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That man that hath a tongueI say is no man,If with his tongueHe cannot win a woman.- Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona Do you not know that I am a woman?When I think, I must speak.- Shakespeare, As You Like ItBoy, that first quote is bordering on the risqué if not naughty, when he implies that a man who doesn't use his tongue cannot win a woman. But I guess it's just how you interpret the subtleties of it all. Whichever way it's spun though, I do believe that those two quotes touch on, if not sum up, what this whole transgender thing is all about.The first, if juggled a bit and with some poetic licence, states that a man with a tongue is not a man if he cannot win a woman with that tongue. We have to define win, but for my purpose, let's say that it means to best her in competition.The other demands that people looking on should know that he is really a woman, and when he thinks, he must speak. We see them all the time but are afraid to ask. "Stop stare pon me, yes I'm a woman." I told you that I would exercise some poetic licence here.It's so confusing nowadays, as no longer are the genders clearly defined. Back in the day we could tell who was who, who was a man and who was a woman. Nowadays in some jurisdictions you just don't know if it's male or female, fish or fowl.In some countries you can't even declare what gender a newborn baby is, as you're told to wait until that child grows up and personally decides what it wants to be."What are you having, a boy or a girl?""I don't know, we'll have to wait until it's born and chooses in a few years what it wants to be."Transgender, that's where we'll be going today, right after these retorts to my take on 'Secrets we keep'. Hi Tony,The only person I get secrets from is my wife, who gets it from someone else and swears me to secrecy. I will listen politely, then it goes out the other ear, forgotten. Also, I have no secrets to tell. Don't misunderstand me, I do have secrets, just not to tell.Kevin  Hey Teerob,It's a secret only if one person knows it. I made the mistake years ago to confide in a friend, a deep dark secret that I held for years. We were drinking, of course, and it slipped out. Lo and behold, much to my shock and dismay, that person confided in someone else, and in a short time everyone in my circle of friends knew about it. I swear, never again.Liz  He is called a femaleWithout explaining whyBut when he was bornHe was given with a lieIt was like a tattoo on his foreheadThat labelled him a 'girl'It burned with a passionAnd left his mind in a whirlHe knew what he wasBut others stated they knew him better"You're not a boy," they saidAnd proceeded to call him "her". That poem by an unknown author basically sums up the predicament that many people in the world face nowadays. No longer are males and females defined clearly, but now mostly exist in a nether world, floating between genders until they eventually choose one of their liking. It's akin to flipping a coin, "Heads or tail, male or female, one may work if the other one fail."Some do it early in life, professing that they were born trapped in the wrong body."I knew from I was three years old that I was a girl, even though I was born a boy," is what has been said many times. The opposite has been said too.Others wait until they are adults before they make the switch as Olympian decathlete Bruce Jenner did before he chose to be known as Caitlyn Jenner. Suddenly they are no longer called Steve, but now Eve, and Pearl has become Earl. Yes, they switch both ways.Where it grabs enormous attention, though, is in the area of sport. Most recently this American swimmer who competed for years as a man made the transition, became a transgender and now competes against women. Of course he, she, him, her, trans, is now beating them left right and centre in the pool, setting new records.What is wrong with that picture, and should those records be valid? After all, just a few months ago he was a strapping muscular six footer, then after hormone treatment and procedures he's now classed as a woman, a female, a transgender.What exactly is a transgender? By definition: 'Relating to or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified with having at birth.' See, just as I stated earlier, someone born as a boy or girl but decides to switch to the opposite sex. This is not to be confused with ambiguous genitalia, where the baby is born with two sets of genitals. Yes, a penis and a vagina. It's not as uncommon as you would think.But back to the manufactured transgender. When it comes to sport, can this be fair? What if any of our top male athletes decides to switch genders and compete as female, like that swimmer did?What if Yohan or Usain go that route, and after making the switch, compete as females and break all female sprint records? Can you now see the absurdity of it all? Why not have a separate category for transgender athletes, so that they can compete among themselves? I think that it's the male athletes who can't do well as males then decide to make that switch and compete against women just so that they can win.It's an unfair advantage. If it wasn't, why don't females make the switch to males and compete against men? The fact is, males are generally bigger, stronger and faster than females, so even if they crossover to be females, they are still bigger, stronger and faster. I saw a photograph of that transgender swimmer who I mentioned, beside his female competitors and he stood out like a horse among a flock of sheep.What is also unfair and unjust is the fact that South African athlete Caster Semenya, who was said to be born with elevated levels of testosterone, has been given such a hard time, and is prohibited from competing unless she takes chemicals to lower her testosterone levels. That's the way she was born, she didn't choose her condition.And yet, these transgenders who take artificial chemicals and do surgery are allowed to compete against natural born females. Those natural females should object and walk off the track or field. Something is definitely wrong with that scenario. It's the thin edge of the wedge that has endless possibilities. Men can now simply transition to be females and compete in many sports such as football, basketball, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, cricket and others.The only place where I see this occurring naturally is in my fish tank among certain species of fish. If there is a shortage of male swordfish, one or two females will morph naturally into males in order to mate with the females and propagate the tank. They're known as sequential hermaphrodites. That is a natural process for continuation of the species. They do not compete against the females, so in this case it's not foul, but fish.Will we reach a stage where male humans switch genders in order to propagate the species with males? I told you that it was the thin edge of the wedge and anything is possible. Don't put anything past these people as the possibilities are endless.Genders are not defined anymore. There is no longer he nor she, but a ball of gender confusion that keeps on twisting. Was my granny right when she said that these are indeed the last days?Go back to that earlier poem, then read the following that depicts how things used to be. In the belly I will growTiny hands and tiny toesSecrets will my gender beAlthough you might already seeGuess confused you will beIt's something that you will have to readReady or not it's coming soonLater I'll reveal to youGuess my riddle and only then you will seeIf it's a he or a she Pretty soon that poem will have no place in some societies as gender will be chosen and not determined by nature.More time.seido1yard@gmail.com Footnote: Commercials are supposed to attract the consumers and make them buy the product. But some can prove to be counterproductive. Our two Internet providers, Flow and Digicel, usually have attractive commercials, but sometimes too much of a good thing is good for nothing and are classic examples of diminishing returns. Case in point is the placing of these ads during prime time TV news. They are placed so often that they've turned into a nuisance. Just too many times in the short time span, in almost every break, resulting in people being turned off and either walking away or being disgusted by the annoying frequency.The royal visit is over, and I'm proud to say that my wife, who's a fashion designer, designed and created some of the garments worn by the presenters and dignitaries, including the governor general's wife.