Originally Posted by
Frances
Totally agree.
Bornstein view of gender as pyramid expressing levels of power, masculine males are on top and feminine females come in second. Gender variants are very low on the power/privilege scale.
Being stealth and passing very well are tremendous privileges in my life that I will not comprise to advance the cause. I am being entirely selfish here, of course. I have lost any male privilege that I may have had at one point in my life (privileges known to me, but most often not), but I have acquired a whole new set of cis-privileges on the female side of society. And SRS only renforced this. I believe there are many ways to be a person, but I wonder why other trans people would not want to acquire cis-privileges through SRS and other actions in support of passing or disappearing. I am asking the question for realz. I am not passing jugement or saying people are wrong for not wanting it.
On thing I have noticed is that a lot of trans folks in early stages of transition (while they are visibly trans), want to be out to the world and neutralise potential hurtful situations on the basis of their trans status, while a few more months of transition would suffice to pass completely.