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comment by mk
mk  ·  1479 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: It's the International Trans Day of Visibility. I'm Trans. Ask Me Questions?

I don't know your story, so apologies if this is too presumptive or doesn't make sense: To what extent do you feel the same person more-actualized, as opposed to a new person, born after coming out?





ilex  ·  1479 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This is a really interesting question and I suspect the answer is highly variable depending on who you ask! At least for me, I did not entirely feel "like a person" before (and depersonalization seems to occur in at least some trans folk). I feel present now in ways I never had before.

Being a woman comes with a whole different set of social expectations and ways that people interact with me, and that's certainly shaped my personality in ways that they never would have if I hadn't transitioned. Make of that what you will, I suppose?

There's also a strange sense in which a lot of my male-coded experiences — stuff like being in Boy Scouts — are difficult or impossible to talk about with people who I'm not explicitly out to. Or, you know, folks I'm out to but not sure how comfortable they are with me I prefer to not remind too much about that part of me because it's easier to get along with coworkers if I just don't bring it up. I don't really like that but it is what it is.