Being a WOMAN

[Inna]

Do TRANSITION If you don't mind these here things:

look in the mirror and keep on saying: "gosh I am fat" regardless of how thin you are

look in the mirror and see the remnants of a grizzly bear hidden in the crevasse of your mind

love the sexual attention coming from the eager males

fear the sexual attention coming from the eager males

Become a collector of ever so sexy heels just to put them on the shelve and wear flats

occupy bathroom for hours, this time however, in front of a makeup mirror

for the first time in your life actually feel a part of a girls only group

See how dumb the boys really are

realize that driving skills are a waist of time amongst really important stuff to think about.....like everything else!

Abandon mall for a groceries warehouse

abandon media room for a kitchen, which now becomes a science lab of taste bud heaven....good luck if you are dieting. LOL!


Well.........................this is mine............WHAT ARE YOURS?

[Angela Campbell]

OK I will try

If you do not mind being thought of as weak

Spending more time deciding what to wear than you do wearing it.

If you don't mind asking for directions

and ignoring them

Spend a lot of money on bath items you didn't even know existed just a few years ago

Like talking on the phone

Don't mind if your feet hurt or if the clothes (especially what is under them) is uncomfortable

like the idea of needing more closet space

like to diet

[sandra-leigh]

I know multiple GG for whom the kitchen has never been "a science lab of taste bud heaven". My wife, for example, is in the middle of writing a chapter for an academic book about teaching at the university level, and very much relies on habit for cooking (I experiment with food more than she does.)

We seldom go to a groceries warehouse, and when we do it is usually to buy replacement electric toothbrushes. For staples we go to one of the chain supermarkets; for everything else we go to some of the ethnic stores or a farmers market.

I realized as a young adult that I was too mentally preoccupied to make a good driver, so I never learned how. And I don't multi-task well.

[KellyJameson]

Stirrups and I do not mean the kind for riding a horse.

Dilating, probably for life.

Hormones for life and fear of unknown health consequences caused by the hormones related to elevated cancer risk, circulatory problems and loss of mineral bone density.

What to do with your past in conversations with people you may have a future relationship with as potential friends , coworkers, ect...

Loss of upper body strength so you now need to constantly work out to be able to do the things that were simple before.

Emotionality but at least without the GD anxiety and or depression but still getting depressed for other reasons. The depression and anxiety may not go away but the reasons for it and the intensity changes.

Relearning sex if you are going to be sexual regardless of who your partner is.

Women who know your past and are accepting but uneasy with you because you are still not quite seen as one of them so you feel like they are watching you out the corner of their eye leaving you wondering if you are being paranoid or picking up on something that is real.

Women who do not know your past but something about you strikes them as odd or "off" leaving you feeling anxious as you are indirectly probed with questions.

Men being really uneasy with you if you were friends before you transitioned and they are sexually attracted to you but "homophobic" because they think of you as a man.

Being uneasy with men when you feel their sexual interest and they try to make conversation and you have your whole past hanging over your head plus you cannot decide if you like or do not like this type of interest because it is both flattering, confusing and scary at the same time.

The sweat that forms on hot days between the chest skin and bottom underside of the breasts.

I have a very dark sense of humor about all this so my humor protects me but transitioning is a very invasive experience physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically and socially.

It repairs but you will pay on many many levels.

I respect both those who transition and those who do not because you are guided by what you find intolerable to live with and I now see how transitioning could be an intolerable experience for some and for others not transitioning is.

Two different ways of walking through a fire with the hope of escaping the flames.

[ReineD]

What are mine? Well, speaking as someone who has been an adult woman for 35 years ...

- look in the mirror and deplore the sagging jowl, the wrinkles around the eyes and the mouth, the greying hair.

- accept with grace, since you are past 50, when an attractive man looks right past you at the younger woman standing behind you, or if there is no younger woman, has a quick glance at you and then writes you off his radar (even if you are reasonably proportioned and dressed well).

- be prepared to change your makeup style to "less is more", since nothing is worse on an aging woman's face than lots of makeup that looks great on a 30 year old. Makeup that settles in creases is not at all attractive.

- be prepared to change your dressing style away from what looks hot on a 30 year old and that looks ridiculous on a woman past 50, as if she is an aging star that is trying way too hard to look young.

- appreciate the men in your life (since fewer of them notice you anymore), and realize that men aren't so dumb after all.



FYI, I love to drive well and drive fast, I love to build things, I love to cook, I love computing and electronics, and I love to do a lot of other things that I don't see as being gendered in any way. I'm also getting a lot smarter about my wardrobe, so my closets are actually getting smaller, simpler yet more elegant and more streamlined as I age.

[Janice Ashton]

- be prepared to change your makeup style to "less is more", since nothing is worse on an aging woman's face than lots of makeup that looks great on a 30 year old. Makeup that settles in creases is not at all attractive.

- be prepared to change your dressing style away from what looks hot on a 30 year old and that looks ridiculous on a woman past 50, as if she is an aging star that is trying way too hard to look young.

Some very good points raised by Reine especially for mature transgendered people, the road to finding who you really are? Might well mean you will never be a woman in other peoples eyes.

Once you cross the transition bridge life changes not only physically and emotionally but also socially , life starts a fresh and it's up to each individual to make their life they have gone through so much pain to get to work for them? The journey is not easy and life will continue to throw up challenges no matter what gender you reside in. The only satisfying fact is you can face life as the person you really know you are and have always wanted to be.

[kellycan27]

That's it! I am gonna hold at 31 forever!

[sandra-leigh]

Patient: "Doctor, Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after I'm healed from this?"
Doctor: "Well, I don't see why not."
Patient: "That's great! I was never able to play the piano before!"

Nearly everyone looks right past me as it is, so I'm not expecting any different.

[Persephone]

Being in a group of women and seeing and feeling the pity when you have to say that you never gave birth to any children.

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Jorja]

Being strong because that is who you are
Being confident in yourself and your abilities to do what you damn well please
Not giving a damn that you are over thirty and still getting the guys
Not taking it personal when a guy decides he wants to be with a thirty year old
Laughing at him a couple months later when it didn't work out