sinisterporpoise

 Tuesday was a busy day. I spent the morning running around, trying to fulfill the requirements of the IMPACT program, as I was not sure that I had been released from those obligations yet. I found out that an additional form was needed, which I picked up and dropped off at the necessary office. I went to Sam’s Club to pick up prescriptions, dropped off applications, and returned home briefly, before heading out again. During this brief time, I struggled with a thought that has occupied my mind lately. It’s a strange desire for me, and one I will probably blame on the estrogen. For the last few weeks, I’ve been regretting the fact that I can never have children.

I never wanted children before, and I usually point to my nephew as a good reason why I should not personally have offspring. After all, why does there need to be another person who would likely have a similar criminal disposition running around?  However, it’s a bit deeper than just wanting children. When the thought comes to my mind, it’s contemplating motherhood. For some reason, the idea of being a father still seems unappealing  I do not know if it’s some sort of bizarre biological clock going off, or if I can attribute it to hormone replacement therapy.

Is this a common feeling among transgender individuals? I do not know. Everyone has regrets if they live long enough.  It seems strange that something I never even considered before becomes a regret even though it is a physical impossibility.

As this thought works its way through my mind, I can only hope that I will get the opportunity to do this in another life. For all I know, I could have done it in the past.  If this is the case, I do not want to do it within the confines of the Mormon heaven. Being part of a harem does not sound all that pleasant to me. (The church may have changed this doctrine, but I believe it remains intact.)  I’d rather come back to this planet or another one with the required parts and try it then support the idea that my eternal destiny is to produce new souls along with other women bound to the same male spirit as I am.   Reincarnation, if it exists, may give me a chance to experience motherhood outside of the Celestial Kingdom, but I do not know if desires last from one life to the next.

I know from many years ago that my father felt he had his first two children in the order he wanted them.  In his mind, he had one girl and one boy with my mother. He even told me he  made sure this happened. While I know this is scientifically impossible, there is still a part of me that wonders what might have happened if he had not tried to arrange things this way. 

 People who are socialized as male – whether they are male or not – are taught to keep most of their feelings to themselves. They are expected to display three feelings at most. Anger, joy and a null state of emotions are all society allows. Feminists decry this as one way the patriarchy harms men, but I am not going to use their language, even if I am using their arguments.  However, transition is in many ways a life-changing experience. While I would not give up what I have gained in the past few years, it is also important to note that I have lost things in the process as well.   Sometimes, however, transgender people do not take advantage of what they have gained, even though they should. Being able to display feelings more openly is one advantage of transition that does not take place easily.  Hormones do not change a lifetime of societally-enforced behavior. Even if someone can show their emotions more freely, it does not mean that they will. Crying might be one of the biggest examples of this.

Men are taught not to cry, or if they do, not to do it openly. Special circumstances, such as the death of a loved one, grant an exception.  Since starting HRT, I’ve found that tears come more easily, especially if it’s something that makes me sad, like hearing of the death of someone’s pet.  Last night, was one of those occasions.  Even though I can cry more freely and openly, I felt the need to hide my tears, because that is what I have always done.

HRT caused many changes, physical, social and emotional.  One of the more difficult ones I faced was experiencing a greater range of emotions at first. (Of course, there was also a childish glee at having breasts, something I wish would have subsided much sooner than it did.)  Even the way I felt anger changed.  It is not the expression of normally repressed emotions; it’s expressed because I have reasons to be angry.

And I must admit I’ve experienced a greater range of mixed emotions, although they are not necessarily contradictory. Perhaps the most recent example is finding out I have the beginnings of osteoarthritis.  While I’m not pleased about this, I was happy that it wasn’t what I feared. In fact, I felt like celebrating because the news was considerably less bad than I feared. (If German doesn’t have a word for this, it should. It’d probably be a variation of schadenfreude.)  I also have mixed feelings about being referred to a physical therapist. I’m afraid, excited, and filled with a desire to waste as much of Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shields funds as possible for all the crap that they’ve put me through when not covering my estradiol in the past. There’s also a desire to use as many of Indiana’s resources as possible because of their failure to provide adequate safety nets.  Experiencing an array of emotions over a situation is something I rarely experienced presenting as male. I might have once, but my peers, bullies and other quickly taught me that emotions were bad things to have.

As I go through the process of learning to be female, an experience I was denied, I find myself questioning whether I should be hiding this. People may state something if I become too emotionally charged, or view me as overly emotional, but they won’t openly ridicule me.  Women may do a lot of things behind the scenes that I do not understand or know about, and this, unfortunately, is also part of the learning process, and because it’s a social skill, I’m not sure I’ll ever learn it fully.  Maybe one day I’ll even be okay with openly crying rather than trying to hide it.  [Spoiler Alert!] At least for the moment, I’m glad no one saw me cry when Tris’s mother gave up her life for her in Divergent.

[Hmm... I wonder if I should post this on my Blogspot blog.]

 The media has covered Bruce Jenner's transition fairly well. They have treated the subject respectfully even as the buy into the ratings grab.  I do not fault this from a business perspective. Networks need to get viewers, and people love to focus on celebrities.  Covering the transition of a public figure gives them viewers which translates into extra advertising dollars.  However, if there's one thing I wish people would stop doing, it is describing transgender people as courageous.

I understand that the people who use this phrase mean well, but it was not courage that drives me or other people to transition. It is a simple necessity. A trans* individual can either live in denial with all of the emotional turmoil denial brings, or they can break through the cognitive dissonance of trying to live as their assigned gender to live in a way that is in greater harmony with their own mind. (I prefer to think of it as their own spirit, but I know many people do not share my views on the existence of spirits or souls.)

I've been subjected to the c-word as well. I didn't feel particularly courageous when I made the decision to live as Lara full time. Instead, it was simply a matter of letting go all of as much of the emotional baggage that came with living in anxiety and denial as I could.   Going to a family funeral as Lara for the first time was not an act of courage, either. It was simply a granddaughter doing a favor for her grandmother and her sister.  

There are many reasons why I hope I'm not a role model for anyone. Even in my own mind, I view some aspects of my life as a cautionary tale.  I've done things out of fear, out of desperation, and out of necessity. None of these things made me feel particularly brave. Transition wasn't something I did to shock people. It was the right decision for me.  I hope it's the right one for Bruce Jenner as well