Welcome to the blog: What is it and why?

One month ago, I took my first dose of Estrogen and began my gender transition. After several painful years of denying that I was trans and one year of pretending I was fine with not transitioning, I had reached the end of my rope. My dysphoria was a constant handicap in my daily life and my life was at a standstill. I realized that I had to at least try to transition. This was followed by over 6 months of fighting to get access to hormones, and being met again and again by roadblocks (At some point, I will write on this struggle at length).

What is this blog?

The purpose of this blog is to document my gender transition and the effects of HRT. I will probably also occasionally write about my own experience of being trangender and how I came to that conclusion.

But why write a blog?

I live in an incredibly conservative area in the deep south of the United States. At the time of writing this, I am not aware of ever having met another trans person (Statistically, it is almost certain that I have and just not been aware of it). Everything I learned about transgender people growing up was either straight-up transphobic or made trans people the butt of a joke. The only source of information about being transgender that I had safe access to was the internet. I was only able to determine that I was transgender because I was able to read and see my own struggles in the stories of those who made that discovery before me. I hope that by sharing my story and transition, I can do the same for others.

Disclaimer

Everyone’s reaction to HRT is different. There is a reason that the phrase “Your mileage may vary” is so prevalent in the trans community. My progress or lack there of should not be used to set your own expectation. Genetics, age, and a multitude of other factors can play a heavy influence on the rate and degree that HRT, such that no two people’s transition are exactly the same.

Second, language is always changing and the language that trans people use to talk about themselves is no exception. It is possible that the words I currently use to describe my own sense of gender and my transition may fall out of favor with the trans community in the future. If the event that this does happen, I ask the reader to recognize my writing as a product of its time.