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Lack of acceptance from many people regarding my stated preferred gender pronoun

Started by Tadpole, June 28, 2013, 12:30:20 PM

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Tadpole

I feel like giving up sometimes, I look like a guy and everyone still mind numbingly calls me a female, they call me madam and maam and all this stuff, it happened less before so it's like they are doing so just to tick me off. I have said to some of them I don't identify as that and they still call me, if it matters it's me crossdressing and going by a male name but before any kind of surgical transition. I feel so powerless when this happens, it's like I might as well not even talk. A MTF came in with the same expectations and she is called a she and so I still have to listen to the same exact person that gave her credit call me a she as well. I feel like I might as well not even try, I have a couple these people come in and tell me how feminine I am because of my soft spoken voice and forget the fact that I'm wearing men's clothing and everything else. It feels like people are trying to tell me "I'm a female!" "I'm a female!" "Just be a female!" Over and over until it erases my existence. I would call a strange form of sexism on this or maybe I should call it trans-situational-sexism. Either or my identity is so confused. This could have just been a random incident and the roles could have been reversed. I'm sick of it though.
:D

The obsolete tadpole.
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gennee

Tadpole, some people will never get it. Don't let t get you down. You know who you are and that's a
good thing.



:)
Be who you are.
Make a difference by being a difference.   :)

Blog: www.difecta.blogspot.com
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Tadpole

Thank you. Those words are very helpful. I feel better about things when I realize some people just don't get it. They would rather cling to something or an identity that I no longer really have, for I have moved on from that identity. But they still cling to what they remember from ways I've identified in the past.
:D

The obsolete tadpole.
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Cindy

People who have known you for a long time are the worst at it. Nowadays I just don't respond to people who use the wrong pronoun or name. I've decided that they can't be talking to me so I just don't acknowledge them.

But don't give up, you know who you are that is the important thing, and the people who matter will start to learn how to speak to.

Cindy
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ford

Hey Tadpole,

Don't give up. I've been right there. I think in this case FTMs have it a little different from the MTFs. We can have a male name, dress completely male, and society will still see a female because masculine women are common and accepted members of society. I was doing just that (name change, clothes), and one day I looked up and down the street in my liberal little town, and noticed a half dozen (probably female-identifying) women who were dressed just like me.

For the MTFs, male bodied folks embracing femininity seems to cause a more immediate stir, and your average person is probably more likely to be aware that an MTF at least identifies as something other than male based solely off presentation.

Over time your presentation will change a little as you learn what works for  you and what doesn't, and the ma'ams will become less frequent, then turn into confused looks as people try to figure out what you are (hehe), and then finally to the occasional 'sir', and then always 'sir' and 'he'. It's definitely not an overnight process.

As for people you've told still misgendering you...give it some time. I've found that even people with the best intentions have had some trouble adjusting their idea of me (female --> male) in their minds. My own father, who has been a diehard supporter of my transition since day one, still calls me by the wrong name 80% of the time (but feels bad about it). I get 75% 'he' and 25% 'she' from a coworker of mine...depends on how fast he's talking and how much care he's using in choosing his words. It's not deliberate misgendering.

So hang in there and don't get to caught up on what others think right now. Focus on being true to yourself first.
"Hey you, sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is!"
~Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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Tadpole

Hi, Ford.

Lots of good points brought up here. I may never end up taking testosterone, but I still cross-dress and identify as male these days. A lot of the time it feels better than when I was pretending to be someone I was not and grasping at straws. The last time I could really see myself doing that was only two years ago and I had to stop because it was making me feel miserable. Some people probably are still remembering me as that.
I live in that liberal city as well and of course there are all shades of gender here. Butch women who still identify as female. Femme lesbians. Male crossdressers and men who wear togas and carry around stuffed animals. MTF transexuals and FTM transexuals. There's a lot of room for queer expression but at the same time, especially in the more conservative part of the city that I live in there are a lot of people that still don't get it or might even be intentionally mislabeling as a kind of slander.

So I'll have to see where my identity will take me. It's easy to have a lot of anger when the world doesn't seem to go quite right.
I just know that a femmy identity makes me feel like I'm crawling out of my own body. Whenever I have tried to adopt that to fit in those tend to be the most miserable times in my life. Sometimes I don't know who I am.
:D

The obsolete tadpole.
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ford

Quote from: Tadpole on July 11, 2013, 07:18:21 PM
I live in that liberal city as well and of course there are all shades of gender here. Butch women who still identify as female. Femme lesbians. Male crossdressers and men who wear togas and carry around stuffed animals.

I like the sound of your town.

Quote from: Tadpole on July 11, 2013, 07:18:21 PM

Whenever I have tried to adopt that to fit in those tend to be the most miserable times in my life. Sometimes I don't know who I am.

You know, I wasn't sure who I was when I started, either. All I knew for certain is that my presentation didn't match how I felt. So I would take a step (haircut, for example), then reassess. Feels good, take another step...etc etc. These days I'm really comfortable with my identity - I was in a femme androgynous state for awhile, but as time passes I'm convinced I'm just your run o the mill male. Still working on the presentation (T and an upcoming top surgery date doing wonders here for me). It's all about picking a direction that feels right, and slowly moving that way until you find your place of comfort. Easier said than done of course, and harder still when the world doesn't acknowledge your changing presentation.

I wish you all the best in finding out who you are. It can be quite a journey.
"Hey you, sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is!"
~Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
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dpadgett628

Just hang in there man. Most people either don't get it, or like as was mentioned assume female because there are a lot of people who identify as female who act and dress in a very masculine manner. I understand the temptation, but don't take it personally. You know you're a man and that's what matters the most. You got this bro! Just hang in there and things will look up before you know it
"The future I'm living now, is not what I'd thought it'd be. The person I was before, is nothing like me. The future I'm living now, is the way I want it to be." -Sick Puppies

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Tadpole

Hey Ford, ya want to trade towns? Madison, WI, lmao
It's okay but shoot up a side dose of pretentiousness and who knows what else...
I'm probably not a gun guy...but you can call me bro if ya want dpadgett.
It's just a matter of what is the best identity for you at the time...I'm still figuring out my identity.
I think might the kind of somewhat macho person with a sensitive heart...
who wears a skirt on occasion.
It's probably going to be 2? months until my therapist might approve testosterone...
if not I'll figure out what to do then.
People who don't get it don't get it...the genderqueer identity still is hardly what I would call "mainstream"!
:D

The obsolete tadpole.
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