Op-ed: A Born Mother, Even Though I Was Born Male

[Shana A]

Op-ed: A Born Mother, Even Though I Was Born Male

A transgender woman loves being a parent, but wonders whether she should tell her child that she was born a boy.

September 25 2012 11:22 AM ET

http://www.advocate.com/health/living-well/2012/09/25/op-ed-born-mother-even-though-i-was-born-male

I always knew that I wanted to be a mom. However, I was born a boy, so for the longest time, I didn't think that this would ever happen. When I was younger I would play dress-up with my sister's dolls and walk them around in a stroller, feed them with a bottle and soothe them to sleep. I loved to daydream and imagine what it would be like to be a mother. It made it especially challenging because I'm Japanese and my parents have always been very traditional. They were ashamed of me and punished me acting like a girl. I struggled through school, never feeling comfortable in my own body.


Eventually, after I couldn't take the conflict anymore, I distanced myself from my family and moved to another city so I could build another life and be comfortable in my own skin. That's when I began the sex reassignment transition process. It took many, many years of counselling, hormone treatment, and eventually surgery to become the woman that I had always felt I was born to be.

Becoming a mom proved even more difficult.

[AverageJoe]

Speaking as someone with two mothers, one MtF transexual, I think it might be easier to explain this when the child is older, and any child who is raised properly will be accepting of this. I didn't know until I was 19, instantly accepted it, because they brought me up to respect this sort of thing. Explaining it in early stages of life could cause problems though.