Am I Transgender Anymore

[Myarkstir]

Am I Transgender Anymore

By Zoe Dolan, Huffpost Gay Voice
Feb. 7, 2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zoe-dolan/am-i-transgender-anymore_b_6614056.html?utm_hp_ref=transgender

Fear kept me silent about my sex change in the past. Vanquishing the shame meant looking at what's underneath.

I used to watch the movie Labyrinth from time to time when I was growing up. Jennifer Connelly plays a teenage girl who, in exasperation, wishes her baby brother away to another world, the Labyrinth, only to learn that she must undergo trials and tribulations to get him back from the Goblin King, a sort of dictatorial sorcerer played by David Bowie. At the end -- spoiler alert! -- the Labyrinth world shatters like glass upon a line Jennifer Connelly says to David Bowie: "You have no power over me."

Secrets weaken their keeper. They wear down hopes and dreams with the weight of guilt.

[suzifrommd]

I wish the article had been written in a more straightforward way, since it's a really, really important question.

I ask it of myself periodically. It some ways it is semantic, but in others it's very profound. Do I blend into the world of women to the point where I'm no longer Different from them, or are the residual anatomical differences and the differences in our history such that it makes me in a special category of women?

I've heard a lot of people on this forum say that they they do not consider themselves trans any more. They're just women (or men).

For me, it's not that simple. For one thing, I'm non-binary gendered which I'm about 50% sure is really a thing and not just manufactured from my attitude. For another, I like to speak about my experiences and educate others, so I out myself on a regular basis.

But does that matter? Does it place me in a category, or is it just a description, like being tall, or living on the west side of town?

[ReDucks]

I think the article is unclear because there is no good answer to the question.   

I think the last step of fully transitioning isn't surgery, it's letting go of your birth gender completely.  If you feel like you need to tell people, you're probably transgender.

[Muffinheart]

I read that article on HuffPost and commented as well.
I feel with each passing day...that I am shedding the "I'm trans" lingo.
I remember following surgery, some good friends said to me "what now".
There is no what now...now it's about living life and making up for years lost.

[ImagineKate]

I really cannot wait to shed it. But I still want to be close to and help the community. The community has helped me so much.

So there is conflict.

[Tysilio]

It's very badly written, and not well thought out. I started it the other day with some hopes that it might be worthwhile, perhaps something I could share with others.

I still have no idea what the point of the "Labyrinth" story is. I suppose it's meant to be a metaphor, but I'm damned if I know for what.

Too bad....

[gennee]

Huffington Post likes to pride itself on being progressive. They don't always go deep enough  on a topic. Too many things are left to question.

[Tysilio]

They also publish far too much stuff by people who aren't very smart and/or can't write worth a lick.

[Emily E]

It's very badly written, and not well thought out. I started it the other day with some hopes that it might be worthwhile, perhaps something I could share with others.

I still have no idea what the point of the "Labyrinth" story is. I suppose it's meant to be a metaphor, but I'm damned if I know for what.

Too bad....

I've seen that movie and I thought it was a metaphor for "people only have as much control over you as you let them have" at least that's what I took away from it... I could be totally wrong.