Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Ladies,

This is a serious question. I am not joking here.

I have a B cup but still go in male mode to the swimming pool. I love having breasts, but they are beginning to show and I have not come out to anyone, except here on Susan's Place. Something's got to give. I cannot go on like this.

Or, is the problem really just me, not being able to fully express my true self?

What do you think?

Maybe I'm thinking too simplistically here but my answer is:

When they are on a woman.

I read the question as when will people think your breasts are female formed.

If so, I'd say that depends on the size of the rest of your body.  a 900 pound man with C cups probably doesn't stand out as having a female chest, but a 180lb man with A cups might.

I feel you, Dani. I haven't started HRT, but I've never been comfortable without wearing anything to cover my barely existant breasts. I feel exposed.

Personally, I felt like it was more about *shape* than size - I could fill an A-cup before HRT, but it looked like saggy soft moobs without a bra on. The first time I could look in the mirror, with a tight shirt and no bra, and see the perky rounded cone shape with nipples thrusting forward... THAT looked like something I was uncomfortable going out in public with.  I ended up wearing a super-compression sports bra under layers of shirts to hide them, in fact.

I do agree that it's also about proportion; when I was a rail-thin teenager, the tiniest bit of breast fat stood out a lot more than those A-cups on my larger, softer adult body. Someone who was clearly overweight with even C-cup breasts, assuming they were sagging and not highlighted by bra or outfit, could probably pass just fine for having moobs.

Quote from: Jenna Marie on October 14, 2013, 10:31:11 AM
Personally, I felt like it was more about *shape* than size - I could fill an A-cup before HRT, but it looked like saggy soft moobs without a bra on. The first time I could look in the mirror, with a tight shirt and no bra, and see the perky rounded cone shape with nipples thrusting forward... THAT looked like something I was uncomfortable going out in public with.  I ended up wearing a super-compression sports bra under layers of shirts to hide them, in fact.

I do agree that it's also about proportion; when I was a rail-thin teenager, the tiniest bit of breast fat stood out a lot more than those A-cups on my larger, softer adult body. Someone who was clearly overweight with even C-cup breasts, assuming they were sagging and not highlighted by bra or outfit, could probably pass just fine for having moobs.

I agree with you completely Jenna and <3 makes a clear point about identity.  I was always aware of my "shadow feminine body image" and now love having a need to wear a bra in public.  Go girls!

Quote from: Jenna Marie on October 14, 2013, 10:31:11 AM
Personally, I felt like it was more about *shape* than size

Ditto, I can see mine getting rounder around the edges when I look at them in the mirror. More of a female shape and they are kind of perky. It's a definite difference over moobs.

It is about the shape.  I have had an A cup most of my life and I would go with out a shirt.  But now I can pass the pencil test and i am a Ccup.

I'm technically a 38 B... nobody would think they're breasts. One side has gynecomastia.
As I lose weight, the cup size stays about the same (at least over 35 lbs it has).

I agree with shape more than size.

Yeah, I think it's more of a shape thing than a size one. There are men with nearly C-cup moobs which very clearly are not female breasts. And there are women with molehills that very clearly are breasts.

I'd say look at the Tanner scale. In Tanner I and Tanner II, you can usually pass them off as moobs, because there's nothing but some slight nipple development. So it's still cone-shaped, and as such will just look like male-ish gynecomastia up until that point. Tanner III (the point where soft tissue starts to fill in around the nipples) is the point where it becomes questionable. At that point, you can start seeing the round shape of the breast, and it starts to look like a breast. Early in Tanner III it might be possible to still pass them off as moobs, but after a few months of soft tissue growth where the round shape starts, that's where people would really start noticing. And anything beyond early-stage Tanner III, no way in hell you'd pass them off as moobs.

Agree with all above, depending on the size and shape of the upper body, whether the breasts protrude beyond the belly all make a difference. I'm probably an A cup but also tall, if a short woman had my girls she'd probably be considered a C cup. I don't think moobs have much glandular development, certainly not the way boobs do which I is why boobs are firmer.

If it is getting "hard to cover up", maybe its time to stop covering it up, dont you think? I mean, how long do you want to keep this a secret ;)

Ladies, here is what I am talking about.

Profile with bra

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2FP1010158_zps12759ac1.jpg&hash=bfb5a96c6208c2ed6c2cdc26211bb8fe7786be7d) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/P1010158_zps12759ac1.jpg.html)

Profile without bra.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2F6b067b6b-ece2-4cf4-9202-0db8f63df12f_zpse967c407.jpg&hash=6f9b12120c11b4e69b8e0b36ff05899d517c5ff3) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/6b067b6b-ece2-4cf4-9202-0db8f63df12f_zpse967c407.jpg.html)

Front with bra

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2FP1010159_zps4b21a3dd.jpg&hash=e46cd7e73635d9d36d9ec4c3199417d510e6c2de) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/P1010159_zps4b21a3dd.jpg.html)

Front without bra

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2FP1010162_zpsdc737a50.jpg&hash=d40f02631596d777f759a85e820d88b7378d6555) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/P1010162_zpsdc737a50.jpg.html)

For various reasons, coming out is not feasible at this time.

My MD put me on finasteride a few months ago and the girls really are beginning to stand up and out.

My twins may make an announcement for me before I am ready.

Comments, please

yeah they are noticeable. i would say unless your willing to bind your chest you will most likely get busted. since its now winter time you could wear a sweater  all the time to try and hide them

Quote from: Tristan on November 11, 2013, 08:59:22 AM
yeah they are noticeable. i would say unless your willing to bind your chest you will most likely get busted. since its now winter time you could wear a sweater  all the time to try and hide them

I love sweaters... they're a big part of my long term plan and only a warm fall / winter (next year) or a very early growth spurt (summer / early fall) will screw up my timeline.

edit: forgot to add another potential screw-up... if I get sent somewhere warm on travel... Hawai'i or San Diego or something. That might be moderately hilarious to me... and also freak me out ;)

I think without a "real" bra, wearing a sports bra and a T-shirt underneath a looser dress shirt could still hide that without binding. I had a lot of luck with that trick, for a while. The sports bra obscures the classic shape (giving you more of that otherwise undesirable "uniboob") look, and layering makes it hard to tell that the chest is sticking out more than the rest of the torso.

Quote from: Dani on November 11, 2013, 08:25:21 AM
Ladies, here is what I am talking about.

Profile with bra

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2FP1010158_zps12759ac1.jpg&hash=bfb5a96c6208c2ed6c2cdc26211bb8fe7786be7d) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/P1010158_zps12759ac1.jpg.html)

Profile without bra.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2F6b067b6b-ece2-4cf4-9202-0db8f63df12f_zpse967c407.jpg&hash=6f9b12120c11b4e69b8e0b36ff05899d517c5ff3) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/6b067b6b-ece2-4cf4-9202-0db8f63df12f_zpse967c407.jpg.html)

Front with bra

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2FP1010159_zps4b21a3dd.jpg&hash=e46cd7e73635d9d36d9ec4c3199417d510e6c2de) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/P1010159_zps4b21a3dd.jpg.html)

Front without bra

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi944.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad284%2Fsawmeinto%2FP1010162_zpsdc737a50.jpg&hash=d40f02631596d777f759a85e820d88b7378d6555) (http://s944.photobucket.com/user/sawmeinto/media/P1010162_zpsdc737a50.jpg.html)

For various reasons, coming out is not feasible at this time.

My MD put me on finasteride a few months ago and the girls really are beginning to stand up and out.

My twins may make an announcement for me before I am ready.

Comments, please

I'd say that is pretty noticeable.  It's not something that I think will out you yet, but I wouldn't take chances.  The sports bra idea is a really good one for when you're dressed.  I've seen many men with very noticeable "boobs" like one of my friends in high school, so you're not in too much heat I don't think.

Depending on age, you *might* Consider a lift.  I was very heavy at one point and many years later i have excess skin even though ive had the weight off for years.  I will definately get a little bit of a lift when i remove some stretch marks from my arm pit(more than likely removing the stretch marks will cause a lift from pulling the skin up there i bet.  Extra skin looks like flab so it isnt super bad.  Dunno if that applies or not, but there it is.

  also if you look like that now, by the time winter is over, you will likely no longer be able to hide them. I'd def consider a sports bra. My cis-female friend has 38dd's and wears a sports bra all the time to make them look more like a b or c.