Pre-op TS and being nude.

[Lori]

I'm sick of it. Hopefully my HRT regimine will exterminate what I see now with extreme prejudice. Maybe I can reply with a different answer in a year or two 

[Kat]

I don't particularly like being nude or partially nude around anyone.  Luckily when I was in middle school I convinced my doctor to write me out of gym due to my asthma, so I never had to deal with locker rooms, as she wrote me notes that lasted through the end of high school.

[Nero]

I hate being naked, always have. I used a medical excuse to get out of Physical Education in Jr high and high school, because they required students to shower in group showers and dressing rooms. I have always been very uncomfortable being nude and was never one of those guys who went without a shirt. Even at the beach I always left my shirt on, even when swimming. Like Kate, I knew I shouldn't be embarrassed in front of other men, but I was.

Even as an adult when I joined the health club, I always dressed in a stall where no one could see me. I still hate being nude. I hate showering because of it. Yeah, extreme discomfort is what I feel.

Love always,
Elizabeth

Ya know, I've always felt the same way. But until you and Kate mentioned it, I never suspected it was GID related.
I've always felt extremely uncomfortable, embarassed and nervous when changing in front of girls. I felt like they were staring at my body scanning its flaws.
I've never felt uncomfortable being undressed in front of males though, even though I almost always had a sport bra on to hide the only aspect of my body I despise.
Most girls feel exposed and vulnerable when undressed around males. When they do expose their bodies to males (other than a boyfriend, etc), it's for kicks because they get a thrill out of feeling naughty doing it.

[Rachael]

saw myself naked last night with somebody, boy that was a turnoff, i hate being naked, i vow this to never occur again...

[Jay]

to be honest I have gotten used to having this body and the parts that dont fit me attached to me for long enough now so I have gotten used to it there is some discomfort. But just something I have to put up with.......

[Sheila]

The only time I dressed in front of others was when I was in High School Gym class. I didn't like it then. I felt very uncomfortable. I thought the question was alone while at home. I felt nothing, I never liked what I saw, but I was born with it and up until recently, I didn't think there was anything I could do about it. In other words, live with it. I did. When I found out about others who were trans and that it wasn't something that was in a freak show, I changed. From the time that I found out about all of this until my surgery was less than ten years. It would have been shorter had I not been married. I took my time as so my wife could catch up and understand. I know I got off the subject like I always do.
Sheila

[Jay]

(Yea! "She Talks To Angels" is on the radio right now. I need someone in the UK (anywhere other than US) to download Bob Dylan's "Knocking On Heavens Door" please!)

Why someone in the UK?

[Rachael]

because you touch yourself at night...  >

[Lucy]

[Rachael]

*sigh* my work here is done

[gothique11]

Being on hormones for about a year, my body has femininized really welll, and even improving month to month. I feel very lucky for that.

Others have seen me fully naked, my girlfriend, obviously. I have gone without my shirt around the house, so my roomates have seen me topless -- I've also shown other friends. And I've been drunk enough to flash people. Last Halloween, I went out with a fishnet shirt and electrical take to cover my nipples.

So, showing the female part hasn't been much of a problem for me. I feel happy for that.

Having the male part, however, has been getting harder and harder to live with. I've almost finished one year of real life, and I'll have another to go before I'll get into into surgery.

For a long time, I've been able to try to ignore it, and so on. But as time kept going, it just got harder. I actually had a break down the other day because of it.

[Rachael]

i know how u feel, one part is getting better, another worse in my mind, part more tollerable, part less so im exactly there. it sucks majorly

[Hypatia]

Last Halloween, I went out with a fishnet shirt and electrical take to cover my nipples.

Last Halloween, my first one with breasts, I did the fishnet shirt thing too.

But I skipped the tape... it was a private party.

[Hypatia]

Being in this inbetween state is pretty stressful.  I think things will get a little better once my hair grows out and I've got more months on the moans.  I just want it to all be over so I can have a life.

You said it exactly, Morticia, this in-between state is so stressful. It's causing me to feel greater and greater pressure from within to accelerate the process and "just do it." Now that I'm halfway female, I don't fit into either binary slot, and this is what's pushing me harder and harder all the time to hurry up and complete the whole process so I can just live my life as I need to. Now that I'm half womanized, the male designation constantly galls unbearably, imposed on me against my will. Every cell in my body is screaming to burst free of it.

[Victoria L.]

I absolutely can't stand to be nude... ever.

I just keep my eyes straightforward when I'm taking a shower.

I have to agree with Elizabeth. Although I don't really know how to swim, when I have a swimming suit on, I always have my shirt on. I don't go around without it on.

[Dora]

Gym class... that brings up a lot of bad memories. I did like playing sports (although I had no talent, was too short and always picked last etc.) I was embarrassed not only in the locker room/showers but with just trying to keep up with the boys.  I've read that upper body strength lessens on hormones. I've never really had upper body strength as with climbing the ropes, pull ups and monkey bars. Not much upper strength to lose really.

Dora

[Dora]

Gym class... that brings up a lot of bad memories. I did like playing sports (although I had no talent, was too short and always picked last etc.) I was embarrassed not only in the locker room/showers but with just trying to keep up with the boys.  I've read that upper body strength lessens on hormones. I've never really had upper body strength as with climbing the ropes, pull ups and monkey bars. Not much upper strength to lose really.

Dora

Oh my..  I've lost a lot of physical strength since hrt and I find that I strain myself easily now.
A 22lb bag of dog food is a struggle for me to carry from the car to the house now.  Before I would carry 4 times that weight with ease.
And I pulled some muscles or something in my arm the other day just dipping leaves out of my pool with a net pole.
Bottom line, I'm not the man I used to be.. 

>>>Bottom line, I'm not the man I used to be.. 

LOL! Great line. I'm going to have to remember that for future use!
I started HRT 4 days ago. I'm actually looking forward to straining some muscles (along with the other changes of course.)

Dora

[Hypatia]

I'm just at the point now where I should be wearing a bra all the time so that my breast tissue will be forced to move to the right places and they'll shape up properly.  Once I start doing that I'm really going to be sweating like a whore in church because I know that one of the things that a bra is designed to do besides give you support is to make your tits noticeable, not hide them.  Yep, it's going to get interesting pretty soon for me.

I'm right there in my development too, Morticia, I know just what you mean. I completely ceased doing any sort of male presentation a couple years ago, began wearing women's pants, blouses, shoes every day and cast aside every last bit of menswear, and all this time I've had really long hair -- though unless I wore a skirt and a ton of makeup I would still get called "sir."

Lately I've begun wearing a bra more and more even with pants, and like you said, I feel very conscious that it calls attention to my bosom. I went to shop at Whole Foods where I'd been shopping for many years, but nobody gave me funny looks... I think I'm starting to pass better.

I began to notice this while wearing a bra at the same time as pants. I'd long been been getting advice I would pass better if I would just wear pants and not too much makeup. Well, yeah, of course. But that option wasn't any help when I was just so basically unpassable to begin with. Now that I've begun to get laser and can get by with less makeup, I find that bra and pants is a promising combination. (I still personally like skirts better, but I don't wear them most of the time.) A bra defines the bosom unmistakably. Drag queens do not wear pants. Kind of ironic that pants have become the identifier of real women, but there it is.

At work I've been going braless in tight, stretchy tops... and I don't hunch over or cross my arms over my breasts as much now, I stand up straight and hold my head up and shoulders back... people surely notice my tits but no one has dared to say anything to my face yet. My face too has become awesomely feminine, impossible to ignore. Surely by now some of them must have figured out what I'm up to. How I hate this weird halfway in between condition and yearn to just clearly present woman all the time.

As for nudity, I love the sensuous feel of the air all over my skin, but letting anyone else see me naked is out of the question! I can't wait for SRS to allow my body to feel truly free again.

[Nero]

I know I got off the subject like I always do.
Sheila

No prob. I love detailed replies and antidotes about others' lives.

[Nero]

Once I start doing that I'm really going to be sweating like a whore in church because I know that one of the things that a bra is designed to do besides give you support is to make your tits noticeable, not hide them.  Yep, it's going to get interesting pretty soon for me.

yep. A catch 22 for me - because I would never go without a bra because the 'bouncing' effect made me puke, but I hated that conical thing most bras do. Mine are completely spherical, round, and the cone effect makes them stick out more.