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Thursday 4 October 2007

Twenty Five Years Ago



She's my age.

But when I was in my early 20's, the idea of transition was light years away from me. OK, I should have been born female, well, so what? The discomfort was minor. I could live with it, it might even go away.

I didn't know that it gets worse.

I was never attracted to boys, and I thought that was necessary. Actually, at that time, so did the medics: I would have been refused treatment on those grounds alone.

Also, I had the build of a footballer, not a cheerleader like her. That was also a disqualifier in those days, only women who were pretty could be considered. Ones who were so obviously feminine that no-one could suspect. Even then, as the surgeon said, he faced social stigma from his peers. "It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it" sums it up.

But I didn't know any of that at the time. I've only found this out in the last 2 years.

Had I been allowed treatment then, had I needed treatment then, my son could not have been born. So having had a look at this video, I can truthfully say that I have no regrets. Intellectually I always knew that, but now my heart agrees.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousWednesday, October 10, 2007 12:57:00 pm

    "But I didn't know any of that at the time. I've only found this out in the last 2 years."

    Me too. Even in this day and age, depending on where you live, being born with transsexualism or other intersex conditions DOES NOT guarantee that you will learn the truth about treatment for it so that you can live a normal life.

    Far too often accessing treatment is a matter of being born into the right city, social class and family.

    And even if you go out on a quest to find a doctor who knows anything at all, or who will not treat you with utter contempt, you may not find an answer.

    I have an elderly friend who tried to find such a doctor for decades. She finally did, but far too late to have a normal life or anything remotely like it.

    No wonder that 90% of us in Western Australia kill ourselves.

    ReplyDelete

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