Hello,
I'm new here and this is the first forum I've ever joined so I apologize if this post is in the wrong section.
My desired name is Calli. I just turned 18 this month. I live with my parents and my 20 year old sister.
I am a pre-everything MtF Transgender *Girl.
My entire family knows that I am. My parents do not accept or support it.
The don't believe in Transgender people. They think that my desire to start my transformation roots from deep inner problems that can be addressed and fixed by going to therapy. I do agree that I have internal conflicts such as insecurity, manic depression, and occasional anxiety. My parents don't understand the differences between sexuality, expression, and most importantly, Gender Identity. They say that they support that I should be able to wear whatever I desire although if I wear certain things that are "too gay" they aren't comfortable with it and believe I'm trying to prove a point. After revealing everything to them a year ago, my parents told me that I should focus on working on myself as a person. So, for a year I focused on learning to accept my faults and weaknesses and face them head on. I began to love and accept myself. I began to understand why I acted and felt certain ways and through the entire year I developed into a much more loving and compassionate person. I love who I am. I think I am kind and caring. However, I want there to be unity between my body and my soul. I guess my main questions would be the following:
- What are certain ways to explain Gender Identity and how it differs from Expression/Sexuality?
- My parents believe that I "act" feminine just to convince myself that I'm transgender. They aren't used to seeing me act this way because I used to contain it around them. They believe that they know me better than I know myself. Any advice on explaining this to them?
I look forward to meeting you all. This will hopefully be a new place of comfort and solace for me.
-Calli
