Would you have transitioned if you lived hundreds of years ago?

[mac1]

I should have transitioned 60 years ago.

[Corax]

It wouldn't have been scientifically/medically possible to transition hundreds of years ago to begin with.
There were no options to repair a body this way.

Hence I would probably have been miserable and disgusted by that body my whole life.
Or would have been killed off by someone earlier simply for not fitting that loathsome body I'm stuck in at all.
It was a different time and someone who didn't have the mindset and talents that were expected from how they were seen wouldn't have been tolerated and would have faced negative repercussions and severe punishments in a society like that one extreme way or the other.

It is also most likely that I would have never understood what it is that I am experiencing anyway. I would have still experienced it but wouldn't have known being transsexual was a thing and therefore also wouldn't have known which particular steps to take to leave that suffering behind.

[Julia1996]

That's a hard question. There was no hrt or SRS back then. I probably would have tried to transition as much as possible. But it would have been a totally miserable life. That's if I lived at all. I might have been burned at the stake or stoned or something depending on what they did to people they considered to be like deviants.  Hmmm now that I think about it they would probably have thought an albino baby was evil or a witch baby  and killed me at birth. I'm totally glad I don't live back then.

[Nina]

My feeling is transition isn't based on surgery or HRT. It's about living a new life.
There are many trans women who, for medical reasons cannot go on hormones nor have surgery. Yet, they still live full time.

My therapist asked me the question about hormones first session, and would I transition as Nina if my blood tests said I couldn't be on hormones? I said hell yes. Hormones, I said, do not make me a woman. I am a woman! Period.

[Kylo]

Without HRT it would be impossible for me to be a convincing male. Surgery would probably have been a death sentence 100-200 years ago too.

I'd probably have just remained some unmarried black sheep spinster type if I made it to old age or died young doing something stupid or from TB or something like that. The difference between the sexes is too great for some of us to even hope to pass for the opposite without modern medicine.

[MeTony]

I would transition as far as I could. Maybe I'd live like I've done all my life, dressed in male cloths. I did not have a name for this until 10 years ago thanks to internet. I feel like I've been living under a rock. I thought I was to live in the wrong body form the rest of my life. But now I know better.


Tony

[Lady Lisandra]

I don't know if hundred years ago, but thousands probably. In ancient times there were cultures that didn't persecute trans people. Quite the opposite. Having both, male and female characteristics, being ambiguous, was a trait of the gods, like in hindu deities or most creator gods. That's why "trans" people were considered to be closer to divinity than most cis people. They were respected and powerful, high ranking spiritual positions were reserved for trans only. The Sumerian were know for having trans high priests and priestess. Also in ancient north american cultures, two-spirits were usually chamans and spiritual leaders.

Asia wouldn't have been a bad place for trans either. Traditionally, Japanese women used their kimono's belt to flatten the chest and straighten the curves, giving a more male silhouette. The male beauty standard was in contrast, feminine. It was a common thing, specially among young men and nobles, to feminize their appearance and adopt female beauty habits like makeup. Also, there were a few, not many, but a few, people that adopted the opposite gender's dress codes. They weren't discriminated nor hanged. The only trouble were the extremely rigid gender roles. Uesugi Kenshin, one of Japan's most famous daimyou, is believed to have been a woman.

"Transition" would be partially possible. You'd have to take spearmint extract for example instead of synthetic hormones, but I dare to say that natural variations prepared in ancient times would have been as effective as modern HRT, or even more.

In ancient times some of us could have been powerful spiritual leaders, instead we are normal people fighting for basic human rights. Modernity sucks...

[Kylo]

Hm. I think I'll take modernity rather than the rampant disease and backbreaking work that killed most people before they reached their fiftes. I could become a spiritual leader online these days if I wanted, probably... and enjoy the benefits of strong hormone therapy and modern hygiene (a personal favorite. I really don't fancy living without soap and deodorant).

There were actual female samurai. They were typically employed during the eras in which laws restricted the travel of Japanese peasants and subjected them to border checks in different regions. The female samurai would do the security checks on women travellers. They dressed in the same armor and carried swords and were subject to the same expectations of loyalty and sacrifice.

[undautri]

Definitely not.
Depending on the era I'd have been stoned to death or be socially outcast.
Actually, I'd have those things done regardless of me being trans, I've always had an interest in medicine and guaranteed I'd have been considered a witch for trying to find a herbal remedy for an ailment.
I'd be dead by childhood anyway.The weak rarely survived in those days and my immune system is pathetic.

Honestly every angle I look at it, the past was bad and I do not want to live there.

[Roll]

Even before I came out to myself I remember thinking that if I lived in the past I would have wound up as a eunuch monk or something. Does that count?

[JennyBear]

It wouldn't have been scientifically/medically possible to transition hundreds of years ago to begin with.
There were no options to repair a body this way.

    That all depends on what culture you are referring to. Two in particular revered people that identified as transgender, though predominately only male to female. Both ancient Egyptian and most Native American tribes viewed them as gifted, knowing what it is like to grow up male but blessed with the intuition and emotions of a female. They even had ways to assist allowing that person to live as close as possible to being female. Priestesses of Hecate were often born male, but voluntarily made into eunuchs (no genitalia) and used plant based estrogens to achieve a more feminine appearance. They were completely accepted in society. It's a shame modern day Egypt seems to be going to the other extreme. It was much the same for Native Americans, though they were merely castrated (testicles removed) at their own will. They also used plant based estrogens and T blockers. Both societies allowed people to transition around the onset of puberty, allowing those homeopathic medicines to be more effective. I myself am registered as Native American and borrowed some of these techniques until I was approved for HRT. True a full post operative transition that we know of today wasn't possible, but you could get pretty close.

[Corax]

That all depends on what culture you are referring to.

I referred to European culture because I am European and would have been born in Europe. And Europe hundreds of years ago was already infected by Christianity which viewed transsexuals as well as homosexuals as abominations and called for their deaths. There also weren't any such methods available here but they had to offer the inquisition and witch hunts instead....

It's still really interesting though.
I knew that there were some cultures that accepted and even valued transwomen and also people they called thridgender people but I wasn't aware of them using homeopathy to alter the body, even though they weren't able to reconstruct genitalia and perform other surgeries, that is a great thing.

It's a shame modern day Egypt seems to be going to the other extreme.

Islam can be blamed for that. Religious ideologies have always thrown the societies they have infected back and gotten into the way of scientific and social progress.

[SeptagonScars]

Most likely not, simply cause I'm only into men and can't imagine living celibate, and the view on homosexuality centuries ago wasn't exactly bright. However I've never wanted kids or ever wished to settle, so marriage and being a housewife wouldn't have been an option for me. I probably would have lived as an alcoholised, drug-addicted prostitute or something along those lines.

Living as a gay trans man that long ago would probably have been worse both socially and mentally than living as straight cis woman who's horribly dysphoric. I wouldn't have been able to take hrt or have surgery back then, so then what's the point. My body was the issue, not how others perceived it, before my transition. I would likely have been miserable either way, so no, I probably wouldn't have made a social transition if I had lived that long ago.

It's not certain I would have even figured out I'm trans at all, actually. I probably would have thought it was just me being cranky, disliking my body and having "weird fantasies" or something that wouldn't have been able to pin-point.

I've never had any serious physical health issues and have a very strong immune system, rarely ever even get a cold, so on that point I likely would have survived just fine even in the mud of some rat-infested hut back in medieval times. Maybe even survived the plague. However, considering all of my mental health issues including dysphoria... yeah I see some problems with survival in a more primitive society, whether rich or poor. But with drugs and alcohol having been around in the world since many centuries ago, and my strong immune system, I think I would have survived at least up until my current age, and likely longer. But it wouldn't have been a happy life, by far.

[warlockmaker]

I voted no way would I come out a hundred year ago. I used to be an Alpha male and assume 100 years ago I would also have been an Alpha. The difference between men and women privilages,  now and then, cannot be comparedd . Women 100 uears ago were chattlels of men, today Alpha fenales can match the men. I am now an Alpha female and love to watch the men squirm.

[Allison S]

Probably yes... I would've gotten an orchi (somehow, someway) and maybe tried herbal estrogens or something off the black martket lol
I think I'd be pretty successful at it
Ok I think I'm just entertaining myself here haha

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[RoRo]

Fully transition, no way because of medical advances that are going on now. As for secretly wearing a skirt or dress maybe.

[CynthiaAnn]

I love the story of "Orlando" by Virginia Wolf....it fascinates me....

[Margrit]

Absolutely!

[Mendi]

Depends the culture and society where I would be living. In some cultures transpeople were more than accepted, valued members of the society. Absolutely I would transition in a culture like that. No question about it. Just like today there are still cultures and societies where transpeople are more accepted and it would be easier in those places.