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Feeling pretty sick right now.

Started by Liminal Stranger, February 07, 2013, 10:20:01 PM

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Liminal Stranger

I just had to look back on and finalize the registration for the SAT that my mother pretty much broke into my account and did while I was at school, to make sure all the information was accurate. And what do I see on the first page?
Well, what else? Name, DOB, Gender. Gender.

WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL ME THAT WHAT I LACK IN MY PANTS DETERMINES WHAT I AM?!

I had enough bad experiences this week being called "young lady" after I finally thought I was passing so much better, and now this. I had to print a ticket with my face on it listing me as female. My stomach is doing acrobatics and my knees are still shaking. I don't know if I can put up with this for much longer, because it's very rapidly pushing me towards insanity. The thought of people seeing me as a girl makes me violently sick, and I'm too damn shy to just speak up about it already, because some part of me actually worries about what they think. I need to act on this because it's just getting worse with every day that goes by, being called "she" and "her" and "young lady" and "girl". How do I get past the sickness from fear to let others know who I am? How can I tell them, knowing that I'll have to abandon them completely and leave no trace behind if I ever want to be truly and completely stealth, maybe with the exception of my boyfriend as long as he doesn't out me in an act of spite if we ever argue?

I need control of my life back because I can't live as two people anymore. It's killing me on the inside.




"And if you feel that you can't go on, in the light you will find the road"
- In the Light, Led Zeppelin
  •  

geek

I apologize in advance for any format and typing errors in my post, as I'm on my phone and the effort to go inside to my computer is just too much to comprehend... ;D

Anyway


You'll either get to a point where you're going to do it because you want to live free, or you won't, no one can make that call for you. If you're planning on abandoning everyone to live a totally stealth life (not something I personally understand but whatever) then really you're going to lose everyone anyway, so there's not much need for concern there really.

If you're listed as female and your name is female and you're still in the closet, then while it sucks you can't really do much about it, but perhaps it'll give you the push you need to do what is right for yourself.

I do wish you the best of luck though, and I'll remind you that you only get one shot at life, the people in your life already live theirs so live yours for you




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Simon

It is hard when you're young and still at home. As cliche as it sounds, do know that it does get better. You will get through this and thrive once you're able to live under your own roof.

In the meantime, the best advice I can give you is to not care what people think. You know who you are. You know who you're going to be. All of the kids, teachers, and whoever else won't mean a thing in a few years. Just let it roll off like water on a duck's back. Their opinions of you don't matter and don't let it shape how you feel about yourself. Your mom probably needs time (yes, sometimes it take A LOT of time. Fourteen years here and my mom still has issues).

I do agree with the person who posted above. If people don't know you're trans (and you don't pass as a male yet) then they're going to misgender you. Do know that it's not out of spite on their part. They don't know any better. How could they?

It's going to be tough for awhile. In the end you'll get there and it will have all been worth it.
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Liminal Stranger

I don't really know that I want to wait for my mother to take her sweet time in coming to accept it. So many things much worse and much weirder haven't been any problem to embrace for her, so why this? What is so important about keeping me this way, enough that when I said today that I still think my hair is too long, she screamed/asked if I wanted a haircut like a boy and hit me for "wanting to look even more like a freak". My whole life I've been called a freak and a weirdo, mocked for disabilities no one could diagnose until much later, alienated from family because of my parents. Does she really think I'll go shouting from the rooftops that I'm a transguy when I'm done transitioning? I'm not proud of it, just how I'm not proud of my heritage or the country I was born in. I didn't do anything to become this way. I really do want to let it roll off, but it's gotten to the point that I resent girls for being what I hate being, and guys for being what I so badly need to be. They treat me differently, and don't see me as one of the guys because I'm missing some things downstairs.

What makes the misgendering hurt so much is when people continuously get it right throughout a day, and I finally think that I can do this- until someone comes along and ruins the whole thing. I once asked a worker in a store three times not to call me ma'am, and it was like talking to a wall. My mother, of course, comes along and makes matters worse by proclaiming that I was her daughter and saying that I was the computer expert in the family and really just going on for hours. Every female pronoun felt like someone was simultaneously slicing my head with a chainsaw and violently grinding cheese graters into my ears. It fills me with anger and hate to be called female and there isn't a damned thing I can do about it.

I feel like this clock is ticking in my head, because that ideal I dreamed of seems impossible now. The colleges all know me as female, and hordes of e-mail and snail mail alike come with my birth name, sometimes preceded by Ms. or Miss to just rub it in my face. At this rate, I have no chance of possibly being on T until something over four years from now when I leave for graduate school, and then I'll have to save up for so many things that it's mind-boggling and seems like a huge looming wall. I wish that I had said something years ago, maybe when this nightmare of puberty first started, but I was too scared and chalked it up to simply not wanting to grow up.

School is supposed to be for learning and interaction, to build skills and arm ourselves with knowledge for the real world. But I'm sitting here on a Friday, about to cry because I'll have to endure another day of walking around as a girl, followed by walking home in a blizzard to a home where I am forcefully known as a girl. The internet is really my only escape, and my mother wants to take it because I spend too much time on it. Ironic, considering she drowns her sorrows in soap operas almost 24/7.

I lose sleep over this and struggle to do crazy amounts of work whilst saying I have none so she stays off my tail and actually allows me to work, because if I tell her I do have something, she won't leave me alone for the rest of the evening and night. I end up staying up searching for some sort of inspiration, doing work, and crashing into dreams of being a boy, or one of my many nightmares, or just pitch blackness. I am tired and short on patience; my health is deteriorating even faster just because of the sheer amount of stress this whole thing gives me. I can't change my name because she forbade it; I can't change my preferred gender within the school even informally to teachers because my mother might find out somehow and explode at me. The loneliness in school and the emotional attacks from her are crushing me. All I want is for people to know me for who I really am and acknowledge that, so I can catch a break somewhere instead of life feeling like one neverending torture session.




"And if you feel that you can't go on, in the light you will find the road"
- In the Light, Led Zeppelin
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King Malachite

I understand where you're coming from.  I'm in the closest and I know my mother won't be the most accepting.  She also thinks that I spend too much time on the internet even though it's my only means of escape.   I know how it feels to lose your sanity because people can't see you (or accept you) for the real you and having to wear a mask and on top of that, dealing with health issues. I'm going through it too.

I personally think it's better NOT to think about these things all at once.  Look at the big picture and try to make little goals for yourself.  What is your big goal?  Is it to move out of you're mother's house so you can transition?  Transition when you go to graduate school?  If so, ask yourself how can you reach this goal?  You say that you will have to save up for so many things in the future.  Can you start saving for these things (or possibly transition) now? Doing little goals will help and it won't seem like it's all thrown at you at once.





Feel the need to ask me something or just want to check out my blog?  Then click below:

http://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,135882.0.html


"Sometimes you have to go through outer hell to get to inner heaven."

"Anomalies can make the best revolutionaries."
  •  

Cindy

Hi LS and Malachite,

I really feel for you guys. You come over as being really nice guys and have to struggle like hell.

I realise that neither of you can get T for the moment. I don't know why but please that is another issue, but can you get puberty blockers to kill the feminisation process?

As I think you both know I'm in Australia and the medical system seems totally different, but I do know that (excuse my foul language) young females who are rejecting feminine puberty and menstruation (for many reasons) are given blockers to slow the process down. This is monitored  until a time they can either accept or want female puberty or, as in your cases, can make the informed decision to go onto T as transmen.

Not sure if that is available to you but I was thinking if you could convince your family doctor that you did not want to be feminised during puberty but wanted time to make a legal  medical decision as an adult  (18 in USA? or 16?) when you were able to they may play ball.

I highlighted medical as over here 18 is the legal adult age but at 16 you can make medical decisions for yourself in private without your parents permission or knowledge. Again excuse the language, many females go onto contraceptives and have no desire for their parents to know. At 16 they can do make many medical decisions, except surgery, without parental permission.

Just a thought.
Oh please don't post your ages.  (I think I remember BTW)
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chuck

Hey Liminal,
First of all I am sorry you are going through this. It's sonds pretty rough. I am not sure why you are waiting to start testosterone, but if it is because you need your mother's approval, then that is a mistake. As long as you are legal, and comfortable taking testosterone, I would start it now. If your mother wants to subjegate you to femaleness, youre going to have push back. Nothing says man like a beard and a deep voice.

If there are some other reasons why you absolutely can not start testosterone, then you will have to struggle until you can start taking it. I know it sucks, but remember we have all been there. And we all survive. In a fews (like Simon said) you will look back and it will seem so absurd that anyone called you "she".

So start T. If you cant, then bide your time, join a gym, play chess or whatever. Pass the time doing things that will improve you so that when you start your transition, you will be ready . 
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DriftingCrow

I know you're frustrated, but unless your gender marker is legally changed on your official photo ID, your mom had to put F on the SAT documents. The SAT administrators check your ID and everything on your ID needs to match up with the documents submitted or else you can't take the exam. (You might remember this: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/23/sat-cheating-scandal-widens-as-20-students-charged-in-new-york/ )

I wouldn't let being an "F" on all the school's documents put you down, most schools are really great at working with LGBT students. Once you get enrolled in a school, I'd try talking with the Dean of Students and see if something can be arranged for you. Some schools even let you check off your perferred gender and put in your perferred name which they'll use on your documents.

Why would you have to wait until you finish college or grad school to start T? A lot of schools have their own insurance plans you can get on really cheaply, it's just included in your fin aid costs, and it seems like a lot of them cover trans medications/procedures (one guy at the ftm group I went to said his university's insurance plan will even cover bottom surgery). Everything might seem hard and overwhelming now, but if you're getting ready to take the SAT, you're probably getting close to being 18 and then you can move out of your mom's house. Go to a college with a dorm, and even if you're stuck in the female dorms for a bit, at least you're out of your mom's house. She might cool off if you two get some space. You also aren't stuck living in a dorm for all 4 years, you can talk to the financial aid office because many school allow you to take the aid that would go to cover your dorm/boarding costs and just give you a check every semester to cover your living expenses.

ਮਨਿ ਜੀਤੈ ਜਗੁ ਜੀਤੁ
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Liminal Stranger

Please, those stupid Stuy kids messed up everything. Regents tests go in some crazy envelope now and the scores don't come back for a crazy amount of time. And I get that everything needs to match up, but my sad lacking of parts shouldn't be an identifying factor- not on school ID, not on a test. I'm sure as hell not dropping my pants for them to check, so who is going to verify that? Seems stupid to me.

I don't really know what it is that makes interpretation of my gender vary from person to person, but it does. And it'd be great if I knew why one person calls me "sir" and the next "young lady" five minutes later. Living on my own or in a dorm would be nice, but my mom won't let me for undergrad and living in a female dorm would just kill what's left of my ego. Won't even be of legal age yet when I get there, and that's still a while away.

I'd like my mom to cool off but knowing her, she won't. It's just a huge PITA that people need to add "girl" to the beginning or end of sentences, hug me against my will when guys get the standard handshake/fistbump and I've clearly asked not to be hugged, pick me up because it's funny, say that I could be a "weathergal" or something stupid when I said I could be a weatherman (long story involving the mess outside), just stuff like that. It builds up and I can't catch a break because my mother is always talking to the dog or herself about me in the first person. I try to disassociate but it just sucks.

Then there's people who spot me and yell out my birthname instead of the nickname that they gave me and they use except for the purpose of announcing that they have found me as if they had a megaphone in their voice box. Being gendered like that pisses me off to no end. Which is bad, because horrible weather and stress make my bad leg hurt more. I'm not even 18 and my body thinks it's 90. What joy.

I'd go punch the wall, but that'd probably leave a hole like I accidentally did with a plastic doorknob, and I thought I'd never hear the end of it. My bf has poked holes in his wall and never been yelled at  >:(

There's the other problem- both my parents are horribly condescending to each other and to me, all the time. I know parents are supposed to annoy their kids, but there's a difference between that and assaulting my psyche and then getting angry and ranting at me for being depressed and having a low self-esteem. But that's another story.




"And if you feel that you can't go on, in the light you will find the road"
- In the Light, Led Zeppelin
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tvc15

You got a phone, Max? If you're comfortable with texting we can exchange numbers. You're going through hell right now and it's looking like you really don't have much respite. I'm totally down to chat whenever. It's easy to tell someone to just ride it out, but you're facing negativity and stressors every which way you turn and time probably can't move fast enough for you. Your parents' issues are their own. If they truly think you're mentally ill they shouldn't be berating you. They are expressing their feelings in a harmful way--but that's on them, it's only indicative of their own personal failings. Whatever they tell you is BS and I hope you understand that. You are clearly a smart dude and one day you'll have risen above all this crap. I wish there was a way I could actually help.


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Felix

QuoteWhat makes the misgendering hurt so much is when people continuously get it right throughout a day, and I finally think that I can do this- until someone comes along and ruins the whole thing.
Even if you passed perfectly and had all your paperwork changed and felt like a hundred percent honest and healthy man, somebody would misgender you. There's always that one person from your past (or present) who knows you transitioned and can't really get it through their head.

Sometimes I'll forget for days at a time that I'm not cis and then somebody will refer to me as "Leah's mommy" or "Mrs" whatever. When it happens it can take me quickly from feeling fine to miserable and emasculated, but I feel best when I pretend not to notice.

Pretending not to notice is not possible when you are still in the process of taking action to be recognized as who you wish to be, of course, but eventually you should be able to ignore it.
everybody's house is haunted
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aleon515

I *hate* being misgendered-- really angers me. (See recent previous thread on "that wouldn't be ma'am" on fighting back in a sort of gentle way.)

Cindy, the US medical "system" is ridiculous. Blockers are actually really MUCH more expensive-- I think about $1000 a year or so. Very supportive parents will do this for their kids and get them on their insurance (where they are often covered, that is IF they have coverage). But getting them on your own? It would be easier to afford T on your own actually. Injectable T is not an expensive drug but can be hard to get prescribed esp for a teen.


--Jay
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Felix

Quote from: aleon515 on February 09, 2013, 03:27:46 AM
I *hate* being misgendered-- really angers me. (See recent previous thread on "that wouldn't be ma'am" on fighting back in a sort of gentle way.)

Cindy, the US medical "system" is ridiculous. Blockers are actually really MUCH more expensive-- I think about $1000 a year or so. Very supportive parents will do this for their kids and get them on their insurance (where they are often covered, that is IF they have coverage). But getting them on your own? It would be easier to afford T on your own actually. Injectable T is not an expensive drug but can be hard to get prescribed esp for a teen.


--Jay
I concur from what I've seen. It's very very difficult for most teens to get blockers. Testosterone is much easier and cheaper, and I think that fact contributes to an unhealthy amount of grey/black market use.

Not for trans reasons, but I wish I could get my kid on hormone blockers. I can barely get her bathed properly, and if she starts bleeding...that's another thread. Still. Healthcare is a nightmare in the U.S. Even people with money find it to be a crazy labyrinth.
everybody's house is haunted
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Liminal Stranger

Yeah, as far as I know blockers wouldn't help me at all. My body seems to be finished with all the puberty stuff but just went about it in a dysfunctional way. Started at a really young age and it was a nightmare.
Anyways, my plan was always to cut off contact with those I know now once I transition and move far away- sad, but really the only possibility of truly being stealth. It just feels better that no one would know that way, because then everything would be the way it should have been if not for someone in the chromosome department screwing up. I swear, sometimes it feels like I was built out of a box of spare parts.

@tvc15 Thanks man. I might take you up on that sometime.

Right now I just hope that I can be healthy enough to live on my own asap without worrying that something ridiculous will happen requiring another person's help. I get annoyed at the prospect of possibly needing assistance from someone. And then she demands to know where my thinking is like a man's. Funny because they're almost all stereotypes and I fit a good number of them.




"And if you feel that you can't go on, in the light you will find the road"
- In the Light, Led Zeppelin
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DriftingCrow

Sorry Lim, your mom sounds extremely controlling.  :-\ 

I know she won't listen, but family counseling would probably be beneficial. She should start letting you go, if you're going to college soon you should be able to live in a dorm. It's part of the whole learning process. Sure, it's cheaper to live at home, but it seems like a horrible situation. Unless your mom is paying for everything, I'd just try really hard to get into a college out of state or further away where driving/taking a train wouldn't be practical. Or, if you are stuck at home, just live at home the first year while you're still under 18, and then just apply for the dorms the second year while you're over 18 and she doesn't have any say. I know it might seem scary just kind of going behind her back and filling out the forms differently, but you'll need to show her that you're independent minded and that she can't control you forever.

Once you get in school, def check out their counseling center, because they'll be able to help you out with dealing with your parents and helping you find a gender therapists if you're looking to transition. I think you'll find that you have a lot more options and opportunities once you start school than you foresee now.  :) 
ਮਨਿ ਜੀਤੈ ਜਗੁ ਜੀਤੁ
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Liminal Stranger

Really, I hate the prospect of growing up but 18 cannot come fast enough. She started another fight with me yesterday and attacked me screaming that she would kill me and that she'd rather see me dead as a little girl than be alive as a boy. Then she cries abuse if I defend myself and she gets a scratch. It's ridiculous.

And then in spite of it I still diligently took care of her frostbitten feet when she came back later and started screaming her head off that she was dying and I was trying to make her toes fall off. Maybe it's time to lay off the soap operas, lady :/

I really don't understand why me being a transguy is the end of the world for her. She said it nullifies all the years she's raised me and all the things we've done together (which isn't so bad considering that they've left scars I want to erase).

This was the conversation:

"If you do this, you're just nullifying those __ years I've raised you and everything we've done together. Is that what you want?"
"That's not true."
"Yes it is. You're telling me that now, all of a sudden, you're going to become a completely different person. You're nullifying everything."
"No, I'll be the same perso-"
"Nullifying it! I gave up my whole life for you, and you just want to throw it away and live in some shady community where the women look like men and the men look like women."

Where the hell is she getting this stuff about trans* people living in some dark underground setting?  ???
I can't stand her ranting and paranoid delusions while being told that I'm delusional. Unfortunately, for now the options are stay here and wait it out, end up temporarily homeless and go become a musician on the subway to scrape by, or end up dead or in jail or foster care because my father and I locked horns one time too many. My other relatives try to pretend I don't exist, except for one manipulative grandmother who would never come anywhere near acceptance given that she tried pushing the "get a man now or you'll be lonely forever" mentality on me and got mad because being told what a big girl I am as if I were five (and a girl). Even if I weren't trans, jut because I look young doesn't been I should be talked to as if I were a baby.




"And if you feel that you can't go on, in the light you will find the road"
- In the Light, Led Zeppelin
  •  

chuck

Quote from: Liminal Stranger on February 10, 2013, 07:34:56 AM
Really, I hate the prospect of growing up but 18 cannot come fast enough. She started another fight with me yesterday and attacked me screaming that she would kill me and that she'd rather see me dead as a little girl than be alive as a boy. Then she cries abuse if I defend myself and she gets a scratch. It's ridiculous.

And then in spite of it I still diligently took care of her frostbitten feet when she came back later and started screaming her head off that she was dying and I was trying to make her toes fall off. Maybe it's time to lay off the soap operas, lady :/

I really don't understand why me being a transguy is the end of the world for her. She said it nullifies all the years she's raised me and all the things we've done together (which isn't so bad considering that they've left scars I want to erase).

This was the conversation:

"If you do this, you're just nullifying those __ years I've raised you and everything we've done together. Is that what you want?"
"That's not true."
"Yes it is. You're telling me that now, all of a sudden, you're going to become a completely different person. You're nullifying everything."
"No, I'll be the same perso-"
"Nullifying it! I gave up my whole life for you, and you just want to throw it away and live in some shady community where the women look like men and the men look like women."

Where the hell is she getting this stuff about trans* people living in some dark underground setting?  ???
I can't stand her ranting and paranoid delusions while being told that I'm delusional. Unfortunately, for now the options are stay here and wait it out, end up temporarily homeless and go become a musician on the subway to scrape by, or end up dead or in jail or foster care because my father and I locked horns one time too many. My other relatives try to pretend I don't exist, except for one manipulative grandmother who would never come anywhere near acceptance given that she tried pushing the "get a man now or you'll be lonely forever" mentality on me and got mad because being told what a big girl I am as if I were five (and a girl). Even if I weren't trans, jut because I look young doesn't been I should be talked to as if I were a baby.

oh lawdy. My mom did the whole "youre throwing away everything given you" speech.
So keep in mind that she is just being emotional. And if the worse thing someone can say about you is that your trans, Id say your doing pretty well. Really, there is no arguing with her. I would just say "im very sorry your hurting right now" "Youre  a great mom and you did a great job raising me" "nothing will change that, and nothing will change the fact that I am a guy"
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Felix

Wow you have it really rough. Keep being as calm and patient as you can and try not to let all that drama poison you. I don't think there's going to be much you can do to convince your family or come out at school, so you might have to depend on the internet and your own determination for awhile. When people are trying to make you change don't forget that you are the normal one in that situation.
everybody's house is haunted
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Liminal Stranger

Yeah, my life is just filled with pointless drama these days. Now I'm going through relationship issues because the boy I love is, unfortunately, a teenage boy with the libido of a teenage boy. I'm not. We clash over that, and he never seems happy about everything but seems to forget that I'm going through hell 24/7. As soon as I think things have settled and maybe I can regain normalcy, his issues come along and remind me that things are never really okay. The whole thing parallels an incident of unrequited love from yesteryear I really wanted to forget about. It's scary how much he looks like her, though. Like the past decided to slap me in the face because I want to move on.

At least I sort of got somewhere with things in school today, I think. Impulse is driving me to come out to teachers ASAP but reason says that's ridiculous and tells me to wait at least until next fall. But fall's a long time away, and I want to get recommendation letters for some summer programs as male...if only something somewhere would give already.




"And if you feel that you can't go on, in the light you will find the road"
- In the Light, Led Zeppelin
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