Hei, I’m hearing all sorts of good stuff about New York and trans rights, what’s up with that?
New York recently ordered private insurers to cover transsexual surgery, but otherwise there have been many small efforts here and there.
Did the change affect your eating habits? Do you like or dislike any foods now compared to before? Do you have the same appetite?
Also your face. How really different do you look now? Can people still recognize the old you? Have you had any odd experiences like people thing your the old persons sister?
Oh goodness yes, and I confess it wasn’t something I was prepared for.
Things I used to love but now either dislike or like much less include beer, rum, whiskey, hot and spicy foods, some cheeses, eggnog, nuts, ice cream (any flavor - the cold bothers me much more). I also have found I will almost never order steak from a menu, instead ordering chicken or pork. If I get steak I will get filet, and never my former favorite (sirloin), and brown rice, lemons and limes.
Things I didn’t like so much but now do include wine, clam chowder, lobster bisque, and scallops, and sweet things in general. Kansas City has a lot of seafood, and so now I can eat some every now and then. 
After about 6 months friends noticed my face shape had changed, such that fat deposits moved up giving me cheekbones. The few sparse hairs I had on my lower face vanished, so I don’t even need to pluck any but once in a month or so. My skin complexion changed, such that my facial skin is much softer than at any time in memory. It’s been described as “baby soft”. My skin had become a bit pinker, sometimes I have almost a natural light blush. Acne vanished almost immediately and never came back.
Sometime between 6 months to a year my lips were noticeably fuller, mostly my bottom lip. It’s difficult to judge about my upper lip, since the braces pulled my upper teeth back in more than half an inch (:eek:) and changed the profile radically, but I’ve been told I have “average female lips.”
After about a year I noticed something odd - I used to have to trim nose hairs once a month or something, often I’d pluck. I noticed I hadn’t done that in a while, and took a look - I had to look hard to even find any, and the ones there were very small and fine. Fat deposits continued to move, and I’ve been told I have “adorable” cheeks when I smile. After a year, I really didn’t notice any difference.
After a year I started to freckle on my face in the summer sun - for the first time in my life. It was a nice light band which I was told looked nice, but now I use SPF50 to keep them down.
Things which did not change: eyelashes, eyebrows, shape of my nose.
I’ve grown my hair waaaay out, and that tremendously changes how I look.
Some people have trouble recognizing me, and if they do they say I look like a “sister of (my) former self.” I’ve gone up to long-term clients at a conference once, started talking to them for a while, then stopped when I realized they were talking to me like a friendly stranger, and had to ask “do you know who I am?” And they didn’t! When I told them, the jaws dropped, just like in a movie.
Given the parts of the story you’ve chosen to share with us, I have to think that there’s less stress and more happiness in your life since the transition, which could also take years off your appearance.
That picture of a lung in the article looks like they’re cooking a delicious turkey
I have a question. What is the thought in the trans community about athletics? It’s one of the remaining areas where things are still divided by gender. It came to mind because of an article in the New Yorker about professional video game players which was discussing the first very successful female player. They sort of glossed over the fact that she was a transwoman. On the one hand, it’s video games and it shouldn’t matter but on the other hand, if they are making a case that women usually cannot compete on a level with men and that this woman proved that this is untrue, is it relevant that she may have some residual “male” brain characteristics? On the third hand, as a transwoman, you have to assume that she has a relatively “female” brain anyway. Personally, I don’t think it makes a difference in this case, but it may in strength or endurance-based competition. In addition, what should be done about intersexual persons who are not on hormonal treatment? Is it fair to bar them from competing based on a condition they were born with?
The thought is varied even within the transgender community. Most of us have personally experienced the incredible changes hormones make on us. For transwomen, we’ve all experienced the weakness, the being out of breath, the loss of stamina…struggling to pick something up which we used to do one-handed. There’s little doubt in most of our minds that our bodies become very much female very quickly.
I wrote about 16,000 words in a research article series on the subject of transgender and intersex persons and sports. You can read it here: http://transascity.org/cross-training-the-history-and-future-of-transgender-and-intersex-athletes-1/
In terms of medical differences, Part 5 might be the best page to see.
Are you physically stronger than most women your age, about average, or weaker than most women?
I don’t know if this is strictly within **Una’s **bailiwick, but I figure her opinion on it is about as good as can be found.
Once the acceptance of trans individuals reaches a better state, what do you think will be the next echelon of the LGBT community (and its subgroups) to have a moment in the sun and be on the cutting edge? That is to say, once this general social acceptance has been extended to trans people, who will be up next to fight for it?
I apologize for poor diction but I’m travelling and have only my smartphone. Anyway, all the best as usual for your great thread.
Heh. Watch that first step; it’s a doozy!
That’s difficult. Until recently I was highly active, with fencing and martial arts, tennis, and dancing weekly. I struggled to find many women my age who were as active as me.
I have less endurance than most women my age. (speaking only of cisgender women from here out) One tennis partner is my age and can run, work out, play tennis, and do just about everything better than me. Another woman is 52 and can play tennis in the summer heat for 4 hours straight, and still smoke me 6-0/6-0/6-0. In fencing the only women I can beat consistently are those who are less experienced than me. Any woman with my experience or more holds me even or beats me. In dancing, I can’t keep up with some women who are approaching 60.
Doors at work became heavier for me. I found myself having to brace myself to open doors which used to be simple. When I need to move a bunch of books or papers in boxes, I call a man to help me (or do it) because I’ve found I cannot lift items. Example - say the copier is out of paper, and I need to lift a box of paper out of a cabinet. Before I could slide it out and just about “cup” it in one arm. Now with both arms straining, I can sort of move it.
It’s sort of a scary feeling, I’ll be honest. To sit there almost reduced to tears because you’re trying to cook something, and even with hot water, grippy things, etc. you simply cannot open that jar of ingredients to cook dinner. The same brand you used to open with impunity. So you wait until the first male guest arrives, and they grab it and it just goes “pop!”
Describing my loss of strength…let me use this example. When I still had some testosterone (low to sub-par male levels) if I was opening a jar, or turning a lug nut on a wheel, I would strain until I couldn’t turn any more, then I’d have this…well, “oomph” - a very quick burst of strength which would break the jar lid or nut free. One of the primary things I’ve noticed is that my “oomph” is gone - my strength force goes up linearly as it did before, and then…there’s nothing left.
So to answer the overarching question…I don’t know. I suspect I may be stronger than most women my age and size, but then like I said until recently I was more physically fit (I’ve been sick for several months and not able to exercise since spring).
What I’ve read many social commenters and social studies persons claim are the next social battlegrounds are the chronically poor, the severely mentally ill, or atheists.
According to a People article, it appears former Olympian and Kardashian step-dad Bruce Jenner is working on transitioning to a woman. He has changed his appearance pretty drastically in the last year to look more feminine and there’s been a lot of gossip about it, so it’s not a surprise if true. The only real problem I have with it is that it appears, again if true, he will be doing a reality series about it and given he’s in the Kardashian orbit, it just feels skeevy that yet another Kardashian type is making money off the public
My question to Una is, is it socially wrong to refer to Bruce as “Bruce” and “he” at this time? My feeling is that until it’s officially announced or he announces it publicly himself, we only know him as Bruce and a man and it hasn’t been confirmed yet
I imagine Bruce is Bruce until Bruce says otherwise, which is to be the expected treatment of every human being.
The gossip and his family’s (or some step-children) public comments suggest that he has told his family and most have accepted it, but even then, they refer to him in public statements as Bruce and he, so even if they are referring to him in a different way in private, they still refer to him as him and Bruce in public, which makes for a little confusion for the rest of us. This is one of those times that the transition is in transition and results in confusion because the person isn’t quite publicly out (and he’s a public figure which makes it harder to hide)
Understood. I just think there is one person, Bruce, who can let us know what honorific we should be using.
I would hope that provided I (and others) are not intending insult or ill will that any error in language would be forgiven by all parties involved.
For my part I would wish Bruce well and disengage from any further observation of these matters. I am not suggesting that my course of action is the only one to take, but it fits me well.
Far be it from me to hold myself out as Trans Pope, but until we know more from the proverbial “horse’s mouth,” I think it’s forgiven to keep referring to them (see what I did there) as “Bruce” and “him.” There have been a couple “false alarm” news items regarding Jenner.
If you think you’ve plateaued at a certain strength, it might be time to considerother options…
Hmm…I may just try something like that, thank you!