For me, I'm not even sure if I want to start T. I know I don't need it, I pass fine without it. Not real interested in getting hairy, am quite happy with teh hair I already have, and am definitely not interested in having downstairs grow.

But I'd like to keep it an option in case I change my mind. However I am pretty sure that I'd either have to hide it, or move out if I want to start T, as my parents would probably never tolerate it.

I suppose I'd be riding on the fact that my parents will always see me as a girl no matter how my physical changes, and I already present fully in front of them. Not sure how much would change anyways, voice is already male, face is naturally passable, muscles only need some more work in a gym. The only thing that could give it away is the facial hair, since I assume even shaving daily won't hide it.

So yeah. Is it possible to hide the fact that you've started T?

Only if you're me, and your parents are so hopelessly oblivious and blissfully ignorant that they won't and quite possibly can't notice anything they don't choose to. My mother completely ignored the fact that my voice dropped two octaves in a matter of weeks, and continues to ignore the fact I can grow a full beard... I do believe she will always see me as a girl, even if I have my tits cut off and walk around naked all the time.

SD

you can probably hide it for a little while (two months or less) if you live with them. if they're across the country, you can hide it for a while. 

It's really hard to hide the voice once it changes. I cannot sing or talk as high as I used to.

The hardest thing, like Elwood said is to hide your voice, there is only so long you can say that you have a cold for!

I already have a low voice, and judging by my father, it won't go that much lower, so I doubt that would be a problem. -shrugs- I started lowering it when I started puberty, so they just took it as a natural thing that I grew into.

Quote from: freespeechz on February 16, 2009, 12:19:30 PM
I already have a low voice, and judging by my father, it won't go that much lower, so I doubt that would be a problem. -shrugs- I started lowering it when I started puberty, so they just took it as a natural thing that I grew into.

I think I may be slightly slow this evening. But are you saying that even if you took T no one would notice any diffrence? Or that your happy with how your voice is now?

Jay

From my personal observations, FTMs are more noticeably affected by HRT than FTMs.  For FTMs, muscle mass increases, body hair and voice changes are the biggies.

It seems the human body is more efficient at adding than subtracting.  Since we all start off female the most dramatic additions come with masculinization.  Muscles grow, facial and body hair develop or thicken and the voice drops.  Later balding can occur.  For a late transitioning MTF there has to be procedures performed (electrolysis, FFS, hair transplants) to help feminize the body.  HRT alone won't do it.  But when a FTM begins HRT I've seen some pretty impressive changes.

And of course, if you're younger, the effects of HRT will be much more dramatic than if you're older.

Julie

Quote from: Julie Marie on February 16, 2009, 12:48:59 PM
From my personal observations, FTMs are more noticeably affected by HRT than FTMs.

ha, fail.

Quote from: Mister on February 16, 2009, 01:09:46 PM
ha, fail.

You can't actually fail a personal observation or an opinion. And I agree with Julie Marie. Which would be my opinion based on personal observation.

Dennis

Reread it, Dennis.

Quote from: Mister on February 16, 2009, 02:00:38 PM
Reread it, Dennis.

ROFL, reading comprehension FTW.

Dennis

Jay: As in, people are always saying, you wanna know how you'll look like/sound like on T? Look at your father/brothers. My father's voice is only one notch below mine, so I'm guessing that's as low as my voice would go on T, so that's only a slight change, nobody would notice much.

You probably wouldn't be able to pass forever, but it's up to you, really.

Sorry to resurrect an old-ish thread, but this made me laugh at a memory I have. I'd been on T for a little under a year and was visiting my parents. My uncle (who didn't know I was trans yet) called up one day and wanted to see how I was doing. Without asking me at all, my mom handed the phone to me, whispering, "Just make your voice higher." I should point out that I didn't sound any more like my old self than my brothers did. There was nothing I could do, so I took the phone, tried to make my voice as breathy and high as possible, and told him I had a cold. He thought one of my brothers was playing a trick on him and trying to imitate my voice! We laughed about it when he found out about the trans thing.

I had a funny voice moment. My mum bought a new answering machine and she's had the old one with Dad's voice on it (he died in 2002) since then. So I set up the new machine for it and recorded the message. Then I went into the next room and phoned it to check that the message was working. We both heard Dad's voice come out of the new machine. It was a totally surreal moment. I never realized how much I sounded like my dad until I heard the voice coming out of the machine. Only thing is, Dad had a Welsh accent and I have a Canadian one, so it was really bizarre, hearing dad talk with a Canadian accent. Mum hadn't really realized it either until then, even though she's heard my voicemail and talked to me on the phone. I think it was hearing the voice in the same place that we'd heard Dad's voice since he died that made it clear to us. We both looked like we'd seen a ghost and I said "holy ->-bleeped-<-, I sound like Dad". Mum said yeah, and rerecorded the message. I think she was a little creeped out by it.

Dennis

I think passing on T depends on how well you know the person you are trying to hide it from. I myself could hide everything except the voice. But I could for a while hide that because I am a quiet person so I could just get a bit quieter and not have to talk to my parents. Other then that due to my already natural hormones I have enough T in my body that I grow facial hair and sideburns so they would never notice the hair growth. I also live at home and would like to start T but I am trying to figure out the same issue as you: can I hide it from the parental unit?

Quote from: Dennis on February 27, 2009, 01:36:33 AM
I had a funny voice moment. My mum bought a new answering machine and she's had the old one with Dad's voice on it (he died in 2002) since then. So I set up the new machine for it and recorded the message. Then I went into the next room and phoned it to check that the message was working. We both heard Dad's voice come out of the new machine. It was a totally surreal moment. I never realized how much I sounded like my dad until I heard the voice coming out of the machine. Only thing is, Dad had a Welsh accent and I have a Canadian one, so it was really bizarre, hearing dad talk with a Canadian accent. Mum hadn't really realized it either until then, even though she's heard my voicemail and talked to me on the phone. I think it was hearing the voice in the same place that we'd heard Dad's voice since he died that made it clear to us. We both looked like we'd seen a ghost and I said "holy ->-bleeped-<-, I sound like Dad". Mum said yeah, and rerecorded the message. I think she was a little creeped out by it.

Dennis

Heh. Wow. That IS creepy!

I've had a couple of moments where I've said something my Dad says a lot - something like "We need to leave now! We're going to be late!" or "This room is a mess!" and my brother has looked at me and said, "You sound like Dad!" It's true, too. If I want my mom's attention, all I have to do is imitate my dad's voice and say "Julia!" [not her real name] instead of "Mom!" Works every time.

I could never sound like my dad; he has an incredibly heavy German accent, while mine is unmistakeably midwestern American. However, a couple weeks ago my little brother was home from college for the weekend, and my wife called. She was so sure it was me that when he didn't respond like I would have, she got angry and hung up. When I called her back, she was like, "Why didn't you talk to me?"

It's really funny, because I thought my voice sounded just like his, but my wife said I perceived my voice as lower than it really was. My brother's is a low bass... I guess she was wrong.

SD