{"id":615,"date":"2014-10-02T17:42:24","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T21:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/?p=615"},"modified":"2023-04-12T18:46:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T22:46:21","slug":"so-theres-that-day-10-faq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/so-theres-that-day-10-faq\/","title":{"rendered":"So There’s That, Day 10: FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

So There’s That: Adventures in Transgendering chronicled my transition in 2014. One hopes the gentle readers will forgive any awkward or anachronistic language within. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

And on Wednesday, I rested.<\/p>\n

I guess now seems as good a time as any to address some questions about being transgender. Or at least as they relate to my<\/i> thoughts and experiences.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of articles out there about what it means to be transgender, and some of them seem to castigate folks for asking \u201cinappropriate\u201d questions or using the wrong words.<\/p>\n

My approach is a little different, and let me reiterate that I speak only for myself, but I think allowing people the freedom to ask questions is a step in the right direction. We need to educate people, not discourage them from learning about what it means to be transgender.<\/p>\n

Despite what Thomas Gray might suggest, ignorance is not bliss. So I\u2019ll take the awkward questions and try to answer them as best I can. If it comes from a good place, it\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

To that point, I offer up the first in a series of questions I\u2019ve had to ask myself and expect others to ask, or at least have in their head as I come out of the proverbial closet.<\/p>\n

Are you gay?<\/b><\/p>\n

Asking a transgender person if they\u2019re gay poses problems all itself. Because at some point, if I transition, odds are I will be gay.<\/p>\n

To put it simply, I\u2019m not into guys and I still like women. So think of me as a lesbian stuck in a man\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

As I say, this can get a little confusing.<\/p>\n

Are you a queen?<\/b><\/p>\n

My understanding is that a queen is gay man who dresses flamboyantly as a woman for entertainment purposes. In essence, a female impersonator. This is not about impersonating a woman, it\u2019s about being who I am.<\/p>\n

So nope, not a queen.<\/p>\n

Are you on hormones?<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes. Estrogen and anti-androgens that block male hormones.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s it like to be on hormones?<\/b><\/p>\n

On the estrogen side of the ledger, I cry a lot more easily, especially the first week. As in I ball my eyes out at sappy commercials. Damn you, Madison Avenue! My skin has gotten softer, my hair shinier and my nipples are crazy sensitive. And not in an erotic way. As in if I clip them on the edge of the table whilst at work, I need to pause and go, “Oh baby, that hurts.” I am in the early stages of hormones, so I am getting some breast development but nothing noticeable when wearing a loose shirt. Except perhaps that my nipples protrude when the air conditioning is on high.<\/p>\n

On the anti-androgen side, I don\u2019t get erections anymore. Nothing. Nada. Zip. To quote \u201cOne Night in Bangkok,\u201d I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine.<\/p>\n

Are you planning on becoming a woman?<\/b><\/p>\n

I honestly don\u2019t know. That\u2019s what this journey is all about. I might find that \u201cboy\u201d mode is enough. Long fingernails and a bit more of my feminine side front and center. Think of me as the American version of Eddie Izzard. Only not as funny. Or I may find that that is not enough and \u201cgirl\u201d mode is more my speed. But I\u2019m looking forward to finding out. It\u2019s an exhilarating ride so far, and terrifying, but I\u2019m so much happier right now. It\u2019s funny, I find myself grinning a lot more, so I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m headed in the direction. All I can say is, stay tuned.<\/p>\n

What about your \u201cjunk\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n

Well, I still have my \u201cjunk.\u201d It doesn\u2019t do a whole due to the anti-androgens at present, so again we\u2019ll see how this plays out.<\/p>\n

Are you sure you\u2019re not gay?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

This was a big hurdle for me to overcome. I am cool with being gay or bi or whatever. I am cool if people think I\u2019m gay or bi or whatever. But right now, I\u2019m only interested in girls. That said, if Captain Jack Harkness and his 51st century pheromones made a pass at me, I don\u2019t think I would turn him down. But let\u2019s face it, who would?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So There’s That: Adventures in Transgendering chronicled my transition in 2014. One hopes the gentle readers will forgive any awkward or anachronistic language within. \u2014 And on Wednesday, I rested. I guess now seems as good a time as any to address some questions about being transgender. Or at least as they relate to my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-so-theres-that"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625,"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typingmonkeys.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}