#2023 Woman of the Year

[coochiequeens]

“My trans mother, Tigerlily, saw me at 15 years old, she was like, ‘Oh, she could do it.’ I was introduced to her through a friend and I was still wearing my high school uniform at College of St. Peter. Tigerlily saw me and she’s like, ‘You know what, put on this two-piece bikini.’ I put it on and I saw a body, darling. Skin, body, glistening,” Rocero told Interview in May." In other words in order to appear "inclusive" a women’s magazine heard an example of grooming and tried to spin it into something inspirational.

By Genevieve Gluck. November 3, 2023

A trans-identified male model has been named as one of the recipients of Glamour magazine’s 2023 Woman of the Year award, prompting criticism on social media. Geena Rocero, a New York-based fashion model, was previously a beauty pageant contestant from the Philippines who participated in events for women and girls as well as for gay men and teen boys in drag.

On X (formerly Twitter), commenters pointed out that Rocero is male, with some questioning whether Glamour believes that “men are better at being a woman,” or asking whether the magazine had trouble finding “real women” for the distinction.

“How regressive, excluding women from a woman’s award in favour of a man. Almost like the Women’s Liberation Movement never happened,” replied Jane Griffiths on X.

“You’re actively participating in and promoting female erasure. Men pretending to be women are men. You are on the wrong side of history. Shame on you,” responded another critic.

Rocero entered his first beauty pageant, Super Sireyna, at the age of 15 at the behest of an older trans-identified male and beauty pageant manager he refers to as his “trans mom,” Tigerlily. Out of over 40 female contestants, Rocero won second runner-up, best in swimsuit, and best in long gown.

“My trans mother, Tigerlily, saw me at 15 years old, she was like, ‘Oh, she could do it.’ I was introduced to her through a friend and I was still wearing my high school uniform at College of St. Peter. Tigerlily saw me and she’s like, ‘You know what, put on this two-piece bikini.’ I put it on and I saw a body, darling. Skin, body, glistening,” Rocero told Interview in May.

He continued, “That [was] the beginning of ‘I’m not going to college.’ I’m going to make money, I’ll have boyfriends all over the Philippines … I used to join pageants in every barrio all over the Philippines. From Pangasinan all the way to Ilocos Norte and all over Manila — I joined it all.”

Rocero recalled that he had been watching beauty pageants on television leading up to his first event. “I was watching this pageant, the finals on national television, then two weeks later I beat them all,” he said. He used his prize money to purchase female hormones in order to more closely resemble a woman.

Rocero would then go on to take multiple awards and titles at beauty pageants. In 2000, when he was just 16 years old and going by the moniker Gina Garcia, Rocero was named Ms. Gay Universe 2000. The “Miss Gay” series of pageants refers to beauty competitions involving men in drag.

The following year, Rocero joined his mother in the United States and two years later underwent genital surgery in San Francisco.

After relocating to the United States, Rocero pursued a career in lingerie modeling, and has described the experience as “ultimate validation.”

In 2014, he revealed that he was male during a TED talk, telling the audience, “I was assigned a boy at birth based on the appearance of my genitalia.” His speech went viral online, racking up millions of views.

In 2015, he appeared on the talk show TODAY alongside Dr. Michelle Forcier advocating the position that children as young as 2 years old can self-declare a gender identity. Last month, a lawsuit was filed against Forcier by female detransitioner Isabella Ayala, among others, who was given hormones at the age of 14 years old.

At that time, Rocero was acting as the Executive Producer of “Beautiful As I Want To Be”, a digital series which paired young people with an adult mentor who identifies as transgender.

Following the success of his TED talk, Rocero was invited to speak at the White House at an LGBT Innovation Summit, and the 2014 Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Gala, and has worked with the State Department under former President Obama.

In August 2019, he was featured as the Playboy Playmate of the Month in their Gender and Sexuality issue. The Playboy article written by Rocero was nominated for a GLAAD Award.

Commenting on the nomination, Alex Schmider, GLAAD’s Associate Director of Transgender Representation, said, “By spotlighting talented and beautiful models like Geena, Playboy is amplifying a simple fact that other media outlets should echo loudly: trans women are women.”

In addition to speaking at the White House, Rocero presented at the United Nations Headquarters for UN Women in 2020 and at the World Economic Forum on at least two occasions, in 2017 and in 2020.

Rocero was again invited to the White House earlier this year, where he promoted his autobiography, “Horse Barbie.”

The decision by Glamour to award Rocero with the honor of Woman of the Year is part of a larger trend. Numerous men who claim to be women have been presented with similar titles in recent years.

In March, a trans-identified male who drafted a bill declaring Minnesota a “refuge state” for the medical transitioning of minors the title of Woman of the Year by USA Today. Leigh Finke was among 50 honorees chosen by the publication from each state, including such notable female figures as former first lady Michelle Obama and Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme court. Finke authored a book for teens which instructed them to “limit contact with any adult” who does not affirm their “queerness,” and suggested that minors should visit “queer sex shops.”

In response to being awarded the title of Woman of the Year 2023, Rocero was profiled for Glamour by another trans-identified male who has been featured at events and employed by publications typically aimed at women. Raquel Willis was a speaker at the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, DC.

In 2018, Willis was named an Open Society Foundation Soros Equality Fellow and began to work as the executive director of LGBT publication Out magazine. In 2020 he was appointed as the director of communications for the Ms. Foundation for Women.

But this is not the first time Glamour has bestowed a male with the title of Woman of the Year.

As previously reported by Reduxx, Brazil’s franchise of Glamour awarded a male social media influencer the title despite him not even identifying as a “woman.” Linn da Quebrada, who had previously come under fire from Brazilian feminist influencers for mocking pregnant women, had previously stated that he does not believe women ‘exist.’

[voidedjuice]

Alyssa

[csuitebitches]

2023 Goals for the Year

Personal growth

1. Attending one event (conferences, lectures, something educational) every month

2. Socialising and networking with crowds that help me improve my career prospects

3. Charity work on weekends

4. Reading 3 academic articles a month

Career

1. Finish the online finance course

2. Learning about the business I’m working in, in more detail

3. Complete one short term online course in different fields a month to educate myself even more

Health

1. Continuing the model workouts

2. Continuing my low carb, high protein diet because that’s really working out for me

3. A glass of water every morning

4. Alcohol only twice a month, and no smoking again

Body

1. Stick to my am:pm skincare

2. Get nails done every 20 days

3. Get waxed every month

4. Get LASIK surgery for my eyes

5. Get acne scar laser treatment

Mind

1. Meditation regularly

2. Following my spiritual routine

Miscellaneous

1. Redo my room, build a whole new wardrobe

2. Work on my traditional attire wardrobe with my stylist (I have zero taste in my culture’s traditional clothing and I’m working on that)

[kg-clark-inthedark]

Here’s my piece for @dishonoredgiftexchange’s 2023 Winter Feast gift exchange! This is for @magnumdarkin25 and I chose your prompt, “Genderswap your favorite character and your least favorite character.”

I had a lot of fun doing this. Hope you enjoy!

It probably goes without saying, but Corvo is my favorite and Burrows is my least favorite. The Outsider’s one quote about Burrows, featured here as the comic’s narration, has always stuck out to me. There’s something so satisfying, as a player, to hear from him that you frighten Burrows, you know?

The original full-size versions of the half-body character drawings included in the comic pages are below the cut:

[darkwarlocks]

Happy New year beautiful people!! 🎆🎊🫶🏻

[princess-an]

If u racist and don’t like POC or just black people don’t talk about us, don’t use our music, don’t interact with our stuff, and stop trying to look and talk like us because it’s getting pathetic for someone to not like something you racists sure try to invade black and POC spaces a lot and make hating on black or POC ur personality. The same goes for u online racists who hit that anon button your pathetic that u want to say that shit but don't want to say it with ur account on blast cause u know what ur saying is wrong. It's 2023 if you not gon say that racist shit with ur account on blast and your addy and you wanna keep using aave, getting black hairstyles that fuck up ur hair, getting lip injections to look like a cis black woman, and listen to our black music when u hate us so much but u constantly steal from black culture cause u know u have to because white is not a culture it's a skin color and white America is only how it is today because ur ancestors stole mine like a thief in the night, like they were not even human. U racists need to get it together or have a meeting or something cause I honestly miss when y'all was on the same page which was to mostly ignore us I miss that if you don't have something motherfucking nice to say don't say it period.

Happy 2023

[causeimanartist]

Welp

[vonter-voman]

100 Years of Warner Bros. Episode 2: Clint, Kubrick and Kryptonite

[johnvenus]

Going into 2023 like:

"Bring it on!"

Art by Mike Maihack (link to FB).

[weneedtotalkaboutcate]

HER HANDS ❤️

Interview for TIME Women of The Year 2023.

[kittenorgans]

Iranian model Mahlagha Jaberi at 76th Cannes Film Festival wearing a dress with a noose neckline to protest against executions in Iran.

She wrote: "We wanted to make a fashion statement to observe the glamour of Cannes, but more importantly, to bring media attention to the wrongful executions of Iranian people”

[arabela25]

Carpe Diem, Joker Out | Slovenia, Eurovision Song Contest 2023

[toadallytickles]

NEST 2023

NEST 2023 was absolutely amazing for me! Originally I thought I couldn’t go because Clay couldn’t and he’s usually my ride! I ended up being able to go because our friend Timmi @DynamicUno was attending too! So I got a ride with him, redeemed my free NEST ticket, and signed up to volunteer as a DM to share a volunteer suite!

I was really anxious about not attending with Clay this year; NEST is the largest tickle gathering and I don’t do well approaching people. I’ve been attending NEST and other tickle gatherings since 2019, though I haven’t felt really established in those in-person communities. Clay is usually my safety-net person. I surprisingly ended up doing extremely well, talking to a whole bunch of new and familiar people, and deepening connections I’ve made in the past! I somehow had like 8 sessions.. that is not like of me; one was pick-up with someone I just met at NEST, another I’ve seen a little at gatherings earlier this year. The rest were people I’ve known from previous gatherings for some years, and play just aligned at NEST this time!

I also had to make a boundary leading up to NEST that Clay couldn’t tickle me as I wanted to be ripe and ready for planned sessions! Sucked, but also fun as I easily get ghost-tickled when Clay wiggles his fingers at me, but whatever honestly~ (〃^▽^〃)ゞ

We’ve always arrived at NEST on Friday, mostly a chill day with orientation. It was a luxury to drive down on Thursday, and have all day Friday to catch up and hangout with people! The border security guy was super nice to us, he said he likes to have his back tickled, but that’s it lmao~. I went into my first Dunkin’ Donuts too (didn’t order anything) and they have Timbit-like treats called Munchkins.. also the Tim Hortons’ as you go south are so different from Canada’s, it’s so weird.. alternate universe Tim’s…

Friday morning I get to go on a Target run with Nate @Sensualswitch10 as I wanted to pick up snacks for the weekend! Then we get McDonald’s for breakfast! We had a bit of a secret project going on in his room too~. 🤫 I really appreciated hanging out with Nate casually as for play and making connections I really need time to physically acclimate, and he understood I needed that and made himself a safe space while I didn’t have Clay. I was supposed to reserve my ticklishness for a session, but we ended up casually playing on his bed, just a tickle massage that turned to pinning~!

I finally get to play with Sam @WickedSensations & Frecks @Fiona_Red (@WickedCaress on Instagram)! I knew of their content before NEST ‘22, and when we finally met last year, we had an instant mutual connection and attraction! NEST ‘22 didn’t work out for us play-wise, though we stayed in-touch online and negotiated play for NEST ‘23! It finally happened and it was super fun and flustering! To be gang tickled by a couple~ (≧ω≦ ʃƪ)💕. Thank you for the pretty bruises, Sam! And thank you Frecks for being my first wlw tickle session!

I FINALLY got tickled by Jeff @sptfrtkl in his Blue Brat! We’d see each other at past gatherings and chat, and have been fans of each other's content; this time playing aligned! Such an honour to finally play with him + sign the Blue Brat afterwards! Jeff has an insane amount of tools to use too, hopefully next time we’ll session longer and experiment with every tool~ 😊

I generally do not pick-up play, and consider NSFW acts intimate and something I would reserve for closer relationships, though I met @Mark_Diamond while at NEST, and when he was showing me his many pleasure tools, we discovered we both love David Mack’s style of play.. like clit-focused, edging, denial, and forced orgasms.. I couldn’t pass on the opportunity of reliving my biggest fantasy so I let him tie me spread eagle, naked, and torture me~ 🥰🤤. It was dreamy and felt amazing aah~ wish I could always have a session like that~ (〃˘▽˘ʃƪ) *:・ﾟ✧♡.

So I Ler’d for my first CNC session..~ thanks to Steve @DaddyMilkBoss, who’s been teaching me for years all about his favourite way to play~. He had no safeword.. or maybe I ignored their safeword, who knows~. But it was so so much fun, loved how much he begged for me to stop, and how desperate he got.. and I just continued to play with him… 😍🤤. It was too much fun really.. I shouldn’t have that much power lol, already craving to do that to him again~. Yeah I love being a bully~ 🖤. All those years of taunting me and talking to me all about CNC.. it’s like I was trained to ruin him~ 🤭.

During my session with Steve where I lee’d, I learned that I can make eye contact if my mouth is duct-taped shut~. Usually when I lee, I like to wear a blindfold because seeing the Ler/s makes me so shy and stiff, and that hinders my ticklishness. Our session, I had multiple duct-tape strips over my mouth without a blindfold on and I was very surprised at how comfortable I was making eye contact with him.. it was really hot.. I love the idea of talking with big, pleading eyes~ I also have very pretty eyes~

If you’re on Fetlife, Twitter or in certain Discord Servers, you may have seen Liger @LewdLigu’s feather wheel + stocks… I also don’t usually public play, though he was doing mini trials in the public play area.. and perhaps I was a bit intrigued..~ 👉👈. It’s a super cool invention, and I had a lot of fun giving it a try, bEing wATCHED-! and having those claws and feather vibrators on me .. 😵‍💫.

My last session at NEST was with Nate, this time I was stretched out bound in his under-the-mattress stocks, and arms up at the corners of the bed… I also got high for this session~. 🥴 I just want to say.. Nate knows what he’s doing.. like when you think of the definition of a Ler, or what to expect during a session, Nate is that, Nate knows how to session omg, he’s so good at tickling~. (No he did not make me say this LOL that’s just all I can say and it’s true.) So much fun to hang out with and play with! I miss him!! Nate, thank you for taking care of me throughout NEST!! I already said it but it was so much appreciated when I didn’t have Clay!! 🥹💕

Despite like 8 sessions and depleting my ticklishness, I was super excited to go home to Clay and have a session with him. He knows all my spots and exactly how to wreck me, and I was craving that~ 😆. It was wonderful to reconnect and take all the energy from NEST and share it with him!

AND I TRIED CHIPOTLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IT WAS SOOO GOOOOOD!! 😫💦

Super cool that I got to meet some Tumblr people too! @ticklishadventure @queerswitch-tickles @ticklishposts-sideblog @minotaurvo !! So happy you all got to attend NEST for the very first time! That’s a huge step and I hope you all had a great time!! ❤️

I was fortunate to film a bunch of content too with all the new people I played with!! So!! Gifsets and maybe clips soon! 🤩

I got asked a lot how long I’ve been modelling lol.. and I don’t get that question really!! It was really flattering, though it is super amateur modelling / a hobby to me!!

Crossing the border on the way home, again we share with the border guard that we went to a tickle convention, and the guard wanted to know what happens at a tickle convention.. so I had to be the one to explain what happens as Timmi was looking for a document on his phone…. UUGHH!! 💀🪦

Anyway to wrap this up, this was personally the best NEST for me~. I’ve been navigating my local kink community without Clay a lot as he works, such as going to munches and parties alone, attending kink classes, and hanging out with new friends! I was really nervous to be attending NEST without Clay, though I feel I was capable to navigate NEST with what I’ve learned from our local community. I remember being really anxious Thursday and early Friday, though everything was going really well, I had good interactions, great sessions, and met a lot of new people, and that just made me more confident in myself! I did a lot of new things I didn’t think I was capable of or ready for yet, though I did it, and survived, and very much enjoyed. I can pick-up play with the right people, I can accept more intimate touching and play and not feel wrong after. Those compliments Clay and my local friends give me all the time, I can start to believe them. I was really reassured this weekend of who I am, what I’m capable of, and that my presence is wanted. I feel much more established in the in-person tickle community. There was so much growth and experience for me at NEST ‘23, and I am so looking forward to carrying it all into future kink events. ❤️

Thank you so much to everyone who makes NEST possible, and to those who volunteer their time to keep it organized and going!! And thank you so much to everyone who was involved in my experience this year!! It was awesome because of you!! ❤️

[hopeinthebox]

tagged by the fabulous @cordiallyfuturedwight and @jimin-gaon <33 here's the december list

apologies for being late again new year same me: @aprylynn @jiminsproof @pauls-mccharmly @thvinyl @visionsofgideontheninth @btsbs @kimchokejin @jihopesjoint @eoieopda @monismochi 💜 and anyone else who feels so inclined MWAH p.s. please do tag me anyway if you've already done it

[hella1975]

if they didn’t want me to be gay then they shouldn’t have publicly aired the 100 with octavia having frankly a silly amount of scenes where she’s covered in blood

[born-to-lose]

I love random drama from people I barely know like oh my god really??? How dare they treat you like that..... btw what's your name again