'Warning! it's dangerous to transition' your thoughts on this article

[Audrey]

hmm is it dangerous to transition.  Well yes but its also dangerous to walk across a busy intersection too.  you just have to calculate the risk/reward.

[cindybc]

Hi sis, nice to see you again, still thinking about you. I agree with both you and Natasha.

Cindy

[Kayden]

All quotes are from the above mentioned website.

Also, high doses of estrogen can often act like male hormones, because of biochemical conversion, and thus actually defeat the purpose of taking them.

Isn't this actually backwards?  Testosterone breaks down into estrogen.  I'm not aware of it going the other direction.

CAUTION: Only 27% of male-to-female transsexuals form lasting romantic partnerships. This means that you are 73% likely to go the rest of your life without a lasting romantic partner, male OR female, if you live as a woman.

This is from December 1988.  How accurate can this be 20 years later?  I'm not saying it's EASY for us, but I wish there were more up to date statistics and that these weren't being passed off as so FACTUAL when it's 21 years out of date.

If having a relationship is important to you, I would advise against it. {transition}

...How are you supposed to have a decent relationship that you are decently comfortable with if you aren't comfortable with yourself?  I know people have gone on with it for years and gotten married, but usually it seems that the need to be oneself overcomes a lot of people or they just remain miserable.

I can't really argue with the employment discrimination statistics.  That's obviously true.  But every group has to fight this battle at some point.  Women, people of color, people of "deviant" sexual orientations (whose battle isn't even over), and now transgender/transsexual people.  Someone has to fight the fight or we get no where as a society.  I guess maybe for some people it's just not their fight?

The bits on the only reason to transition is if you are going to kill yourself... I don't necessarily agree.  I mean, that's a dead giveaway, but if you're going to live a better, more fulfilled life after transitioning, and you think you should do it after being educated about the risks, then do it.

Also, the bologna about not crossdressing because it's addictive and distracts from more important pursuits.  I don't even know what to say.  It's just infuriating mostly.  I can't articulate what I really feel about that nonsense.

"no man wants to have sex with a transsexual when they can have a real woman"....If you're a lesbian in a man's body, your orientation may change if you transition

What about a man just liking the person you are?  Yes there are men who just don't want a "transsexual", but even if I wasn't trans I wouldn't date anyone close-minded.
Also, what about your sexual orientation changing even if you're not lesbian-identified?

Exercise can also help a lot in maintain proper weight levels, whereas a sedentary life often leads postop women to become very overweight. Being overweight can then ruin a woman's chances at feeling well, feeling attractive, and feeling and looking feminine... Many women also habituate into eating as a way to sooth their emotions. In most cases, all it takes to lose weight is to eat less and exercise a bit more, and do that every day. It's just that simple. However, although tha's easy to say, it can be hard to do. In many cases it's as hard as quitting smoking.

Isn't this just LIFE?  Seriously.  This is life for women in general and men who don't have AWESOME metabolisms.

Anyway.  This site does have a lot of good points, but a lot of the concerns are just off and things you need to worry about in every day life.  Correct me if I'm wrong.  Obviously there are more risks when you're taking pills or shots with hormones in them instead of letting your body do what it was born doing and when you're having one or more surgeries (I know I'll have to have at least two) that aren't "medically necessary" (where or not I feel like they are saving/improving my life.

I mostly just feel sorry for this woman.  I wish she felt she had the strength to transition because I think she'd feel better and freer than she anticipates, but that's her choice to make about her life, not mine.  I just fear she's actually under educated about the benefits.  But I don't know her personally.  Meh.  This is all pointless speculation.

[Dawn D.]

Quoted from article:

Thus, if you become a transsexual...........

It's statements like this that bug me about this article. I didn't become anything! I just am!!!

All in all it tends to make me a bit suspicious as to the motives for the entire article. Seems more an attempt at scare tactics than anything useful. Afterall, I'm pretty sure most of us have seen the info given on any of the various sites listed for reference in the article. I know I have. None of it swayed me from trying to reach my goal. I know the risks and accept them as possible, yet not probable.


Dawn

[Vexing]

Oh yes, it surely is dangerous to transition.
I've got a bunch of physical scars already that prove this to be true.
Screw the hormones and the surgery, the most dangerous thing to a transitioning person is other people.
Only takes one drunken, rural rugbyhead to clock you, then suddenly it's a competition between him and his mates to be the first one to knock the ->-bleeped-<-'s teeth out.

[Vancha]

It's dangerous to transition, but it's dangerous not to transition.  When I get afraid of the needles, doctor appointments, and surgeries on the horizon, I always remind myself of the things I'd be missing out on, should I not go through with this: a healthy relationship, a sense of self-confidence, and many other things that might go hand-in-hand with simply feeling as if I am in the right body.  There are so many benefits that outweigh the risks, and each individual has to weigh the odds.  It is my opinion that a transsexual is far more physiological than their transgender counterparts; where one feels unable to be themselves in their biological gender, the other feels the need to express a gender other than their own.  Everyone is always going on about how gender and sex are two separate things, and that transsexuals are, in fact, their chosen gender, but as far as I see it, it is a transsexual's sex that is the most worrying.  Gender expression is important, but there is more to it than that.  That being said, I don't think all transsexuals will transition, although the majority will at some point.  Just think – some people are probably unable to transition due to funds, or family pressures.  Highly religious transsexuals will likely hide in shame, some for their entire lives.  There are probably a lot of people like this that never go on to live their lives, truly.  And knowing this, I also know that physical transitioning is inevitable and necessary.

I also agree with some people who have stated, before me, that it's difficult to have a completely healthy relationship as a person in the wrong gender.  Not only do I emotionally feel troubled, but sometimes my difficulties with gender turn into a lot of anger and resentment.  I was once with a guy, and although I liked him otherwise, I couldn't stand him because he had what I didn't.  Sometimes, I feel like I have a problem no matter what I do – women remind me of what I am, and men remind me of what I'm not.  And this resentment will always get in the way of my relationships, no matter what type they are.  Sexually, I'm too disgusted by, and aware of my body that it is almost out of the question.  It couldn't be a pleasurable experience because I would only feel nauseous, and miserable.

This person sounds to me like a person with too much pent-up religious fervor and belief not only against transsexuals, but anyone of varying gender expression or sexual orientation.  Discouraging cross-dressing is just one of those signs.

[cindybc]

Hi Adrian hun, you describe the way I felt and thought right to a "T"

I am beginning to think that there aren't that many that could classify as a transsexual for the simple reason it is being blurred with the definition of transgender.

I know I am transsexual, that's it period, no shades of grey, there was never any doubt for me once I knew what I was, no sitting on the fence for me. *I had nothing to loose* that I hadn't already lost.

Cindy