Current Trans culture and Candy Darling

Candy was transsexual, not transgender.

Stephen Dorff made a cute Candy Darling in 𝐈 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐡𝐨𝐥 (1996).

OP there are two books and bio documentary. Why don't you read them and develop a GOD DAMNED AUTHENTIC opinion for yourself. Sheesh! You're such a leech. And, seemingly, dense, incapable of catching the tone of Warhol Superstar movies.

R3 I think he was surprised Jorgensen wasn't hated and is now fishing around for other trans of the past who aren't reviled.

He's spamming the board with trans troll topics r3, that's why he doesn't just go look it up.

R5, if you check my posting history I made all of two trans questions. Hardly spamming the board.

I know of Candy's history to some degree. I am interested to know what the DL community thinks of her as a trans figure, hardly something I can get out of a book. If you don't have an opinion yourself, feel free to not comment.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Jorgensen was basically admired or at least found inoffensive. She seemed like an honest and sensible person in discussing sexuality.

The horror film I cited has never been generally seen as a Warhol Superstar movie. It was a horror film with a lot of Warhol Superstars. You might as well call Lust in the Dust a Dreamlanders movie because it starred Divine.

Andy cried when Candy died. That should tell you something about her.

This was so good I watched it twice. Touching.

Jorgenson had little in common with today's trans activist. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

R9

Jorgensen was a massive homophobe so had at least one thing in common.

Our spidery senses question where you are coming from, OP, based on your posting history and you refusal to reveal your own thoughts. I have opinions on many drag queens, transexuals, and transgender people but I'm not going to share them with someone who expresses none of his own opinions. Also, I would prefer to know your biological gender, your gender identity, and your sexual persuasion before I blindly engage in a conversation with a possible troll or mentally ill person.

My posting history suggests I'm mentally ill? You must hate 1970s horror films and "Let's Be" threads.

Gay man, very secure about being male, no beef whatsoever with the trans community and surprised to see the occasional - and incredibly negative - virulence against them here, is pretty much it. Have my own hang-ups, sure, but not looking to hang them up on anyone else.

As it happens I do have some trans acquaintances. I went to a performance piece based on Jorgensen and didn't think from her comments (it was based on a recorded interview) that she was at all homophobic. Quite the opposite - she seemed very advanced. Candy Darling has always seemed a great photo subject and not much more.

Thank you. My thoughts on Candy are that she was combination of tough as nails and vulnerable. She was a real star, had star presence. You know the Warhol Superstars had lives before (and for some after) Warhol, and in parallel to their associations with Warhol. They were called "superstars" to point out that they were concepts - anti-Hollywood stars - but some of them rose to the level of superstars of the demi-monde - thus real stars - witness the guest list at Candy's funeral and that Candy will always be part of 20th century cultural history. She did a lot of acting - theatre and avant-garde film and everyday in life. Always on. She avoided in all likelihood a bitter and sad middle age and old age by dying youngish.

OP I still don't see how you can have "no opinion" about Darling - have you even bothered to see and read what remains of her that could give you an impression? And thus enough to form an opinion? If you haven't, you really are a fucking leech to ask such questions.

Willam was terrible as Candy Darling. He can't act and only gets roles because his mother works in casting.

A fucking leech?

This is a community of largely gay people weighted heavily towards gay men.

There seems to be an undercurrent of anti-trans thought on here, which surprised me, a gay man.

I was interested in what people in this specific community thought of a public figure like Candy who is generations removed from current trans culture but was a beacon of sorts in her own time.

By "no opinion" I mean that I don't know if she was a good person, a bad person or what. I've read about her behavior and it was no more and no less scandalous (or not) than any of the Warhol community as far as I can tell. She looked beautiful and had a cool charisma on film. I have no problem whatsoever with her gender identity. Past that I'm not sure what I'm supposed to think.

To be perfectly frank, I have never associated an artist or public figure (like Candy) with their private behavior overmuch. I worked in the art world for 20 years. If I had to hate every difficult person in the art world I'd wind up with four blank walls for the rest of my life. Politicians? That's a different story.

This all seems to be too much to ask, so back to Mario Bava and the krimi film career of Marc Porel for me.

R12, you're not a gay man or male, you only identify as such.

Second verse of Lou Reed's ' Take a Walk on the Wild Side' is all about Candy.

R15 Well I actually got you to reveal a bit of your thoughts about Candy, which you started off saying you didn't have. It was like pulling teeth! Sheesh!

[quote] There seems to be an undercurrent of anti-trans thought on here, which surprised me, a gay man.

Most of the anti-trans stuff on here doesn’t come from gay men.

As for deadpan gags, those "gals" served up a.lot of deadpan but we watched because the trannies of that milieu, were artists of the time, and were a fascinating mix of utter slavish devotion to tropes of womanhood - in Candy's instance - blonde screen legends - combined with a winking awareness that they could only masquerade, no matter how many injections and how many acting studios. Jackie Curtis played it broadly. Candy, not at all. If you are an art professional surely you understand the contemporary is the simultaneous possibility of seriousness and low-technique cynicism, authentic and reproduction. The movies, the plays, the art, the personalities, are serious and authentic and they are silly fake exercises. They were commenting on you, as much as themselves.It started way back with DADA.

If you love Candy Darling then don't miss the movie she co-starred in called Some Of My Best Friends Are from 1971. This was an amazing role for Candy. You get to see her perfrom as a gay boy and as trans in the same role - you also see her character being harassed and assaulted by homophobes. She was very good in this movie.

Candy was was a transvestite. She did not have the bottom surgery.

R22, I thought she was taking hormones in preparation for an eventual surgery?

He was a sex worker and a junkie. Yay, great role model! Are we just supposed to be glad that he wasn’t a homophobe who wanted to rape and murder women, like most of today’s MtFs?

Tennessee Williams loved her. He had good taste.

R23 yes. He did take hormones but did not complete the surgery therefore not fulfilling the definition of transsexual.

But she qualifies for transgender.

R26 - you don't need to complete surgery to be transsexual.

Or to call yourself a lesbian, r28

There is a pic online of Candy nude / full frontal - you can see everything. I don't remember where I saw it. In BW. A rare pic.

Scavullo Cosmo cover 1972

One of many fave pics - ultrafeminine expression