Journeys through Transition
by Lindsey Barber, staff writer
November 19, 2009 3:09 PM
This is an article from [X]press Magazine.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/news/014063.htmlMarissa Martinez felt out of place most of her life because she was born in a man's body. Her discomfort did not stem from some sexual attraction to males. Instead, she truly felt she was meant to be a woman. Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she first identified with femininity during puberty when the changes her body went through, as a boy, did not seem to fit. She had fantasies about being a woman, would wear her mom's clothes, and shaved only her upper thighs so she would not get teased during gym class.
Despite the intensity of her need to be female, Martinez never told anyone. For almost thirty years, she naively held the common opinion that "whatever genitalia a person is born with determines their sex."
