talking back (original) (raw)
Sun, Oct. 19th, 2008, 08:35 pm
I 'm well into my seventh month of ful time life, an expression that sounds rather odd to me at this point as it's no longer an experience or a test or even a transition per se - it's just who I am.
I have been taking my beloved hormones for about 20 months, have changed my name and my drivers license and a few other bits and peices of ID all have my new name and thanks to the way things work in Canada, a F for the gender marker. My friends know me as Carly and the people at the gym know me as Carly, the girl with the pink boxing gloves.
Life is pretty darn good - but... I have lately run into a situation that I am not entirely sure of and I'm looking for so input from the cis-gendered females in the crowd. I use the woman's washroom and just walk in, do my stuff and leave like any other woman who has to use the washroom - no big deal. The gym, however is insisting that everyone change from street shoes to gym footwear in the changes rooms, and leave or sports bags et c in a locker in the changeroom.
I'm a bit uncomfotable with the idea of having to walk past people who are changing as I have this big fear that if they "knew" they would be mortified. Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated and will probably help me get over this.
regards
Carly - girl kick boxer, exercise junkie and all around happy person.
Fri, Jun. 20th, 2008, 08:17 pm
W-a-y too long ago, I posted and earlier version of this pamphlet aimed at partners of trans people. Then life happened as it usually does and it fell on the back burner. But I've got a bit more free time these days so I went back to it. I've already run it by a few people I know in the real world but I was hoping others on here could take a look and let me know if there's anything you'd tweak.
_________
Future plans include translating it into other languages. If others want to help with that I'm all for it.
Sat, Feb. 23rd, 2008, 01:35 pm
Please note that if you wish to contact me, use the email in my user info or the email posted in the community's user info. Please DO NOT send me a message through LJ. I have had several people contact me, and when I try to respond, they do not receive LJ messages and they do not have a personal email address listed in their info.
If you have contacted me through LJ's messaging and have not received a response (i.e., denied membership, etc.) it is because I was not able to reply to you via LJ and you did not have an email address on your user info.
Thanks.
Sat, Feb. 23rd, 2008, 12:12 pm
annabelle_blue: Mod Post: Privacy
Hello everyone,
A couple of weeks ago, I made a post concerning some of the privacy issues that many moderators of various trans-related communities have been dealing with, and while I don't think it's my job to "babysit" journals, I do think it's part of my job to make sure the community is aware of what is going on. Until recently, this community has not had the same concerns as some of the other communities. However, that has changed. As such, the following are reminders, and effective immediately, have made two new rules:
RULE 1: Anyone who is found to have posted a locked, friends-only entry or the comments associated with said entry on any site within or outside of LiveJournal without the permission of the individual who originally wrote it will be banned immediately and reported to 
transmods as someone who behaving this way.
RULE 2: The new default post setting for this community is "friends only". This means that if you wish to make any entries in this community "public", you must manually do so. You do this by editing your post once it has been made, and switching it to "public".
Here are the reminders:
Just because someone is a member of this community, does not mean they are an ally or a friend. While we do our best and have not had many incidents, please keep in mind that if you are in any way worried about privacy, you should not post with an identifiable user name or photo. I am more than happy to grant membership to people who create a new LJ, as long as they follow the community rules and email me ahead of time, with both their old and new LJ information. You don't have to go into details about why you are here, but I do need to see that you are not a troll or using anything for malicious purposes. Bear with me in that I am only one person moderating a space of over 1000 people, so if it takes me 24 hours, I am sorry. I usually get it done within a day.
If you comment on an entry that is "public", your comment and the link to your LJ is also public. Again, if you are concerned about privacy, I encourage you to start a different journal for those purposes.
I hope everyone understands why these steps were necessary. If you have any concerns, please contact me directly. My email is in the community user info.
Thanks,
Annalise
Tue, Feb. 19th, 2008, 03:14 pm
ehstrumpetgod: sexual orientation changes
Hey everyone. I've been watching this group for a while now, and I really appreciate the advice and support people offer here.
And now time to offer up my own situation.
My partner and I have been together for over two years now, and it's the best relationship I've had. We work really well together. My partner (ftm) is just beginning to get his feet wet in terms of transitioning. He had his first appointment with a therapist and is looking into starting hormones in the near future. He's been pretty genderqueer for the majority of our relationship, and so when he expressed that he's feeling like transitioning might be in his future, I was not at all surprised or bothered.
Personally, I ID as a cisgendered woman, and I've considered my sexual orientation to be Queer. Just general old queer, because while I feel queer, I don't like the categories of lesbian or bi or anything. Gender doesn't make a difference to me, and there are a lot of people who fall between male and female for me to think that labeling myself as bi would really work. Anyway.
The situation is that the other day my partner expressed a concern to me about his transitioning. He said he's woried that when he starts hormones his sexual orientation might change. I haven't read much about that and was wondering if any of you had experience with it. We're very committed to each other, and I'm committed to being with him through his transition and regardless of what gender he IDs as, but now he has me worried that I might lose him because of this. I mean, if the hormones change his orientation, there's not really anything we could do about it, but honestly it scares me a little.
Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Wed, Feb. 20th, 2008, 07:49 am
zildjian77: First Time Partner
I came across a community
transpartners while doing a search for some information and people there directed me here so I hope I am in the right place finally.
I've had this friend for many years now who likes to cross dress, he has been doing it since he was a teen and not many people know about it. We have been friends for ages and he told me about his crossdressing right off the bat so it's never been a problem for me to deal with, it's his life, his choice and I have supported him over the years even when his partners at the time didn't.
Of late our relationship has developed and we have started seeing each other in a more intimate way and here inlies my problem, I have spoken so much about his crossdressing to him and I have never been phased by it and I have even seen photographs of him before but now that our relationship has developed and he has asked me to see him in person dressed I am a little concerned.
I falling in love with this guy and I am scared I am going to react in a bad way to his dressing, even though I have been so accepting of it before hand. He is a great guy with awesome sense of humour and I love our friendship/relationship. I know he must trust the hell out of me cause no-one else has ever seen him cross dress and only a 3 people beside me know about this, 1 being his ex who dumped him for doing it.
When he showed me the photographs I was kind of nervous and a little bit hhhmmm but then thought well he is still the same person under the clothes so whats the big deal, but I am just scared Im not going to be as good in person.
He wants me to see him this way and I want to see him too so I can register how or if it is going to affect us. He has suggested that he (in his words) transform infront of me rather than just dissappear into a room a guy and then come out a chick but I am not sure if this is the best way. He also suggested I help him transform, Is this a good thing?
I have always been a firm believer of people should do what feels right for them and not suit their lives to everyone else's standards and this is probably why I have accepted his crossdressing, even encouraged it but I feel a tad weird now and I dont know why.
I dont want to limit him as to when or how often he should dress and I dont want him to stop cause I see it as it being a part of who he is, like another part of who he is, is a motorbike rider. I see it as a small part of what makes him him and now I think there is something wrong with me for being so accepting before but now nervous about it now. I am hoping its just cause our relationship is changing so my perception of things is adapting and I am having to look at it in a new light.
I am just so confused as to how to go about talking to him about this, I dont know how I am going to go when I do see him and I dont want him to think I cant handle this until I know for sure I can or can not.
Is there anyone out there in this community who can give me what their experiences where like and what they felt and did the first time they saw their partners cross dress or anyone here who can calm my nerves and give me some advice on how to deal with a first time seeing their partners dress.
Tue, Feb. 19th, 2008, 01:40 pm
outofsynch: (no subject)
hello,
I posted this in two of the communities I belong to and both of them said I would probably get better answers from this community. Hopefully that works out for me. I am also hoping I don't offend with my post.
I have a friend who is a pre-op m-t-f. She's wonderful and amazing, and I find her attractive in an indescribable way. She's not a pretty girl, and honestly there are times when I think she looks like a man more than anything, but she has an amazing alure.
The more time I spend around her the stronger my feelings for her have become, and I am to a point where I would be interested or at least curious about exploring those feelings, but I have my personal reservations and fears. The one I'm concerned about is that she still has the body of a man and I don't believe I could ever have sex or play with a man's body.
What I initially asked was if this is something I should let her know about and work out with her, or is it something that would hurt her and I should keep to myself and not pursue anything further than friendship? though I feel that a conversation between us is probably best for our friendship and our relationship as a whole, which makes thhe other question more important I suppose.
The other question is, how would I/you/someone go about having a conversation like this? I know my friend is very open-minded and realistic when it comes to who she is and where she is in her transition right now, but I still feel that this is a subject that could do her damage, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her in an unpleasant way.
what I've garnered from the other posts is that it could be a sensitive topic and to choose my phrasing so as not to offend her or make her feel degraded. I also wonder now if my reservations mean I'm not a good person for her to date, though I don't think I should try to make that judgement call for her.
The other thing that needs to be said is that she identifies as a lesbian and has expressed an interest in dating me and wants to know why I won't date her. she is also planning on the surgery, but has a lot to get together before she can do it.
if there is other information that would be useful I will do my best to provide it as questions progress.
thanks for your time.
Sun, Feb. 17th, 2008, 11:51 pm
Hello, I am Sara and I am a 23 year old female. I identify as mostly straight. I recently started dating a guy and we fell for each other very quickly. We haven't known each other, but feel incredibly connected. Recently he told me that part of the reason his last relationship didn't work was because he was starting to realize that he couldn't marry the girl and have children with her as he was, that he was going to need to transition to being at least a partial girl. He didn't tell her until after they had broken up. I find myself angry at him for waiting to tell me, for not telling me when we started dating, for not telling me before i fell in love with him.