Questions on Transitioning

'Transitioning' is different for every single person that goes through it.

So far my 'transition' has involved:

Removing body hair
Growing hair
Growin nails
Changing name from birthname to Holly
Dressing as female
Coming out as female to everyone and asking them to treat me as a woman

And in the future I will take hormones and have surgery.


Not everybody takes hormones or has surgery. Some people don't feel they need it, others can't afford it or don't want it.

The only surgery I want is genital surgery. I will have a vagina one day.

 

Everyone's transition is different, and I haven't really started yet, but my plan is:
Come out as trans
Replace wardrobe with male clothes and buy a chest binder
Take hormones
Change my name legally
Get top surgery
Hopefully get bottom surgery one day

 

So let me ask this, as a serious posing question, does one -need- surgery to transition?

Or is coming out & identifying as trans, dressing, hair issues, and perhaps hormones enough? Like me, I don't think I could personally undergo the surgery.

Thank you.

 

Transition just means 'period of change'.

Surgery and hormones can be a part of transition but it absolutely doesn't have to be, and it isn't for a lot of people.

 

I personally haven't started transitioning yet, but my plan is to change my wardrobe, maybe change my name, and that's all I know for now. I haven't decided yet on hormones, and I know that I won't have surgery.

Not everyone does hormones. Until recently, I thought there was no way I could, but events in the past day or so have led me to reconsider. There are a lot of effects that hormones would have on a person's body, but I'm not sure I could list all of them. Some of them for trans men include cessation of menses, the voice gets deeper, increase in muscle, increased sex drive, possible hair loss, change in the way the fat is distributed in the body to a more masculine pattern, growing facial hair and more body hair, and probably a lot of other things that I'm leaving out. Not as sure on the effects of hormones for trans women, sorry.

As for surgeries, I don't plan on getting any. And I haven't decided yet what my goal is. I guess it's just to pass as the guy that I am.

 

SamThes, changing your name and wardrobe is a good beginning!

 

Thanks, LonestarConnie! I guess I'll see if that's enough for me.

 

If it is, then great! All you can be is yourself. And you're very welcome

 

1) I was out to myself and online since I was 16. Socially, not really since May of last year but it never started becoming a major thing for people around me until July.

2) Everyone's different with what they want to do. Hormones, surgery and legal document changes are really it; but some opt to omit some things and others choose not to transition. It depends on what the person wants to do or feels the need to.

3) Not everyone does and the results vary from person to person.

4) I've yet to medically transition, but I hope to get somewhere before the year ends.

5) I'm not sure what I fully want out of everything, but as long as I don't sound or look like a 12 year old, I'm happy.

 

^ This so very much. Transitioning means different things for all of us, and no one needs to have surgery or take hormones to be who they are. Most transmen don't have bottom surgery as it isn't perfected yet. Many transgender people, across the board, opt out of "the surgery" but may have their original gonads removed to assist with hormone supplementation; this is likely because many of us (including myself) have little to no bottom dysphoria. Bottom dysphoria appears to be more common among transgender women but again, everyone is different and surgery absolutely CANNOT make someone a man or a woman. Top surgery is pretty common as is taking hormones but it's very much "different strokes for different folks." I plan to start T within a month but will hopefully only take it for a year and then undergo a partial hysterectomy. I plan to have top surgery within the next two years but it has been pushed down in importance because of my medical problems. For me, personally, I don't need to have a fully male body because what does it mean anyway? A male body isn't a man's body; the body a man inhabits is one. I just need a body that works for me and that I feel at home in. But some of us are totally comfortable with their bodies without any modifications, and that's totally fine and valid, too!

There is no "right" or "wrong" way to be transgender because being transgender is just part of the diversity of the human experience.

 

Is bottom dysphoria really that uncommon? I completely understand not wanting bottom surgery but I didn't know it was rare to have bottom dysphoria, I've always had it :eek:
I guess it's probably a good thing to not have it though...

 

About dysphoria. I believe being a transsexual man/woman is about having body dysphoria, bottom or/and top. I don't mean to offend anyone, but isn't that what makes people trans*? Social dysphoria is not being happy with the social construct of male/female; something that is normal. Many people have this.
About 'transitioning', it's a period of change. However, I am not an expert on the subject

 

The parts don't make our gender. Our feelings do. Our bodies are only giant meat suits for out brain. The thing is, with dysphoria, it's just a reminder of what category you were stuck in. I don't get bad dysphoria because I realize I'll have this body for quite a while, so why fight it? The only time it peaks is when i touch those parts, giving me a rude reminder. So dysphoria is not what makes us trans* in my opinion.

 

Yes, but gender is a social construct. Something defined by culture, if anything. Biological sex, however, is different. If you don't like your parts, that's dysphoria, that's when I'd say you are a transsexual man or woman. If you feel a different gender, you just don't fit a certain social construct, you are just different from what society says you should be. That's all you are, then you are still very much your biological sex. But yes, if you use trans* as an umbrella term, you'd technically also be trans* maybe. Depends on how you want to define yourself, I think.

 

There's a big difference between dislike and discomfort. Some people feel both. Others, feel one or the other, or not at all. I may dislike my parts, but I am not overly uncomfortable with them.
Let's leave society out because they are a bunch of narrow minded humans.
Society tends to believe it's whats on the outside that counts. If you feel a different gender and you're set on it. You are that gender.
Transexual is referring to someone who's all ready been through the transition. I'm not sure if that's what you meant. But you can very much be transgender without transitioning. It's not right for them. But they are still of chosen gender. Would you tell them they weren't because they didn't have surgery? Social construct is only a teeny tiny part of what makes us human.

*trying hard not to be offensive in any way* :lol:

 

You're not offensive in any way, our opinions just differ. Which is perfectly fine, who knows what we could learn from each other.

Agreed. I do still believe though gender's just a construct.

Not what I meant indeed. :icon_wink

I agree, in a way. However, I believe biological sex does NOT equal gender, because gender's a social construct, sex is biological. This leads me to believe a female (a social construct; you can still feel you are female though) can in fact still be a man, biologically or even sexually. I don't believe female people are always women; that's all part of the social construct.

I am looking forward what you have to say though. Who knows what I might learn. :icon_bigg

 

OH. I get what you mean by the social construct thing now. Because sex and gender are two seperate things. :lol:

 

Yay!

 

Haha the wording had jist confused me.
*totally did not stay up till 3AM on a school night*