Becoming a man
http://www.sovo.com/2009/9-4/locallife/feature/10574.cfmDYANA BAGBY
9/4/09
WHEN J. SHEFFIELD looks in the mirror, he doesn't see the person he knows he is.
Sheffield, 29, is the festival director of Atlanta Pride and has worked for the Atlanta Pride Committee for 10 years. But many people still know him as Jennifer Sheffield.
About a year ago, Sheffield began his transition to male, first by dropping the name "Jennifer" and preferring to be called J. or simply Shef. And, of course, asking the correct male pronoun is used. He hasn't started hormones yet, so his body hasn't taken the shape he sees in his mind.
"I see a different person in the mirror than who I know I am," he says. "My voice isn't lower like I imagine it. For me, I created a different image in my head than what I look like on the outside.
"What you have going on up here," he says, pointing to his head, "doesn't match reality."
KNOWING HE WAS MALE born in a female body "is always something that was there," Sheffield says.
