Progesterone

[foxxygirltamara.livejournal.com]

(my apologies for an MTF-specific question)

( Some background )

Question 1: What has been your experience with progesterone? Did your boobs grow? Did you bitch at people? Did you hump the sofa leg?
Question 2: Is this 2.5mg/day too low to have much of an effect?
Question 3: Would I benefit from cycling -- taking 5mg/day for two weeks and then going off?

*waves* Proper introduction, mayhap?

[arsenicxcyanide.livejournal.com]

Well, instead of just lurking in the community like I have been since my joining it, I imagine it's time I introduce myself...

My name's Liesse, though this year I'm finally starting to truly acknowledge the fact that I'm transgender, and as such, feel free to also call me Justin. It's completely one's own preference.

A little background information: When my mother was pregnant with me, she was told she was going to have two perfectly healthy baby boys. She picked out two names: Caleb and Justin.

Weeks later, I was born. Under the star sign of Gemini, no less. However, my twin was dead. Undernourished, due to my mother unknowingly being host to a tapeworm as well as a set of twins. And it was discovered that I was, in fact, not a boy, but a girl. She changed my name to Annaliesse almost immediately.

Fast forward to when I was in elementary school. Little kids playing make-believe games of house and such. I was always cast as one of the brothers. When not automatically cast as such, I volunteered to be a boy. I actually had a deeper voice than most of the girls my age. I myself didn't view myself as male or female at the time.

Until I was six, my parents used to bathe me and my older brother Andrew in the same tub. Together. I remember once, when I was about five.. I saw my brother's penis, and I wondered why it was that I myself didn't have one. Why there was a piece of me missing. What was the reason for this. Who's fault was it that I wasn't born the way he was.

When I was seven, a boy pulled down his shorts and showed himself off to about half of our second-grade class. Almost all of the girls instinctively looked away. I didn't. Yet again, the same wondering occured. Here was another one of those things... where was mine?

Fast forward to now: I'm 17. Am not attracted sexually to men at all. Have came out to my father and several of my friends as a lesbian and possibly transgender. My father tends to block out that last bit. I doubt he can actually accept it.

Most of my friends are comfortable with the idea that, years from now, I may not be exactly the same person physically. After all, for years, I've been using an alter-ego of sorts online and elsewhere... named Justin. In my dead twin's memory. And, on occasion, we all take turns poking below my belly button, whispering, "Grow, damn you,"... an inside joke of sorts. Something I do every now and then when bored.

So I'm basically here to gather information on the FTM process, and gather support.

TG Makeover Show?

[publictrans.livejournal.com]

So I've seen these makeover shows like Extreme Makeover and Fashion Emergency for a while now, and it seems like every day there are more of them: make over your look, your body, your wardrobe, your house, your life, etc. (They even have those surgery ones like The Swan)

Now somehow I think I'm not alone among TGs in watching these shows and thinking, "I wish someone would make me over."

Well, why not? With new channels like Logo already approprating similar styles (they have a wedding planning show), wouldn't it be great to have "Trans-Makover?"

Beyond the lucky people who get to look silly on TV for a makeover, these shows tend to give practical tips that the viewers can use. I'd love the opportunity to be told by an expert how to look good instead of the extensive (and embarrassing) trial-and-error that so many of us have to go through.

What do people think? Is it worth writing to Logo and asking them to put on a show for us?

children's books explaining trans-ness/transition?

[tgjerusalem.livejournal.com]

Are there any books out there for explaining trans-ness and/or transition to small children who so far have been living in a basically typical straight environment? Something like a trans equivalent to "Heather Has Two Mommies" or "Daddy's Roommate" or whatever those books are.

I have two little cousins, ages 6 and 9. They don't really remember me pre-transition, but the rest of my family still calls me by my old (unbelievably feminine) name and by female pronouns. But I look obviously male now and the kids have trouble remembering to call me "she" even when told to by parents. My aunts and people are slowly getting used to the idea of me being a transman, and while I'm not sure they'll ever get used to calling me by my new name I think I might eventually be able to explain the situation a bit to the kids. They're so confused, and they keep asking why I look like a boy when I'm "reall" a girl (as their parents so tactfully put it), and I keep having to blow them off with bullshit answers like "I'm just special that way."

Noticing things for the first time..

[dale62676.livejournal.com]

2 things I'm noticing 6 months into my transition...
Suddenly, alleyways (or any dimly lit area) after dark creep me out. I'm growing eyes in the back of my head.
I mentioned this to a few GG friends of mine and they couldn't imagine not being attuned to who is around them, in terms of being followed, etc. Before I could care less, not so much thinking I was immune and I would be safe just because I was male-bodied, but that it never entered my mind to be on the defensive.
And that makes such more sense to me now because I'm realizing the amount of gawking and staring women are subjected to. I swear, on my walk to work, I pass by 5 construction sites, and I see the workers fix on a girl passing by and follow her with their eyes. And yeah, they see my breasts now and follow those. How friggin' creepy! We are not your private catwalk show while you sit on your break!