New poll! - An inquiry into Gender Issues, Gender Dysphoria, and GID.

[Owen]

I picked #4 Mild gender. I have felt uncomfortable as male and have longed to be fully female someday. But I don't really know what the future holds fo rme as for a full transition. Half of me wants to be female while the other half needs to stay male for the time being. It's been a tug of war for me.

Linda Ann

Love being female

[Melissa]

For me it was:

Acute GID - I have unrelenting GID, obtaining SRS is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation.

Foregoing surgery is NOT an option for me.  I still feel dysphoria on a daily basis even though I've been fulltime for a while and it is almost all directly related to my genitals.

[Intertween]

I selected Gender Variant/No Dysphoria.

I am female-born but live more toward the middle of the female/male continuum. Society is not harsh about the way I bend and I'm happy where I am.

-- Sue

[Lucy]

I have survire GID and Gender Disforia but at present are not taking HRT or requiring surgery. This may well change in the futor so I am not taking part in this poll as of yet

[Donna]

I know that I have GID, however I'm not sure to what extent. I know I am a woman inside and I need to transition, as for SRS i'm not sure at this point. I wish there was a way to see the future..........

[Hypatia]

Acute GID - I have unrelenting GID, obtaining SRS is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation. - 1 (50%)

I pondered the "Substantial GID" option but I honestly can not say I have chosen this path by "opting" for surgery. ^*shrug* I am afraid I am one of the "do or die" types.

I am, however, at ease most of the time as I am rather good at dealing with unpleasant situations it would seem.

But uh, yeah. SRS is in my future, oh well.

Gender Identification: MtF

Kimberley's words describe how I feel about it. Call it substantial GID verging upon acute.

By now I am very clear in my mind that I want the surgery, I just don't know yet how it will become feasible, or when. Waiting, hoping... in the meantime I've done my best to make peace with my current situation. And that is getting more difficult as I feel the increase of pressure from within to complete my transition. The intensity of it has kept increasing relentlessly for some years now and shows no sign of abating. Hmm, maybe I'm over into "Acute GID" territory already. Started out mild, and when it became substantial, I started therapy, and then hormones. But the pressure from within keeps increasing, and now I'm starting to feel desperate to go all the way.

I noticed no one has selected "medically unresolved" or "self-resolved" - this confirms that medical intervention is the solution, that it won't just go away. Often we hear advice to just learn to be comfortable in our originally-assigned gender. This illustrates how that is impossible for GID.

[Maebh]

I noticed no one has selected "medically unresolved" or "self-resolved" - this confirms that medical intervention is the solution, that it won't just go away. Often we hear advice to just learn to be comfortable in our originally-assigned gender. This illustrates how that is impossible for GID.

As I said in my post when I answered I hesitated between:

- I have some gender dysphoria, but it does not require a medical solution.  2 (4.7%)
and
-Self-resolved Gender Dysphoria - I had gender dysphoria and found a non-medical resolution for my gender issues

Eventually I chose the first one over the the last.

Why? Because of the past tense in the last choice. I do not have a "problem" and so far I have found a way to express both my masculine and feminine sides as complementary instead as opposites. But in the predominant social climate this expression can still be deemed as dysfunctional or not fitting some current culturally imposed norm.

In the light of the debate about >-bleeped-<s, could it be that the lack of answers to this choice might have nothing to do with surgical solution but more so with sociological and cultural attitudes?

I wonder; did anybody else consider that answer and if so why did you decide not to choose it?

HLLL&R

Maebh

[Hypatia]

I understand, Maebh. I lived as you described for the first few months after I came out, but then it became impossible for me. I've really gone over the cliff. That interval when I had alternating gender presentations was when my fingers were gripping the edge of the cliff. Well, there's no going back now. I'm in this for all I got, it's go for broke. By the end of my first year coming out, I was fulltime woman presentation - sometimes with greater femme intensity, sometimes with less. That's my gender range now.

What's it like going back and forth? All I know is, maleness gives me anxiety attacks. I'm a rape survivor.

[katia]

Acute GID - I have unrelenting GID, obtaining SRS is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation.

[Tay]

Gender Variant/Gender Dysphoria/Mild GID - I have gender related issues to be resolved with non-SRS surgical procedures.

I need my uterus gone.

Androgyne.

[Jeannette]

Acute GID - I have unrelenting GID, obtaining SRS is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation.

[Maebh]

I understand, Maebh. I lived as you described for the first few months after I came out, but then it became impossible for me. I've really gone over the cliff. That interval when I had alternating gender presentations was when my fingers were gripping the edge of the cliff. Well, there's no going back now. I'm in this for all I got, it's go for broke. By the end of my first year coming out, I was fulltime woman presentation - sometimes with greater femme intensity, sometimes with less. That's my gender range now.

Hypatia I'm so glad you found the way that suits you. I don't feel I am gripping any edge, I'm just gliding following the thermals and diving and soaring again. But who knows? life is a journey so I'll never say never.

What's it like going back and forth? All I know is, maleness gives me anxiety attacks. I'm a rape survivor.

Fine, I really enjoy my freedom to BE the way I feel without label or restriction. For exemple tonight the friend who was comming for a session was expecting Maebh, but I wasn't in the mood so Yves was there for her and it was fine too.
And yes I am a rape and abuse and torture survivor too. In hell's fire I was inured! which gives me a great sense of strenght and security. Apart from killing me there isn't a lot anybody can do to me that I didn't encounter and survived before.
Of course it gives me a great sense of empathy too.

Hope, Hugs, Light, Laughter, Love and Respect.

Maebh

[Judge Yourself]

Where's the going out of my mind option ? 

[rhonda13000]

Unquestionably, #7 - Acute and unrelenting 

Utterly MERCILESS driving and I bitterly resented this, for quite a while.

It has driven me to do things which I never conceived that I would do and I have pretty much astounded the local medical community, in so doing.

It has been a cast iron BITCH.

[DawnL]

-->Medically Resolved GID - I received medical/surgical attention for my gender issues, I no longer have gender dysphoria.

That's me, happy, female, finally living a life that makes sense to me.

Dawn

[Debbie_Anne]

I wasn't quite sure if this was the case, but back a few months ago when I thought that SRS was very far out of my reach, I went into a bit of a depression...I had a hard time motivating myself to do things, and I didn't want to be around anyone.  So I'm going to go with "Acute GID - I have unrelenting GID, obtaining SRS is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation."  I just wish that raising the money to do so was easier.

[Lori]

Acute. I'll never stop. I have 42 lost years of girlhood to reclaim, and I'll never again compromise my needs.

Just to clarify a bit, even though I picked "SRS is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation..." it's not that I'm focused on SRS to solve my GID, but rather that it's a critical piece of a larger puzzle. I could as easily say, "HRT is an absolutely necessity to resolve my situation..." as well; in fact, HRT is more important to me. Still, in the end, I need, and will have, both.

~Kate~

Exactly how I feel. I did choose Gender Variant/Gender Dysphoria/Mild GID - I have gender related issues to be resolved with non-SRS surgical procedures. because it was the closest one to me. HRT and FFS are what I must have to resolve my issues.

[Hypatia]

don't feel I am gripping any edge, I'm just gliding following the thermals and diving and soaring again. But who knows?

I'm happy for you that you can get it to work for you this way. My existence is unrelenting torment.

And yes I am a rape and abuse and torture survivor too. In hell's fire I was inured! which gives me a great sense of strenght and security. Apart from killing me there isn't a lot anybody can do to me that I didn't encounter and survived before.

That's a good perspective. I'd like to borrow it.

Of course it gives me a great sense of empathy too.

You're right, that is the best thing one can say about it.

[Lisbeth]

The problem I find with this kind of poll is that it is itself prescriptive.  Like the DSM-IV, the list itself determines the range of possible outcomes.  The whole idea of a continuum from "slight GID, I can handle it" to "I gotta have surgery" is suspect.  The world is not nearly so simple as that.

[katia]

The problem I find with this kind of poll is that it is itself prescriptive.  Like the DSM-IV, the list itself determines the range of possible outcomes.  The whole idea of a continuum from "slight GID, I can handle it" to "I gotta have surgery" is suspect.  The world is not nearly so simple as that.

i couldn't have said it better, lisbeth.  i'd like to know the "secret" to handle it.    It'd prevent lots of transsexuals from blowing their brains out. tsk tsk tsk