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hrt stealth?

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by fruity, Apr 21, 2014.

  1. fruity

    fruity Guest

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    Gender:
    Female (trans*)
    Sexual Orientation:
    Bisexual
    I guess it really depends on the situation, but is it generally advised to start living full-time before/during the start of HRT? the way the next school year pans out, it could be advantageous to just start HRT but live "normally" at least until the summer. so that'd be a period of maybe 4-6 months of taking hormones but not presenting as female for me. but I mean it all seems kinda counter-productive, like why should I be hiding who I am? my justification is that all the awkwardness regarding appearance, voice, could potentially be avoided, but I could really use this time to get used to all that stuff I suppose. advice?
     
  2. Gates

    Gates Guest

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    Location:
    Between paradise and nothingness
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    Straight
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    Out to everyone
    If you are starting college and can pass at all, even remotely, I'd advise going in as who you are. It'll make social transition basically a non-issue. I'm starting a PhD program in the fall and plan to be out to everyone (bc I can't/ don't care to go stealth).

    ---------- Post added 21st Apr 2014 at 07:48 PM ----------

    And many professors should be understanding - contact the director of the LGBTQ resource center first.

    When I teach, I have a zero-tolerance policy regarding discrimination of any kind. Many profs and TAs have the same.
     
  3. drwinchester

    drwinchester Guest

    Yeah, I'm out on campus. Still not on T and probably won't be for a few more months.

    Would recommend if you feel you're passing well enough and confident. Might not be able to go stealth (for the first 2 semesters, I wasn't passing well at all so it ended any hope of being stealth for me) but it'll make it a hell of a lot easier to later come out, versus waiting until you're midway through your school career.

    I simply emailed my professors and let them know about my name change (all of them were cool about changing the name on the roster and most cool about pronouns). Then, even though I didn't pass well, I was still being introduced as my preferred name and as a transguy. So, there's that. It'll save you the issue of socially transitioning in addition to the physical changes.
     
  4. fruity

    fruity Guest

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    thanks for the replies. I don't think I'd be able to pass well in the early stages just because I'm really bad at makeup and my hair is really short. and I guess I'm not worried about administrative things, though it does seem like less of a hassle to get all that stuff done before entering classes. it kinda depends too on when I'd be able to get a prescription, I basically speculated based on what I've seen/read that it takes 3 months of therapy, so if I started in like sept, I could start during the new calendar year.
     
  5. drwinchester

    drwinchester Guest

    Yeah. Taking that into consideration, coming in as yourself around the new school year seems like an option to consider. I mean, new beginnings and all- probably better to just wait until school begins up again.

    I came back after spring term with my hair cropped short and now pass like 60% more than I used to. So I can get waiting until you pass better to introduce yourself to the world. Almost wish I'd waited so I could've possibly gone stealth on campus- I mean, I was pretty quiet all year- now's the first semester I've really started speaking up and trying to connect with people. I've had classmates and professors pass me in the hall without recognizing me. :lol: