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Hello Sharon Anne
Precisely. We all transition whenever the time is right.
Just our of interest do you recall the name of the program as I assume they did not use the term "Dysphoria"? Briefly what did it cover apart from the obvious matters of transvestites and transsexuals? Did it cover the inner conflict between mind and body to a significant degree? Is it true in those days they thought incorrectly that all transsexuals were gay (before transition)? Did they not separate sexuality from gender as we do now?
Thanking you
Pamela
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Pamela, others:
I am a bit inept about posting graphics and pictures to this site. Mariah helpt me post my 'before' and 'after' pictures a few years ago: Topic: 'The All New 'Before & After Topic v 3.0' – Reply #1632; that 'Reply #' is subject to change pending additions or deletions to that thread.
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https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,168444.1620.html’)
Allow me to refer you and other readers to my personal web-site where I posted my Stanford University Medical Center papers. If anyone here at Susan's will allow my papers to be posted here, please let me know and instruct me how to do that.
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https://slimandme.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/stanfords-program/)
Yes, it was truly the 'Gender Dysphoria Program', While I can't know what the civilians of that day knew, I can tell you that that term was a kinda inside password among we Transsexuals in those 'old days'. Anyone who knew that term had to be involved personally or as an ally and were safe companions.
The Stanford program requirements are listed in about five pages. Cautions included much of what is still advised nowadays. On the other hand, there are differences due to social and legal changes.
- Back then there was no such thing as 'Marriage Equality' - Stanford required that the participant be divorced. Some states prohibited any Transition until the marriage was dissolved, other states required divorce before SRS / GCS surgery ('Neocolporrhaphy' as the term was back then).
- Stanford required minimums at least of two years: either one year RLE before them and one year RLE with them, or if no prior, then two years with them.
- 'Others relate naturally to you as a woman rather than as a Transsexual' was a major warning.
- Their surgery actually cautioned that the patient would not experience orgasm.
- There was no dilation back then. The result was a wide organ. Some surgery centers required that the patient wear an appliance post-op.
- Stanford required that electrolysis be completed before GCS / SRS.
There was no FFS as we know today; Dr. Ousterhout developed that process in the 1990s. Patients had no recourse back then. Among my positive factors was that I was lucky to have started young with minimal 'T poisoning'.
Yes, the medical community was highly un-informed about homosexuality and transvestism versus transsexuality. Transvestites could be easier to exclude. Many homosexual males were tragically directed toward Transition and surgery. One common concept was that one partner of a 'Gay' marriage would do the operation and voila they are a heterosexual couple accepted by society.
- 'Soap' was an ABC network TV show. Jody, a homosexual character (played by Billy Crystal), sought to have the surgery in exactly this manner.
- 'What Sex Am I?' was a 1985 HBO documentary (produced by both Stanford and Janus) that examined M-F, F-M, transvestism, and homosexuality.
My case had its own bumps along the way. I originally resided at quite small, out-of-the-way towns; Transition was complicated before Stanford. Once accepted, travelling to and from Palo Alto was considered a hardship because of my remoteness; they allowed me to present my papers to local counsellors and physicians for local services. Then I moved to metropolitan Salt Lake City where not one physician or counsellor accepted me til 1983; a counsellor a few years ago told me of hearing about my case through professional circles and confirmed to me that I was the only official Transsexual patient at Utah during the early 1980s. My Inter-sex diagnosis also changed my course when doctors declared me medically / biologically female before I had any subsequent operations.
I had one counsellor during the 1990s who seemed to lack comprehending sexuality from gender identity. He frequently admonished me 'You had the operation to have sex with men, not women'. So I never told him about my Lesbian girlfriend.
I span the old and the new - I transitioned four decades ago and I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to do a revision with Dr. Chettawut. I hope this narrative helps.
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