Happy days

On Thursday, 18 March 2010, we headed to the University of the Philippines Diliman Gender Office (UPDGO) to hold a talk with selected undergraduate students of Psychology (see poster above). The event was a celebration of International Women’s Day.



A brief Transgender 101 talk was given just to get everybody on the same page (see pic above).



The we had the main talk.



The audience was very receptive and after the talk the floor was opened for the students to ask questions. Their queries ranged from personal questions to questions clarifying transgender advocacy. After the open forum, the students asked to have their pictures taken us.



After the talk, our next activity was the monthly Support Group Meeting (SGM) which was held this Sunday, 21 March 2010. There were many girls present, which made me really happy (see pic above). The main agenda of this month’s SGM was the art and science of make-up.



For the session, we asked one of our members who have long years of experience working in the beauty industry, Seanel Caparas (right in the pic above), to take the lead and give the girls a demonstration. Seanel is well-known in the local transgender beauty pageant circuit. It was such a great session but as usual we lacked time to discuss things in-depth. Seanel left the group with this morsel of wisdom in doing make-up: “Light conceal, dark reveal.” Literally it means, if you want something covered up, you use light make up on it. If you want to emphasize something on your face like your eyes, then you use dark colors.

All the girls agreed to devote another SGM on hair and make-up because the time we had this time was just too limited. Seanel thankfully agreed to be the resource persons again for that planned meeting. I am so happy that we have people like Seanel who generously share their time, energy and talent with the rest of the girls. Most people will think little of transwomen who work in the beauty industry and will actually dismiss them. They do not understand that what these transwomen have is actually a gift, an eye, a talent that not everyone possesses. Being a member of a human rights group only adds another layer to the already established fact that they are smart, beautiful and empowered women. I salute these sisters of mine and am proud just to be associated with them.