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Ute Heggen's avatar

The gender circus rivals Rowlings' villains. Take for example, Dr, Marci Bowers, who attended my alma mater, UW-Madison in the late 1970s, where we overlapped but didn't know each other. His name was Mark back then. His famous self-description, in a glitter glory piece for the alumni newsletter, is this quote, "I'm a woman with a gender history." Dr. Bowers is still married to the mother of their 3 children, but only in name. He's had well-publicized romances with women since he "came out" to Ann soon after she gave birth that third time. She probably has more money than if she'd sued for divorce, but this situation appears quite un-liberated, from the stand point of me and my trans widow cohort. I was offered Ann's option, to keep a thin shell of marriage by certificate only, and opted out.

A Rowling-esque "trans widow in the woods, axe handy for tidying" short is what you find here:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dH9oi1s-_KQ

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Jonathan E Burack's avatar

"trans widow" - that's a new one on me. I was at UW-Madison long before you -- late 1960s, the days when the Red Army marched in glory (and tear gas). I was with them until I wasn't, several years later. Stayed in Madison a long time. Long enough to watch it only get crazier and crazier until 2012. I have a friend still back there. He and Dave Blaska are, I suspect, the only sane ones left.

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Ute Heggen's avatar

Yes, trans widow was invented by the originator of the blog transwidowsvoices.org, where my story is under "Bertina." We are the ex-wives of men who left their male persona and jumped down the glitter rabbit hole of full-time female impersonation.

I used to regret that I didn't move back to Madison, where I grew up on the near west side. Now I'm relieved I don't have to watch the woo, like I watched the SDS back in the day, as a child.

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