Transgender journey: the last post
In her final column, Juliet Jacques reflects on life after sex reassignment surgery. Was the gruelling four-year process worth it – and does her body feel right at last?
Juliet Jacques
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 November 2012 05.00 EST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/29/transgender-journey-last-postThree years and six months after I first went to my GP in Brighton and asked to enter the NHS gender reassignment pathway, I'm sitting at my computer, staring at a flickering cursor on an empty screen. Writing the closing entry in this Transgender journey series, my first thought is to consider a return to normality. I no longer feel constantly aware that I have recently had a major operation (as long as I don't have to run for a bus, anyway).
Then I remember that much of the time, for me, transsexual living has not been extraordinary. It lent no added glamour or intrigue to a trip to the launderette. It threw up no complications that most other people would not have to face. Only two of its specific flashpoints – coming out and having sex reassignment surgery (SRS) – caused immediate and significant changes to my relationships with my family, friends, colleagues and body. While they have long since ceased to need crisis management, all of these relations will continue to change, for reasons most likely unrelated to my gender.
