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- http://imgur.com/rW5XSSY
- Tribute to John
- Galaxy greetings, Spacekats! This is Brianna. I'm a Journalism major at
- the University of Mississippi and tonight marks my sixth month since
- starting HRT. A lot has happened in sixth months - I've finished laser, I
- live full time as a woman and I almost always pass quite easily. I'm
- considered legally female by United States jurisprudence.
- This is not a work of fiction. I thought that the denizens of Fictionmania
- might enjoy reading a true story of what it is like for a man to become a
- woman. I have come to understand, the stories that I admired here get so
- much of the process wrong.
- It was important to me to celebrate by writing you my story. I wanted to
- celebrate the person that got me to this point - John. He wasn't a bad
- person - well meaning but dealing with a lot of anger. It wasn't really
- his fault. Living as a boy when you know that you were supposed to be a
- girl is just the pits, you know?
- I have known for every second of my life that I was supposed to be a girl.
- I remember being separated into play groups as a child, and attempting to
- socialize with the boys that seemed like aliens. Occasionally, when
- allowed to play with girls, I would enjoy greatly their games of make-
- believe. These were to be my happiest memories of childhood.
- I've always watched women with an apt fascination of the world to which I
- was being denied. It seemed so enchanting, all of it. But when I attempted
- to emulate the behavior that seemed so normal, I was socially ostracized.
- I rarely had close friends as a child, I was just different and strange -
- an exogenous factor that didn't compute with the system.
- I discovered Fictionmania in 1998 with the advent of the Internet. In
- hindsight, I can say that I wasted many years that I could have been
- living as a girl by visiting that site. It all seemed to be so impossible
- for so long - but here is the story of how I beat my fear and got the
- courage to transition.
- On July 6 of last year I broke up with Heather, ending the worst
- relationship of my life. I was 25 at the time. Heather was in interesting
- specimen to be sure. A grouchy and emotionless diabetic finishing up her
- PhD in Exercise Science, Heather was someone that eschewed femininity
- almost completely. If I were to be truthful, I would admit that I loved
- her because I deemed her fucked up enough to love me back.
- It was an interesting relationship because in many ways I was the girl. I
- enjoyed cooking her dinners as she finished her dissertation. It was a
- very bad relationship in that I rarely felt respected - Heather rarely
- cared to put any mind into our conversations, and she generally ignored me
- unless it was convenient for her.
- At the end of the relationship something was very clear to me - I had
- stayed with Heather because I was a closeted transsexual. I felt like I
- was too fucked up for anyone to ever love - I knew that I needed to deal
- with my feelings. Facing my fears, I made an appointment with my school's
- counseling center.
- Therapy was slow going at first, and looking back at it I am amazed at how
- much fear I had. After a year of therapy, I had become to accept myself as
- a transsexual much more easily. I was left with a great decision, to
- transition or not to transition? That was the question. I had so many
- fears then - I feared that my friends would treat me as freakish. I was
- scared of employment discrimination, I even feared that the HRT would make
- me act erratically.
- Transitioning transsexuals must follow a set of medical and legal
- protocols known as the Benjamin Standards of Care. Named after Dr. Harry
- Benjamin, they are a source of consternation and comfort for transsexuals.
- To be brief, they require a transsexual to have at least three months of
- psychotherapy before starting hormone replacement therapy - known
- colloquially as HRT.
- Typically, HRT is done with an endocrinologist. Endocrinology is among the
- newest sciences. After sex hormones were discovered in the twenties,
- greater understanding came about that, that virtually all the differences
- in men and women are as a result of the differences in their endocrine
- systems.
- My endocrinologist was reluctant to treat me at first, but like many
- transsexuals, I had spent a lifetime voraciously reading the medical
- literature. My research of scientific endocrinology journals to determine
- my best course of treatment eventually swayed him.
- On February 14 of 2006 I found myself in possession of my first round of
- hormone treatment. I was beyond terrified at the journey I was about to
- start. My mind couldn't grasp the complexity of the journey I was about to
- start. By coincidence, I made contact with a long lost friend named
- Lucinder starting HRT on the same day. We deemed to make it a holiday to
- be known as "Fuck you" Day.
- If I had known as a child how drastically estrogen and anti-androgens
- would affect my mind and personality, I would have done it years ago.
- Testosterone is a cruel master - and to keep it in check a wonder drug
- called spirolacetone is used. Although it's originally meant to lower
- blood pressure, it wipes out testosterone in a wonderful fashion.
- Estradil Estradiol, a member of the 17b estrace class is another wonder
- drug. When I take these pink pills four times daily I thank them deeply
- for the access to new feelings and emotion they allow. Estradiol makes it
- possible to feel deeply, to experience emotion as a woman does. It makes
- it possible to cry, to sympathize and even to burn with righteous anger.
- Progesterone is an interesting drug to take. The research is unclear, but
- many believe that it leads to increased breast development and sexual
- feelings. Because I've used them in conjunction, I can't claim to know how
- much breast development I would have without it - but I am quite pleased
- with my pair of A cup breasts at six months.
- The thing that I cannot communicate strongly enough to potential
- transsexuals considering this journey is how much more happy and normal I
- feel with HRT. I would never, ever go back. I used to wake up feeling
- normal until the realization would hit me that I wasn't a girl, which
- would lead to thoughts of depression. Now I wake up feeling peachy and in
- tune with myself. Sometimes, I remember that I am a transsexual.
- I pass extremely easily for a TS - I feel quite blessed. Although I am
- quite tall, I've always been extremely skinny. I discovered running after
- I beat Ambien, and I run 45 miles a week. So the tallness just works with
- my look as a hardcore athlete. I feel blessed in my facial features as
- well - I have high cheekbones and no chin. And because I'm only 26 I have
- not lost any hair. I will never be considered beautiful, but at least I
- can easily live life in the role of the gender I have always known myself
- to be.
- Something that has really shocked me about transition is that nothing
- happens. What about all those fears that I obsessed about for my entire
- life? None of them came to fruition. My friends were almost universally
- supportive - and many admired my decision.
- "You're really brave to go through that," is a common comment I get. One
- of my favorite comments was from my friend Rima. "To be honest," she said,
- "it's not that surprising. You've always been really girly anyway."
- Female friendships are a truly wonderful thing - they are the most
- rewarding aspect of transition. It turns out, girls really admire a boy
- with enough common sense to chop off their penis. I gave a lecture to a
- speech therapy class recently, and the all female class looked on me with
- wildly fascinated eyes - they were eager to ask questions about what it
- was like for a boy to become a girl.
- I am sure you are wondering the same thing, and it's an extremely
- complicated question. Generally speaking, girls are nicer and much more
- cooperative. I find myself obsessed with the importance of always being
- nice to people, even people I disrespect. Part of female communication is
- coming to consensus rather than being dominant. This becomes second nature
- with estrogen.
- Also, estrogen makes you live in your own world. I sometimes find myself
- oblivious to my immediate surroundings concentrating on something as
- insignificant as a hair on a desk. Estrogen, also makes me more reticent
- to say what I am thinking because I understand more deeply how important
- it is to get along.
- If I can say a word or two about what estrogen does to your sexuality - it
- is a mindfuck. I never considered gay relationships even remotely before
- HRT because I found women so overwhelmingly fascinating. But after HRT,
- after beginning to feel like a woman all the time, I found myself strongly
- attracted to boys.
- I shouldn't have been surprised, I knew from the science that my odds were
- one in three of this happening. I find myself in constant wonderment of
- what it is like to kiss a boy, or to pursue a sexual relationship with
- one. I am certain that my next relationship will be with a boy, and I look
- forward to being the girl in the relationship.
- Removing one's beard is an extremely painful part of being a transsexual.
- I opted for laser treatment, and I would describe the experience as deeply
- spiritual. Every zap is a painful gut check that asks, ‘How important is
- it for me to become a woman?' To me, it's like earning the right to be
- feminine by enduring great pain. I wonder how few women could tolerate 200
- hours of electrical torture for the right to be themselves.
- For me, voice wasn't hard to get the hang of. It was mostly practice with
- my friends, but formal speech therapy was also useful. It helped to
- understand all the technical aspects of it - pitch, resonance, easy onset
- and the like. It also took me a while to understand that much of the male
- profanity would need to go. This came easily enough with HRT - the reason
- women don't use profanity is because it really jars you out of your own
- little happy world.
- Regarding John, he doesn't exist anymore- let me say, he will be missed. I
- really appreciate that you were recusant enough to get me through this. I
- don't think of you as gone - I am quite like you, only stronger. I am
- happy, whereas you were not. I can easily smile, which is something you
- were rarely capable of.
- When I think of all the things that I we had to overcome together, it's
- quite a list. The five year crippling Ambien addiction, the splatter-movie
- mugging of 2002, and the 12 years of religious indoctrination in the guise
- of schooling - thinking through that alone is an impressive
- accomplishment. We are tough as nails, Space cat - and no one can take
- that from us.
- That said, you don't exist anymore, legally or nominally. And today is a
- day of celebrating what you were able to accomplish - becoming strong to
- let me become Brianna.
- It's important to me to not allow the fact that I am a transsexual to
- overwhelm my life - and from here I've got some pretty important things to
- accomplish. Our government has become openly corrupt, and it is my destiny
- to be part of a new generation of reporters to make a difference. I've got
- a few books that I need to write, and I need to finish learning Spanish.
- As I accomplish these things I am sure, being a girl will become more and
- more tertiary to my thoughts.
- And although I might dismiss it, being a girl is a lot of fun. Makeup,
- nails, fashion and exercise were all things I took to easily. It is fun to
- wear skirts, and to have long hair - but it's also important to remember,
- that's not what being a woman is about. It's also about the standards you
- hold yourself to. It's about your capacity to be weak when it would be
- easier to be strong.
- I don't know where my life will take me from here, but I do know that I
- have fulfilled my biological destiny by transitioning. For that alone,
- conquering my intense fear - I consider my life to have been an
- overwhelming success.
- With great pride,
- Bree
- July 14, 2006
- http://www.myspace.com/onlyfoolsmesswithbree
- https://archive.today/zciv2#selection-9.0-9.14752
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