One of the things that I had to learn to gain my MA in creative writing was the psychology of story construction. This draws on common elements of human psychology to help a writer construct tales which are not only exciting but also carry emotional impact and meaning to the majority of readers.
One such construct is the
HERO'S JOURNEY. It occurred to me the other day when I was reading one of the threads on here is that this template is also a useful way to understand and deal with what we all go through as we journey (or have journeyed) towards our desired gender identity.
So offered in the spirit of hope that it may prove useful to someone, here is my take on the stages of:
The Hero's Gender Journey.
- The ordinary world There was a time before we were aware of having a gender problem. For some of us this was when we were too small to be conscious of gender, for others it was when as adults they did not feel dysphoria.
- The call to adventure The moment comes when you are first aware of your problem. What are we to do. "Houston we have a problem". We are perhaps confused and ashamed.
- Refusal of the call At this point many people will run as hard as the can in the opposite direction going into sometimes sustained denial. Many take jobs like the military in which they know transition will be difficult or impossible. However the call will not go away. Slowly the hero is brought to the point where they must take the adventure or die.
- Meeting the mentor At the point where all seems lost before it has even begun, a mentor arrives. You find a place like Susans where there are those who can help you.
- Crossing the threshold As you approach the point of coming out and actually doing something about your dysphoria the subconscious throws up all manner of phantasms and monster fears to stop one.
- Tests allies and enemies You have to face the fact that some people are not going to accept the whole thing. Sometimes parents or families throw you out, partners divorce you, but these are just the initial tests. The hero must go on for to turn back now will be to leave the adventure incomplete.
- Approach You attend your first sessions at the gender clinic or indeed your therapist. At first things seem to be going well. At last you are making progress towards you goal.
- The ordeal A series of setbacks arise. Money is short. The therapist is asking difficult questions and you wonder if you will ever get to the end of the road.You have to undertake a real life experience. It is not easy. At first you do not pass as well as you would like and people around you are difficult about names and pronouns. Officialdom seems to place endless hurdles in front of you to get ID documents and other records altered. You have to undergo painful electrolysis if you are MtF.
- The Reward At last your therapist or doctor agrees that you have demonstrated sufficient commitment and allows you to access HRT. People start to accept you at last. Things are starting to improve.
- The road back You begin to "Pass" on a sustained and regular basis.
- Resurrection Finally you are referred for surgery. You choose your surgeon and undergo GRS.
- Return with The elixir You awake form surgery. The wounds heal. Soon the adventure is over and you are back in the normal world with the right bits YAY!
Along our journey we will have met various archetypes who will have assisted or hindered us. They are:
1. HERO The Central figure in stories. Everyone is the hero of his or her own myth.
2. SHADOWS Villains, antagonist or enemies, perhaps the enemy within. The doubts we all have. The old identity which may not want to die as we transition. Maybe some kind of repression or guil which holds us back, grief, anger or frustration.
3. MENTORS The hero's guide - someone like Susan - or indeed anyone of the people here (like me even) who have completed the quest.
4. HERALD This can be a person or an event. It is what initially triggers your need to take the journey.
5. THRESHOLD GUARDIANS Stand in the way at important points, they may include parents, lovers, family, doctors Therapists or indeed phantasms from your own subconscious.
6. SHAPESHIFTERS These are people who change the way they appear. at one point they can seem like allies and then they can become antagonists. they can be good or bad. They can be two faced.
7. TRICKSTERS These are the people who are often the catalysts of important realisations. They play tricks on us, but often for our own good to teach us important lessons.
8. ALLIES Those who are your contemporaries on the path.
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OK that's pretty much it - put that all together and you can see how the story of a gender transition is pretty much like any other adventure story ever told. I hope perhaps that looking at it in this slightly theoretical and dispassionate way might help some of you who are on the path now to be able to understand what is happening to you and why certain people and events are turning out the way that they are.
If you want to read about this in more detail I would reccomend reading the book
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
or if you are a writer Christopher Vogler did a wonderfull reworking of the idea in his book
The Writer's Journey. From which I have unashamedly pinched the idea of applying the theory to a particular sphere of endeavor namely gender transition.
