Quote from: GhostTown11 on June 13, 2012, 01:40:16 PM
Also, ow do people go out with their breasts and present as male? Its so awkward and I feel exposed doing that now and kinda naked *blushes*

Loose shirts help a lot unless you're like a C cup or larger.

Quote from: Alainaluvsu on June 13, 2012, 01:42:56 PM
Loose shirts help a lot unless you're like a C cup or larger.

Loose shirts, dark shirts, shirts with pockets or patterns. I also wear a wife beater style undershirt and that helps hide things.

The shirts I avoid are light colored, tight shirts, or thin shirts of any color.

LQTMS about the dinosaur comments! I have been reflecting lots recently (I've felt very old in my mind) and I've realised we never get old...our bodies merely fail us. Theres just too much out there to learn and experience; we are all so much like children. The dinosaurs are those people who close their minds. We've all seen or known one....their life ended at 40, or 50, or 60....at whatever age it was when they closed their mind and became set in their ways. You all are not dinosaurs!!

Now on the subject...I believe a male sexed individual taking estrogen over a long period of time without transitioning can remain passable in their assigned sex.  The breasts would be a real issue in time; some measures would need to be taken to cover their increasing prominence.  I'm sure there would also be some issues with previously simple acts such as  swim at the beach, going for a run, and more.

Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, a female sexed person taking testosterone would likely have a much harder time concealing the changes. Even a low T dose will eventually activate facial hair. I know its not the question, but I feel the unique hurdles the "FTM spectrum" lads face at least deserve mention.

Quote from: GhostTown11 on June 13, 2012, 01:40:16 PM
S it seems like quite a few people here do the hrt but no transition thing. I definitely agree that it would be hard to present as male after a while. I mean, the little facial hair I had is gone and I have no visible Adams apple so people would have to look at my privates for the best gender cue lol. I am very surprised at the changes in my face since I always has a passable, feminine face but I look younger now than I did at 13 (I'll be 18 in a few months)! Also, ow do people go out with their breasts and present as male? Its so awkward and I feel exposed doing that now and kinda naked *blushes*

To diminish the appearance of your breasts think about this:

If you wanted to show them off, you would wear a tight-fitting shirt.
So do the opposite.  And layer.

There are many reasons why some transgenders do not fully transition (by that, I mean live as their gender identity and modify their bodies accordingly).  You might want to read some of the older "Non-Op" topics.

I still live my external life as male even though I've been on full doses of hormones since 2009. It's my choice, although I know I'm female in my heart, the circumstances of my life mean that I can't live in the way that I want to, at least not all the time.

It's not the easiest way to be, and it requires a lot of soul searching, and I think I've reached the point where I feel I am almost beyond gender. All of my friends see me as female, but my family, employer etc. still see me as male.

Summer is difficult because it gets hot where I am and I have to wear tshirts, so it's difficult to hide B cup breasts. Winter makes things a lot easier, because I can wear a jacket. I think the hardest thing for me to hide is my butt - it's hard to hide even in kind of baggy jeans because it's very round - 40 inches around - and I weigh 150lb at 5'8 so it's quite big for my frame. It's definitely not a guy's butt. Three years of HRT really went straight to my butt, since it started at 35 inches with me at 180lb.

Even in a baseball cap, jacket, and baggy jeans, I'll get called she by people a quarter of the time, and the other quarter of the time, people just don't know what to gender me as, at least until they've interacted with me for a bit. The other 50% of the time I am called a guy. Interestingly enough, EVERY time I fly, the cabin attendants will always start off calling me madam, miss etc.

It's kind of difficult going out sometimes, because I get a lot of stares even dressed in full male clothes, ski jacket, baseball cap etc. because I don't exactly look all that masculine. I feel like I'm in drag most of the time.

As Alainaluvsu said earlier in this thread, "keep in mind you may reach a point where you're scared to go out as a male, because you'll get more funny looks if you do!". It definitely is true in my case.

I have been doing this for a while (going on a year) at first with just E but now with an AA as well (all low dose).  It's very difficult- not for presentation reasons if that's your first concern.  I still look, so far as I can tell, all male.

Despite, or maybe rather because of therapy and the E the GID is still bad to the point of it affecting my productivity and ability to concentrate.  Considering it is still very much a conscious thing.  I don't worry so much about my appearance or my presentation but finding a way to reduce or eliminate the extent to which related thoughts intrude on my consciousness.

My .02 is that if you are wondering if you'll be able to still appear as a male my guess is that unless you are extremely young, cross-sexed or very receptive to HRT then you'll have little problem presenting as male even if you pursue electrolysis so long as your hair is short, are a relatively sloppy or careless dresser and avoid makeup.  If you are expecting the GID to quite or go away, well, that's less certain.

I'm on HRT and plan on presenting as male for a a year or two, depending on how you define presenting as male. I define it as I'm not going to tell people I'm trans and undergoing transition. I'm not so sure how well this will work as I already have had the problem of breasts since I was 11 or 12. Most boys have flat chests and I never did. By the time I was 18, I developed very noticeable boobs, not man boobs, boobs. I'm slim and slender so they are very noticeable I just learned to not care afterawhile. I also have a pretty female round butt. No hips.

But I already wear women's jeans and tops it's just that they're quite andro. They fit better then anything i've ever worn so I'm still not sure how this is going to work. But I'm also 30 so the HRT prob won't effect me as much as if i did when I was 20. I didn't pass as male at 20 about 80 percent of the time at first glance. People constantly apologized to me. Oh, I'm so sorry I thought you were his sister, I thought you were...you're so small, blah, blah, blah.

So I mean part of me hopes that it really effects me but I've been on HRT for 21 days and other then my nipples now being erect all the time, they seem more conical and  bounce a lot more when I walk. Plus, I have some patches of really soft skin starting to develop on my face, i haven't noticed any changes. It's hard to say anything about emotional changes as I have always been moody and emotional.

But the more days that pass, the more I get sick of presenting as male at all so I'm not so sure how long this will last. There will be instances where I will have to, hence why I am hesitant to go full time too fast, so I'm hoping I will be able to pass as male and I'll just have to correct people. The thing is I really want to start working on my voice and get started on LHR.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot my most major change so far: eating. It's like my stomach has shrunk or something. A month ago I could eat four pop tarts and hug glass of orange or grapefruit juice, and I just ate two pop tarts and a very small salad and two slices of bread and I feel like I'm going to burst. I can only eat about half as much as a month ago.

Kia Ora,

I knew of a Dutch women who not only was on HRT but had also had surgery back in the early 1980s, but still lived and worked as a pseudo 'male' for twenty years...She did say she was her true self ['female' ] at home with her family but 'male' when out and about...She finally went full time around 10 years ago I think...

As for myself, I was 18 months on HRT before being 'forced' to go full time...Societal pressure to conform... In other words I was more and more being addressed as 'female'...I guess in one sense it was a somewhat smooth transition..From androgynous to full blow female...With societal 'consent'...

Metta Zenda    

I've been on Low then "Normal" dose HRT for about 4 years now and still primarily live and work as a male. I may have an A to small B cup proper clothing choices helped along with a shaper cami take care of that  problem. At 6 ft tall, very much balding, deep voiced, and PFG at faking being a guy, I have no problems in guy mode. The change is fairly dramitic.

I was finally able to make it to my TG groups annual TDOR rally. I showed up in guy mode as I was on my way back to NJ to spend the Thanksgiving hliday with my wife. Only the groups moderator reconized me! She had the unfair advantage over the others having seen me several times before in guy mode. This also boosts my confidence doing part time in rural West Virginia and working for a company with 1500 heads, about 300 who see me every day in my building.

It can be done but..... If it weren't for my particular circumstances I sure wouldn't and cannot recomend this as a long term option. You really need to have the right headset to do which I do not yet poses.

I have been on HRT for 8 months and I'm still presenting as a guy. Like an earlier post upthread stated, I want to give myself every possible advantage from HRT (and laser) before I embark upon living full-time as a woman. I am starting to wonder when the changes brought on by HRT will become noticeable to casual observers, though- My body is changing, and fast.

HRT now for a bit more than 20 months, last 6 months have been on full feminizing doses of E. The changes have been fairly slow for me at my age, but starting to become very noticeable. I still work with his name (tel-commuter), but dress as myself in my office, and occasionally go out as him with my wife.

The HRT has helped my GD quite a bit, I don't feel nearly as creepy in guy mode as I used to. I have no issues passing as a guy (small B cup), I am tall at 6'4" that helps. If I wear form fitting clothes however there is no mistaking my figure ;-)

I may give up living as him, it's not how I feel inside, it's like having to live a less than genuine life. Still working on my facial hair removal, and this is gonna take a while longer. I am no hurry, full time as her is probably in my future, it will just happen.

C -
 

I've been on feminizing HRT for 18 years, had an orchiectomy going on 11 years ago and present full time as a predominantly non-binary androgynous type. I had considered SRS at one time but had a long conversation with myself about why would I really want to go any further, did a list of pros and cons and concluded that this is as good as it gets because I am pretty happy and content where I am right now.

Joanb,

I do not mean to hijack the thread but JoanB, what would lead to you to say you wouldn't recommend it to others?   You did a great job of describing your environment and it sounded positive so I am unsure why you have reached the conclusion you have.


I was reading through all our responses and noticed each of us was continuing on some sort of hormonal path.  Have there been complications other the "up top" changes and the gid which presumably led to your starting hrt? 

men with prostate cancer have to take estrogen usually, so there is that to consider.