My feet are hurting from wandering round this forest for months. Really hurting. Like I don't want to take another step. I'm looking for a place to sit.
When I meet people, I ask them for directions for a bench. Most of the time, I follow their directions, make all the turns they suggest, and find myself at the gates of the male city. I don't want to sit there. They act like I don't have feelings, judge me on my likes and dislikes and have a standard of behavior that I don't want to follow.
A couple of people give me a different set of directions. These are friendly people, people who listened to my story, put their arms around my shoulders, tell me that what is happening to me is terrible, that everyone should be able to sit down without having to live the way they do in the male city. "We are members of the MtF tribe," they tell me. "We know another place you can sit down."
I follow their instructions carefully, and end up at the gates of the female city. It looks like a wonderful, comfortable place, the place I've always wanted to live! I imagine how great it would be to sit, even for a few minutes, in the female city. The gate keeper takes a look at me. "Not sure we'll let you in, but might be worth finding out. Tell you what will do. Go into that building there, where they'll burn off all your body hair. Then that office there, so you can be given the drugs. They will screw up your system so you don't feel like yourself, but we all have those drugs, so you'll have to have them too. And of course you'll need all new clothes. The ones you have will never do. Eventually we'll cut off your personal parts, but for now, just tape them up or something so we don't see them. Okay, once you do all that, come back to me, and I'll let you know whether you can stay here and sit on our benches."
So here I am, still wandering the forest with hurt feet...
