This is something I hear a lot around here. Full-time, part-time, hell it sounds like a job! I know at least in part what qualifies as each, but what specifically makes you "full-time"?
According to the standards of care
1. To maintain full or part-time employment;
2. To function as a student;
3. To function in community-based volunteer activity;
4. To undertake some combination of items 1-3;
5. To acquire a (legal) gender-identity-appropriate first name;
6. To provide documentation that persons other than the therapist know that the patient
functions in the desired gender role.
Gender specific clothing too, but I don't think that's specifically mentioned.
Doing this all the time would be full time, otherwise it's part time.
Personally, I think you can be full or part time without an official name change because that can take some time. I also think the term 'combination' isn't quite the right word. I mean, if you are working full time at a job, do you really have time to function as a student or in a volunteer activity?
I think that sums it up.
I mean, if you are working full time at a job, do you really have time to function as a student or in a volunteer activity?
Of course you do. At least most of the people I know did all that stuff in combination. Full time students, with part time jobs, part time students with full time jobs. Most of the people in Grad school have jobs, many of them really good jobs. And they still found time to be club presidents, or work with the lecture committee, or any number of organizations. Employers look for that stuff because it proves superior time-management skills,
I guess I didn't think about clubs or other things along those lines.
Me personally, I work part time, go to school full time, and volunteer on an ambulance so I guess I'm doing all three. I was thinking more along the lines of my mother. She works a full time job and is wiped out at the end of the day. She barely has time to do things she likes to do, let alone volunteer.
I guess that it all depends on what your job entails. How much work outside of class your major requires. I know at my school, most people hardly have enough time do get their actual work done (no, I do not go to a party school so that's not the reason). I got lucky with my job where I can do my job and homework at the same time.
Either way though, I don't think it should be really necessary to 1-3 in some combo.
I think its there to cover the bases. If you are employed as your target gender in a full-time job I think most docs call that done.
Quote from: Valerie Elizabeth on January 17, 2010, 01:22:30 AM
According to the standards of care
1. To maintain full or part-time employment;
2. To function as a student;
3. To function in community-based volunteer activity;
4. To undertake some combination of items 1-3;
5. To acquire a (legal) gender-identity-appropriate first name;
6. To provide documentation that persons other than the therapist know that the patient
functions in the desired gender role.
Gender specific clothing too, but I don't think that's specifically mentioned.
Doing this all the time would be full time, otherwise it's part time.
Personally, I think you can be full or part time without an official name change because that can take some time. I also think the term 'combination' isn't quite the right word. I mean, if you are working full time at a job, do you really have time to function as a student or in a volunteer activity?
I think that sums it up.
RE 1-4
I think the idea is that any of those activities are interchangeable for one requirement - that is that you are accepted as and function in society as your "chosen" gender.
Honestly, it probably should read something like
1. To maintain and function in at least one of the following roles:
a. Regular full or part time employment;
b. Regular full or part time student;
c. Regular participation in community based volunteer activities;
Or some combination thereof.
2....etc
***
RE #5
I'm down with that being a requirement for approval for surgery but I'd be troubled if your "one year RLE" doesn't start until a LEGAL name change is effective. On a day to day basis, if you interact with folks using your gender appropriate name, there are not that many situations where the legal name matters.
for instance, my dentist keeps my medical records with my legal name but everyone there calls me and deals with me as Laura.
***
to address the OP, i consider myself full time because I present as female every time I step outside my home (do at home too except for the breast pads, but that's not as relevant when discussing interaction with the world).
there is no longer any situation where I accept any requirement to "man up" in order to participate in. I do everything I did before (with the exception of hopefully temporary unemployment) with a 100% female presentation.
With all due respect to the SOC, the circumstantial fact that I am neither employed or a student has no impact on whether I am interacting full time as female.
Likewise, the fact my DL has a male name on it doesn't affect my day to day interactions or my ability to conduct myself as a female.
So I would argue that the SOC is a bit arbitrary on some points.
In my book... full time is a quite... liquid concept. It means roughly to live, ALL the time, in your gender role of erm.... (looks for the word that wont get her lynched) preference by mental selection?... anyway. It means to be that role... that gender... your gender, completely. It doesn't in my book mean clothes... If people percieve a female in jeans and a sweatshirt... then you're full time if they see you as female all the time. Its just... life as its meant to be as it were in my book.
Hi...
Living is full time. regardless of being male or female . i m a woman with a male background .
work . retired. age 62.
member of womens groups
As to wether i was working or not had no bearing on how or who i am . or if as a male needing to live as a woman .
How i dressed all so . thats up to me not for some G p or a psych or who ever to tell me what i can & cant do .
As it was i met them in male the first times
thing is if you dont know inside . then does any one else . no . so you must tell them . as i did . if you are up front with people then it ll work .
The point is i have all ways been a andro . & because i told them i will be living as my self a woman there was no problems . they accepted what i said . it was not a over night detail it took a long while to getwhere i am now . like a baby you have to grow . & i have .
at age 50 i knew what i was going to do . total no doughts . 6. years later . h r t . 2 . 1 / 2 later s r s & b a . remember . what work s for one may not work for another .
...noeleena...
The SOC provide a pretty good outline to what constitutes full time.
Like others here, I interpret 1 - 4 as "One or more of the following".
5 sort of covers 6. You have 5, then it's pretty easy to prove 6.
I consider myself full time because I forfill all the critera of the SOC. I study full time (where I am only known as male). I have a legally changed gender approprite name. I have interviewed for jobs in a male presentation and have one starting later this year.
I'm not sure about what constitutes documentation - but all my paperwork (legal and otherwise) is in my legal (male) name. My carry ID (ie, drivers licence) has no gender marker (as is the custom here).
One of the additional things going 'full time" ment for me, was that I did not crossdress (and attempt to pass as my birth sex) for any reason, regardless of the situation or people involved. It's a line I felt I had to draw, in order to give "full time" some meaning (to me). The "restriction" has been liberating! :laugh:
full time: when you completely stop living as the gender you say you aren't & start living 24/7/365 as the gender you say you are.
I'll add that in this economy, not being employed and not being a student is not a crime.
The main intent of the SOC work/study/volunteer clause is to say that you can't lock yourself in your bedroom, play video games and say that you are "full-time".
You could be retired and only go to the supermarket, the library and the senior center and still be full-time.
Full-time means presenting your goal gender all the time to everybody.
As Teknoir mentioned, all my papers, bank accounts, SS card, DL, passport, etc. are in my legal, female name. I live, interact with friends, family, and strangers, travel nationally and internationally, work my job, deal with clients, as well as breathe, eat, drink, sleep, and dream as the woman I am, 24/7. Call it "full time" or whatever; I just think of it as life now and I can't realistically imagine life any other way. It was enough to get me my 2 letters for SRS in any case, so at least it's good to know my womanhood is officially sanctioned by the WPATH lol
So does full time include having to use the appropriate bathroom for your target gender? I am actually getting close to going 'full time' and am a bit fuzzy on the bare minimum. I am preparing to start my paperwork for a legal name change and already wear female clothing and light makeup to work (jeans, turtlenecks, jewelry, ladies mule shoes, etc) but I am not 'presenting' as entirely female. More androgynous. But not all females wear makeup and girly things so is me simply stating my name is legally Dana and I am a female enough?
Full time ... Hummm. I would say that if someone were to come to your door, late at night, they would realize that they just woke ( your target gender ) up.
Also the work/school thing isn't ringing true in this economy. I am unemployed, but my UI is in my name, listed as female. The SSA agrees that I am female, as does my therapist and my old doctor.
If you do not revert to your birth gender, because it is easier given the circumstances. Your name is target gender appropriate. And most, if not all the people you are in contact with know you as your target gender.
JMHO,
Janet
Quote from: Dana Lane on January 17, 2010, 08:00:47 AMSo does full time include having to use the appropriate bathroom for your target gender?
well according to the very good definitions given by Renate and Natasha,
Quote from: Renate on January 17, 2010, 06:43:41 AMFull-time means presenting your goal gender all the time to everybody
Quote from: Natasha on January 17, 2010, 06:34:58 AMfull time: when you completely stop living as the gender you say you aren't & start living 24/7/365 as the gender you say you are.
I would think that includes using your gender appropriate restroom. The very act of walking into a public men's room means you are still presenting yourself as male to the public. "Full time" means just that, all target gender, all the time.
Quote from: FairyGirl on January 17, 2010, 03:46:33 PM
well according to the very good definitions given by Renate and Natasha,
I would think that includes using your gender appropriate restroom. The very act of walking into a public men's room means you are still presenting yourself as male to the public. "Full time" means just that, all target gender, all the time.
Thanks, that makes sense!
Renate and Natasha's are great ! One comment you might add, "no cheating". A friend of mine's therapist told her that when she was asking this same question. Really and truly, you do not step back and use your male side at any time.
What is cheating here exactly?
Would sweatpants and a hoodie by 'cheating' by these standards?
I think realistically we are held to somewhat stricter standards, though clothing is a bit more flexible. Sure lots of women wear jeans, t-shirts, etc. Most of them don't do so in order to present to the public as male. I wear jeans and t-shirts occasionally and I am never mistaken for a man anymore, but then again I'm not trying to be. I never go into men's restrooms, whether I'm wearing jeans or not.
Being your target gender becomes your real life, all the time, with all the joys and sorrows that come with it. I think that is sort of the point of the Real Life Test requirement, to see if you can be comfortable and adjust to living as the gender you claim to be, all out, 100% of the time, in all situations.
Quote from: The None Blonde on January 17, 2010, 05:05:17 PM
What is cheating here exactly?
Would sweatpants and a hoodie by 'cheating' by these standards?
Only really bad trannies put on hoop earrings and makeup to go jogging.
I have some customers who treat me differently because I'm viewed as a woman. I know realistically I could just go "Sir, I'm a man - soandso blah blah blah" as a retort. But that's cheating. And
a) They probably wouldn't believe me
b) That'd be an un-fun confrontation
c) They'd probably still not respect or listen to me :V
So I don't and if I have a real misogynistic ->-bleeped-<- in the future, I'll either boob-up (sacking up is for boys) and handle him or shut up and have someone else handle him.
Cheating being like, getting into ladies' night because you're FTM and your DL still says F on it, when you're trying to pass as male.
I will admit that when I was at the renaissance festival 3 months ago, with ->-bleeped-<- and puke and urine all over the outhouses and the surrounding ground... I said screw it and peed on a tree. My girlfriends were peeing in cut off plastic bottles and such but I didn't bother to make one because it was like 2 am.
Only really bad trannies put on hoop earrings and makeup to go jogging.
Don't live in Cali do 'ya?
Quote from: tekla on January 17, 2010, 08:03:38 PM
Only really bad trannies put on hoop earrings and makeup to go jogging.
Don't live in Cali do 'ya?
I'm sorry, but this forum needs to take from facebook and have a like button because THIS is hilarious.
AUtumn: OH god.... I had to pee recently at an event and so.. down I squat and pee in a good foot of snow... COLDEST experience of my life. I got back and my friend just burst out laughing at my expression and said "You've just been for a pee haven't you?" Guess I wasn't the only one that found it *bleep* cold. hehe
THIS is hilarious.
Only because it's true, and Cali can't be the only place where women get all dolled up to go to the gym - because the gym is the hot pick up place in certain social sets. When I go to visit my friends in Marina Del Rey all I have to do to entertain myself is walk on over to Venice and sit down with a cup of coffee and watch the people go past on Ocean Front Walk. It's amazing.
Quote from: The None Blonde on January 17, 2010, 05:05:17 PM
What is cheating here exactly?
Would sweatpants and a hoodie by 'cheating' by these standards?
No, it's not really about clothes. MOST GG's end up in sweats and a hoodie frequently !
It is about presenting yourself as a man because it is more convenient or easy or safe or whatever. Or even just because you're tired of the effort of being a woman and back slide for a break .... No cheating means you believe it, practice it and do not go back.
Quote from: Janet Lynn on January 17, 2010, 11:41:00 AM
Full time ... Hummm. I would say that if someone were to come to your door, late at night, they would realize that they just woke ( your target gender ) up.
Well, there would be the little issue of facial hair but otherwise...
Post Merge: January 18, 2010, 01:51:05 PM
Quote from: Dana Lane on January 17, 2010, 08:00:47 AM
So does full time include having to use the appropriate bathroom for your target gender? I am actually getting close to going 'full time' and am a bit fuzzy on the bare minimum. I am preparing to start my paperwork for a legal name change and already wear female clothing and light makeup to work (jeans, turtlenecks, jewelry, ladies mule shoes, etc) but I am not 'presenting' as entirely female. More androgynous. But not all females wear makeup and girly things so is me simply stating my name is legally Dana and I am a female enough?
I'm not sure what the highlighted phrase mean but just in case you are mistaken - a legal name change takes more than simply stating "from now on..."
There are legal actions you have to take through a court.
Full time is whatever anyone who thinks the term means anything thinks it means. I have a trans friend who isn't changing her name (it's female enough as far as she's concerned). She could change the marker on her DL (under state law), but she doesn't want to jump through the legal hoops required. That's just not how she goes about things. But I don't think anyone could say she's not full time.
For me, I want to get my DL changed, and it's not a problem to do so. Changing my name is also important, because my legal name is very obviously masculine. It presents a problem.
I consider myself full time, and the legal stuff is just paperwork I haven't gotten around to. But I'm not sure a doctor taking a strict interpretation of the SoC would agree. It doesn't really matter, because the only thing that has any bearing on is my ability to get SRS, and that's out of the question for financial reasons.
So I agree with Natasha, but that might mean different things to different people. For some, it might mean never appearing in public without perfect hair, flawless makeup, manicured nails, and fabulous shoes. To others, it might mean living off the grid in a lesbian artist and organic farming commune in Oregon.
Quote from: Laura Hope on January 18, 2010, 01:45:37 PM
Post Merge: January 18, 2010, 01:51:05 PM
I'm not sure what the highlighted phrase mean but just in case you are mistaken - a legal name change takes more than simply stating "from now on..."
There are legal actions you have to take through a court.
Um, that does depends on where you are. Legally speaking in the UK for one, one has change their name when that person start using the new name for all purpose (and they are not doing so to try to defraud somebody etc.). Sure, good luck trying to get legal documents, banks etc. with that new name without getting a stat dec., deed poll or other "documentary evidence"....
Quote from: CharleneT on January 18, 2010, 12:10:04 PM
No, it's not really about clothes. MOST GG's end up in sweats and a hoodie frequently !
It is about presenting yourself as a man because it is more convenient or easy or safe or whatever. Or even just because you're tired of the effort of being a woman and back slide for a break .... No cheating means you believe it, practice it and do not go back.
Interesting...
I see it as more effort to persent male... I've not tried, and i dont really want to.
Have a break?
tired of the effort?
I mean, like, only a dude would do those things.... Surely a woman would feel more comfortable and relaxed as she is?
As for beliving it and practicing... well im not going there. Never really practiced anything, things just fit.
I can easily present as male, in the sense that I can put on a men's shirt (loose enough that my boobs don't poke through too much), slacks, men's shoes, and put my hair in a pony tail -- voila, man. Maybe mistakable for female, but not too variant.
But, no it's not the slightest bit comfortable or relaxed to do so, which is precisely why I don't.
Practicing? Yes, I do that. Just like any teenage girl figuring out what looks god on her in terms of makeup, clothing, how she carries herself, etc. And yes, it comes a lot more natural than trying to figure out how to present myself as a man ever did. That was always really awkward
It's a stupid term used as part of the institutionalization of transition.
Personally, I hate all this stuff like "full time" "real life experience" "real life test". These are our lives not a job or a hobby.
What exactly is "full-time"? Except for the two times that was before 1989 where I was properly dressed as female (I used the appropriate facilities at the given time and I never questioned myself which one I should use), these times only occurred for a couple of days and happened while I was travelling from one city to another. Did I even think this was full time? No, I never even thought about it, even to the extent I had no idea whatsoever, what full time meant even in those days, let alone knowing anything about the Wpath and SOC guidelines.
I arrived in a big city in February 1989, I was on a long holiday (and so I had some time to myself to do certain things, I will go into them sometime later in the appropriate forums) and I had some idea that I was going to live as a female and if things did not work out I had a fall back plan, sort of.
Around May 1989. (I believe, I still have my diaries from those years I will have to dig them out and complete my story). I was working and living full time as a female. So as Natasha said "full time: when you completely stop living as the gender you say you aren't & start living 24/7/365 as the gender you say you are." How you achieve 'full time' and what you define as 'full time' is up to you, given that every bodies path is different.
During those 20 years some, all or none of the OP statements applied to me at one stage or another. Which brings me to the last part and Ashley4214 basically says what I also want to say but rephrase it in maybe a better way. "They are degrading terms which are used as part of the institutionalization of transition" and I hate those terms too. I am living my life as I want to live my life and not by some script concocted by some person with a particular agenda in mind.
Kind Regards
Sarah B
Be who you want to be.
Full time is the opposite of part time. No seriously. If you think you've got to rest to take "a little break" from being a woman, if you go back & forth from male to female. If when asked by an official authority, you give them an I.D. that says "James" & you've got boobs. If you go to college as "John" & tell your professors you're a girl. If you live partially as a male because of your job. If you don't want to disappoint "the wife & kids" & you're still a man to them. You damn sure aren't full time.
"gmmflt" I like that Tasha. :D
"Fulltime" is whatever your therapist and SRS surgeon define it to be. That's all that matters. You jump through their hoops to satisfy their "requirements," get your letters, and move on.
Full-time is when you live exclusively as your target gender without reverting back to your birth sex for any circumstance. On a different note, in today's economy if you want to be employed, you've got to get your butt out there & look for a job. No mystery boss is going to come knocking on your door offering you anything. Often trans people complain that in today's economy, finding a job is a dream. Baloney! Sure if you spend your whole day fooling around in trans sites, of course you aren't gonna find anything
I'm from Bulgaria. I'm studying in the US. I've got a student visa with limited employment authorisation by the USCIS, English isn't my native language & I just found a job in a library. Oh yea I used to be trans too. Small detail that I almost forgot to mention.
As others have said, full time is full time - 24/7. On a recent road trip, I had to pee in the middle of nowhere. I pulled over and squatted down on the side of the car away from the road. Everywhere I went on the tirp I was seen as a woman, behaved as a woman, interacted with others as a woman, thought of myself as a woman. I was (and am) a woman despite the "M" on my drivers license.
Full time is full time. One of the goals of the Real Life Experience is to get irreversible surgery. If you can't live for a lousy year full time before surgery, how are you going to live full time for the rest of your life after your surgery?
Just my two pence.
- Kate
Quote from: Valerie Elizabeth on January 17, 2010, 01:22:30 AM
According to the standards of care
1. To maintain full or part-time employment;
2. To function as a student;
3. To function in community-based volunteer activity;
4. To undertake some combination of items 1-3;
5. To acquire a (legal) gender-identity-appropriate first name;
6. To provide documentation that persons other than the therapist know that the patient
functions in the desired gender role.
Gender specific clothing too, but I don't think that's specifically mentioned.
Doing this all the time would be full time, otherwise it's part time.
Personally, I think you can be full or part time without an official name change because that can take some time. I also think the term 'combination' isn't quite the right word. I mean, if you are working full time at a job, do you really have time to function as a student or in a volunteer activity?
I think that sums it up.
Do they want me to clean their toilet too? Or jump through a flaming hoop? Why all of that crap to just be yourself. Thats wrong... Bloody NO
Does anyone know exactly what they're looking for in #6?
Are they looking for paperwork in your legal name (eg, acedemic records, pay-slips, bank statements, bills, car related stuff, etc), or are they looking for correspondance in which people refer to you using the approprite name and pronouns?
First time around, I interpreted it as "some sort of documented proof that you are doing 1 - 4 with 5"... but that just seems too easy. Surely there has to be something more to it than that?
I took it as official documentation. Academic records, pay-slips, bank statements, bills, car related stuff. Something that show that the world know you as you.
At my GID clinic they take the RLT from when you made your legal name change and the doc's and dated to prove it. Also the doc's of bank account, drivers licence, passport, etc, etc for other supporting evidence. Plus if you are working, payslips in your legal name change.
Stardust
That's what I thought. Awesome. Sorted.
Thank you kindly, ladies :).
Could that be a difference between a clinic and a private therapist perhaps?
Either way, I think it pays to have the paperwork ready for the most by-the-book, no execeptions scenario :).
Quote from: Teknoir on January 27, 2010, 04:59:08 PM
Could that be a difference between a clinic and a private therapist perhaps?
In my case I'm pretty sure it was because I had a long relationship with her. I saw her for three years as my spouse was dying, then another two while I worked through my grief, and then another year of working though my gender issues.
My physician was the same. I had dealt with him for years, especially intensely while my spouse was dying. When I asked him for hormones he said OK - no letter, just my asking.
In my experience, people who know you will treat you as the person they know. People who don't know you will ask for some assurance that what you want is legitimate. I deal with people the same way.
- Kate
Full time is presenting in your chosen gender openly to the world all the time and not retreating back into your registered birth gender. By all I mean friends, family, employers, the authorities and everyone else you come across in your day to day life.
I think that employment/school/volunteer work includes everyone. I am retired. I am not going to get a job and probably won't go back to school, but I do a lot of volunteer work. I read the requirement to mean you are out and about in the world. You are not hiding in your house for a year. Employment/school/volunteer work means you are demonstrably interacting with others. Somewhere I read that "transitioning in your head doesn't count". At first I thought that was a silly thing to say, but I think it needs to be said.
I have had to out myself numerous times with various authorities because I am a woman who is legally male. It has never been a problem for me. I can see how it might be problematic depending on where you live, though. My heart goes out to those who are transitioning there.
- Kate
Quote from: Valeriedances on January 28, 2010, 01:55:08 PM
In a perfect, utopian world, I agree the 12 month requirement for full-time is reasonable. But when we are actively living that phase in the real world, we face discrimination at any moment from our employers and co-workers because they all know, we are out to all of them. The risk the professional system makes us take is huge and there seems to be nothing we can do about it. We face potential job loss at any moment. If you are the sole provider for yourself or family it is a cruel requirement. I worry about it every day, having 10 months to go because my legal name change wasn't finalized until 11/25/09, though I was living fulltime before that.
I want to have my surgery now, I have transitioned legally already and have the means and therapist support. The requirement is wrong. The medical community should help us to transition as quickly as possible. I am not a man in a dress who will regret losing his part, I want that thing gone.
To answer the question, the SOC states the definition of fulltime pretty clear, legal name change, identification documentation and employment, school or volunteer work. It doesn't appear to take into account those in retirement or unemployed, though I imagine activities that are relevant to people in those situations would apply.
To be honest, surgery isnt going to stop the discrimination that you recive... perhaps in a legal manner yes, but what do you intend to do to someone on th street that calls you a guy? flash your new vagina at them and say 'hey jerk im a woman see!?' ?
I haven't seen anyone medical yet apart from my GP but have legally changed my name and title got a new passport that tells the world i'm male my dl has the right gender code on it, bank accounts are in male name mortgage company has been notified all my utility companies have been made aware and are sending out new paperwork BUT my mum still calls me by my female name cos she's 69 and although she approves of what i'm doing she can't remember that after nearly forty years her daughter is now her son. At work my boss knows but still calls me She until i start treatment. People i introduce to now get the male me but the people who know me at work even tho they all call me alex now know me as female cos i've been there for 10 years. so am i full time or not
Quote from: alex k on February 06, 2010, 02:29:46 PM
BUT my mum still calls me by my female name cos she's 69 and although she approves of what i'm doing she can't remember that after nearly forty years her daughter is now her son.
Bless her!! :laugh:
Quote from: alex k on February 06, 2010, 02:29:46 PM
so am i full time or not
Alex, I'm not the one to judge, but I would say that if you present yourself as male 24/7 you are full time. This includes name, clothing, actions, which bathroom you use, and on and on.
If you present yourself at work as male, then that counts regardless of how the people you know still see you. It is an adjustment period for them, too. After about six months I mentioned to a friend that I don't see myself as *him* any more. She said that she didn't either. It takes time for those who go through this process with you - friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, etc.
And my mother called me by my childhood name until she died at age 83. It is wonderful that your mother accepts you as her child. What she calls you isn't that important.
- Kate
Quote from: K8 on February 06, 2010, 03:42:23 PM
Alex, I'm not the one to judge, but I would say that if you present yourself as male 24/7 you are full time. This includes name, clothing, actions, which bathroom you use, and on and on.
If you present yourself at work as male, then that counts regardless of how the people you know still see you. It is an adjustment period for them, too. After about six months I mentioned to a friend that I don't see myself as *him* any more. She said that she didn't either. It takes time for those who go through this process with you - friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, etc.
And my mother called me by my childhood name until she died at age 83. It is wonderful that your mother accepts you as her child. What she calls you isn't that important.
- Kate
Thank you for this x Alex
I'd have to agree with the people who say that full time presentation is full time experience. Legal documents can be iffy; I don't know how rare it is, but I know that my state (Ohio) will not grant a change in legal gender for any reason other than mislabeling at birth.
I'll also say that I strongly disagree with the middle of the night comment. Some people are always going to pass easier than others, and I'm sure there are some individuals that are never going to be able to present as their true gender without some work.
Full time is every single minute of your life lived in your intended gender. When you start to formalize the thing, there will always be some point which will cause problems with some people. In my case, it's the name change. I'm not a US citizen, but I've lived in California for the last 5 years and have no intention of leaving. Furthermore, due to some legal procedure pending (divorce), I'm postponing the actual name change by at least 6 months. And after that, it's gonna be one big adventure to visit the different agencies in the right order, on both side of the borders. But except for the name, and of course the plumbing, I'm living 100% as female. And so glad of it.
Cheers,