OTOH, the "lesbian in a man's body" assertion sounds a bit like men calling themselves feminists. Which isn't something I entirely discredit, but is the kind of claim that tends to make me raise my eyebrows a little.

I suspect some guys say it as a bullshit line, like, "Look how funny and witty I am! Don't you want to shag me now?"

But there are other guys -- for instance, Eddie Izzard -- who have some degree of gender dysphoria, and feel that, to some extent, they're the wrong gender. They're still attracted to women, but they also have a very distinct female-gender component to their identity. Depending on the degree of gender dysphoria, they cross-dress -- like Eddie Izzard -- all the way to having gender reassignment surgery.

I don't really understand it, in an oh-I've-felt-that-way-too sense, but I have a *very* close friend who cross-dresses, and it's not a lark for him -- it's a major part of his identity. And he's made the "lesbian in a man's body" line, too.

I had no idea that Izzard had gender issues. I thought he just liked to wear women's clothes. Hmm. I guess I need another idol in the "why not? they're fun!" dressing category.

And I should add that, Tep, you're quite right when it comes to people with some level of transgender identification. I just wish the smarmy dudes would leave such comments to people who have any clue at all what they're actually saying.

leave such comments to people who have any clue at all what they're actually saying.

This standard is really going to cut down on a lot of talking altogether.

I had no idea that Izzard had gender issues.

Well, I don't *know* him (obviously), but now that I know more about gender dysphoria, and from the way he explains it in Dress to Kill, I'd say it's a bit more than just liking to wear women's clothes.

Granted, that's total extrapolation on my part, but that's the sense I get.

Actually, I think I have an issue of BUST lying around somewhere with an interview with him -- I should see if I can find it.

This standard is really going to cut down on a lot of talking altogether.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

leave such comments to people who have any clue at all what they're actually saying.

This standard is really going to cut down on a lot of talking altogether.

Yeah, well, smarmy dudes shouldn't be talking anyway.

Technically it's not New Year's Day, but...I feel like I ought to be doing something productive and new year esque and all that today (since I had off work). Instead, I slept in late, and have been catching up on LJ and suchlike, for several hours. YOU PEOPLE do not help--550 messages? Harumph.

My NYE was OK, my New Year's Day was better (if you discount the first couple hours of it, when I was...ahem...worshipping a porcelain god).

I just found these Eddie Izzard comments:

His latest assessment of his 'gift', is that 'I'm all boy, plus extra girl - not even half and half. I've worked out: I'm all boy, mentally, plus girl-stuff.'

and

'I'd like to be able to wake up and think, "What clothes shall I wear?" but I've actually compartmentalised it.' So does he feel divided in two? 'Some women don't like makeup and great dresses and some women do, and some men do, and I'm one.'

Which has been my general understanding. The article also says things like

I have no doubt that his need for women's clothing and eye shadow is deeply felt, 'definitely internal,' as he says.

and

But his transvestism can't be simply about clothes, because that seems too superficial, scarcely worth the stress of coming out, of being pointed at and talked about on the New York subway, or of getting into fights.

Those are the interviewer's opinions, not his, so who knows? I didn't research very deeply -- this was only the second interview I looked at.

wrt Izzard and gender issues - I thought he just liked to wear women's clothes too. Which is, in some ways, not a gender-confusing thing, inasmuchas lots of women like to wear trousers, and in Egypt most men wear robes, and all that stuff. But it's a bit more complicated, because Izzard likes to wear women's trousers/jackets/etc specifically, doesn't he? So it's not simply aesthetic. Plus, in one of the DVDs of one of the tours (er, I forget which) he has false breasts, and, bless him, he talks about the whole wanting-to-have-breasts thing as part of the act. Which left me thinking "...huh..." on the whole gender identification thing.

...Nope, no conclusions here. Just "gosh, isn't life/sex/self complex" type of thoughts.