Trans always or just a woman

[ChrissyRyan]

While in Germany, there was a radio program. It was two guys talking and one of them interprets everything to be sexual, but the guy telling the story means it in a strictly innocent way. It was hilarious when he was talking about his new female neighbor's "balcony", how nice it was, it was big and strong (firm). The other guy keeps asking questions about her "balcony" like a perv.

OK. My turn to shut up. 

I ordered a balconette bra.  I heard that it is also called a balcony bra.
I did not order the quarter cup bra I saw though. 

Chrissy

[ChrissyRyan]

But the way, has anyone here actually used a quarter cup bra?
Seems like you might need nipple covers with those things!

[Lori Dee]

But the way, has anyone here actually used a quarter cup bra?
Seems like you might need nipple covers with those things!

I don't think I have. Mine are balconette or demi. I like a little coverage so my nipples don't rip a hole in my top. 

[ChrissyRyan]

I don't think I have. Mine are balconette or demi. I like a little coverage so my nipples don't rip a hole in my top. 

I would get too uncomfortable with a lot of rubbing them on clothes like that.  Soft nightgowns rubbing on them is actually soothing. 

Chrissy

[Lori Dee]

I would get too uncomfortable with a lot of rubbing them on clothes like that.  Soft nightgowns rubbing on them is actually soothing. 

Chrissy

Usually, I don't notice. Just like I don't notice the feel of my socks or jeans. I think the brain just tunes it out. Occasionally, I will be walking and I notice it if I get some bounce or a jiggle. I just smile to myself and keep going. 

[Paulie]

But the way, has anyone here actually used a quarter cup bra?
Seems like you might need nipple covers with those things!

I feel kind of bad having to point this out Chrissy, but the point of the Quarter Cup bra is to appear braless while still having some support. 

[Paulie]

Occasionally, I will be walking and I notice it if I get some bounce or a jiggle. I just smile to myself and keep going. 

I'm just getting there.  This past weekend was the first in many years where I didn't wear a bra.  Both days, and I alway wear one except to bed. 

[ChrissyRyan]

I feel kind of bad having to point this out Chrissy, but the point of the Quarter Cup bra is to appear braless while still having some support. 

I figured it must be something like that.  Not for me.  I just would not wear a bra in those instances.

[Sephirah]

I don't think of it as an either/or kind of thing. I think you can be both. For me I don't see being a trans woman as any different to being a left-handed woman, or a brunette woman, or a green-eyed woman. It's a part of me. One facet in a diamond. Just a different woman in a world of different women. It's part of who I am but it's not who I am. And... reconciling that went quite a long way to helping me feel better about myself.

I am a (probably too) sensitive woman.
I am a (probably too) emotional woman.
I am a trans woman.
I am an often too driven woman.
I can be a sometimes bossy woman.
I am an obsessive-about-some-things woman.
I am a caring woman.
I am a woman.

That's literally how I see it. It's one item on a list that goes into making me... me. Getting rid of that, I don't know... through that part of myself, I have met some of the best people, forged some of the best memories, shared laughter, tears, hopes, dreams... as with some of the other parts of myself. I don't see it as some sticker I have to wear, even though the rest of the world might. It's just part of my life and I'm okay with that. Like the Borg, I have assimilated your gender and sexual orientation distinctiveness into my own, lol.

Alice Krige was kinda hot in that movie. I mean... yeah.

[Tills]

I was having  conversation with my wife, saying that at some point I feel I would just be a woman and move on from being trans. As many members do, I feel I would probably just continue life as a woman and move on from the groups, boards and chats to just living my life as a woman. Her response was you will always be a trans woman no matter what. This really got me thinking. Comments, thoughts ?

If some people feel more comfortable sticking an adjective in front of their noun that's up to them.

I'm a woman. Always have been and always will be. Not a trans anything.

Generally it's really no one else's business to describe your truth. So in that sense it's not your wife's place to name you. That's her issue. Not yours.

xx

[Lori Dee]

If some people feel more comfortable sticking an adjective in front of their noun that's up to them.

I think this comes from the idea that if you were not born with a uterus and had to do things to become a woman, then you are not really a woman, you are a trans woman. Some people feel threatened or maybe are so insecure in their own sexuality that they need to put others down to feel superior.

It is not always done maliciously. There is plenty of misinformation about and people tend to absorb it instead of learning for themselves. This is complicated by the fact that cis women generally do not experience gender dysphoria, so they have no frame of reference, and understanding the condition is difficult. It is easier to fall back and accept what you can understand and accept that as the truth.

As if that wasn't bad enough, those of us who experience dysphoria have an equally difficult time explaining what it is like to someone who can't grasp the concept. It is like trying to tell someone to imagine what the color green sounds like.

As for me, I will always be trans because I know that I need to change my body to align with my self-image. But those who would not know this would accept me as the woman that I know I am.

We still have a problem in society where a majority of people believe that gender is tied to biological sex. Someone who learns that you have transitioned immediately wonders what happened to your genitals. Those are the kinds of questions we always get from people. It will likely continue until the masses become enlightened enough to understand the difference. We have a long road ahead of us.

[Tills]

I think this comes from the idea that if you were not born with a uterus and had to do things to become a woman, then you are not really a woman, you are a trans woman. Some people feel threatened or maybe are so insecure in their own sexuality that they need to put others down to feel superior

So true Lori Dee.

My body wasn't in alignment for a while but then loads of people's bodies aren't in alignment in any number of ways. I know heaps of women who had all kinds of anatomical, hormonal, cerebral 'misalignments' in the judgement of outsiders ... and heaps of others who have had subsequent battles to maintain their womanhood, whether because of illness, operations, or hormonal changes etc. etc.

Human beings are immensely complex and this reductionism of gender and sex to this or that bit of a body is pitifully simplistic.

The fact that I was born with a chromosome mutation that makes me more female doesn't affect this point for others without that condition. It just reinforces it. I like the way in which medical scientists now prefer to use the term 'rearrangement' to 'mutation' because it's less pejorative.

We are all a bundle of complexity. If you identify as a woman from birth then you are a woman from birth.
I didn't have to do anything to become a woman. I am one and always have

As you rightly say, when outsiders seek to categorise it is, of course, in order to subjugate and control the other.

xx

[Sephirah]

Biological, mental, emotional... it doesn't matter. What matters is how you feel. How you see yourself and how you want the world to see you. All roads lead to Rome, as it were. Transition... transitory, it's a descriptor. Describing steps taken.

You are who you are, whatever your journey to get there. No one can wear any one thing as a badge of honour. It literally doesn't matter. As I say, this doesn't have to be an either/or thing. As much as the world seems like it sometimes wants it to be. Acknowledging the "trans" doesn't make you any less of a woman, or man, or anywhere else on the spectrum. It just sees the journey you went through. Nothing more, nothing less.