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Diary of a Transgender Girl - MTF

Discussion in 'Coming Out Advice' started by Quitex, Feb 28, 2008.

  1. Quitex

    Quitex Guest

    Ahoy everyone!

    [I really dont know where to post this, but since this may help several people, I'll post it here. Mods, move to your convenience]

    I've been reading this blog lately, of a girl who was Developer for an online gaming company. She posted this blog on a thread on our forums (of one of the games) whcih was about "Gay acceptance" or something like that. (don't know how that topic ended there).

    This is a very, very complete blo. Starts from where she decides to have the surgery, the struggles she had on her way and the success. she even gives advices in How to inject the estrogen/testosterone!

    http://elizabeth.caltech.edu/personal/?pg=8

    Hope it helps. It is *long*, but worth reading.
     
  2. GlindaRose

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    Wow I must admit this is very informative, and educational to non-transgendered people as well as transgendered ones. Thanks for the post! I'm reading it now. :grin:
     
  3. divadarya

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    I can relate to a lot of this except that's she's transitioning/getting the surgery when she's younger, she's go the money to do it, she's not married with kids and she's probably an engineer....
    Seriously...
    Her hormone regimen is exactly the same as mine....10cc's of estradiol in oil:bypasses the liver, that's why the injection in the thigh(doing mine tonight, in fact) and about 200-300mg of Spironolactone to supress the Testosterone.
    FTM(female to Male)TS's do the same thing, only they use Testosterone or "T" as those naughty boys call it.
    Hormones are the acid test for a Transsexual. Supressing testosterone would make a typical gay man scream or become depressed(they'd love what it does for the skin, however)why? because they're MEN and they have a healthy male sex drive.
    TS's, be they MTF or FTM feel better when we get the appropriate hormone; our brains just let out a sigh of relief....
    Before surgery, we have to go off the hormones and the androgen blockers(they lower blood pressure) and it makes a little nuts for a few weeks....
    I just joined her group, too...:slight_smile:
     
  4. Quitex

    Quitex Guest

    Well, you know, the more stuff you have to go through the most respect you deserve. I dont know your history, Dd, but I'd be glad to hear it (link me!). Overall, I guess someone that's married, with kids, a little bit older and not an engineer deserves a bigger hug. You ready for the hug? :grin:
     
  5. lizthegrey

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    I may as well bite. I'm the author of the blog in question, and I saw that I'd been linked by looking at my referrer logs this afternoon :slight_smile:

    Everyone's story is different - in my mind, there's definitely no way to 'compare' what people have been through, we're all just people when you boil things down. There certainly are benefits and drawbacks to transitioning at different points in life.

    I acknowledge that I was relatively lucky in a good number of ways - I was born in the late 1980's and grew up with internet access, so I had the ability to discover relatively early who I was, and what I wanted for myself. I also fortunately happened to find a calling in the computer industry, which is relatively more meritocratic in terms of hiring people without many letters after their names, paying fairly well, and being very liberal/accepting.

    However, a /lot/ of my peers that are in their teens or early 20's are struggling because they have neither financial independence from their parents/the ability to save money, nor hope of finding work soon, let alone in fields that are trans-friendly and conducive to transition on the job, etc.

    In general, I'd say that being young and without support from parents is rather difficult - I survived, but it wasn't pretty, and I think that I only barely escaped because of the random luck of the draw. "There but for the grace of <fate/the goddess> go I..."

    Right, getting back to the topic - that Puzzle Pirates forum thread started because someone posted a very bigoted right-wing attack article to the forums crying wolf about safe bathroom access for transpeople, claiming that it was going to result in a flood of "men invading women's bathrooms". *eyeroll*. I ended up responding because I decided that it was worth it to educate people rather than letting misinformation like that stand.

    I really don't have very many qualms about being public about my past - my blog is right there and available for anyone to read, but at this point in time I don't yell it to the rooftops either. I've gotten to the point in life where I'm just living a normal life for the first time (yay!), but I definitely want to try to help other people out by providing as much information as I can about the process rather than woodworking/going deep stealth. If anything, I regret not having started keeping a blog about my transition earlier. Anyone who has reason to google me will probably stumble across it, but I haven't pointed things out to anyone at my new job since it's not really that relevant to my coworkers' interactions with me.

    Anyhow, I have work in the morning so I should sleep now, but I'll pop by tomorrow :slight_smile:. Oh right, if you want to ask me anything, feel free to poke me (my IM contact info is listed on the about page). I don't bite, but I may be preoccupied by work and not get back to you for some amount of time.
     
  6. divadarya

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    Welcome Liz!!
    Someone liked your blog and we've been discussing it in here...I just joined TrueSelves today myself!!

    Darya
     
  7. GlindaRose

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    Welcome Liz!! It's a pleasure to have you here. :grin:
     
  8. Quitex

    Quitex Guest

    OMG LIZ!!!! :O!!
    *hides*

    So, let me catch my breath, hehe.
    Well welcome dearest Liz ^^

    I was very touched by your whole story I was like... Omg I MUST link it.. I MUST!!! :grin:
     
    #8 Quitex, Feb 29, 2008
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 29, 2008
  9. Quitex

    Quitex Guest

    that!!! that!!! Faulkston didn't gave me the link on the forums but just the link to your blog, thanks for reminding me :grin: I didn't knew anything about your story until I read that thread and I've been simply amazed. I might as well add the link to the thread (if I'm able to find it AND if they let me as well :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:) and you'll read all the megabattle that went on, hehe.

    Link here: [remove if unauthorized]
    http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/viewthread?p=1296509#1296509
    I dont know if I posted there... but if I did my name should be Quitex.
     
  10. TriBi

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    Welcome Liz :smilewave Great to see ya - even if it were via accidental link, we're glad you found EC's little corner of the web.

    This site has been growing steadily over the last few years...but the one thing we have always tended to lack has been good advice/experience for trans people - so, in the past had been unable to cater very well for those who dropped by here.

    Luckily, not too long ago, Darya dropped by - and seems to have become a valued part of the EC furniture LOL ((*hug*))...she's been great - and now you have come along. :icon_bigg

    I really hope you have time to look around, get to know the folk here and keep posting. We need the help of people like yourself and Darya to be able to complete what EC is all about - by giving insight on the 'T' in LGBT.
     
  11. divadarya

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    Just a Quick update...
    I'm apparently too old for TrueSelves which is for Gen X and Y Transitioners,and the admin told me that they had a an age cutoff and that was that. I requested that they drop me.

    I'm a "Baby Boomer", which means a lot of them in the US and UK grew up looking up to Ronald Reagan and Maggie Thatcher;maybe I got off lucky.

    I'm hurt and a little pissed off :tantrum: , but ya know what? I have all of YOU!!!(!) Some of you are 63 and some of you are fifteen, and you all help me.(*hug*) (*hug*)

    xoxo
    Darya
    (the cranky old lady)
     
    #11 divadarya, Feb 29, 2008
    Last edited: Feb 29, 2008
  12. Quitex

    Quitex Guest

    Old... where?!!?
    *looks around*
    Oh that? Nah...
    (*hug*)
    Who's 63? :confused:
     
  13. GlindaRose

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    *Hugs darya*

    Age shouldn't matter when it gets down to these things...
     
  14. Paul_UK

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    I agree. That's a very narrow-minded site. I guess they have their reasons, but they should learn a bit from EC.
     
  15. JSG

    JSG Guest

    What???
    How can you be too old for a website? Esp at 56...

    You've still got all of us (*hug*)
     
  16. lizthegrey

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    (disclaimer: I'm a True Selves mod)

    The age limit there is in order to provide a 'safe space' for people in teens/twenties/early 30's to talk about issues that they would not feel comfortable discussing with a wider range of people, as well as to provide a place to find lots of peers who are similar in terms of their experiences. A /lot/ of the other trans boards are heavily dominated by people who are late 30's and older, and it does tend to squeeze out younger people who don't feel as if other posters on those boards can relate to them.

    Personally, I hang out in various different communities to get a very broad base of support, but there tends to be a pretty large disconnect/age gap in general.
     
  17. divadarya

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    (disclaimer: I just had my 10cc's of Estradiol on Thursday night..sometimes I get giddy, sometimes serene, and this time I got SENSITIVE!!)

    Hmmmm...so I guess it's sort of like how the "womyn" of the Lillith Fair didn't feel comfortable with us because we weren't born "womyn"? I'm sure we made them "uncomfortable" and just had to go off and create Camp Trans..

    My brain tells me, logically, I shouldn't give a sh*t about not being where I'm not welcome, but this is sticking with me for some reason.....

    I'm sorry Liz, you seem very sweet and cool..this is about me, not you.

    I started out when the only places to go meant hanging with all kinds of people, including Drag Queens and Crossdressers...I choose not to go where they are now, but I can't ignore the fact that they were my ancestorsand I learned from them...It's sort of the way a lot of West Hollywood Gay men look down on "Nellies" because they reflect badly on the "Straight Acting" community....

    God, we are SOOOOOOOOOO typically an oppressed people doing the work for our Oppressor..OOPS..sorry, that sounded kinda "sixties" didn't it?

    I'll get over it.I'm just learning(recently) to say what I really think instead of smiling and taking it; I have no power over anything anyone else does.

    Ever hear of Candy Darling? Ever hear Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild side"?
    "Candy came from out on the island....."
    This is her, a trans pioneer in 1969..she's no longer with us.
    [​IMG]
     
    #17 divadarya, Mar 1, 2008
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2008
  18. TyraBanksIsFierce

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    pretty sure you could get away with 30 something =/
     
  19. Paul_UK

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    For what it's worth, I will NOT be adding TrueSelves to the resources list here. I dislike the idea of a minority site that discriminates against members of the minority it is set up to support. Seems more like a clique than a support group.

    Subdividing the LGBT community to just a selected age-range of T is encouraging discrimination, and not doing anything to reduce it.

    Darya, as I see it this is not you, this is a narrow minded and unwelcoming "support group" that only welcomes people they feel fit their criteria. You have a right to feel pissed off at them for their attitude. We won't change them though. The best we can do is give them zero publicity (or negative publicity like this) and hope that in future they decide to be more welcoming and inclusive. I'm not holding my breath though.
     
  20. sdc91

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    My roommate will not stop playing that song (on the computer or on his guitar)!!

    And yes, he's straight. And yes, he knows what it means.

    He totally worships Freddie Mercury and Lou Reed. He's almost more gay than me, except for the part that I like boys and he doesn't.