HI!  I have been lurking on the site for awhile and thought to myself "Maybe now is the time to introduce myself,"  so here I go.  My name will someday be Nikki.  I am a 51 year old that has come to the realization that I am transgendered.  I have known deep in my heart for some time (read "all my life"), but I have only recently openly acknowledged it.  I haveven come out to my wife, who has been cautiously supportive.  She has bought me clothes, wigs and breast forms, but has very stringent rules on dressing or any feminization around our two kids (13 &7).  I know transition is in my future and she has recently been accepting of considering going low-dose to ease the dysphoria.

I have seen a counselor and, while not a gender therapist, agrees that I do have gender dysphoria.  My only holdup from pursuing informed consent hrt is my weight and my smoking.  I am going to a gym to try and lose 35-45 lbs before I start.  That would get me down to about 167 lbs.  At almost 5'10", that would be a good weight.  The smoking is more problematic.  Thirty-plus years of smoking is hard to overcome.  But I want this more than anything and that is a great motivator. 

I need to consider stealth transition due to my professional life.  Being a high school teacher, I have to be careful.  I can retire in about five years, so I can live that long.

Thank you all for the excellent information that you have shared.  I have spent the past two weeks doing nothing but catching up on the threads and conversations.  I hope that I can someday provide the same courtesy to others that you have unknowingly accorded to me.

Welcome to Susan's Place. We have threads running on most any topic you can conceive including weigh loss and smoking. Some doctor prefer that both issues be under control before HRT or Surgery. In addition, you will discover we have people working in almost any profession you can think of including teaching. The world has changed a good deal in the years since I transitioned. For now, work on learning everything you can and I suspect in a far shorter time than you think, you will be guiding the new members along their pass.

We issue to all new members the following links so you will best be able to use the web site.

• Site Terms of Service and rules to live by
  
• Standard Terms and Definitions
  
• Post Ranks (including when you can upload an avatar)
  
• Reputation rules
  
• News posting & quoting guidelines
  
• Photo, avatars, and signature images policy
  

Welcome to the club and congratulations on the steps you have taken to ease your lifelong burden of not being able to express your real gender.   And I'm betting you'll reach your target weight and give up the smokes for good.  Becoming a girl can be a major motivator that way.

I'm curious though about you being reluctant to come out as trans as a high school teacher.  Maybe you can shed some light. Aren't school administrators (your bosses) judged on how well they increase diversity among the faculty?  Don't they have diversity hiring goals that they are rewarded for meeting?  Isn't it that a more diverse faculty leads to better student outcomes?
Could being openly transgender in an academic setting be a good career move?

Hi Nikki 

Welcome to Susan's Place    Glad to have you here, join on in the fun

Hugs

V M

Quote from: Jane Emily on January 17, 2017, 11:35:34 PM
Welcome to the club and congratulations on the steps you have taken to ease your lifelong burden of not being able to express your real gender.   And I'm betting you'll reach your target weight and give up the smokes for good.  Becoming a girl can be a major motivator that way.

I'm curious though about you being reluctant to come out as trans as a high school teacher.  Maybe you can shed some light. Aren't school administrators (your bosses) judged on how well they increase diversity among the faculty?  Don't they have diversity hiring goals that they are rewarded for meeting?  Isn't it that a more diverse faculty leads to better student outcomes?
Could being openly transgender in an academic setting be a good career move?

It isn'the the administration I am really concerned about.  It is the students and other faculty.  I have been teaching at the same school for 14 years.  It is a suburban predominantly African-American school.  I am not sure how they would deal with it.  There also the issue of my children.  My wife is fairly adamant about no feminization around the kids.  I have read the long posts about long-term low dose hrt in their entirety and believe right now that is the route for me.

Thank you all for the warm welcome and I look forward to interacting with you all in the future.

That's too bad. Sounds like a classic catch 22 situation. Your bosses are ok with it but the student body, faculty and parents maybe not so much.  I wonder if it would be different on the college level.

Hello Nikki

I hope that you know that you are going to be just fine.

It's not an easy way we walk but we can do it together.

Stay shiny.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There is probably more leeway at the college level.  And more understanding due to the more liberal nature of higher education.

Quote from: Cure Bunny on January 19, 2017, 04:41:56 AM
Hello Nikki

I hope that you know that you are going to be just fine.

It's not an easy way we walk but we can do it together.

Stay shiny.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, Bunny