Have you CONVINCED yourself that you’re a woman?

[PaulaQ]

The natural conclusion is that they've had second thoughts and it is easier to not come back than admit it.

Interesting. That wouldn't be my first natural conclusion. I'd conclude that they'd managed to shove the awful feelings back down into the box once again, pressured by society, their lives, their families, the circumstances that make transition so difficult. (Indeed, some have no real option to ever really go through the medical parts of transition.) That doesn't, to my mind, imply it wasn't real. Many who ultimately do transition try a time or two, fail, and then ultimately go through with it. Some, of course, never succeed for a variety of reasons.

Or perhaps you are talking about people who post "I'm going to go talk to a doc about starting HRT and breast augmentation tomorrow and see what he says!!!!" Not understanding the Kafkaesque process that is the legitimate medical process of transitioning. Someone not possessing a plane ticket to someplace that turns a blind eye to WPATH is going to have to eat their words, and I wouldn't think would post again, because reporting the doctor's response would be embarrassing. I have seen this once or twice - I'm not convinced this would be the majority though. (And how do we know they aren't really kind of sincere, but just really naïve?)

I mean, we live in a society that throws pain pills and Viagra around like candy. Why shouldn't there be a quick fix for gender concerns? (I mean, *I* know why there isn't, lol, but I can understand someone who doesn't know anything assuming that there could be. Or at least hoping for such a thing.)

I mean, deciding you want to be another gender, even for a time, is a pretty big mental step. I certainly had a hard time overcoming all the social conditioning I'd received against this. Indeed it wasn't until my psyche began to disintegrate, and tell me "yeah, ok, deal with this, or we're *ALL* going to die." that I began to take it seriously. Shit, I'm sorry, I'm talking TS stuff again. Sorry Freddy. I was trying to relate my difficulties with overcoming social imperatives and conditioning to those that might be faced by someone else, but since I'm TS, as it turns out, my feelings on any of this don't matter or are uninteresting to this discussion.

BTW, do you agree, Reine, that I probably have no actual insight on how someone might feel facing something like this within them? Freddy says I don't. Or that it's not relevant or interesting or something.

edit:

A simple way to be less confused by this topic!

I can appreciate those who are becoming confused by this thread, as we've analyzed the logic and structure of Freddy's query and the assertions placed upon it as axioms of logic. There are some who might, then conclude that since Freddy obviously isn't talking about anyone, that the entire content of this thread is:

nil - the empty set. It means nothing.

I reject this - I think Freddy's really on to something here, but then my personal motto is the following:

"Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation" yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.

I can tell you I fully embrace this motto, and it helps me more deeply understand topics such as the one in which we are actively engaged.