Greetings, long time browser first time poster here. I'm in need of some honest advise regarding regarding passing.
I've been considering transitioning for close to four years now. I have my hormones but haven't started. My concern is that I won't be able to pass, because of my age or genetics. Now I realize this is a concern for most MTFs but I have something else I need to be vigilant of.
I suffer from chronic PTSD from abuse, my fear is crossing a line between presenting as both male and female. It's hard to risk being in public and getting "made" as it would cause major stress.
What I would like is honest opinions on if I could pass, I realize that there is no way to be certain. I'm 29 years old. My concern is that my face is too masculine to ever change enough.
Please understand that my PTSD is ingrained as it has required my nervous system, it's not something that can be cured, only managed. I'm not looking for encouragement or the classic "it's never to late". As I am unhappy as a male it will be worse if I were to create more stress by not passing for either male or female.
I would prefer to send my face photo privetly as I'm still nervous about posting in a public domain. I can text, email, or if this site allows send in a private message. (First time here so I don't know). My concern in this area is that my face is on the Internet do to my profession and could impact my financial situation greatly if the wrong person discovered this post.
Please reply or PM me if you are willing to help me with this, I can provid more information if needed.
Thanks
PS: if this is posted in the wrong area I apologize and will move it.
Kayla, welcome to Susan's!
I'm sure a mod will be along shortly, with a bundle of links, but rest assured that there are lots of transitioning folk here, and lots who will be able to give good feedback.
From the results that I have seen here FFS (facial feminisation surgery) is very effective, and the hormone package helps to smooth and round out, the interim time can be troubling, but there are lots of make-up tutorials online to help our faces appear more feminine and that helps with passing. Make the most use of your therapy time to develop coping strategies, for your stress, try to practice mindfulness or meditation to help Center on the 'now'.
My eldest has ptsd, and post-concussion syndrome - so I do understand. We are here to help talk through anything you need on your journey of little steps.
With love
Rowan
Thanks for the welcome Sno! I've actually not concidered Facial surgery, I'll look into that and the cost, hopefully it's not ridiculous.
Welcome to Susan's Place. Many of us feel uncomfortable with our appearance only to discover latter that we are far more passable than we thought. One of my therapists told me I was to masculine to pass as a women. Great confidence builder. In any case, the only facial work I had done was to my nose. The remainder was hair, makeup and the primitive hormone treatment available at the time.
On the other hand, I had a low voice that wasn't trainable and I am 6'2" which may mean many people figured it out pretty quick. If they did, they never said anything about it because I never had an issue where I wasn't accepted in public. People have a false fear about the public but as long as you use a little common sense, you can appear in public safely and without issues.
As for images, the way they work on this site is you host them on another server like Photobucket where you can remove them if you want. Your post then contains a link to the image. If you decide to remove the image from the site, you remove it from the image server and it will no longer display here.
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