Full Disclosure

Full disclosure and compromise.  Both should be key elements in a marriage where a transgender individual is involved.  

Read Elly's thoughts here.

Surviving Teen Life and Transition by Lauren S.

Being true to yourself is hard. No matter what your age, pressures to conform are enormous. In no part of our lives is this more true than the years 12 to 16 when we, our family and the rest of our social group are deciding who we will be for the rest of our lives.

Many who read this know that having the nerve to stand and say "I am not the person you have thought I was. Here is the real me." is the hardest thing there is in life.

Lauren introduces her blog very well;

"I'm just a fifteen year old girl at the threshold of the most important journey of my life, wanting to document my story so that someone else can benefit from my experiences."

Apart from any other consideration, her blog is well-written and interesting. She is documenting her story and her feelings so very well.

Welcome Lauren.

When Does The Freak Show End?

..........no one really ever fully understands the desperation and torment a transperson feels all their life more than another transperson. Therefore, we transfolk, really should not expect others to fully understand why we can take such drastic steps in life to be our true selves, to the extend that we even put transition in front of the ones we love most in life. Yes, with the shoe on the other foot.........we do indeed seem to be selfish, and possibly even heartless.

What Alex says, above, is so, so true for so many.  She reflects on this and her relationship with her family nearly 5 years after she began her transition and 2 1/2 years since her GRS.  

Read about it in When Does The Freak Show End?

Just what the FtM Doctor ordered

I would guess that at least a plurality of T-Central readers are somewhere on the male-to-female spectrum. But I would also guess that we have plenty of female-to-male readers, as well as people interested in FTM issues. We have links to some excellent blogs on that side of the playground wall.

FtM Doctor is one of them. Yes, Z is a medical doctor. I had wanted to feature his last post on different forms of testosterone, but it started to slide down the list and I just never did. But Dr. Z was kind enough to put up a really interesting new post called Become a man, or change what it means to be a woman? Sometimes the concerns of FTM people are quite different than those of MTF people, but in this case I think there is crossover. Z is talking about the difference between "what you do and what you are," and why he transitioned rather than remaining an extremely butch woman.

Don't be shy. Check it out!

Fresh from Salad Bingo to You!

authenticity ~ belonging ~ courage ~ compassion ~ connection

Those are the labels on Dr. Brené Brown's home page and while she does not write about trans issues, in only an hour or so of browsing, I am convinced we can all understand ourselves better (as would anyone else) by seeing her videos and reading her work.

A big thank you to Diana at Salad Bingo for her post “Vulnerability” and the link to a TED talk Brené gave. Having only had a chance to dip into this goldmine of ideas I will not attempt to say much more.

Dr. Brown is a "researcher/story teller" who writes about the joys of living authentically. Just reading her book titles tells you there is much needed validation here.

Please stop by Diana's post to thank her personally before you risk getting lost in Dr. Brown's world.