There is also this: Transgendered women are punished for making the change. By not sticking to the normative two-sexes-only program and being gender radicals, they "disrupt" the rules and are considered fair game. They are often fired or reassigned to lower-paying work.

That's Jersey Fresh, yo!

New is more important than expensive. Don't let your makeup develop bacteria.

@BeckySharper: Here is the nice thing about hitting 40: this shit doesn't happen anymore. You are so...over that.

@Trixie from Toronto: Looking good and cocktails: the best revenge EVER! Go, baby.

@kanachick: Why can't heaven and hell be left out of the damn equation? These people are not being elected by the Archangel Michael nor the cherubim and seraphim.These Xians really irk the shit out of me sometimes.

Right on, Hortense. There is no reason that you have to respect, admire, or help another person who would seek to destroy you and your way of life just because they have the same-shaped sex organ as you do.

Yep, the babies are having their naps, I need to get out of the house and get some fresh air and I do NOT want to wear any makeup today, and the black clothing thrown on quick works—I have been there (but do not own that cute bag, sadly).

@BookishLookish: Or as a friend put it: All updo, all doo-doo.

OMG, right down to the brownish lipstick! But here's the thing, Peggy is from Texas and they don't play at "folksy." You really have to walk the walk. If you pour that down-home shit on too hard and can't back it up with results, they call you on it: All hat, no cattle.

Not the best shot of her and that dress has too much going on, but I think she's gorge. And I am also just delighted to see a woman in her 60s who has not had surgery on her 1) face, 2) breasts, 3) frontal lobes! Go, Helen, go!

I have a very mixed opinion of Joan. For my money, Phyllis Diller trumps her time and time again, even on the plastic surgery front.

I will stay and fight.

@BookishLookish: Sorry, Nancy Friday, not Gail.

@rmric0: Gail Sheehy has written about this in The Power of Beauty, you might want to pick it up.

@alliebean: I get your point, yes, unusual, non-normative relationships have been categorized as pathologies in the past and stigmatized. I have the Big Diagnostic book on my desk. You are looking at this from an anthropological perspective, and it is valid and you are entitled to that perspective. But my training…

@alliebean: I would never, ever compare this relationship to a loving relationship between two gay men or two lesbians or a May-December romance of any gender. It is not a question of my approving or not—this is a mental health issue, not a moral issue.

@putchie: She is a woman who was stripped of her childhood when she got pregnant at 13 and had a child at 14 and she never resolved that loss. He is a young man who never felt loved and never resolved that. They are, in effect, BOTH CHILDREN who are addressing a bad situation as children would.

Oh, cute kid, and you know she is a kick-ass mom.

If girlfriend would just buy a T-bone steak and a baked potato with sour cream once in a while and force it down her gullet, her face and neck would not resemble a worn-out granny's purse, filled with used tissues, Coffee Nips and one Revlon lipstick (color: Wrinkly Raisin, natch).