I was talking with someone today about Jennifer Finney Boylan's book,
She's Not There - A Life in two genders. The ending of the book bothered me a bit because I felt Jenny glossed over the affect her transition had on her wife Grace who stuck with him/her through everything. But that is not really the subject of this post. (Anyone who wishes to pursue a critique of the book, PM me or open a forum subject about it.)

In today's Guardian newspaper (23.5.07) (www.guardian.co.uk - under life & health, story titled, 'Mistaken Identity'); one of the leading gender psychiatrists was censured by the General Medical Council for inappropriately referring 5 patients for surgey. He didn't stick to the rules regarding referral so the censure may be appropriate, but I won't comment upon the case directly.

Hey all,

Newsweek had a pretty good article on "The Mystery of Gender", as they called it. Their website has more associated stories than were in the magazine. However, while the stories themselves are well done, you should see the comments,(or maybe not)some are a very depressing view of intolerance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18618970/site/newsweek/

Jamie

Dear Readers,

As a writer of fictional feminization stories, I thought it would be helpful to provide my readers with a brief explanation for my motives in writing. As a boy, I was never forced into dresses but my mother did indeed wish that I had been a girl. I did wear dresses at times and the experiences were pleasant ones for me. However, I do not advocate forced feminization of a child in real life.

Hi Girls,

I thoroughly enjoyed writing my first story for the new "Big Closet" and hope that you enjoyed it. I like to write g-rated stories of childhood feminization that delight both the child's mother and other female relatives as well as the child himself. The latter doesn't always immediately appreciate being prettily dressed but after a season in cute dresses, he usually begins to enjoy being a mommy's girl. Please feel free to contact me to discuss the story, your own experiences, or ideas that you might have for future stories. I try to answer all my mail promptly.

Cordially,

Bob called to point out something, we had over 85 visitors on BC at the same time. That meant some special load balancing software kicked in, turning off the right column stuff and the ability to make new blogs or forums. After a bit of twiddling, I decided the limits were too low so now the "throttle" won't kick in until we have about 95 visitors at one time. :) Thanks, Bob and thanks to everyone that was here between 11 and 12 EDT, today to give the system a workout.

Thought at first we had a harvester chomping at things but no, just people reading and maybe downloading by hand. :)

I'm thinking I'm gonna go ahead and post the next two chapters of "Echoes", though they haven't been proofed recently.

Also, to anyone reading the story:

There was a suggestion in the comments on the first two chapters concerning Miriam's name: I used some of the phrasing from that comment, and there is an explanation in the story- and it's a lot better in my opinion than that I didn't bother to check name spelling before writing the thing :P