You have to own them.

[LeaP]

I have gotten to the point where people look at my boobs constantly. For a while now, my reaction has been to take action to cover or minimize. So, the shirts got looser. When I was carrying something, I was hugging it to my chest. Walking around with my arms folded. Taking an aisle in the store with no one in it. Turning away to feign interest in something when people got close. Etc. etc. etc. (Curiously, GGs .do some of these things frequently – particularly arm folding and hugging things to their chest while carrying.)

It gets very old.

So if I am going to be out there for all to see, I have a choice between cringing and hiding all the time or just being myself. I choose the latter. So it's head up, shoulders back. Own it. A side benefit is that it's better for posture, but I digress.

This may sound terribly obvious, but clothing matters. Though anyone with a brain knows why women's tops are cut differently, you start to gain an appreciation for the details. Take the example of a men's polo shirt. With breasts, there is a pull that starts at the bottom of the button placket. It extends a line in the fabric to the point of each breast. In turn, that holds the front of the shirt up a little bit and makes it hang a bit tent-like like in the middle front. In fact, the entire lower half of the shirt, all around, winds up hanging wrong and looking a bit like a maternity top! Tuck the thing in and it only gets worse. Add to that the fact that whether you have buttons buttoned or not makes no difference whatsoever. They each look bad in their own special way.

So I think I'm going to shop for women's polos.

You read all the time that there are consequences to hormones. It is often not very specific, and people tend to minimize things as a result

Well, this thread gives you an idea of just a few details (there are many, many more).

People will stare at you. You will feel self-conscious (at least for a while). Your clothes won't fit properly and will look like crap on you. You will start to acquire that "in between" look that people write about here. Neither fully male nor fully female. You will confuse people and they will be hesitant with you.

Breasts. If you want them, you better be prepared to own them.

[stefan37]

My breast have been showing for several months especially with tighter shirts. I make no effort to hide them and try to wear bras to enhance them. I figure at some point I will be fulltime. May as well get used to having the shown. Although they are only B cups they tend to get lost on my larger chest frame and in a sports bra look more like pecs.

[celeste26]

Yes Lea, I'm one who has gone through that process and out the other side. I am well on my way to having some nice breasts and I have already cleared the closet of all those drab things, in fact when its hot I will go braless too. The posture goes well with confidence.

[Gerrijerry]

I totally understand what you are saying. After about two years post surgery I so hate it when PEOPLE look at my breasts and not my face when they talk to me. I am not large, so I do not understand what they are looking at. For a while my wife looked at them. However that was different because because she was helping me to live as a woman.

[whowhatwhen]

I've had breasts for years and in the past 2 or so I've become proud of them in a way.
I think it's empowering to take what was once/is used as a weapon against you into a point of pride in who you are.

[LeaP]

I'm glad you mentioned process, because that's exactly how I look at it. Most people are not capable of changing how they feel overnight. When people stare or you catch them looking then quickly looking away, it is natural to associate that with some very negative things ( unless you are fortunate enough to be very good-looking or something). Habituating yourself to changes in how people interact with you takes time. It's definitely a process, part and parcel of how you approach the world.

[kimdl93]

Well, it's about time. You have paid a big price...so you may as well proudly carry them!

[JohnH]

I don't hide my breasts at all. I wear underwire bras (B cup) - although they are cheap Hanes bras since I do not want to outgrow expensive bras.

Johanna

[StephanieC]

I have noticed this. Women appear to react differently: the kinda do a quick look up and down....kinda like a scan, very weird. Guys seem to have a more targeted look.

But mine are small.

[Angela Campbell]

I guess I have to grow them before I can own them.

I have been told so many times to "grow a pair"

Well I am finally trying. I hope they are all happy.

[Serana]

\o/ I suppose this gives me a reason to be happy with my small chest?

If I found people were constantly looking down my top all the time, I'd just be like "excuse me?" and let them be put on the spot about it, because the reactions of some guys would be hilarious to say the least.

But yes, I'm still sort of borderline A/B and still filling out, so I'm small chested (I don't even have proper cleavage XD). So there's a silver lining to every cloud I suppose.

What I do have though, I'm more than happy to "own it", just not so happy to flaunt it. They're a sentimental thing after all!

[Barbara Ella]

It really is a process change to realize that they are yours. At 66 i am at least lucky that people will just think I am an old man with moobs from the natural aging process. Maybe i am, but since i am working on having them, I am not hiding them. I am a good B, and wear Hanes also, as they seem to give the best fit. I have loose shirts when with family, and I have tighter shirts when out by myself. I also have some that are light, and semi see through. When I put one on last week, the wife said that it doesn't look good on a man, and for a woman it is a no no. She has never directly commented, but i think she suspects something is "developing."

Barbara

[whowhatwhen]

You do realize that you have to name them now right?
And no, "the girls" doesn't count.

:P

[bas1985]

For me it was different, I started to grow breasts at 12 without (external) hormones.

They never went to something bigger than cup A, but in my small chest at the time they were noticeable,
because they were (and still are) a bit "pyramidal", so I really see the "problem" with male t-shirts that
are not designed to hide them, quite the contrary, and I too feel the "tent-like" awful look.

In these years I have coped with this thing hiding myself, crunching arms, being curved (not good for posture...)
but in these last months I am starting to be "proud" of this, and if I ever started HRT probably (not sure) they
will continue the growth that was stopped by my male puberty.

Usually women look at me, just a glance. Men are usually more interested but for now they see a male face so probably
they consider me a freak or something like that.

[whowhatwhen]

Same with me basically, they started growing at 13 and now they're 38B.
If people have noticed they haven't said anything.

[groove67]

To me having breasts is just part of becoming a woman. Mine have came along very nice and i enjoy having them just as i enjoy the other femi looks my body has taken on with hormones. I guess if one is in transation or going all the way as i am why would you not want to have a total female look.

[LeaP]

The glance from GGs is a common theme. I've noticed this also but had not tied it to breast development, though thinking about it, there often is a quick up-and-down once over. What I have experienced with them is more eye contact, usually with a smile. I thought it related to something different in how my personality is projected. Women have avoided eye contact in the past.

[Kathryn Martin]

Did your mother not tell you keep your shoulder back and head high and smile......

[LeaP]

Oddly enough, Kathryn, she did not. But you have – and believe me, it sticks in my mind! Posture differences between the sexes are very basic and tied to our inbred ability to read others.