SCC Has Come & Gone, What A Long Way We Have Come

I lost this post last night, but Rachel found it on Google Reader and emailed it back to me. Bless her heart! Strange that Blogger would lose it, but Google Reader would keep it. Anyway, here it is, the mysterious disappearing blog post!


Well, another Southern Comfort Conference has come and gone, and all the girls who went are blogging about what great fun they had and posting lots of pictures, just in case we don’t believe them. Well..........there is no doubt in my mind that they had great fun, so I certainly believe them! I’m just sorry that I couldn’t join them this year.

I first discovered SCC totally by accident, while searching for trans related information about 7 or 8 years ago. I just happened to stumbled across a website for SCC, and it was loaded with pictures of transwomen and transmen, socializing and having a great time. I’ve wanted to go ever since I first saw it on the web, but the stars have never aligned themselves properly for me to make it. Unfortunately, the same was true this year.

Before SCC, the only awareness I had of of such gatherings, came from underground publications. Back in the late eighties and early nineties, I used to subscribe to two underground tabloids, that dealt with trans issues. Unfortunately those publications went by the horrible names of, Transvestia, and Femanine. They carried ads for transgender services, and for an annual transgender gathering in the Pocono’s.

This of course was in the days before the internet, and the only place to get any kind of contacts for trans related information, was to go to a porn shop, where those kinds of publications were sold alongside gay porn magazines, and some of the most bizarre sexual aids you have ever seen. I hated going into places like that. I only went a couple of times, and was deathly afraid that someone I knew would see me going in or out. But I did find some trans related publications, that contained contacts to other trans publications and people, and businesses catering to the needs of trans women.

What a lonely world it was in those days. Unless you ventured into one of those seedy porn shops, and purchased a trans related magazine or tabloid, you had no idea that there were others like you out there. Oh, there was the occasional letter from a trans person in Penthouse Forum, but they were so few and far between, that you could never really believe them. For all you knew, they were complete fabrications, but here in these underground publications, were not only mini biographies and testimonials, but actual contact information, and pictures of trans people exploring their inclinations and thoroughly enjoying what they were discovering. Unfortunately, you felt like you really had to go out on a limb to gain access to such information. I was so afraid to enter those shops, an afterward I was always afraid that someone visiting my apartment, would discover one of those publications. I was especially fearful of any female I was dating coming across any such stuff. How would I ever explain it? After all, I was still deep in the closet. Any revelation that I fantasized about being a girl, would have been disastrous to a relationship with any woman. Everything trans related had to be kept securely hidden. I even had to set up a PO box at the Post Office, to have any items of clothing delivered to, for fear that my fellow apartment dwellers would figure me out. I remember ordering a pair of black patent spike heeled pumps, back in the early eighties. I had to go to the Post Office and get a money order to pay for them, and had to go back to the post office to pick them up. I remember the male postal clerk giving me the evil eye, when I went to pick up my shoes. That was probably just me being paranoid, but I was afraid to ever order anything directly through the Post Office again!

Here is a transcript of a tabloid ad, for a Transgender gathering in the Poconos, back in 1992.

ORIGINAL POCONO FANTASY FESTIVALS

FOR 1992

Sept. 10, 11, 12, 13

$240.00/person double occupancy $395.00 male/female couples

Includes room….,Meals…..Taxes and All Tips/3 days

For Thursdays arrivals after 3:PM, additional $35.00 fee includes dinner, room for an additional night, and brunch on Friday. $50.00 required to make reservation. All deposit received before February 20 entitle you to a discount of $15.00 off total fee.

Beautiful lodge resort * Wives & Girlfriends welcome

No checks accepted 30 days before event dates

*Miss Poconos Pageant & Ball * Fantasy Ball * Pretty Legs Contest*

* Dance Parties w/Live Disco 8 Prizes 8 Broadway Style Entertainment *

*Workshops w/Video Image Consultant * and Demonstrations * Boutique *

* Professional Makeup and Hairstyling by Muriel $50

* For more information, call or write:

Fem Fashions 9 West 31^st Street, Ste 7R New York, NY 10001

212-629-5750

Make checks and money orders payable to Muriel Olive

MC/Visa accepted

Things are much better today! I only wish I was 30 years younger!

A big hug for all who made it to SCC this year!

Melissa XXOO