Quote:Most girls that succeeded with a partial transition undertook this path as a solution to potentially overwhelming economic fallout if they went full-time. I admire that! It takes more courage and conviction to embrace reality and find a solution within that framework than it does to selfishly abandon all responsibility and simply run into full-time gender land.
Let's face reality, shall we? We are not in a perfect world, and in our world a gender transition can leave a mark in the people around us. Not everybody has shoulders big enough to fight against the system and today's mentality. Most TSs I know had to deal with a very complicated situation at home, with their parents, wives and children. Many lost their jobs and ended up living as outcasts rather than a "normal woman's life". Most of them were sad about the pain they caused, even if they were rather happy about finally embracing their true self.
I think that the articles talks to the people facing a situation as painful for themselves as it is for the others around them, that decide that a full transition would be too traumatic. People that maybe are not even 100% gender dysphoric but, as someone highlighted before, that maybe are gender fluid. People that weight what they think they'd feel like after a full transition in comparison to the stir that the process would create. These are the people that usually DON'T transition. These are the people that usually give up the dream of feeling feminine (or masculine on the other side), not those that feel so strongly about their need to transition that decide to just ignore who would suffer around them.
As far as I can see, Katie, you were somehow lucky. Although you had your share of pain, you still have a family that loves you dearly for the woman that you now are. This is a rare luck, feel free to read any TS forum and you'll see how low is the level of acceptance.
Yes, some people that know they would create pain with a social transition decide not to go 100% through. And, again, I find refreshing that, finally, someone talks about this grey area of the TG spectrum. It's not an easy choice to abandon part of one's dream to be more feminine, but the missing part can be filled by the love of the people that will not disown you for going all the way.
These people are NOT undermining the rights of fully transitioning individuals. They are merely trying not to stand out from the crowd while they try to feel better with their bodies. In the world we live in, particularly in the less priviledged and progressive areas, this can be a psychological life saver. And considering the violence towards transexuals, most probably it can be a physical lifesaver too.