Saturday 29 September 2018, Cairo After the past couple days, the word that I think best describes how I feel is ‘gutted’. Quite enough has already been said and it is banally redundant for me to add these words to the tsunami of anguish and rage spilling from millions of…

I am not a huge fan of the modern holiday; I find the overemphasis on the commercial and the knee-jerk obligation off-putting. There feels to be little that is holy or honourable or intrinsically meaningful in them. As a recently constructed and highly commercialised holiday, Mother’s Day would seem to…

Failing to cash-in, Hallmark inclusivity-flops. Searching for a Mother’s Day card for her wife, a lesbian friend complained that she was unable to find a single card that didn’t say something like ‘from your loving husband’ or have a picture of a besotted dude on it. Out of curiosity I…

I remember the kerfuffle in the 1970s, as Second Wave feminism was introducing Ms to replace Mrs/Miss and was starting to dismantle the generic ‘he’ and ‘man’. Oh, the outrage. But that shift in the English language turns out to have been relatively straight forward. We face bigger challenges. You…

‘…although visibility has increased and more trans people are able to come out and live relatively ordinary lives, at the same time we are being targeted more than ever.’ — Owl Fisher [link below] There has been a poisonous anti-trans media shit-storm in the UK in recent months, triggered by…

Short answer: Yes, but you may get what you pay for. Risks may be higher, both in terms of risk to life and results. That said, I know women who are satisfied with results achieved on a budget. And I know women who ‘paid full price’ in the West and…

On love and gender dysphoria — “What the fuck happened to you?” Cara’s raised voice and sharp language added to my anxiety — no, fear. She stood in front of the table, her fists clenched. I could feel the couple at the next table staring, but I didn’t care, not in the face of Cara’s fury. …

The following is a response to The Man in the Mirror, an essay by Amanda Roman, in which she describes the anguish of moving through a world that does not recognise her gender, and the devastation that causes within the self. It broke my heart. For transgender people, the desire…

Wow, what a push it’s been these past couple weeks! >whew< The debut episode of the Alice & Mia show is now available on Soundcloud, YouTube, and through the show’s website. It will also be distributed through iTunes, just as soon as I can wade through their labyrinth. Follow the…