Becoming less masculine

[Lilly]

Hi, haven't posted in awhile. Actually, I only post when I have a question, so here it is. At this point in time I cannot transition, but is there anything I can do to prevent myself from becoming more masculine until I can transition?

[carolinejeo]

On the hormone side you could take an anti-androgen while in terms of behaviour try not to be too competitive and aggressive. Women tend to let other, particularly men, take the lead. Observe feminine behaviour and try to emulate it without making it overt.

Caroline

[rejennyrated]

There are two things I can suggest but I think I would respond first with a question because I simply don't accept your opening premise at all.

Why is it that you feel that transition is impossible? Many people here had to overcome formidable odds to do so. Transition is never really "POSSIBLE" for us. We have to fight to get it and if you wait until it is "possible" for you the chances are you will be old before that time arrives.

If you want to do this then you need to do it even THOUGH it is impossible. You have to fight will every fiber of your being to be who you want to be, prepared to lose everything, break every rule, even go to jail if by so doing you can achieve your goal. You have to let those around you know that there is nothing in heaven or on earth that can or will stop you.

When you reach that state of mind your circumstances may not be any easier than they are now, but you WILL transition anyway. Until you are ready to do that you are in the main best saving your money and trying to forget this and get on with your life.

I will also say something which you may find difficult to hear. If you oneday reach the perspective of having transitioned I think you will almost certainly look back and realise that the main thing which prevents anyone is not external circumstances, but rather your own doubts and fears about this. I submit that even at present you COULD transition if you really wanted to, but at present you are simply not at the place where you are sure that you want to pay the price involved. That is why counseling is helpful to some people.

Now to answer your question:

Possibly the only two things I know of that have some effect short of full medical HRT are drinking Spearmint tea, which is actually a pretty effective anti androgen and indeed a potential preventer of male pattern baldness and eating soya and/or taking soya supplements. Soya contains phytoestrogens. On their own they are NOT strong enough to feminise, but they are known to reduce some of the effects of aging particularly on the skin, and in some tests there were shown to reduce male fertility because of the estrogenic effect.

[pebbles]

Possibly the only two things I know of that have some effect short of full medical HRT are drinking Spearmint tea, which is actually a pretty effective anti androgen and indeed a potential preventer of male pattern baldness and eating soya and/or taking soya supplements. Soya contains phytoestrogens. On their own they are NOT strong enough to feminise, but they are known to reduce some of the effects of aging particularly on the skin, and in some tests there were shown to reduce male fertility because of the estrogenic effect.

I tried that and neither of them work Jenny for the purposes we want. Don't sell placebo effect  It's only LOOSELY shown to have slight estrogenic effects in kids. And adult male with huge amounts of T in there system no chance.

I tried begin pragmatic with my feelings of dysphora throughout my teenage years and compromising one way or another. There were many ways I did this was

dressing kinda androgynously until I hated my body too much at which point I wore baggy genderless dark clothes so I didn't have to experience the horror of my body. It  helps when you don't want to be aware of your body.

I also grew my hair long which helped somewhat but the anxiety of male pattern baldness is always there depending on how old you are. It was an effective outlet.

Removing your body hair through epilation although painful it helped me a small amount.

I tried to put off my feelings by intentionally making myself massively busy with work then saved up the money incase I couldn't hold on anymore this act of saving up gives you an option and relives some anxiety.

It helps if you don't put on any faux male personality stuff and be more open with your feelings although sometimes it can backfire when a friend says "You would have been such a good woman" ouch.

The other thing I tried somewhat unsuccessfully was to permanently remove my facial hair it was too hard with T in my system however and was soul crushing.

An effective thing would have been to get an Orchidectomy although the stupidity of the system removes most forms of informed consent. There used to be a doctor who did do this on informed consent. I failed in this quest personally although I could have gelded myself if I'd found someone else to operate the clamps XD

I should point out that alot of these are only marginally effective they took an edge off but my pain got worse and worse and of course based on my avatar photo, pragmatism in my case eventually failed catastrophically.

[rejennyrated]

Actually I think I object to that charge! because BOTH comments are based on my reading of serious medical papers. I am, as you know at least an "Ex" scientist and I am NOT in the business of pedaling completely unfounded myths. There are actually a number of medical studies showing the effect of spearmint - but I agree that they are in women and not against male levels.

I was certainly not intending to sell a placebo as you put it, but if the OP wants to know what they can do the brutal answer is that if you aren't ready to go the whole way then there is pretty well nothing that will save you.

However given that spearmint tea is nice, is also cheap, probably does no harm, and could just someone a tiny bit of hope I prefer to offer at least a crumb of comfort. I also happen to believe that soya does have some marginal effects, as I said, not as an agent of feminsation, but because it encourages skin to stay more youthful. Again it isn't a huge effect, but there are some serious medical studies that support this observation

I am not going to fall out with you, but I think you should consider that whilst we evidently have a legitimate difference in our reading of the available serious scientific evidence I am NOT about to agree that I am pedaling the sort of outright falsehood that you imply.

They may not have worked for you, many things do not work for everyone, and I do agree the effect is much smaller than a proper course of medication.

[Asfsd4214]

On the hormone side you could take an anti-androgen while in terms of behaviour try not to be too competitive and aggressive. Women tend to let other, particularly men, take the lead.

Maybe a couple decades ago, lol, in my generation, from my observations, the majority of women are just as aggressive as most men.