Tag Archives: Transsexual

Because being transsexual is often so hurtful, so filled with sadness and longing, with shame and loss and difficulty, it is easy to come to the conclusion that the whole thing is utterly a curse, perhaps inflicted by arcane and evil ancient gods. Oh, probably. But there is an upside too. Most human lives are utterly mundane, devoid of any …

Q: What does it mean to be transgender? A: Transgender people are individuals of any age or sex who manifest characteristics, behaviors or self-expression, which in their own or someone else’s perception, is typical of or commonly associated with persons of another gender. Q: Are there different types of transgender people? A: Yes. There is great diversity among transgender people. …

The great challenge in reconstructing a male- appearing chest from a female breast is the management of the overlying breast skin. There is always a “skin excess” when the underlying glandular and fatty breast tissue is surgically removed. One goal in gender reassignment surgery is to manage this skin excess with a minimal amount of scarring. Excess skin can easily …

A person I shall call “G.” wrote: Dear Gender Gifted Brothers and Sisters Last thursday I visited a friend of mine who had her surgery two months ago. It was somewhat frustrating trying to communicate with her as she appeared rather depressed, or aggressive, or whatever, I don’t know how to describe that kind of mood. I just knew her …

Transgender people comprise 0.3 % of American adults, or about 700,000 people, according to a 2011 study by the Williams Institute. And their unemployment is 2X the rate of the general population, with athema also 4X more likely to live in poverty (according to the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, (n=6,450.) The challenge then is how do we get our …

Beth Thomas always knew her son Adam was different she just couldn’t put her finger on it. At times she grew despondent at his mood swings. Adam was spending more and more time alone in his bedroom and when Beth asked what was wrong he wouldn’t answer properly. “I’d always wondered if Adam was gay,” says Beth, 49, an office …

This is one of the more controversial aspects of the transgender (TG) experience. There are many transgender folk who choose not to have any surgery, some who pick and choose which surgeries they want, and some who feel they have no choice but to go through all of them. There are also the moral pressures to consider from internal and …

There are many reasons why FTMs will be reluctant to seek out medical attention or even preventative health care. Many older FTMs have assimilated even without hormones or surgery. Their greatest fear is discovery. Sometimes even their own partners and families don’t have a clue about their situation, and if they do, they are just as frightened of discovery. Mainstream …

Mental health is tightly intertwined with general health. Most FTMs tend to isolate. Not only do they deny themselves contact with society at large, they tend to isolate from each other. Even though this has slowly been changing in urban areas within the past five years, it tends to be the rule of thumb. Many FTMs who meet at meetings …

Any person on hormones is a chemistry experiment. It is very important to listen to the FTM (or MTF) as they tell you what is occurring for them physically and emotionally. FTMs have learned to watch and monitor the changes they experience over time. On this note, it is very important that if you have a pre-op transsexual come to …