tl;dr: some personal advice I picked up on transness after being a trans man for half a decade, now, including...
- trans femmes, body hair is okay, and acceptance is largely based on location and population...not you yourself and immutable traits.
- all trans ppl, it's okay not to have surgery right away, or ever.
- it's okay not to have an updated ID, whether that be for safety reasons or for practical reasons like you couldn't get to it somehow (recently someone said to me "your name was TAKEN FROM YOU," and that hit very hard).
- some parents or guardians or role models are progressive outwardly but not when it comes to their own children! make sure you explore yo and it's okay if your experience wasn't "my parents didn't accept me" or "my parents lovingly accept me," but somewhere in-between and changes a lot even.
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Hi guys. I I'm a trans man, with very dark, course, kinky, curly hair. and a LOT of it. Even before I transitioned starting at age 22. and I'm 26 now, and due to being disabled and living in a very rural state AND lacking physical family support I still haven't gotten to have any surgeries yet, despite having very large breasts, especially for my size (roughly 5'9, 170-180). and I'm so rural I'm over 3 hours from anywhere I could possibly get paperwork done, and I don't wanna mess up my SSI paperwork, medicaid, or SNAP, either. so I haven't been able to change my name. and it's cost me while being spoken to by the cops (to no fault of my own), and also while visiting my own small-town bank (being rejected while attempting to take out my monthly rent, because they didn't "trust" that I was the same person as the one on my ID, since it's a pre-transition photo, because the photo place is also 3+ hours away, and I don't want a mixed-gender obviously-trans form of ID).
I'm posting this for A FEW reasons.
One... IT'S OKAY TO HAVE SURGERY ON YOUR OWN TIME, OR NOT AT ALL.
Two... IT'S OKAY TO HAVE AN ID THAT DOES NOT MATCH YOUR CHOSEN NAME, CURRENT TRANSITION PROGRESS, AND/OR GENDER MARKER (especially since gender marker is largely impossible if you live in the US like I do, now-- and many other countries are the same)!
Three... FOR TRANS WOMEN AND GIRLS AND FEMMES-- I LOVE YOU, WE ALL LOVE YOU, GO GET 'EM! AND IT'S TOTALLY ALRIGHT TO HAVE HAIR ALL OVER YOUR BODY! FOR SOME OF US, LIKE ME WITH HS, WE PHYSICALLY CANNOT SHAVE OR WAX OR ANYTHING WITHOUT IT HURTING, AND LIGHT THERAPY IS TOO EXPENSIVE!
when I was still identifying our body (we are plural, technically none of us align with our body exactly) as female, our hair was so bothersome it made us doubt our femininity, despite our body having such a perfectly feminine face, figure, and bosom, with small hands and feet to match. though we were a very, very late bloomer for our chest! and you might be, too. eating helped a LOT. once we got out of a neglectful household and began to eat, they grew like melons haha! now I wish they had not, but at the time I thought it would magically make me a woman... heh. who knew I was technically supposed to be born feeling I aligned as one???
SOME OF US GROW UP IN HOUSEHOLDS THAT, EVEN IF OUR SO-CALLED "ROLE MODELS" SHOW PITY FOR OTHER TRANS ADULTS OR CHILDREN, WE OURSELVES ARE NEVER, EVER EVEN SUPPOSED TO ENTERTAIN THE THOUGHT. WE ARE MEANT TO BE "NORMAL." WE MUST SCOFF AT THE ABNORMAL, AND MOVE ALONG. "FIRE IS HOT, DO NOT TOUCH!"
I THOUGHT I WAS SMART NOT TO TOUCH THE FIRE, BUT I NEVER GOT TO UNDERSTAND HOW I TRULY FELT, UNTIL AFTER I LEFT THE HOUSE. I WAS ALREADY ALONE, SAVE FOR MY PRECIOUS CAT. MANY OF US LOVE ANIMALS, BECAUSE THEY DO NOT JUDGE (not like that, anyways).
I had hair on my legs from top to bottom, my feet, toes, fingers, hands, a happy trail, my chest, my back, my butt, a big huge plume around my pubic area, full of course curls like a black beard, and of course on my arms, neck, head, sideburns, and shoulders as well. and between the brows! all very, very dark. even when it was shaved, it still was very apparent there had been something there, as you could see the shadow and the little round holes.
but boys who were not racist still found me very attractive. they sought after me. when I lived in a more accepting state they were all over me. when I moved more rural to somewhere nearly all-white, no one basically even wanted to be my friend.
IF YOU LIVE SOMEWHERE VERY RURAL, OR VERY WHITE, OR VERY RELIGIOUS, OR ALL OF THE ABOVE... YOU MIGHT NOTICE NOBODY WANTS TO GO OUT WITH YOU, NO MATTER HOW HOT YOU ARE!
IT'S.
NOT.
YOUR.
FAULT!!!!
Got it?
Good.
(ps: sorry if it sucks or breaks a rule but a lotta people seem to hate my posts so take it or leave it but I'd rather post and help one person than not post and risk not helping anyone!)