Let's see what you are really asking for!

Meet Ben....

Isn't Ben a good-looking guy? Did you know he was featured on the cover Men's Health magazine in Europe! Yup. But did you also know that Ben was born...A WOMAN!! This handsome, fit man you see here was not born with his manly bits, but they came to be part of him later in life. Why do I share about Ben? Because there is a bathroom bill currently set to be voted on in the Texas Senate that says that Ben here, should he visit our state, will need to use the ladies' room, because he wasn't born a man! That is, if he hasn't been able to get his birth certificate altered yet...which here in Texas, even if you have completed the required reassignment surgeries, is still quite a task to undertake.

When you see all the talk about bathroom bills, you think of someone like Ashley...seen here in a picture with a totally unsuspecting Governor of Texas, Gregg Abbott...

Many forget that transgender doesn't only go one way. How many people do you think will really feel comfortable seeing Ben walking in and out of the ladies' room? I'm going to say MANY people will flip their wigs the day that this happens! I've seen the arguments..."It's about women's privacy!"..."What about the safety of our children?" Please!!!! People like Ashley have been in stalls next to us natural-born women for years...decades even...and we never noticed and never cared!! Answer me this, how many headlines have you read about a woman being raped in a ladies' room by a man dressed as a woman? I don't recall any. Why? Because is it more likely that someone like Ashley here will get beat down in a men's room by homophobic men than it is for ANY man to rape a woman in a ladies' room!! The ladies' room is too public! Anyone can walk in at any time and catch you! Most rapes happen when women are...wait for it...ALONE! This is why we are told to go places in groups, because it is less likely a woman will be raped if there are witnesses...of course, unless her drink is spiked and it is a group of frat guys.

This was never an issue until someone realized that all this time, transgender women were in the ladies' room. Everyone lost their freakin' minds! Well, if this bill passes, let's see who loses their freakin' mind when Ben comes walking out of a ladies' room!

Where is the outcry?!

I was reading today about the woman who was shot dead in her PJs by an officer in the passenger seat of a squad car, while she was talking to the driver about a call she put in about a ruckus in the alley. I read today that the officer supposedly shot her, because he was startled by a loud noise!! The officers' body cameras and car camera were off. They didn't turn their body cameras on until after the shooting, as they attempted CPR on the woman.

I have to ask: where is the outcry for this woman?! This is another case of either lack of training, or an officer being too jumpy, etc.! I bet if she were a woman of color, there would be screaming and riots! But this was a white woman, and everyone is on radio silence. Why? This woman was unarmed in her PJs! She was the one that made the call, because she hard concerning noises in the alley. Heard a loud noise? That is why the officer shot her?

I get that officers have reason to be scared, but this quick jump to fire their guns has got to stop! I guess the radio silence is because this doesn't support claims that previous shootings were racially motivated. Does race have to be a factor to make it wrong? We have too many officers out there these days that are too quick to shoot first, and ask questions later. The defense we hear more and more is "I was scared for my life." Yeah, part of that has probably been because police were made targets by certain groups of people. However, they would have not really been made target had it not been for the few bad apples that abused their power and got away with it! The good 'ol boys network needs to stop! Cops need to start calling out bad cops! They need to start recognizing signs of officers who may be a little too jumpy to be out in the field, and find alternate positions for them in the department. Something needs to be done, before more innocent lives are lost!

Sad state of things...

I was in an online discussion today that actually saddened me a little with regards of the state of humanity in this country right now.  The topic was....people who are saying that we need a heterosexual "pride" day.

My stance is this, no, we do NOT need a heterosexual pride day! The whole thing feels to me like "they got one, I want one, too"! The people calling for this do not understand...the day/month is NOT about the LGBT community saying, "Hey...look at me...I'm proud to be gay" or whatever. No!! The whole purpose of gay pride is to celebrate the obstacles that the LGBT community have conquered, while at the same time bringing to attention that there is still a very long way to go! I mean seriously...same-sex marriage is now legal in this country; however, there are still states passing local laws that continue to allow discrimination against LGBT. Texas, for example, passed a bill that will all a same-sex couple to be discriminated against when trying to adopt a child SIMPLY for being gay! Yes...this is a real thing! Sure, the bill also allows for discrimination in adoptions if you are Muslim or Atheist. Yeah...way to go, Texas!! I pointed this out, and well, as one would expect, there are people out there who really seemed to be offended by it.

The discussion took so many directions with regards to oppressed and persecuted groups. I can't tell you how many times I heard today about how Christian, white, straight males are persecuted! Let's see...heterosexuals have ALWAYS been persecuted was one argument. I had to point out that I did not know of any laws against being heterosexual, though there are still many countries where being LGBT is illegal, and some where you are killed for such. Also, pointed out how historically, no matter where you look, it has always been stressed that it was wrong or evil to be gay (even the Bible says that if a man lays with another man, they are to be stoned to death).

Oh, and there is always those anti-feminists that pop up!!! Yeah, I had those guys try to say that I'm not denied anything simply because I'm a woman. I had to go into how I was passed over for a promotion at one point to a man who I was more qualified than. Oh, and how if the ACA is repealed (because, sadly enough it was happening before the ACA, so they had to specifically put a provision in there for it), I can be charged higher rates on my health insurance...simply for being a woman! I had to point out that outside of bearing a child (which is simply just the choice of biology, but that men do have a part in said pregnancy, too), woman really don't have any more health issues than men. We can both get breast cancer, just so happens that more of us women get it, because more of us have actual breasts. We can both get reproductive cancers...testicular and uterine or ovarian cancer is just as deadly. So why should I pay more for my insurance when I hardly require medical care just because I'm a woman, when a man who has chronic medical issues pays less? We should pay the same regardless! Oh...and I also had to bring up that society in general still obviously does not see men and women as equals, as I can promise you if I walk into a car dealership with my boyfriend to buy a car with MY money, and I try to initiate a conversation or a deal with the sales guy, he will still direct my boyfriend over me when talking about the car features and what not. What? Because I'm a woman, I'm not supposed to know about cars?! I know more than my boyfriend does!

I've had to pull out all the stops today to teach these youngsters...yes, many of them were easily under 30 when I looked up their FB profiles. Seriously, what are they teaching in school these days?! I pointed out that women didn't get to vote until 1920, while men have been voting since the founding of our country. Not to mention, men of color got to vote in the late 1800's, way before any woman could vote!! Desegregation didn't happen until the 1960's, and up to that point, white males were seen as the most prominent demographic, seeing as women were just starting to emerge into the work force in fields that weren't secretaries or in the service industry, such as maids and waitresses. I was born in the 1970's, and women were at the height of their struggle in the work place in male dominated fields! I still felt some of it when I went into the job market in the 1990's. When I was in high school, there was still so much racism, that if something went missing in the school...like money out of someone's locker or something...you can BET that a person of color was blamed before anyone else...even if the actual thief was white! And when the actual thief was finally caught, there were no apologies to the one falsely accused. And let's not forget that all the girls in my school had to take typing and home economics! Yeah, we were all filtered through those two classes, regardless of what we signed up to take. I knew then I wanted a career in computers, and I had to actually change schools to a more progressive one to get the classes I wanted. See, I think the problems with the younger generation is that they only know what they have seen in their time. Mom and dad always worked, so mom must not have had any issues in the workplace. No, mom just didn't have any that you knew about, because she never said anything. See, that is what we often did...we didn't say anything, just got a job elsewhere. There was no guarantee you could win your complaint, and if you did or didn't, you could get labeled a trouble-maker and that would affect the rest of your career! Kids in their high school were openly gay, while when I was in high school...yeah, I knew about a few of my friends, but it was NEVER something you ever talked about! Oh no! Without seeing how things were before the little bit of progress we have made, this generation has a hard time grasping that anything is really all that wrong. On the other hand, those of us who have been there are picking up on those little hints that things are taking a shift backwards, and we are trying to so hard to keep moving forward with the progress we have made thus far!

We are in such a sad state of misinformation, media overload, and closed-mindedness that...I don't know! Some days I feel helpless, and others it angers me into wanting to do so much more!

Do you operate in your physical self or your spiritual self?

Was in a discussion today that got me thinking I wanted to address this in my blog. The topic of that post asked about monogamy...and questions if we humans are actually "wired" for monogamy. I immediately had to respond that it depends on which "self" the person operates is...the physical or the spiritual. Most faiths and religions recognize that there are these two selves, so to speak, with our physical body merely being containers for a spirit or energy that we may never really understand, but we can get a glimpse of.

In answer to the original question, I pointed out that those who operate in their physical selves, are more likely to not be "wired" for monogamy. The reason for this being, that they want physical connection, view people physically, and let's face it, the physical really lacks a conscience, as the conscience is part of one's spiritual self. If you silence the conscience, you can basically do whatever you want, right?

On the other hand, those who operate in the spiritual self are more open to monogamy. This is because they long for deep connection of energies, and this can only truly be accomplished when you spend some amount of time with a person. When a person operates in their spiritual self, they tend to not see their mate or potential mate for their physical attributes, but they are looking for their Aura, and not just any will do! The other person's energy has to meld well with your own...like two magnets. If you turn magnets one way, they attract each other, but turn them a different way, and it produces a different energy that repels.

Personally, I operate in my spiritual self. I want that long term commitment to one person! I want to take the time to get past all the awkwardness of initial encounters...the point where you are figuring out what each other likes and doesn't like. I crave the point in the relationship where you can just enjoy each other, and connect at that intimate spiritual level...not worried that you ate too much and your belly is a little bloated, or what position is most comfortable for the both of you...where you can just forget that your physical body is there, and truly enjoy each other! I find that once I get to that point with a person, I really don't see anyone else...like our energies are constantly connected, and even when we aren't together, I can still feel them there, and I never feel alone. I know it sounds crazy, but those who operate in this self know exactly what I'm talking about.

On the other hand, my ex very much operated in the physical self. How did I know this? My first clue was how he would comment about my appearance. For example, always bringing up that my boobs were small, and how nice it would be if I got a boob job! Now, had he operated in the spiritual, he wouldn't have even noticed, because that is not what he would be seeing! Those who operate in the physical are also more prone to cheating...which he did 3 times during the marriage. They do this to satisfy the physical self, and it isn't always because they aren't getting enough at home. No...quite the contrary! See, the physical self CRAVES attention and physical satisfaction. These are the people who are more likely to become addicts of some sort...especially sex addicts! They see a physically attractive person walking down the street, and they will ALWAYS notice! Because they aren't in check by their conscience as much, they may even be crude about it!

You also see this difference just in general life...not just in intimate relationships. If a person is racist, is prone to body shame someone, etc., chances are very high that they operate in the physical self, because when they look at a person they see appearance FIRST! Skin color, gender, body shape. On the other hand, a person operating in their spiritual self will see their aura, or energies, first. These are the people who you usually find saying things like, "I don't know what it is! There is just SOMETHING about that person I don't like...that gives me the heebies!" In general, they tend to be more loving and compassionate, and are probably more likely to be LGBT, because they fall in love with someone because of their energy, not because of their gender...and they look at people seeing their energy before they see the physical at all! I'm not saying all LGBT operate in their spiritual selves, but it is probably a contributing factor. Personally, I have found my LGBT friends to be the most real and compassionate people I know, which leads me to believe that many do operate in the spiritual self!

Can one change from which self they operate? Well, considering both exist, YES! I mean, is that part of what "enlightenment" is? Realizing that you are far more than your physical self, and operating more in the spiritual? And it is very possible for one to go the other way, too. Maybe they have been hurt so many times that they close themselves off, and thus believe that the physical self can't be hurt as deeply!

Just some stuff to ponder....