Reading material

[Radar]

So after talking with my sisters I believe I have the best game plan to come out to my mother. Instead of giving her web links I'm going to print them out for her. She has a computer but it's not hooked up and I'm sure if a co-worker caught her looking this stuff up at work it might seem very odd. She can always go to my sisters' to look on internet there but I'd like some stuff for her in the letter.

Anyway, my question is what books might be good to give my mother as well? Did you give your family members books that seemed to help them and was informative without being overwhelming? Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Janet_Girl]

True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism-For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals

Most likely the best choice.

[Radar]

Thanks Janet. Can that be found in bookstores or mostly online?

[Janet_Girl]

I found it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble show it too.

[Amur]

I'd recommend Matt Kailey's Just Add Hormones for a more specifically FTM point of view.  It's a quick read that will answer a lot of questions and it keeps everything fairly simple for someone who's never heard of a lot of FTM stuff before.  Definitely saved me from having to explain everything to my mother. 

[Radar]

Thanks Amur. My sisters & brother-in-laws were already some familiar with ->-bleeped-<-. Them going to my suggested links, doing more internet research and talking to me helped them alot too. I don't know how much knowledge my Mom has on these things (she's 60) and she's not very internet savvy.

[Aussie Jay]

I gave my folks Both Sides Now by Dhillon Khosla - more of a personal account than informational, but both my parents said it was like they were reading about me. Obviously anything I gave them, I read first 

A great book I got from FTMOz was Stand by your man (and stay sane in the process). Its witten by them and I realise you're not over here but maybe your division or the organization has something similar??

[FolkFanatic]

I gave my parents a very brief, very basic print out on FtM transsexualism and G.I.D.. I gave them a rundown of what i planned to do. I gave them a very brief overview of testosterone therapy.

My mom said i gave them too much. Go figure. But i know my parents and if i hadn't given them anything but a "well, i'm pretty sure i am trans..." paragraph then they would have likely poo-pooed it and told me i was just "under stress" and "the feelings would go away."

After they read the letter they had no choice but to accept that i had these feelings, and that they weren't just a passing thought. I did my "homework", so to speak, and knew what i was talking about. Now we're in limbo, i guess - they saw a therapist last Wednesday and came home a bit lighter (though they've bee grumpy most of this weekend - i'm a bit worried that the therapist gave them false hope without ever talking to me... i get to go in on Tuesday, joy.)

I'll probably look into some of these books to give them.

They want "baby steps"  which seems to be NOT working (don't know if you read my post but they took my underwear *sigh* and they don't want to hear anything i say about the issue.) Ah well, we'll see what Tuesday brings.

Good luck to you!