Hello everyone! My name is Emma. I’ve been thinking I was gender non conforming for about five years now, but didn’t have the courage to act on my desire until I entered into my current relationship two years ago or so. My partner is queer and very supportive of me. I started to realize how unhappy my perception of my body and gender was; how unhappy I was with others perception of my gender. As a result, I started medical transition about nine months ago. I have desire to change my voice, to have breasts, to reduce the amount of body hair I have. And yet, I don’t really carry myself differently or act much differently than before. I’ve always crossed my legs when I sit and tried to make myself seem smaller than I am because I’ve always hated my height (I’m very very tall).
One thing that definitely has changed is that I’ve gotten more and more dysphoric over the short time I’ve been on hormones. I’ve talked about this with my partner and thought through it myself and believe, to a degree, that this is due to me unpacking pain that I had repressed over time. That the discomfort with my body was always there and I had just always crushed it down to allow myself to function despite it. This came at a cost of worsening depression, anxiety, and insecurity. For example, I never enjoyed shopping for clothes, looking masculine, wearing anything that showed off my body. As a result I never felt comfortable in my clothes or body and hated my appearance. Now though, I love shopping for clothes! At least online anyway, in person stores never have clothes for women my height :p (love you long tall sally!)
But… there’s a devil on my shoulder which says that I’m becoming more dysphoric because I’m not really trans. Because I’m really a man and I’m just lying to myself. I’m just doing this because I never felt I had a space to belong. I’m just appropriating the culture of people I respect and admire. I’m just trying to fit into women’s spaces, take advantage of the kindness of queer people to gain a sense of community where I never had one before. Writing that out, the internalized transphobia is pretty clear, huh?
I think part of my ever increasing feeling of dysphoria is not dressing how I want to and presenting how I want to out of fear of harassment or abuse from others in public. I ride public transit everywhere and see people get harassed daily and don’t want that to be me. So, I dress more masculine out of fear. Because of that masculine presentation, I get scared to use the women’s restrooms at work and find myself hiding in the stalls until all the other people leave before I go wash my hands. Which is dumb, because people at my job are super supportive and kind. Thinking of myself as a woman always feels wrong because I’m not feminine enough, my voice is too low, I’m too tall, I wear more masculine clothes, etc.
So lately I’ve been wracked with insecurity wondering if this was all the right decision for me. I have the same interests and the same depression. Obviously estrogen didn’t cure my mental illness. Transitioning has made some aspects of it worse and some aspects of it more bearable. And the worry that’s always there is whether I’m doing all this for the right reasons. Whether my dysphoria will ever start decreasing in severity rather than increasing. At the same time, the thought of detransitioning is agonizing.
It feels silly looking back now on how I thought transition would cure my mental illness. How I thought going on estrogen would cure my dysphoria. How I thought leaving my home state of Texas and moving to a more progressive state would free my mind and body from transphobia external and internal. There is no magic cure for mental illness or dysphoria. There is no promised land free of transphobia.
Ultimately, I’m doing okay. Im still happier and more comfortable than I was when I thought I was a man. I’m making this post wondering if any of you have/had a similar experience, similar anxieties, or similar doubts to me. How do you cope with your anxiety about transition or insecurity in your identity? How do you deal with stagnant or worsening dysphoria?
Thanks for the comment. You’re right about the depression and anxiety not being necessarily related to my dysphoria. I’ve had severe depressive episodes my whole life, going all the way back (based on what my parents have told me) to when I was a young child. I know I’m not ever going to escape it entirely and I’ve made some peace with that. It’s just how my brain is. Been in therapy/psychiatry for almost a decade now, sans the last year or so. I do believe that a catalyst for my worst period of depression (when I was around 15) was puberty and I think that’s related to deep seated dysphoria and resentment of the changes that physical maturity brought about in my body. My depression is… I think better now than it has been. It’s certainly different with a different prominent sex hormone. Less prolonged episodes of detachment and emptiness, more severe intrusive thoughts and rumination—bordering on obsession. From what I’ve read it seems like a lot of other trans people also have experience with their symptoms of mental illness shifting or contorting after starting HRT.
I think making a plan and checklist to track my progress is a great idea. I think I’ve been overwhelmed with all the things I want to do and thus haven’t made steps towards any of them. Legal name and gender marker change, voice training, etc. Thanks for the advice!
Yeah, my issues also worsened after puberty, although that's pretty common with mental health. I think gender dysphoria became a clearly distinguishable phenomenon for me in my mid-twenties. My body developed slower than average, so facial and body hair didn't become a pressing concern until then. I looked naturally effeminate and androgynous, and the potential loss of that was kinda devastating and triggered gender explorations.
My mind has definitely changed since HRT. I'm not sure if there's any scientific evidence for this yet. But like, one thing that happened is I lost virtually all interest in technical work, like engineering or programming that used to captivate me. I can't do it anymore. But in its place, I feel so much more connected to artistic endeavors. Writing, drawing, composing, or just admiring others' work.
I don't think it's because a sex hormone decides our abilities, but rather it changed my perceptions and kinda rewired my brain. New antianxiety and antidepressant meds also played a role, I'm sure.
Emotions are a bit different now, the highs and lows feel different, the strongest emotions like love feel different. I feel them flowing through my whole body, it's hard to explain. The sort of tingly electrical feeling, and bliss of love and attraction.