Snip,,, Snip,,,

[STACY B]

I have one to get off my chest ,, So to speak ,, I was watching Dr Oz yesterday along with most of you . An they did a GREAT JOB ,, Not the Normal Jerry Springer we all know so well .
Anyway they went threw rather quickly an I know it was a 30 min segment an all of us wanted to be a Documentary . But anyway a few years ago a funny thing happen to me that wasn't funny at the time but is now after I thought about it . I had run into my sister after church as we haven't talked for while due to me moving not far but a lot was going on an just live different lives you know the drill . Anyway my hair was getting pretty long an wasn't really dressed the same as she had remembered an she kinda knew but asked an I told her . Of course the Gender Dysphoria ,,

Maybe not just like that but you get it ,,, Anyway what I am building up to is her responce ,, I said that I was Transgender ,, So there I said it ,,
The very next word out of her mouth was ,, SO ,, Your gonna get SNIP--SNIP ,,, I looked at her an said HELL I DON'T KNOW ?
Next thing was ,, ARE YOU GETTING A DIVORCE ? I said I hope NOT ?

An after I left an went home to tell my wife what she said it dawned on me .... EVERYONE Obsesses over the Package wayyyyyyyyy to much ,, I told my S.O that tell me something ? I said if ,, Just if ,,, I could or would go strait down to the Doctor or hospital RIGHT NOW ,, An laid down an got S.R.S RIGHT THIS SECOND ,,, Could you tell that I was changed ? That I was a Woman ? So what I am trying to say without the physical changes to your appearance there would be NO GENDER CHANGE !! You would be a MAN with a Vagina right ? So why the Snip Snip crap ? That's why I wanted them to hammer the HRT More .

Just because I have Gender Dysphoria does not mean my Wife NEVER LOVED ME ? She might have fell in love with tha Man I was ? But anyone who is VERY CLOSE to there spouse will tell you that Love Grows . An you never know in what way till you get there . Some people grow apart ,, Some grow together . As we did ,, Together more an more each day week an month an year .
So that is why I wish the Dr Oz show would have taken the entire hour an really hit on the changes that H.R.T Brings an not so much the Surgical side that everyone has to Hammer on an on . Which don't get me wrong there are a lot of good things that comes from the surgical aspects of it ,, But you who have transitioned know without H.R.T it would almost be hopeless .

An just one more thing while I am writing ,, One of the things that drives me CRAZY is why did you wait so LATE ?? Or why didn't you say something when you first knew ? Or why didn't you tell me before ? Why didn't you tell her before you got married ?

Well how bout this ,, How come through out history didn't people get Vacinated for the the all the Bad illnesses from which they died from years ago ? You know why ? Because they DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE !!
There was no internet then ,, No study's ,, Back in the day they would Kill you !! Laugh at you ,, Ridicule you ,, Label you ,, That's WHY !!

So anyway just something to think about ,, So if any ones asks I didn't know what is was !!!

[Annaliese]

Snip snip, or not it how you feel inside, great post.

[Debra Russell]

...It needed to be said --- food for thought.... #$^*&^& dysphoria anyway..................Debra

[Leah Lynn]

Persactly!


Leah

[Ann Louise]

they do love that penis thing it seems... ^_^

[KellyJameson]

A man that was castrated and or had his penis removed would experience it as a violation. His identity would be damaged and possibly even destroyed. He would feel emasculated and no longer a man. He would feel like he has become that which is different and possibly lesser than him as "a woman".

The loss of his power moves him closer to the powerless female and the phallus is a symbol of power because it penetrates. Rape is often done to humiliate and dominate through the act of penetration. Masculine identity built around and as the phallus/penis and power are synonymous. Men are powerful and women are not is a common belief among men based on the masculine definition of power and the penis/phallus is part of this definition. The capacity to do violence is a measure of power and men have more capacity to and for violence.

Men in there concern to be more powerful than other men use the penis and its performance as a measuring device. Think of men that brag about how many women they have pleasured and seduced. Think of the obsession with size compared to other men. Many(most?)men are fixated on the penis because of what it symbolizes and how it can be used to symbolize.

A pre-op transsexual woman would never have this relationship with that part of her anatomy and this would go all the way back to early childhood. If she is aware of the symbology related to the penis this could and likely would be experienced with great consternation as to its implications being the opposite of her natural spirit. She would have the opposite symbolic relationship with it that men do. She would relate to the penis as other women do.

She would experience the penis as an unnatural growth. Something completely contrary and foreign to her nature and energy.

This would be part of what causes gender dysphoria. Trying to live truly and authentically yet prevented from doing so and constantly reminded of that.

In my opinion there is a direct relationship between "intensity of identity" and "intensity of gender dysphoria" so not all GD is the same.

Many can take HRT and stop with that because their GD is alleviated but there is a very small minority within the transgendered community where this would never eliminate GD without SRS.

They must escape the dissonance and wrongness they experience that came out of being born misaligned. For them the GD grows in strength with every passing day, starting in early childhood as their understanding of gender grows. (as they realize the full extent of their circumstances) Most will self destruct before they transition.

SRS is "movement" away from one thing and toward another. It goes far beyond the physical and deep into the symbolic.

Sex as an act is symbolic and through this symbolism it is experienced emotionally that impacts one psychologically.

Living within ones body has similar symbolic effects as sex does so SRS aligns the mind and body emotionally and mentally ( psychologically) so you are no longer "fragmented".

Withing sex you can find the representation and experience of dissonance (fragmentation/separation) that you experience even when alone in and with your body. Sex can be used to understand gender dysphoria because it leaves a trail of psychological bread crumbs that can be followed.

As gender identity is separated from the physical body, transsexual women are confronted with the paradox of seeing everyone doing the opposite of what she needs to do.

There are those who need their body (physical sex) to be the same as their gender identity so you could say that they need their body to reflect their gender identity every way possible and available to them.

I could not live with a penis and breasts and expect to be free of gender dysphoria. It would actually make it worse. My mind could not live with the contradiction. It looks to me as being unnatural, like an aberration

Not including SRS in documentaries would leave out those who need these documentaries the most in my opinion.

An example is this person in a USA Today piece. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...love/24685557/

[Karen62]

I believe that most people have thought little about transsexualism, what it is, what it means to the person diagnosed with it, and what gender dysphoria does to a person. (And why would they if they are not personally affected by it?). The lay person likely doesn't think about the intricacies of HRT and the key changes it brings to the mind of the recipient. I strongly suspect that most lay people only think of the physical manifestations of transsexualism, and to them, that means surgery.

I agree with Kelly that it also means, at least in the eyes of these lay people, that for M2F women, it is a willing (and baffling) abandonment of male privilege, of stepping backwards in society, or perhaps is a weird fetishistic, sexual extremism. I seriously doubt the average person thinks it through enough to understand the profoundly important personal identity element of transsexualism. As a result, we get surprisingly rude and weirdly personal queries about our sexual genetalia and our plans for surgical modifications (and they weirdly want details!). That's all they see (not that they see "it" per se, but they do see it in their mind's eye), and thus that's all they understand - at least at first blush.

Anyway, that's my theory on why some people lose all propriety when asking us about our plans for, well, snip... snip...

Karen

[STACY B]

I guess that might be true ,,, The loss of the Male Power would be the first response as to what we are giving up . An I never thought about what could be lost along the way as to what is gained personally to each of us .
I guess it's human nature to always notice personal loss for a person who has never had what the other has Not had ? An like many of us wish to have what the other gender has an they may wish to have what we have had ,, Human nature to want what we can't have ?

But like I said I really think that the Physical change is just as or more important than the surgical change ,, Not to discount it by any means . It is a package deal by all standards . An bringing it to the for front this day an age as common as it has been lately an getting the message across so the general public would see us as a normal medical condtion an not fear us for not conforming to the so called norm .
But if you really think about this an its new treatments an look at the long term an the future of Transgender as a whole mostly we will no longer exist in the future in great numbers like we do now . With the study's they do now with childhood transgender it will be a thing of the past in years to come as far as adult transgender issues . With it becoming more main stream it will be dealt with Pre Puberty an will no longer be as wide spread as it is now in adults .
In other words Nipped in the Bud !

[kimdl93]

A couple of things I'd offer. In the future, transexual people may be identified and treated early in life. Maybe. But the rest of the transgender population will still be there. The ones who don't clearly fit under column A or B.

Back to the 'why' questions from spouse, siblings or others. I get the feeling the these are often not really questions. They are asked for rhetorical purposes.

[STACY B]

A couple of things I'd offer. In the future, transexual people may be identified and treated early in life. Maybe. But the rest of the transgender population will still be there. The ones who don't clearly fit under column A or B.

Back to the 'why' questions from spouse, siblings or others. I get the feeling the these are often not really questions. They are asked for rhetorical purposes.

Yea but what I was saying is that BEFORE there was little to no pre trans HELP ,, Now there Stopping puberty in the wrong Sex an waiting to see if it is TRue Trans .
An with it being more common now days an not so hush hush an not making them feel less of a human about it an willing to come out an having more Education an more resources available throughout the world an more Doctors schooled on the subject there less likely to have as MANY of us out there as NOW .

Not to say there will be NONE ,, Just like today it's unheard of to have someone with Measules or Polio ,, Chicken Pocks ,, Where there are vaccinations available but there are still people in the world with those conditions . I am willing to bet that years to come there will be A LOT less older people Transitioning than there is now .
Because for the most part it will be common place to run it off in the ditch before hand an stop development of the body in the wrong gender . Look at those trans children now days ,, You can't even tell ,, Norman Speck is one of the first ones that is using Dutch studies to block puberty in pre teens to stop hormones before they can have an adverse affect on kids an do there damage . Just saying ,,,

[kimdl93]

I agree with you. Early and appropriate treatment will be life changing for those individuals.