looking outside of our bubble (especially at the recent events in the news), we see that we still have a long way to go.

Regardless of what position we pick on the spectrum, we owe it to the community to be informed.