I had the basic logistics down pre-internet, but also had a very jaded and negative view of the likely outcomes. Without seeing successful transition after successful transition online, I doubt I'd have ever found the confidence to move forward.

Quote from: Mia Lynne (Gwynne) on April 28, 2014, 01:11:24 AM
I had the basic logistics down pre-internet, but also had a very jaded and negative view of the likely outcomes. Without seeing successful transition after successful transition online, I doubt I'd have ever found the confidence to move forward.

For me, even the early internet resources (circa 2000) made the outcome seem pretty poor.  It wasn't until I discovered the YouTube transition timelines that I realized the outcome could be positive.

no i wouldn't have known even that there are actually other people with gender issues in the world. prior to discovering the term transgender in internet i thought all male-born feminine people were gay and female-born masculine people were lesbian (please take no offence, i was very ignorant on this subject then) and that i was an exception- a guy born in a female body. without internet i would still be living in my confused little bubble struggling to fit to the society the way i am told.

Quote from: katiej on April 28, 2014, 02:08:38 AM
For me, even the early internet resources (circa 2000) made the outcome seem pretty poor.  It wasn't until I discovered the YouTube transition timelines that I realized the outcome could be positive.

Agreed. Anecdotal accounts on the early net seemed to skew older. Until YouTube, I had no idea how profound early transitions could be. Of course, I had to wait until age thirty to figure that out. 

Kia Ora,

Well so far, it would seem that the internet gave birth to most members here, and in its own way continues to nurture the progress for many...

It's amazing really, when one thinks about it....

Cyber technology, the mother of creation....

Metta Anatta

I really just started the road to transition and I think the Internet is allowing me to find the support I need take the right step, I do know some physical places where there are support groups but I'm not sure I'd be able to get the same depth of support over the same timeframe. Plus I'm super shy and have a tendency to Psych myself out when I'm in small groups.

If it wasn't for the Internet, I'd be in my 60's before I found this path (30 now) or I'd have just ended my journey prematurely. No thank you, I am grateful for the Internet and I'm grateful that I've found a place of sound harbor for when I need a community. Everyone here is just so awesome to help one another.

Thank you everyone.

No way without the net. I was far too inside my shell, drinking my way through as much denial as I could.

Looking up things on the net, anonymously as it were, made it all possible. I was so scared of the concept that even had I read up at say the local library I would have never known or had a clue who or how to contact anyone in the community.

The internet yes was the vehicle but it all boils down to actually speaking, talking, writing to other trans* people, transitioning or not. My first steps into actually coming to terms with being trans was meeting a local crossdressing group, arguably the most worried about being outed and potentially most careful about who they give details to. Without the net I never would have met them or even known of their existence.

Until then the only knowledge I had about trans people was what the media, specifically TV, the news and movies told me. No need to say that pretty much every assumption was blown out of the water rather quickly.

Sounds silly to say it now but 100% honestly I wouldn't know what trans was without the internet. I would've just had to deal with the weird and unknown feeling all my life thinking it was normal and everyone had the same confused feeling.

I had never heard of the internet when I transitioned, but then I didn't even know I was transitioning because I didn't know what TS was.

Honestly, no I wouldn't have.  Quite frankly, I don't know if I would have made it this far or even be alive without the internet.  That is one of the reasons I love you all here and Susan's means the world to me.  People here have been more guardian angels than they realize. Anyway,  the internet is my lifeline and continues to be (in a lesser way than it once did) while I go through all of this.  It's my support structure where I lack a stable one in real life. 

i'm not even sure i would have started.    i have been lucky to make some of the friends i have. It it wasn't for the net i never would have found my doctor either.

When I embarked on transition in 1973 there certainly was no access to the internet, yet I found my way to doctors, shrinks, etc. and also cultivated a network of trans friends & acquaintances without it.  Back then it helped to be in or at least within commuting distance of a sizable city but it could certainly be done.  Mostly I just got out into the real world and lived my life.

Of course there were some dicey situations along the way that I wouldn't want to re-live but that was just part of my journey.

I Choose important. I might still of survived because of my friends and family, And even though I stared this journey without the net, ive since then descovered that i will be facing a much harder time adjusting to hormoan that i thought.

So susans provides a sence of security and support i dont think you can find anywear els. Because i know that i can speak to other people all faceing or that have faced very similer problembs.

And i know its not the net but the people, but the net provides the access to them at the moment.

I discovered what being trans was when i was 15(about 13 years ago) when I became friends with a transwoman with whom i went to high school with.  I always knew i was different somehow and when i met her i knew what i was and what i was going to someday become.  From that day on, transitioning(a term i wasn't familiar with until the last year or so) was my deep dark secret project i would keep investigating and learning about.   From my early teenage years until i started transitioning i was an essential shut in other than work or the occasional friend who wouldn't let me stay home and hide.   I spent my entire teenage years either in mental health inpatient or grounded or just plain old not allowed to go out with people anywhere.   It was during that time I developed a love for both PC's and the internet.
      The internet in general has been my hidden saviour.   I always knew i was going to transition since i was 15.   I would always tell myself, im going to do this when i have enough money or i get away from my oppressive father or i have enough stuff and im in a good position to do it.   I spent so many years in and out of hospitals and dealing with drugs/alcohol and lack of any social skills to the point that i just stopped trying to be with others.   Once i hit my 20s i moved to NC and didnt know anyone.  At that point i gave up on people and spent all my days on my pc(mostly playing quake lol).   I shut everything but the internets and work out for 8 or so years.  When i hit 27 i was in a frenzy.  I knew something was wrong but i didnt know what my problem was even though at that point my dysphoria was practically overwhelming.  I spent thousands at doctors trying to figure out what was wrong with me and countless hours on the internet searching for an answer.
            After months of being in excruciating agony and not realizing it was the dysphoria(and i didn't know what dysphoria was at the time), a friend and employee accidentally got me to tell her about me being trans.  In that conversation it suddenly became clear what i had been feeling that had felt so bad.   That night i discovered susans, did some learning, and a month later i was full time and transitioning without looking back.


             The bottom line though, is this.   I spent over half my life with nothing but the "internet" as my only friend and comfort because i didn't know how to exist as a man in society and i couldn't even look at my self in the mirror without being sick.  I NEVER would have made it beyond my teenage years had i not had the internet.   If the incredible amount of drugs and alcohol i was ingesting every single day to kill the pain(which doesnt work either) didn't kill me,  I would have taken my life or played real life COD with the shoppers at my local mall till the cops took me out.  It saved me from doing the unthinkable, and even today Quake is probably the only thing that takes my mind off things for a little while and lets me forget for a moment.  Its also one of my fav and most enjoyable past times.  Information is power and the internet is full of it.   Thanks to the internet and susans im well into my transition now.


Sorry if thats a bit long winded, just felt like i had alot to say about the internet and how i got to where i am today.

In my case I knew what transgender was at a young age long before the internet mostly due to many Doctor visits insisted upon by my adopted father to find out why I looked so much like a girl, why I wasn't tough, or why I was so thin, etc., etc., etc. I remember one very nice young nurse sitting down beside me as I cried in the waiting room while my adopted father argued with the doctor. She had a womens magazine, and showed me an article in it about a famous British Model/Actress. While I don't remember her name, I do remember how beautiful she was. The young nurse the asked me if I knew what was different about her, which, as I shook my head "no" she said "she's transexual. she was born a boy, with boy parts." My eyes lit up as they dried, as the nurse further explained "transexual," and what it meant to me. I became fascinated with this British Model/Actress and would read articles on her and what she went through as a child, etc., and her transition then I knew what I would eventually have to do. This was the 1970's, and I was 8 years old. Though I knew I was different and more girl than boy before this, I now had a name for what I was, and someone to read about who had started out as a rather typical looking man, and transitioned into a beautiful lovely woman earning her living in the entertainment industry.

Some years later once the internet came along it was a godsend. however It took me awhile to get to know things about being transgender were available. Fast forward more years, I found many transition timeline video's on you tube, and began following one wonderful young lady's, Princess Joules's video's as she shared her transition with the world. Fast forward to when I found Susan's 6 months ago I finally had the support I needed to begin my journey. The internet is very important to me and my transition, especially this website and you tube's Princess Joules. Many wonderful ladies on this website have helped and inspired me in more ways than they know (y'all know who you are). I also met my two new best friends in the world because of this website and the internet, and likewise, I feel I've been able to help a few girls on or beginning the same path of transition. Susan's and the internet reinforce my hope daily. In addition, I would have never found my wonderful Endo if it were not for the internet.

I apologize for the length.

Ally

I wish the internet had been around when I transitioned, but it wasn't. However, that didn't stop me from getting the information I needed by travelling up and down the country, meeting other like-minded people and discovering there was a name for people like me, I was transsexual. I then got my doc to refer me to Charing X and went from there.

Yes it was more difficult in those days but not impossible. I was determined to find happiness and succeeded. I was inspired by people like April Ashley. It was certainly more difficult for her in the early 1960s.

Caroline
x