I haven't found a mental subdivision, does one exist? I have 2 of the DSM-5 criteria by my own estimate and will delve further into my feelings. I'd like to see if there is any info I can read up on while I'm doing that.
It's like we have CDers and then a big gap and then TS's. Non-op, etc. doesn't seem to cover it as people can be non-op for a variety of reasons. I'm looking for mental/emotional stages.
I'll list out something fake so you can get my gist:
Stage 2a transgender - xxx
Stage 2b transgender - xxx
..
Stage 4 transgender - surgery
This doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
You may not find a good subdivision. The non binary isn't well understood by many doctors and many non binary aren't even sure exactly what they are. I suspect this is because the non binary is far more diverse than we understand it to be. As for what we know about, our WIKI (https://www.susans.org/wiki/Transgender) is one place to look and our greeting links (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,54369.0.html) contains another.
I can't see this being a great idea and it's a concept that the medical community has moved away from except for where it actually makes a useful measurement/description - like cancer or liver disease.
And given the wide variety of trans experiences, I suspect that it would end up being a very long, convoluted list that wasn't really all that useful or helpful.
I think you're right. Guess you don't know until you get there.
I suspect that you are also a little confused by terms. Transgender is an umbrella term that covers a number of different groups like CD's, drag kings/queens, transsexuals etc.
Have a look at the Wiki for better definitions here: https://www.susans.org/wiki/Main_Page (https://www.susans.org/wiki/Main_Page)
Yeh, don't think there's a way to do that or that it should be done anyway.
Scientifically speaking, there are many areas of the brain that are gender dymorphic. However they do not all develop at the same time. Since androgen hormones appear to be the primary source of the neural pattern change, any change in the level of those hormones will affect the areas only if they are in their particular developmental time.
So it is very logical to think that a varying level of androgen in a fetus through pregnancy could masculinize some segments but not others. Following that thought it explains why such a range of trans experience exists as different areas effect different instincts and though processes due to differing neural pathways.
Since it looks like I meet two of the DSM-5 criteria, I was wondering if I am defined as transsexual, to use the older term? Seems like people throw these phrases around meaning different things.
Transgender simply means your brain/mental being does not match your born sex. Could be complete mismatch, could be just a bit that makes you uncomfortable with it. Hence the trans spectrum.
Transsexual is some who is undergoing transition to the other physical sex.
That's about as plain as the terms can be used I think.
What therapists use as a standard for recommendations is whether the person's disphoria affects their life and is a persistent condition. After all, for an average person, understanding what we experience is only a vague concept.
Quote from: amandam on August 04, 2017, 05:51:15 PMI'm looking for mental/emotional stages.
There really aren't different categories, no. But I do think there are some roughly broad stages to
transition, as a rite of passage, with particular sorts of mental or emotional subtexts to them. Again, these aren't precise or universal, but very very general, and of course can even overlap (they typically do).
Coming OutLots of fear, but lots of excitement and relief, too. During this time we're ritually establishing a new identity with other people, and hoping they'll accept and adopt the narrative we present as we separate ourselves from our previous reality. We're gathering and disseminating knowledge, often engaging with therapists, finding support groups. This can also be a lonely period, as we lose people along the way and come to grips with being so different from other people.
Many transitioners will reverse course at this stage to prevent or mitigate their losses. Others (more and more as our world becomes more progressive) find there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.
In-BetweenThis is the liminal stage, all about making changes. Electrolysis, hormones, voice training. All the myriad surgeries. Learning makeup and clothes, if we haven't already. Just a lot of learning in general during this period.
It's a time marked by a lot of waiting, too, as well as anxiety. It's as we pass through this stage that our ambiguity is at its greatest. There can be a lot of compartmentalization here -- dressing at home, but not out in the rest of the world, for example.
Full-TimeThis used to be called "the RLE" or "real life experience" but it's really a "rite of incorporation" -- for one's self, at the very least, there's clarity emerging about who we are and what boundaries we're setting for ourselves.
This stage often overlaps with the Liminal, in that when we go full time we're usually not free of ambiguity just yet, which can be especially daunting in the workplace (a lot transitions fall off the rails here because of that). On the other hand, a lot of transitioners find this is exactly where they need to be, and that nothing further is required -- or possible, for financial and/or medical reasons.
Post-OpThis is usually, but not always, an important milestone for transitioners. Having the sex-change operations. It confers a much stronger legal status. It's often the last thing on the "list" of changes to make to one's body. There's a lot of rest and healing up here, but also often a sense of loss, because the thing we've spent so much time on for so long is finally coming to an end.
It's often at this point that transitioners start leaving the world of transition behind. But it's not actually the end of the journey. Because there's still the matter of how we're going to fit in with the rest of the world.
Out or StealthSometimes we have a choice, and sometimes we don't.
There are two general paths that people go on -- living with an open narrative, or practicing non-disclosure (which is predicated on passing). There are different stresses and joys for each path. It's possible to walk both, having an open narrative in some social contexts (like birth families) and a closed narrative in other contexts. In general, though, most transitioners prefer one mode over the other for how they want to be incorporated back into the world.
All of these "stages" can be preceded by the phrase "I am."
Dr. Harry Benjamin came up with a categorization of various types of trans folks based on his observations from his clinical practice treating transsexuals and published his typology back in 1966. While it has been widely disputed and mostly replaced by today's concept of a gender spectrum that varies from individual to individual I find it very interesting from a historical perspective. He came up with 6 basic types, I think I would fall into the Type 5 transsexual profile at this point:
Type One: ->-bleeped-<- (Pseudo)
Gender Feeling: Masculine
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives as a man. Could get occasional kick out of dressing. Normal male life.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Hetero, bi, or homosexual. Dressing and -- more --exchange may occur in masturbation fantasies mainly. May enjoy TV literature only.
Kinsey Scale: 0-6
Conversion Operation: Not considered in reality.
Estrogen Medication: Not interested or indicated.
Psychotherapy: Not wanted and unnecessary.
Remarks: Interests in dressing is only sporadic.
Type Two: Transvestism (Fetishistic)
Gender Feeling: Masculine
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives as a man. Dressing periodically or part of the time. Dresses underneath male clothes.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Heterosexual. Rarely bisexual. Masturbation with fetish. Guilt feelings. Purges and relapses.
Kinsey Scale: 0-2
Conversion Operation: Rejected
Estrogen Medication: Rarely interested. Occasionally useful to reduce libido.
Psychotherapy: May be successful (in a favorable environment.)
Remarks: May imitate double (masculine and feminine) personality with male and female names.
Type Three: Transvestism (True)
Gender Feeling: Masculine (but with less conviction.)
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Dresses constantly or as often as possible. May live and be accepted as woman. May dress underneath male clothes, if no other chance.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Heterosexual, except when dressed. Dressing gives sexual satisfaction with relief of gender discomfort. May purge and relapse.
Kinsey Scale: 0-2
Conversion Operation: Actually rejected, but idea can be attractive.
Estrogen Medication: Attractive as an experiment. Can be helpful emotionally
Psychotherapy: If attempted is usually not successful as to cure.
Remarks: May assume double personality. Trend toward transsexualism.
Type Four: Transsexual (Nonsurgical)
Gender Feeling: Undecided. Wavering between TV and TS.
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Dresses as often as possible with insufficient relief of his gender discomfort. May live as a man or woman; sometimes alternating.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Libido often low. Asexual or auto-erotic. Could be bisexual. Could also be married and have children.
Kinsey Scale: 1-4
Conversion Operation: Attractive but not requested or attraction not admitted.
Estrogen Medication: Needed for comfort and emotional balance.
Psychotherapy: Only as guidance; otherwise refused or unsuccessful.
Remarks: Social life dependent upon circumstances.
Type Five: True Transsexual (moderate intensity)
Gender Feeling: Feminine (trapped in male body)
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives and works as woman if possible. Insufficient relief from dressing.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Libido low. Asexual auto-erotic, or passive homosexual activity. May have been married and have children.
Kinsey Scale: 4-6
Conversion Operation: Requested and usually indicated.
Estrogen Medication: Needed as substitute for or preliminary to operation.
Psychotherapy: Rejected. Useless as to cure. Permissive psychological guidance.
Remarks: Operation hoped for and worked for. Often attained.
Type Six: True Transsexual (high intensity)
Gender Feeling: Feminine. Total psycho-sexual inversion.
Dressing Habits and Social Life: May live and work as a woman. Dressing gives insufficient relief. Gender discomfort intense.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Intensely desires relations with normal male as female if young. May have been married and have children, by using fantasies in intercourse.
Kinsey Scale: 6
Conversion Operation: Urgently requested and usually attained. Indicated.
Estrogen Medication: Required for partial relief.
Psychotherapy: Psychological guidance or psychotherapy for symptomaticrelief only.
Remarks: Despises his male sex organs. Danger of suicide or self-mutilation, if too long frustrated.
Quote from: josie76 on August 04, 2017, 10:03:22 PM
Transgender simply means your brain/mental being does not match your born sex. Could be complete mismatch, could be just a bit that makes you uncomfortable with it. Hence the trans spectrum.
Transsexual is some who is undergoing transition to the other physical sex.
That's where the transgender spectrum confused me because it included people such as drag queens who have no mismatch.
Quote from: Sophia Sage on August 04, 2017, 11:12:38 PM
Coming Out
Lots of fear, but lots of excitement and relief, too. During this time we're ritually establishing a new identity with other people, and hoping they'll accept and adopt the narrative we present as we separate ourselves from our previous reality. We're gathering and disseminating knowledge, often engaging with therapists, finding support groups. This can also be a lonely period, as we lose people along the way and come to grips with being so different from other people.
Many transitioners will reverse course at this stage to prevent or mitigate their losses. Others (more and more as our world becomes more progressive) find there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.
In-Between
This is the liminal stage, all about making changes. Electrolysis, hormones, voice training. All the myriad surgeries. Learning makeup and clothes, if we haven't already. Just a lot of learning in general during this period.
It's a time marked by a lot of waiting, too, as well as anxiety. It's as we pass through this stage that our ambiguity is at its greatest. There can be a lot of compartmentalization here -- dressing at home, but not out in the rest of the world, for example.
These are good definitions, thanks. I just came out to myself as trans and not a CDer, and I am at the In-Between stage. I've tried herbal hormones and want electrolysis, but haven't done real hormones or any surgery.
I guess I've just been diagnosed and my therapist has to do triage on me to determine the course of treatment. :)
Quote from: Janes Groove on August 04, 2017, 11:31:17 PM
Dr. Harry Benjamin came up with a categorization of various types of trans folks based on his observations from his clinical practice treating transsexuals and published his typology back in 1966. While it has been widely disputed and mostly replaced by today's concept of a gender spectrum that varies from individual to individual I find it very interesting from a historical perspective. He came up with 6 basic types, I think I would fall into the Type 5 transsexual profile at this point:
Type Five: True Transsexual (moderate intensity)
Gender Feeling: Feminine (trapped in male body)
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives and works as woman if possible. Insufficient relief from dressing.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Libido low. Asexual auto-erotic, or passive homosexual activity. May have been married and have children.
Kinsey Scale: 4-6
Conversion Operation: Requested and usually indicated.
Estrogen Medication: Needed as substitute for or preliminary to operation.
Psychotherapy: Rejected. Useless as to cure. Permissive psychological guidance.
Remarks: Operation hoped for and worked for. Often attained.
Thanks Jane, This was interesting. I care not that it is considered outdated. I believe #5 has me pegged though I am currently undecided on the operation.
Hugs,
Laurie
hi all
i wonder if these days we arnt trying to have too many labels to cover every person in the trans spectrum.i hd similar to this with a mental health problem and when i asked the psyc doc he said do u need an exact label,that may not cover exactly what u have. with the trans spectrum nowadays i dont see why a person should fit into an exact drawer.some do dont get me wrong but some of us are a bit fluid.my doc is great he says forget anything other than your trans and u know where u want to fit,we dont need anything more than that.i hate the thought i have to come somewhere on a list to fit in,im me and what i am is me. i see myself as a transwoman but more like a transman who has turned back after hormones but before surgery(a butch woman in short)thats how i feel and thats how the psyc doc said i feel happier as.i was so glad when the trans spectrum was recognised but sometimes now with the amount of labels people want its getting silly i think. matbe im wrong ,maybe people do want a specific label but we are going to end up with descriptions so long it will be silly. ;D
Quote from: Janes Groove on August 04, 2017, 11:31:17 PM
Dr. Harry Benjamin came up with a categorization of various types of trans folks based on his observations from his clinical practice treating transsexuals and published his typology back in 1966. While it has been widely disputed and mostly replaced by today's concept of a gender spectrum that varies from individual to individual I find it very interesting from a historical perspective. He came up with 6 basic types, I think I would fall into the Type 5 transsexual profile at this point:
Type One: ->-bleeped-<- (Pseudo)
Gender Feeling: Masculine
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives as a man. Could get occasional kick out of dressing. Normal male life.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Hetero, bi, or homosexual. Dressing and -- more --exchange may occur in masturbation fantasies mainly. May enjoy TV literature only.
Kinsey Scale: 0-6
Conversion Operation: Not considered in reality.
Estrogen Medication: Not interested or indicated.
Psychotherapy: Not wanted and unnecessary.
Remarks: Interests in dressing is only sporadic.
Type Two: Transvestism (Fetishistic)
Gender Feeling: Masculine
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives as a man. Dressing periodically or part of the time. Dresses underneath male clothes.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Heterosexual. Rarely bisexual. Masturbation with fetish. Guilt feelings. Purges and relapses.
Kinsey Scale: 0-2
Conversion Operation: Rejected
Estrogen Medication: Rarely interested. Occasionally useful to reduce libido.
Psychotherapy: May be successful (in a favorable environment.)
Remarks: May imitate double (masculine and feminine) personality with male and female names.
Type Three: Transvestism (True)
Gender Feeling: Masculine (but with less conviction.)
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Dresses constantly or as often as possible. May live and be accepted as woman. May dress underneath male clothes, if no other chance.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Heterosexual, except when dressed. Dressing gives sexual satisfaction with relief of gender discomfort. May purge and relapse.
Kinsey Scale: 0-2
Conversion Operation: Actually rejected, but idea can be attractive.
Estrogen Medication: Attractive as an experiment. Can be helpful emotionally
Psychotherapy: If attempted is usually not successful as to cure.
Remarks: May assume double personality. Trend toward transsexualism.
Type Four: Transsexual (Nonsurgical)
Gender Feeling: Undecided. Wavering between TV and TS.
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Dresses as often as possible with insufficient relief of his gender discomfort. May live as a man or woman; sometimes alternating.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Libido often low. Asexual or auto-erotic. Could be bisexual. Could also be married and have children.
Kinsey Scale: 1-4
Conversion Operation: Attractive but not requested or attraction not admitted.
Estrogen Medication: Needed for comfort and emotional balance.
Psychotherapy: Only as guidance; otherwise refused or unsuccessful.
Remarks: Social life dependent upon circumstances.
Type Five: True Transsexual (moderate intensity)
Gender Feeling: Feminine (trapped in male body)
Dressing Habits and Social Life: Lives and works as woman if possible. Insufficient relief from dressing.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Libido low. Asexual auto-erotic, or passive homosexual activity. May have been married and have children.
Kinsey Scale: 4-6
Conversion Operation: Requested and usually indicated.
Estrogen Medication: Needed as substitute for or preliminary to operation.
Psychotherapy: Rejected. Useless as to cure. Permissive psychological guidance.
Remarks: Operation hoped for and worked for. Often attained.
Type Six: True Transsexual (high intensity)
Gender Feeling: Feminine. Total psycho-sexual inversion.
Dressing Habits and Social Life: May live and work as a woman. Dressing gives insufficient relief. Gender discomfort intense.
Sex Object Choice and Sex Life: Intensely desires relations with normal male as female if young. May have been married and have children, by using fantasies in intercourse.
Kinsey Scale: 6
Conversion Operation: Urgently requested and usually attained. Indicated.
Estrogen Medication: Required for partial relief.
Psychotherapy: Psychological guidance or psychotherapy for symptomaticrelief only.
Remarks: Despises his male sex organs. Danger of suicide or self-mutilation, if too long frustrated.
Leave it to another dinosaur...... I think WPATH also groups along similar ways
I always called myself a CD++. I didn't exactly hate my male body, just would rather not have it, which in turn implies some level of medical transition. Thanks to HRT I am now (mostly) happy living in my own skin. Never had an issue with the dangly bits either. We've had some great times together. Yet these days I get flashes of genital dysphoria. I suspect due to issues non-GD that are pressing in my life.
Everyone's particular flavor of GD is different and unique unto themselves. Yes, there are broad categories of common factors. Unlike the above lists, they are not necessarily a linear progression, nor is any movement uni-directional. "Somewhere On the Spectrum" sums things up best.
However I personally have found that thinking of myself in my current state of reality today as Non-Binary does distract me from the wish or dream of someday living and presenting full-time as a female. But that is me, living life on the corner of Hopelessness and Futility
Nothing worse than the Harry Benjamin Syndrome "true transsexual" mindset. Others identities are false?
Topics like this are the reason TOS #10 exists. Tread carefully, folks.
Hugs, Devlyn
Benjamins stuff is for cis people...its putting people in neat little boxes and as Devlyn has mentioned sets up some fairy destructive arguments.
Why do we need to have the subdivisions, what purpose would they serve and more importantly who would they benefit?
QuoteThat's where the transgender spectrum confused me because it included people such as drag queens who have no mismatch
I would bet every drag queen feels a bit of discomfort in their mental to body image. Why else want to dress and perform as such? For them it reaches their needed outlet for the discomfort in a culture where being a "performer" is ok for them to feel accepted.
I think there are just so many different parts of our brains that can be partially virilized that neat little subdivisions aren't feasible.
Quote from: ElizabethK on August 05, 2017, 07:53:41 AM
Benjamins stuff is for cis people...its putting people in neat little boxes and as Devlyn has mentioned sets up some fairy destructive arguments.
Why do we need to have the subdivisions, what purpose would they serve and more importantly who would they benefit?
The human condition.... Peoples brains like organizing things into neat little boxes. Simple and mostly works. I think at some level various as well as overlapping groupings are needed for Cis people purposes, they just haven't a clue at all about GD. Plus it helps to dispel all the negative stereotypes placed upon us.
We also like have neat little boxes as a means to comfort ourselves. It's a rough measure of where on the spectrum you may be residing this moment. Plus how many times have you seen written here on Susan's the fantastic leap many make from "I think I may be trans" to "OMG I cannot possibly transition. It will blow up my life. But that is what everything and everyone says I need to do". I for sure like knowing there is a grey zone in between those two extremes. Adding labels or names gives them some color (between the lines). Labels provide some level of comfort in knowing you are not all that unique in your feelings, that there is even a name for how you (mostly) feel.
BTW - I was always pretty uncomfortable about the label "True Transsexual". From a purely scientific POV it is correct. But how many researchers are there vs the rest who can use the term as a bludgeon? TBH - I know of no one that nicely fits any one category as defined.
I know I am not nor have I ever been a cis male. I know I will not, nor will I ever be (in this lifetime) a cis-female. How I feel and think about myself is unique to me. What I feel and what I think may correlate to how others do and just may have a loosely defined "Term" for it. Having a name for something is a sort of short-hand is used properly. Like many other words, it can also be a weapon. Sometime even used against you by yourself. People are funny that way
Started a thread some weeks ago that seems to address this subject "Who Am I Again? An Answer For All of Us"
Seems to me we try to complicate so many things, when we have already made our lives more difficult with being transgender.
As a "new" transgender here, I was thinking a thought when I started this thread, "I'm transgender, what does that mean, I'm not a CDer, not sure if I need surgery, what the heck am I"? Just trying to see if there are categories where I can place my feelings to further understand myself. Maybe people between CDer and TS should be called an old term, "transgenderist". Eh, what do I know. :-\
Patience grasshopper, all will be revealed in time. ;D Many people criticize things such as required therapy and RLE as gate keeping. The truth is they give you the time to find out what your true feelings are and to adjust to your new life. I learned so much about myself in the three year prior to surgery that I would have never learned had they given me surgery without those three years. Just take it a day at a time and keep making small changes in your life until you get there.
Yes Master Po, oh I mean Dena. :D
It's the computer scientist in me that makes me post these things. ;D
I love Spock and Caine. I need to minimize my Spock and get my Caine on.
Quote from: amandam on August 05, 2017, 12:08:02 PM
As a "new" transgender here, I was thinking a thought when I started this thread, "I'm transgender, what does that mean, I'm not a CDer, not sure if I need surgery, what the heck am I"? Just trying to see if there are categories where I can place my feelings to further understand myself. Maybe people between CDer and TS should be called an old term, "transgenderist". Eh, what do I know. :-\
After eight years into "The Quest" (que the coconut's) I still have no idea for sure who or what I am. However I do have a much stronger foundation upon which I can build on. I always knew I was not "Just a CD" hence my CD++. (Abacus scientist with the hard cover first edition of Kernigham and Ritchie)
My therapist questioned me about labels when we talked about the NB thing. You are what you are. Why do you need a label? she asked. Grabbing onto something sure is more comforting then floating around in this great void. Any life-saver in a storm I say.
Quote from: JoanneB on August 05, 2017, 08:26:00 AM
BTW - I was always pretty uncomfortable about the label "True Transsexual". From a purely scientific POV it is correct. But how many researchers are there vs the rest who can use the term as a bludgeon? TBH - I know of no one that nicely fits any one category as defined.
Thanks JoanneB and I do agree mostly with your assessment, my question was somewhat rhetorical in nature and I have some very strong views on the Drs outdated categories. But I think your post on the whole is spot on and you made a number of eloquent points .
Ruh roh, Raggy,
I see a connection to 5 of the 6 DSM-5 criteria. Why do I "like that". It's like I want it to happen. Kinda scary.
Classifications and distinctions can be useful in understanding. But, all to often the are used to divide.
Once said divisions are identified, opposition can then pick a given division to marginalize. Focusing
on that which we share builds larger and more cohesive entity. At a certain size, division to marginalize
become impractical.
Quote from: Devlyn Marie on August 05, 2017, 07:38:54 AM
Nothing worse than the Harry Benjamin Syndrome "true transsexual" mindset. Others identities are false?
The way I read Benjamin, he wasn't saying all other identities are false. I don't believe he was ever quoted as having claimed that. He was, I think, exposing that transsexuals differ from other gender non-conformers inasmuch as they desire medical intervention and thereby constitute a distinct grouping among the gender nonconforming population. And as a pioneer in the field of gender research, and as an important figure in transgender history part of our heritage and basically the founder of the WPATH and something of a bright light in a very dark time for transgender folks, I don't think he was even aware that he would be offending people at some point in the future.
From Wikipedia:
"Male-to-female transsexualism has sometimes been called "Harry Benjamin's syndrome" after the endocrinologist who pioneered the study of dysphoria.[38] As the present-day medical study of gender variance is much broader than Benjamin's early description, there is greater understanding of its aspects,[23] and use of the term Harry Benjamin's syndrome has been criticized for delegitimizing gender-variant people with different experiences."
Also, Benjamin usually describes MTF transsexuals as men. You can have him if you want. The medical community has left his theories behind, and I shall do the same.
Hugs, Devlyn
I found some info from Lynn Conway. She differentiates between transgender and transsexual on her Umich page. I like how she laid it out as, basically, mild transgender, middle transgender, advanced transgender (transsexual), to paraphrase. Even if not that scientific it gives me some guidelines.
Does it really need to be more complicated than genderqueer?
No division - we are all included, but clearly marking our difference - that we think about our gender (a lot), and our conclusions differ from the simplistic models devised by society, and some have very real clarity of what their gender is, and what they need to do to move toward that goal.
It could be fluid, it could be genderless, it could be opposite. The reality is, that it's just different to the fixed congruent world of gender that most of society can work within.
Rowan
I am reposting this from some weeks ago, just seems to answer some questions and make things less complicated at least for me. Subject was "Who Am I Again?" Hope this may be of help to others.
I am Transgender
I am transgender, I have accepted myself as transgender. I choose to live my life as it is, without the use of HRT, RLE, of GCS. My life is authentic and not biased towards others.
I am transgender, I have accepted myself as transgender, I have chose HRT to ease my dysphoria and its ability to help align my body and mind as one. I choose to live my life without the need for RLE or GCS. My life is authentic and not biased towards others.
I am transgender, I have accepted myself as transgender. I have chose HRT to ease my dysphoria and its ability to help align my body and mind as one. I am now living my life as RLE so that I can more realize my life as the woman I have always wanted and know myself to be. I am now doing that on a daily basis, my life is authentic and not biased towards others
I am transgender, I have accepted myself as transgender. I have chose HRT to ease my dysphoria and its ability to help align my body and mind as one. I am now living my life as RLE so that I can more realize my life as the woman I have always wanted and known myself to be. I have chose GCS to make that final transition to make myself feel complete and whole, my life is authentic and not biased towards others.
We are all one in this community, from the acceptance of who we are, to how we choose to live that acceptance. One is no more authentic than the other, nor should there be any bias toward others simply because they choose to live their life differently than their own. Support each other, help each other, we all have chosen a more difficult path in our life's journey. Be there for each other, we will all become better community members by doing it.
Quote from: Sno on August 07, 2017, 06:14:13 AM
Does it really need to be more complicated than genderqueer?
Rowan
Well, we may never end up with the same definitions. I never use the term queer to describe myself because of what it meant to me growing up. It was a hate filled word. A lot of folks use it now and that is fine for them.
I think the term is not as important as what Denni was expressing, acceptance. We usually don't get that self acceptance without help or feedback from others. This site is a great place, but there are pathways that are stressed/talked about/ maybe even (not maliciously) respected more than others. If you noticed, she said a number of times, "my path is authentic." Denni's path may not be the most common path seen on this site, but I respect her like crazy for finding what works for her. No one should be judged negatively for their pathway or particular needs (unless they hurt others). I am not criticizing the site as much as agreeing with Denni in the need for a reminder to keep the respect. I have recently wondered about my place on this site. I have made a move going from pre op to post op. I have wanted to be respectful of those who want to be in that very situation. I know how it is to wait for something so important. I wondered, after surgery, if I would be viewed as an outsider by some pre-op ladies who I might have talked or commiserated with before. Will I now be an outsider? I think at least I hope I can dismiss that thought and just fit in as one of the many here on Susan's. Like Denni says, "and not biased toward others." (Dang Denni, you so smart!)
So, I have a suggestion for our original poster. Maybe you could refer to yourself as "Most beautiful and glorious gender explorer." I mean if you don't want it, I'll take it. lol
Moni