I get what you're saying, Heather.  What she's asking is if someone who pushes themselves that far to look "manly" might be doing it to prove that they are a man, to themselves or others.

I would say it's more along the lines of anorexia and things like that.  People get really obsessed with how they look and some take it too far.  And there are female body builders too, so I think that sort of nullifies any theory that body builders have GID...all that muscle definitely doesn't make women look more feminine.  That's not to say that there aren't any body builders with GID...it's just too much of a generalization.  I agree that photo is fake...either way it weirds me out.  Actually, I watched a show on TLC about a guy who built himself up so much that his arms "exploded"...he destroyed a lot of muscle and other things...ick.  Makes me hurt just thinking about it.  That being said, there is money to be had in body building, so some people do it to make a living.

I think it has a lot more to do with wanting to look "perfect".  Some see muscles as perfection, others see thinness, etc.  Also, you sometimes hear about people getting obsessed with working out and dieting.  I think it all sort of falls under that. 

Tekla in particular hit a nerve, as usual .
I said it was disguisting. I made an opinion that is totally invalid. I was repulsed by the picture. Many are/will be repulsed by mine.

I will recast my comments. Which again may be full of crap. It doesn't really matter if this is a fake picture or not. Many of us leapt to a conclusion that what this guy appears to be doing to his body is wrong. So how in any logic can I contemplate the removal of my testicles and penis. Which is right, which is wrong? Neither. If he had built a body like this through drug abuse is it my right to be critical? I'm going on testosterone blockers and female hormones to change my shape. Isn't that the same?
He has reduced his life span by steroid abuse. Many (some) cope with their situation with alcohol abuse. Many people on this site smoke drugs. All of these will reduce your life expectancy.

Why should we be so critical, and I regard myself guilty in this. A young woman asked for some advice and she got abuse; and a lot of helpful comments. How many of the MtFs have had children? How many were girls who had body image problems? Body image is a massive psych problem for young women. Someone asked for help and we (and I) made thoughtless comment.

I know at times I'm caught up in my own stuff. But the reason I came to this site was to give and recieve support. I'm not sure which is most important. I have a female personality and keep wishing to be suppotive. And if any idiot gets back to this post saying that is sexist then DUHH, think.

I don't consider this a rant.

But be careful in replies.

Love and my best wishes.
We need a tolerant world

Love Cindy James.

59kgs, or less than one arm of pain, see the pic

Quote from: Monty on April 13, 2009, 01:05:18 PM
It's photoshopped, guys. It's not real.

As someone who works closely with the program for almost 10 years, I can tell that it's fake and I could replicate it. Not only that, but I study anatomy and the human body, and it's extremely unlikely that steroids would make the muscles look exactly like that. The proportions are terribly unrealistic.

Was this supposed to be some sort of Rorschach test? lol  as a digital artist I can also confirm the picture is a fake. (That's the real me in my avatar however, hehe)

Not GID, but ".PSD"

Quote from: heatherrose on April 14, 2009, 04:07:42 PM

Actually, the authenticity of the picture nor whether or not
the individual depicted suffered from GID was the question.
The picture was merely a catalyst for my memory of pumping
iron to rid myself of any possible outward feminine appearance.
The question that I did frankly ask in the body of my posts was,
"What extremes did we all go to, to hide our GID issues?"
I flipantly threw the the question, "Is he in denial?" up in the
subject box as an attention getter. I realize now that this served
only to confuse the issue. Thank-you Mina and Linda for seeing
through my unintended subterfuge and also thank-you to everyone
else for stopping by and throwing in your two cents.
If nothing else it was entertaining.

Well now that we have that cleared up... 

I'll say I never was much for proving my manhood one way or the other. As a teenager my father constantly kept asking me if I was homosexual; he probably didn't even know about transsexuals. I guess my extremes came in the form of isolating myself from others and building great walls around myself so no one could see the real me inside and hurt me for it, as he had done. I did this from a very early age, though I was actually pretty transparent now that I think about it. Everyone I've come out to so far seems to pretty much already have figured it out anyway. 

Quote from: CindyJames on April 14, 2009, 05:51:02 AM
Many are/will be repulsed by mine.

Who could be repulsed by a hot lady like yourself!? 

<--you're smokin'! aha-ha-ha...did I just try to make a pun with an emoticon?  I should be ashamed of myself...

Quote from: heatherrose on April 14, 2009, 09:07:57 PM

Ummm...the gorgeous woman in the picture...is not holding a cigarette.

  Smarty pants.   

I think this whole topic is literally trying to find SOMETHING NEGATIVE to say just to say something ABOUT the photo posted just like any site will put someone's efforts down.

Regardless of the subject nature, whether this is digitized to be fake (I think its fake) we still get the IDEA someone went out of their WAY to DO something like THAT, yet we do not consider it may be fake or not and some of us find it repulsive.

This forum is a treat everyone respectively, right?
So what if someone does drugs, smokes cigarettes or abuses their body in some form or shape?
This person, regardless of the picture being fake or not, CHOSE to do this just as WE chose or plan to CHANGE OUR gender... its so freaking hypocritical of people to judge someone based on their decision when we do the same FREAKING thing.

If you people, you know who you are, are opposed to someone building their body up to be a body-builder and does not fit a stereotype which is repulsive to you, remember not to say anything and just leave it alone... but you instead lash out on what someone made a difference in.

I myself admit I am turned off by men, but I am an artist as well and see this work of art as an accomplishment and not adult material to enjoy... grow up you people.

This forum isn't for kids to bash others like the laws we get, its to support others and be kind... jeez.
Show some respect and care, just like you ask others to think kindly of you for your chosen gender.

Yeah, we kind of covered that and I think everyone understands that we shouldn't judge.  I'm not coming down on you, Janet, it's just something I've noticed on several threads lately that after we already established that we shouldn't say judgmental things about people, someone else will come in and chide people again for what was said.  If it's been covered once, we don't need to go into it again.

The original question was about whether or not people who show themselves as the "extreme" (not the best word choice, but it's all I got at the moment) of their respective genders do it to prove that they are their gender. 

My apologies, I read the last parts of the thread :3

Quote from: Janet Merai on April 14, 2009, 10:49:45 PM
My apologies, I read the last parts of the thread :3

No worries.  It's just been happening a lot and it hit me just now to say something about it. 

Dear Jaimey and HeatherRose

Thank you so much for the compliments. They made my day and I still feel squshy
LoL
Cindy James

Glad we could make you feel squishy.    *hugs*

Quote from: heatherrose on April 15, 2009, 02:30:22 PM

I'm not really sure that's a good thing...

...Define "Squishy".

  I say leave it up to imagination...heheh.

Definitely