I am a bisexual female, and transexuals have always fascinated me. I see them, but am afraid to ask any questions for fear that I would be prying. So I am going to ask here? When did you know that you were transgendered? Was your life really the hell that is portrayed on tv? How did your family react? Friends? I have the utmost respect for you for daring to be what you really are. If you are willing to endure all that is asscoiated with changing your gender, how could there be any other choice??
Questions about transgendered people?
Wow, I didn't know the media is finally portraying the hell we transsexuals have to endure. I suppose the media does in small ways. For instance Law %26amp; Order: SVU did a fantastic job at portraying how hard it is for us. They also weren't ignorant about transsexualism too, they actually discussed the neurology behind transsexualism.
But anyway, I'm glad that some people can take such a wonderful shine to diversity and courage, like you've done : ) thank you. A lot of [imature] people in this world rather despise us, simply because they don't like things that they can't understand, don't want to understand, or simply because they're afraid of diversity.
But anyway, in answer to your questions:
At the age of 2 (I think) I knew I was a girl, that was before I found out the shocking truth about my body, which strongly contradicted the way I felt inside. I always believed that I was a special human being, completely unique, one of a kind. I believed I was the only girl who was trapped within a boy's body, and consequently I felt completely alone in this universe, and I resented myself for that.
%26quot;Was your life really the hell that is portrayed on tv?%26quot; -My life (and many transsexuals' lives) was [and still is] LITERALLY hell, put it that way. I have actually attempted suicide many times, just like many other transsexuals.
My family reacted in the most favourable way imaginable, they were so understanding, to my utmost shock. My mum and dad, and sisters, knew a LOT about transsexualism, they even knew that it was something in the brain that made me a female within. I 'came out' to them when I was 16 (now I'm 17).
I have the utmost respect for you sweetie! Thank you so much for being YOU, you're an angel : ) Blessed be.
Questions about transgendered people?
My first memories of feeling something was wrong was at 5. I didn't know there was a word for my feelings until I was 13. I started transition in 2007 when I was 19.
Growing up I was often depressed and suicidal. Everything people told me I was suppose to be felt wrong and it made my life feel empty. At the time those feelings made me really mad at myself because outside of being born with this condition I have a wonderful family and I couldn't understand why I couldn't be happy.
Other then my brother my immediate family had positive reactions. My dad wasn't really surprised. My extended family is a mixed bag. However I'm much closer to my immediate family, brother excluded, then I ever was before.
I stopped talking to most of the people I use to be friends with when I found out they were laughing at me and making up disgusting stories about me behind my back. But I did become closer to people I hadn't been close to before. You could say I found out who my real friends were.
I do agree with another poster. I never changed my gender. I've always been female. The only thing that changed was my outward appreance. Hope my answers helped =)
I knew when I was 3 years old and told my mom, this was in 1965
She reacted by punishing me into silence. Then I came out publicly and transitioned at 23 in 1985. My family rejected me and my friends rejected me,
I am not changing my gender, I am female and am staying female, what I am changing is my physical sex.
I first came out at age five. My life was a nightmare for the next seven and a half years, due to my parents did not believe that I was a girl and not a boy. when I was thirteen my parent finally excepted my being a transsexual woman and allowed me to transition. My life has been for the most part good since then.
Many transsexual know from an early age, some as young as 2 or 3, what their true gender is. Some take a little longer to figure things out, but almost ALL transsexual people know by puberty that things are not right.
Hell? For some yes, but that is not true for all. For example my life probably seemed pretty normal from the outside. However, inside I was in turmoil because I couldn't figure out why I didn't fit in. As time went on it became more like a war, but nobody around me knew that I had this struggle going on. Most of us learn early that this is something we shouldn't talk about and learn to project an acceptable image. Eventually though all coping mechanism fail and one must admit who they are. Unlike many others I was never suicidal.
My coping mechanisms didn't break down until I was 41, so I had long since left home. My ex divorced me within 3.5 months of coming out and to this day I am not allowed any contact with my children. My parents are quietly supportive. My siblings are a mixed bag: One brother is supportive, one brother is ambivalent, my sister (who lives 3 miles away) doesn't want any contact and one brother actively shuns me. However, none of that negativity affects me because my life is 100% better now; nothing beats being your true self. Friends: Like many others I never had any friends. Okay I had one friend in school, but once I left high school I never really had another. Now I have several good friends.
As Kathryn said we don't change genders, we change our bodies to match our gender. You can read more about gender identity and transsexualism here:
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/T鈥?/a>
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When did you know that you were transgendered?
About 4-5 years old.
Was your life really the hell that is portrayed on tv?
Probably worse than what is portrayed on TV. TV can't convey what it's like to feel miserable every day for decades. I endured teasing, rejection, isolation, verbal abuse, physical abuse, tremendous self-loathing, and thoughts of suicide.
How did your family react? Friends?
My family does not know yet. I hope they will be okay with it, but I'm really not sure. The friends I've told have reacted well, and have been quite supportive.
I have the utmost respect for you for daring to be what you really are.
Thank you, although what I do I did out of desperation and the instinct to survive.
If you are willing to endure all that is asscoiated with changing your gender, how could there be any other choice??
There is no other choice (other than death.) And just to clarify, a transsexual person does not %26quot;change%26quot; their gender. We are all the gender that our brains tell us we are. The only thing we can (and do) do is change our bodies to match our brains. This is the big misunderstanding people have. They see a transsexual woman as a %26quot;guy who became a girl.%26quot; Not true. A transsexual woman is a woman born with a male body, and she corrects her body to reflect her internal gender identity.
