Body and my voice. My family says my face and breasts after I had my FFS, trachea shave and breast augmentation

My body, - I inherited my mothers body shape, so hormones gave me D Cup breast and a big bum/thighs

With long hair, pierced ears,navel, nose ( I wear a small stud in my left Nostril) and shaved legs, I am always perceived as female.

Other things, I am very girlie, so i love wearing dresses, heels, makeup, nail polish (I love my long acrylic nails look)

I can't answer this because I don't know. What I look for in someone is different to what someone else looks for.

I feel like this, much like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. And it means different things to different people.

All I can tell you is what my mum used to say. She died before I got the chance to come out to her. But she used to say "Thank god you're not a woman, because you'd be a bitch."

She was probably right, lol.

I will say appearance is at the bottom of the list for me. Literally the bottom. You don't need breasts and a supermodel hourglass shape to be a woman. Just as you don't need a penis and a six pack to be a man. Looks are skin deep. It's all skin deep. For me, anyway. If you are who you are, however you look is just a thing.

@Sephirah

That cracked me up.

But I think you and I are the same in that I don't see people as flesh and blood. I know they are, but I see the spirit within them and that is what I relate to. These bodies are just a place to live while we experience Life. Eventually, they will give out and we will move on to the next. I can't get hung up on a temporary vessel. It's the contents that matter, whatever they are.

Quote from: Lori Dee on August 29, 2024, 02:41:18 PM@Sephirah

That cracked me up.

But I think you and I are the same in that I don't see people as flesh and blood. I know they are, but I see the spirit within them and that is what I relate to. These bodies are just a place to live while we experience Life. Eventually, they will give out and we will move on to the next. I can't get hung up on a temporary vessel. It's the contents that matter, whatever they are.

We are the same, Lori. That's why I think I admire and respect you so much. Looking inside is hard when we are predisposed to look outside.

I know a lot of people want them to match. And there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing whatsoever. More power to you. If it makes you live your life happy in your own skin, able to focus on the world and not on yourself... do whatever you need to do to be happy.

I kind of want that too. But it's never going to happen for me. I think that's mostly why I don't focus on how people look to determine who they are. Because I can't just flash myself at someone and them be like "Yeah this is Lauren." Doesn't work for me. And it colours how I see other people. I have to look deeper. And I kind of think that's a blessing in a way. But then I am asexual. I don't get attracted to people because they have this, or that. I don't get attracted to bits. I think I am a pretty good reader of people just through what they say, how they are. Not how they look. Matter of fact, most of the women I've been attracted to in my life, I've never seen how they look. Those I have, they weren't all that. But I've had more than one marriage offer while I've been here. I still don't understand why. I'm nothing special. But... yeah, perception is something you don't really have much control over. In my opinion.

You are who you are. Being who you are is the icing on top of a very awesome cake.

The single best thing you can do to make yourself look feminine is to trim your eyebrows.

Seriously, it is such an overlooked and distinctive feature that people recognise gender from and because it is so instinctive, we rarely ever look at it as a thing. As soon as I got my eyebrows plucked in a nice feminine shape, I started being acknoledged as female regardless of hair, clothing or mannerisms..

<and here comes my rant!>
.. in fact, I can put a pin in the whole mannerisms things.. women, like cis-women and us who live everyday as a woman do not actually have 'mannerisms'.. I call it bumkum - look at people around you they all move, act and walk in pretty much the same way - our voices are a little higher, we dont have facial hair and we tend to have longer head hair.. but that is it. Seriously.. the size of your chest, the height of your giggle - the way you sit.. makes little difference - I know women who sit with a can of beer on the sofa, legs spread wide and shout at the 'game'.. they are still women through and through.
Life is real, not a melodrama of high heels and handbags - pretending to be something is not living. live for you as you.

Quote from: SoupSarah on August 29, 2024, 03:29:34 PMThe single best thing you can do to make yourself look feminine is to trim your eyebrows.

Seriously, it is such an overlooked and distinctive feature that people recognise gender from and because it is so instinctive, we rarely ever look at it as a thing. As soon as I got my eyebrows plucked in a nice feminine shape, I started being acknoledged as female regardless of hair, clothing or mannerisms..

<and here comes my rant!>
.. in fact, I can put a pin in the whole mannerisms things.. women, like cis-women and us who live everyday as a woman do not actually have 'mannerisms'.. I call it bumkum - look at people around you they all move, act and walk in pretty much the same way - our voices are a little higher, we dont have facial hair and we tend to have longer head hair.. but that is it. Seriously.. the size of your chest, the height of your giggle - the way you sit.. makes little difference - I know women who sit with a can of beer on the sofa, legs spread wide and shout at the 'game'.. they are still women through and through.
Life is real, not a melodrama of high heels and handbags - pretending to be something is not living. live for you as you.

This. Be you. Whoever that is. As I always say... don't be the canvas, be the painting.

When my voice sounds good, that for sure helps.

Chrissy