Is it really transition if one still works as a male?

[Aprilrain]

There is this woman at our local support group who's therapist has apparently give her a letter for SRS. "She" still works as a male and has no intention of transitioning at work. She claims there is a "finacial hardship" exception in the WPATH. I'm no expert bu I'm pretty sure that's not true. Do you think this is an example of someone simply buying a letter?

[Kaitlyn Michele]

who can say April... the most curious thing is that there is no intention of transitioning at work...that seems weird...i can kind of understand it if there was a "yet" on the end of that sentence...making $$ for srs matters alot...

i look at it this way... I transitioned...i had surgery...i live my entire life as myself...I KNOW what that is... i know lots of others that have done it or are on the path to do it... and i know what it means to us because its almost universally the same outcome..

if a person doesn't want that..more power to them..
if somebody can get to the right place for them in their own way, i'm happy for them...if they are like me, it wont likely work out for them..

the one downside that applies to you and me is that if foolish people do these surgeries and regret them, it further marginalizes us...it provides ammo for people that believe we are mentally ill and need to be treated as mentally ill...thats a pretty big deal..
so people living as men with vaginas is counterproductive to my best interests...selfish of me yes, but true

..there are lots of online therapists that provide letters..it almost seems like a bit of an industry..

[LeaP]

So is it better or worse that there are "therapists" who provide letters online (presumably on demand or something close)?

It's a rhetorical question.

People self-medicate anyway. At least they can get honest to God prescription pharmaceuticals in easier fashion via access to physicians because of those letters. I'm not advocating this. It just seems more like an "it is what it is" situation.

The scenario being raised seems kind of crazy. It reminds me of comments people have made regarding entertaining all kinds of wacky ideas when first considering transition. Recalling some of those, they seemed wacky to me too. But then things change. I was laid off two days ago. I'm in a senior position and I'm not exactly young anymore. So – all of a sudden – the scenario doesn't seem so wacky. Don't think I'm going there, but it suddenly makes a lot more sense.

[Aprilrain]

My fear with this person is that she seems really delusional. For instance, she has a manuscript that she wrote about her "transition" that she honestly believes will make the New York Times best sellers list. Once this happens she will be able to quit her job. She says other things that point to a lack of connection with reality as well.

[groove67]

I can not think of such. If you are a woman want to be a woman then be a woman. I work and live as a woman for 18 months and have been accepted at work. My dept has seven guys oops six and me they call me the queen of the dept and we just laugh. Actually they are all very supportive of me and i enjoy my work and working with them. As matter of fact we all used to go out for drinks and that has not happened for a while but last week they where going and ask me marianne are you coming so i did great fun. I find that they treat me with respect as i do them.

[STACY B]

I think that they are missing the whole idea of transition . A big part OF Transition is jobs ,, Money ,, Family ,, An you should get all of that strait first . Atleast thats what I have been doing for the last couple years ? The body issues are the last thing on the list after everything else is taken care of . You could do some hair removal an maybe grow your hair out an start that way ,, But you need your Life as your going to live it order also . If I am going to be a woman I will be one all the time ,, Other than that it sound more like Heavy CDing more than transitioning into a Full time female ?

[Rianna Humble]

The scenario you outline seems a long way from the WPATH guidelines and seems a lot closer to the sort of fantasy about living as a man with a designer vagina.

I would be seriously concerned about the quality of any therapist who is prepared to give letters for SRS to someone who is not living in their target gender role (i.e. living as a woman 24/7/365.25 for an MtF or as a man 24/7/365.25 for an FtM).

I would also be worried about a surgeon who would accept to perform the operation.

Whatever others may call it, I would not describe that scenario as transition.

[Michelle.M]

Is it really transition if one still works as a male?

No. While there are degrees of transition at some point you're either in transition or you're not. This is not.

[Aprilrain]

I'd be willing to give them the 0.25 of a day:heehee:

I guess what irks me is not so much how she wants live her life but how she sorta puts herself out there as a "spokesperson and expert" on transsexual issues, she has written at least one artical for the support groups news letter that was chocked full of misinformation, including the supposed "finacial exception" clause in the WPATH. granted, the support group newsletter is hardly national news but still lots of newbies read it.

I guess my fear is what Kaitlyn describes, a foolish person who later regrets their decision, given her propensity for being vocal now it seems likly shed be vocal later about her regret as well. Perhaps writing another best seller:heehee:

[TNRobin]

Deleted post. Seemed weird after I re-read it.

[Aprilrain]

Um......porn?.............

[KellyJameson]

This sounds like full blown narcissism intersecting with gender identity issues. I have found this to be very common in the T world.

There is so much mis-information floating around that she will just add to the noise.

The best thing you can do is ignore this person because when their narcissistic supply dries up they will go else where looking for people to idolize them.

This is why I left Los Angeles. The city lives and breathes people like this.

They demand an audience and without it they are not able to feel alive and any kind of drama creates a feeding frenzy for them. They are emotional leeches that will suck you dry.

Watch your back. There is alot of mental instability posing as GD or mixed in with GD in the world we inhabit.

This is why I have avoided joining the "community"

I have enough head problems and cannot deal with anyone else's.

Being TS has often left me with the impression that I'm a permanent member of a circus that I was drafted into. Just one long crazy trip.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

:p
i'm not really interested....

[Christy_M]

OK, so it has been almost 18 months since I last visited and posted on this forum and I have to say that I am not surprised that there are still people who feel that there is a delineation between what is and what is not trans...The term transition is meant to describe moving from one [gender] to another. Of course it is transition (by definition) if they are working as male and living the rest of their life as female. When they change that last little piece of their life, it will no longer be "transitioning" but rather having finalized their transition. I worked as male for almost 8 months before finalizing my transition. I am now 8 months post op and have the best time of my life. The gender spectrum if vast and to say who should fit into a box of real and fake is not constructive to other's self identification. Tolerance is the key to our lives and being able to take someone else's situation at face value and let them self identify is something we have all sought.

This is not to say that there aren't folks out there who struggle with completing their transition. Finacially, emotionally, physically, people have different ideas of what "being trans" means. If someone is cross dressing at work, who are we to say that she isn't trans. . The reason I am back is due to a FB post that I clicked and brought me back...go figure.

Anyway, I say "To each, their own" and "Live and Let Live" If she feels she is transitioning and still works in boy mode, more power to her. She will realize the futility in that in her own time. ;)

[pickles]

No. Nay. Nope. Negative. Non.

[Badtranny]

It's just bizarre and does nothing to further the acceptance of trans people.

The real issue isn't her surgery, it's her advocacy. I don't want somebody like that speaking for the trans community because all she is going to do is muddy the waters of understanding. If she wants to be a cross dresser and live a part time life that's her own business, but to call herself a trans woman when she spends half of her life with a male name and male presentation (a beard?) is profoundly dishonest.

I hope I never encounter someone like this.

[Kathryn Martin]

I have read the various comments and your post April.

As far as I am concerned this is an elevated form of crossdressing. I know of a few people who got their letter from a therapist online, which is beyond my comprehension because it violates every tenet of ethical practice.

WPath states:

XII. Genital Surgery
Eligibility Criteria.
These minimum eligibility criteria for various genital surgeries equally
apply to biologic males and females seeking genital surgery. They are:
1.

Legal age of majority in the patient's nation;
2.

Usually 12 months of continuous hormonal therapy for those without a medical
contraindication (see below, "Can Surgery Be Performed Without Hormones and the
Real-life Experience");
3.

12 months of successful continuous full time real-life experience. Periods of returning to
the original gender may indicate ambivalence about proceeding and generally should not
be used to fulfill this criterion;
4.

If required by the mental health professional, regular responsible participation in
psychotherapy throughout the real-life experience at a frequency determined jointly by
the patient and the mental health professional. Psychotherapy per se is not an absolute
eligibility criterion for surgery;
5.

Demonstrable knowledge of the cost, required lengths of hospitalizations, likely
complications, and post surgical rehabilitation requirements of various surgical
approaches;
6.

Awareness of different competent surgeons.
Readiness Criteria.
The readiness criteria include:
1.

Demonstrable progress in consolidating one’s gender identity;
2.

Demonstrable progress in dealing with work, family, and interpersonal issues resulting in
a significantly better state of mental health; this implies satisfactory control of problems
such as sociopathy, substance abuse, psychosis, suicidality, for instance);

Can Surgery Be Provided Without Hormones and the Real-life Experience?
Individuals
cannot receive genital surgery without meeting the eligibility criteria. Genital surgery is a
treatment for a diagnosed gender identity disorder, and should undertaken only after careful
evaluation. Genital surgery is not a right that must be granted upon request. The SOC provide for
an individual approach for every patient; but this does not mean that the general guidelines,
which specify treatment consisting of diagnostic evaluation, possible psychotherapy, hormones,
and real-life experience,

can be ignored. However, if a person has lived convincingly as a
member of the preferred gender for a long period of time and is assessed to be a psychologically
healthy after a requisite period of psychotherapy, there is no inherent reason that he or she must
take hormones prior to genital surgery.

I think this makes the requirements clear. There is no allowance for "Hardship". In certain circumstances hormones can be dispensed with but not RLE.

[Aprilrain]

Can one really say one is female if one does not live all of ones life as said female?

I guess this does kinda come down to who is and who is not a person with the transsexual condition and what does and what does not constitute transition. That dead horse has been throughly beaten, no need to go there. I will say that it seems useless to have words that don't have a definition but thats just me.

[Deborah_UK]

Although I transitioned in the same workplace as I had been working as "him" and would have broadly agreed with the OP, there are some instances where still presenting as a male would appear to be a necessity (I'm not referring to myself btw) as this link may suggest http://www.channel4.com/news/transsexual-teacher-dies-after-hitting-headlines

[melissaK]

Hmmm. Well, I guess I can conceive of jobs you might cross dress for after SRS, but that would be way unique. And I don't think SOC are so rigid a very well documented exception couldn't be allowed. But, I dream of space travel too.

I have a male dominated job where the women make less. Still glass ceilings around my world. But would I cross dress back into my guy role post SRS to earn more money? Not [bleeping] likely.

It's not that much of a stretch to be melodramatic and say I feel like I've been cross dressing for my entire career and I've sold my soul to the Devil for a handful of Sheckles. I want my soul back.

[Aprilrain]

I can see where there might be need for temporary accommodations for work or perhaps family. I know of a woman who worked as female but had to change back to male before she got home because of her wife, but again that was a temporary situation. She eventually fully transitioned.

[Michelle.M]

. . . and I have to say that I am not surprised that there are still people who feel that there is a delineation between what is and what is not trans

Let's not get off track here. The issue is what is and what is not transition.


The term transition is meant to describe moving from one [gender] to another. Of course it is transition (by definition) if they are working as male and living the rest of their life as female. When they change that last little piece of their life, it will no longer be "transitioning" but rather having finalized their transition.

I couldn't agree more. But April pointed out that this person "still works as a male and has no intention of transitioning at work." That alone is contrary to the definition of transition.


I worked as male for almost 8 months before finalizing my transition.

As did I, but I did so with the intent of beginning RLE as soon as I could, and I did. And that includes transitioning at work, school, church or wherever it is you normally live your Real Life.


Tolerance is the key to our lives and being able to take someone else's situation at face value and let them self identify is something we have all sought.

Well said. And the face value that has been offered here is that person's desire to compartmentalize their life and avoid RLE. That he somehow got a therapist's letter makes this all seem very suspect as to his actual intentions.

This is very much a "cart before the horse" scenario. If he were actually in transition the letter comes later. A person can transition without benefit of surgery; nobody has a clue as to what's between your legs under your dress. To pursue GRS while living a male life with no transition in sight is something else entirely.


Finacially, emotionally, physically, people have different ideas of what "being trans" means.

We're still not talking about "being trans". We're talking about pursuing an honest transition, and like it or not that includes RLE.


If she feels she is transitioning and still works in boy mode, more power to her. She will realize the futility in that in her own time. ;)

Melissa's comments are exactly to the point on that:


It's just bizarre and does nothing to further the acceptance of trans people.

The real issue isn't her surgery, it's her advocacy. I don't want somebody like that speaking for the trans community because all she is going to do is muddy the waters of understanding.

And that is pretty much the issue with this person, isn't it?

[Kathryn Martin]

The gender spectrum if vast and to say who should fit into a box of real and fake is not constructive to other's self identification. Tolerance is the key to our lives and being able to take someone else's situation at face value and let them self identify is something we have all sought.

I could not disagree more. Being a man or a woman does not exist because we say so. I am not sure why objective definitions are not constructive to other's self identification. If you work as a man and no intention to change that) and "live" as a woman after having been a man for many years you crossdress, that is temporarily present as the sex you are not. If she did have surgery, she would still crossdress. This specific situation raises more serious questions. I have no idea what "trans" is?. Are you trans? What does that mean? It's like saying you are "beyond", "across", "through". Trans is a prefix borrowed from the latin language. It has zero meaning on it's own.

Likewise transition means moving from aggregate state to another nothing more. Without context it means nothing. It connotes movement. How is "living" as a female and going to work as a male moving from one state to another. It simply means that the person crossdresses either in "life" or "work".

[Kaitlyn Michele]

christy i think you are overstating the case a bit...its a bit of a potshot actually...

i agree with you...life is complicated..

people claiming transition as their own when every common sense thought in your mind says its not creates a problem..

live and let live is a good way to live life...i agree...but there are boundries nonetheless..
if we all accept the idea that everybody is always right about everything about themselves, its chaos... it renders transition irrelevant...it reduces our ability to get what we need as ts women pursuing transition..

a better outcome would be for this person to accept that what they are doing really isnt transition and just figure out a way to get that vagina...i realize there are ethical concerns...and it doesnt work that way... you can really only do that if you are transsexual, so that leaves this person basically forced to say "i'm a transitioning transsexual" when this person is obviously not...and because this person wants to work as a man!!! he advocates for his rights!! he has to say he is ts to get what he wants...so he does..

HE IS USING US!

i'm guessing you are aware of charles kane...if not...google him and daily mail..or 20/20... he went all the way!!! woohoo... and then it hit him..oops...he didn't like the sex!!! he actually said that!!! and so now he put his penis back on and he ADVOCATES against transsexuals...to him we are mental health cases just like him...and he gets attention because he was fricking gorgeous....and he's a fricking narcissist...the press gobbles this up and we are subjected to him even today...

[AllieSF]

I can see where there might be need for temporary accommodations for work or perhaps family. I know of a woman who worked as female but had to change back to male before she got home because of her wife, but again that was a temporary situation. She eventually fully transitioned.

I am going to a friend's birthday party tonight. He is a FtM whose passion and income is based on his woman's opera voice and talents. He has had breast reduction surgery, has a short men's hair style and dresses as the man that he is when out (not sure about work) but will not have GRS, take hormones, nor legally change his name until his voice is no longer the source of his current income. The GRS and hormones will affect his voice, and since his ability to get the better singing opportunities he needs his female name because that is how he is known by those who make the selections of the auditioning singers. I can't say that I agree or disagree with his decisions, because I only know the details that he has revealed to me. He has told me that when the voice and previous contacts are less important then he would complete the rest of his transition.

April here is one of those "almost there on temporary hold" examples from the FtM side. It sounds like the woman you are describing has some serious issues that she may be dealing with. Maybe she just doesn't know yet how handle them, but is too proud to say that. So, she makes these questionable pronouncements instead. A lot of troubled and untroubled people do that. Hopefully she will grow enough to be able to make up her mind to follow through with her transition at a later date, or decide that her transition is not actually necessary? Melissa (the "Bad" one), who has described many times how she has struggled with her identity and strongly defended, or maybe better said pronounced, where she thought that she was and wanted to go, has continued to mature/progress to who she is now and will continue to change as she grows more into the woman that she is.

Michelle: Why the use of "he" in your post when April referenced the woman and used "she"?

[Anne2345]

The scenario you outline seems a long way from the WPATH guidelines and seems a lot closer to the sort of fantasy about living as a man with a designer vagina.

Living as a man with a designer vagina??!! This is a real fantasy for some men?? Or is this a tongue-in-cheek joke?

[LeaP]

They say that bad cases make bad law. (Heaven help me – now every lawyer here is going to jump on me, but I digress…)

The person at issue here does not sound like a good example of an in between and stuck situation. This does not sound like a transition. Or at best, it sounds like a very confused transition-like state.

But!

Ignoring her and taking the case of an actual in-between, but stuck individual, and assuming the person actually does identify female, isn't Kathryn's characterization closest? That this person is a cross-dresser? Or more accurately, that they are a trans person cross-dressingING. Such a person may be regarded no differently than a natal female who cross-dresses male for work! Admittedly, cross-dressing activity is usually in one's private life, but it is not unheard of for cross-dressing to occur in one's public life.

[Kathryn Martin]

Living as a man with a designer vagina??!! This is a real fantasy for some men?? Or is this a tongue-in-cheek joke?

This is unfortunately more common than one would think. I know of at least one person first hand who bypassed Standards of Care, ended up with a vagina and now struggles because he never was and never will be a woman.

It is the ultimate fantasy for some guys, but reality is whole different thing.

Lea,

In between and stuck is quite different. There are many examples of transitioning transsexuals that have to wait to earn the money, improve their health or other reasons and find they need to go back and work as a man to make it through. Most of these situations arise from bad planning.

People like the subject of this thread make me ill, because they are what real transsexuals get measured against. Kaitelyn got this one spot on. He hurts us!!!!!!!!

[Aprilrain]

a living breathing Ken Doll:lol:

sorry that was bad, I know.

[LeaP]

I don't know… I get it with this individual, I really do. As I said earlier, this is not a good case. This individual is a little whacked. But the gender references bother me a bit. Because it's sort of smacks of this: you can't be a woman with a penis but apparently you can be a man with a vagina.

[Nigella]

OK, lets keep the comments to the question please, the person that is the subject of the question is not able to give their reasons. We will not be doing a character assassination.

[Cindi Johnson]

What's wrong with freedom? Let her do what she wants. It's her life, isn't it? Why should I, or anyone, need to second guess another person's decisions? Lots of people make bad, even terrible, decisions. Does society require them to see a therapist? Each of has the right to self-destruct.

Furthermore, if it's OK for you to work as female before SRS (which is common, I presume), is there not a bit of hipocrisy to forbid a post-SRS girl from working as a male?

[LeaP]

Maybe someone should offer up a definition of transition, then. One of the most common ones here is full time.

But with a slight twist to the OP question, let me ask this: Is someone who is past – long past – their one year qualifying RLE and otherwise capable of SRS… transitioned?

[Badtranny]

What's wrong with freedom?

Nothing. She is free to do whatever she likes with her body. I honestly don't care how she lives or even identifies, but what I DO care about is how she represents people like me. Those of us who have the audacity to live our whole lives authentically, and let the chips fall where they may are are confronted every single day by the realities of what I will call a REAL transition. This person is cheating the system and perpetrating a false identity to everyone in her life including the beleaguered TS community.

I was recently at a Networking mixer for Trans Professionals and it was really nice to meet other people like me. We had drinks and exchanged business cards and talked about the challenges of being a transitioning professional. It was lovely and I'm looking forward to attending these every month. Any of those people I met can email me at my office or call the front desk and ask for Melissa, or even drop by for a meeting and there would be nothing out of the ordinary. Can you imagine, if this person handed me her card and it said Bob Smith? Oh, sorry Bob, your name tag says Marsha so I just assumed that .. "oh, yes I'm not out at work but I am fully transitioned and post op".

Oooooookay then. Work isn't just a 'little part' of your life, it's a HUGE part of your life. To those that are comparing a post-op who still presents as a man for work and a pre-op who presents full time, I have this to say; I am still pre-op but most of the people in my life have no idea what is in my pants. If I had the SRS tomorrow, my life would not change outwardly. All the hard work has already been done, everything has been changed, there are no secrets and no closets. Anybody who wants to have a secret vagina is suffering from something other than transsexualism as far as I'm concerned. Either you have the desire to be looked upon as a woman or you don't.

[Michelle.M]

Michelle: Why the use of "he" in your post when April referenced the woman and used "she"?

Aside from my own suspicion that this person is not actually a transwoman, it's because April uses the word "she" in quotation marks.


Furthermore, if it's OK for you to work as female before SRS (which is common, I presume), is there not a bit of hipocrisy to forbid a post-SRS girl from working as a male?

I can't believe you actually said that. Do we really have to explain the difference between a transwoman who is, in fact, not working "as" a female but really is one and someone who has an incomplete, and perhaps even bogus transition?

Do you really not understand that it's not the surgery or lack of it that determines whether or not someone is a woman?

[Nicole Erin]

Pretty much just bought the letter.
Since work is a major part of life, I feel that once someone has worked in their new gender role, THEN they can talk about how they "transitioned". Anyone can go out and buy surgery or sit at home not working and dress in pretties.
My job is a joke admittedly but I go in each work day, as Erin.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

I think we are all influenced by people that we've met and shared experience..

i know a person lets call her Jane...she had srs surgery 8 years ago in Thailand... she looks nothing like a woman.. 6' broadly built and big boned..giant ruddy hands .. wispy longish hair with lots of male pattern baldness..booming type of low voice...
she lost her career job (worked fixing railroad cars) and now bounces around as a handy"man" and part time 7/11 clerk... for those jobs she puts on a cap or ties hair back...

she doesn't seem to care what people think of her.. her family thinks she's weird and tolerates her but they don't really call her Jane either..her wife left her but they are friends and her kids are grown

i know this person as a friend...i don't call her out on what i see as her poor choices...she never talks about her 'transition" but prior to my srs she offered to show me her vagina (btw this happened to me many time prior to srs..what's up with that??!?!?!)
she had talked to me prior to my srs about how she just knew she needed to get her surgery... and how i was going to be blown away by how great it will feel..

to me she's just Jane.... from my standpoint her quality of life is not so hot...from her standpoint she survived.. i never got into it with her but she is a credible centered person, making due as best she can...as best as i can tell, she lost her job and just got tired of being stared at all the time and traded that in for being stared at some of the time...her womanhood is rarely reflected back at her...it provides her no comfort to wear a blouse so she wears a tshirt..(lives in arizona..)

its funny because i'm just being honest here...when i read the story about the person in the OP i think "ugh"...when i think of jane i think "awww...." as in i feel bad for her....

so when i explored in my mind how i felt about the OP i realized that i'm totally focused on the "no intention" part...admittedly that's April's interpretation but i trust her

... and i think its worth saying Jane simply failed at her transition but is making due, whereas this person in the OP is not transitioning...

there is a difference that matters to us... Jane could clearly have used the help...ffs perhaps could have helped...a more supportive work environment perhaps or even better best buddies to guide her... the OP is simply USING (and i stress this cindi...USING US) US to get what they want... which is a body surgery that does what exactly?? it is not helping them transition..its helping them body crossdress as kathryn suggests...same as cd's that get boob jobs...i'm not "against" those things...i'm against calling them transition and the people transsexual...

and i'm against them as a common sense, self interested person... its against transsexual interest...ESPECIALLY if they are advocating as one of us... i repeat CHARLES KANE alert... every family member, boss, mom, friend and lover that sees us transition looks on the internet and watches tv shows...(We've all experienced getting articles sent to us out of the blue from well meaning people trying to relate to our experiences..."hey kait...check this out!!!"...tranny article alert!!).. and if the come across Charles Kane or the like, they apply his experience to ours...and this is a very bad thing...it eliminates the avoidance of doubt and it hinders our credibility...

and the person in the OP makes it harder for people like Jane to get help... the more people that think we are nuts the less help we get and if we think the person in the OP is nuts, imagine what cisgender folks think..



the person in the op should simply say I"m a person that wants a vagina... and leave it at that...and it would the most honest and authentic thing that he can say...

[noeleena]

Hi,

The word meaning means to change be different or change to other, = so if you change from one train to another , does that not mean ...you ...have changed,

so transtion does that allso not mean the same thing

What people do or not do is up to them nothing to do with myself,they have to live with them selfs,

What i have to be carefull of is some i know like to dress like a woman with in the trans thinking yet are they women. its not for me to say, so i just accept who they are as they are, & ill leave it there,

For myself im a female who has grown into a woman, im not a compleat female i have organs missing so does that allso say im not female or a woman.
you see i cant help how i was born i had no control over that,

So how would you answer my ? of am i a female / woman or not. who's the Judge in all this, im sure not . though i belive it would be very hard to prove im not a female even though i dont look like a female so you see its not so easy to answer by just how i look. is it,

I know & know of women who are like myself female yet nothing about them in looks = facial = is very male looking .

So again am i rejected because of my lack of female looks,. sure not here in Waimate where i live & elsewhere ever i go. both here & in Austraila, & that proves for myself i am accepted as a normal woman,

...noeleena...

[Rianna Humble]

Noeleena, your circumstances are nothing like the person being discussed in this thread. The person in the OP has apparently decided to have SRS contrary to the WPATH guidelines. She has declared that it is her intention to continue to present as male even after SRS and yet she is setting herself up as an authority on transition.

This is not a question of how presentable you or anyone else might be. It is all about someone pretending to be an authority on transition when they have not gone through the experience and pretending to speak on behalf of those of us who have. Assuming the facts in the OP to be correct (and I have no reason to doubt them) then I would have to question the ethics of the person who has sold this individual letters of recommendation for SRS and of the surgeon who is prepared to carry out the surgery.

[Michelle.M]

Rianna, I'm glad you made that distinction and it's a very important one.

Trying and failing. Trying and just not doing as well as others might be doing it. Transitioning and having a gender presentation that doesn't quite conform to fashion magazine standards. Just being yourself, regardless of what others might think. These are all OK, even though they might not be the way we do things or might make us feel uncomfortable.

Saying you have no intention of transitioning or deliberately avoiding RLE while still seeking trans-oriented body changes is a sham, and that person's attitudes or actions shouldn't be condoned.

[Aprilrain]

That's it in a nutshell Rianna, this person believes she is an exception to the rule because if her profession. Furthermore she tells other people and has written an artical saying that WPATH sanctions her decision because of "financial hardship". I guess it goes without saying that there are unscrupulous therapists out there.

[Julie Hall]

I might just be re-iterating some of what's been said already, but I believe that without at least the intent of eventual including work, it really isn't transitioning. Work is just so much of a persons life. In my case I have only recently started changing my non-work life - but work will eventually be necessary for my sanity and happiness. I still don't know if I will ever make the physical change; that might be precluded by advancing age and general health. Time and therapy will tell (not to mention excersize)!