(23-10-2014, 11:03 AM)AnnieBL Wrote: (23-10-2014, 03:19 AM)pom19 Wrote: Instead Of Saying She Was 'Born A Boy,' Try The Way She Phrases It. She Nails It:
http://www.upworthy.com/instead-of-saying-she-was-born-a-boy-try-the-way-she-phrases-it-she-nails-it?c=upw1
I've never liked the 'trapped in a male body' phraseology. Yes, I am female, and yes, I was born with a male body, but I wasn't trapped in it. Rather it was outside influences that trapped me. Now that, two thirds of a century later, I have at last escaped from the trap, I am still in the body I was born with. Certainly there are ways in which that body does not conform with my gender, and for my own comfort I intend to do something about at least some of them - but no way am I still trapped and I am so happy to be able to live full time as a woman.
Annie, you are fortunate to be able look past your male form to experience life as your true gender. In any fair and just world, it shouldn't matter whether or not our countenance reflects our inner sense of gender.
I admire your ability to ignore the incongruence that most transsexuals experience between body and mind. I can honestly say that nearly half of my GD is due to mind-body mismatch along with the physiological disturbance that results from once being hormonally male.
But, I agree with you that "trapped in a male body" is not exactly the way I would describe my situation. I'm okay with my body for the most part, and if I wasn't trans, I'm sure I'd be just fine with it. It's starting to break down with age, but for the most part I am still healthy and able to live an active life.
What I find unsettling is the effect that male puberty has had in masculinizing my body. Having lately taken steps to undo some of those effects, I'm finding that my genetically male body is acceptable, and in some ways advantageous for the life I live. I don't have to be some kind of girl of my dreams to be happy. In that sense, I share your viewpoint. I just need to be enough female to satisfy my internal self-image of who I am as a woman.
Clara