love these leaves.

[lukeboi]

Check out this Letter to Would-Be Transsexuals from the American Boyz site. A little hostile, yes, a little cynical, yes, but important considerations nonetheless. I guess this is what I meant in my Post-Trans post, about self-critique or self-inquiry. Of course there's problems with it, but just read it

Comments

[validextension]

those are all good considerations in that letter.

i think it's cool that you're thinking about everything so much, dude.

that's an interesting question you posed about how long letters last for. i wonder...i don't see why there would be an expiration date on them.

[lukeboi]

Yeah, there's no specific policy on letters, I think it's mostly an issue of discretion. Useful information to have around, and definitely something I would want to know from the therapist who I got my letter from, if I ever got one.

[kpscapes]

Wow, that letter is pretty intense, I'd never seen it before. It's hard to have those kind of conversations with people, or to bring up those kind of subjects, without coming off as totally over the top (as that letter gave me the impression), preaching or hypocritical. So how do we talk about it, then?

[lukeboi]

yeah I know, I was sort of like, "woah there, old schooler" but I think the point behind it is dope. It is certainly coming from people in a very different place in life, in origin, perhaps a different geography, and certainly from a different experience with transition, which makes some of the scenarios hard to swallow. At the same time, I think it is important to listen to people who transitioned long before us and hear their cautions, etc.

Perhaps the best way to address this issue is to employ the same method only with updated or more deeply personal questions. Not really sure, honestly.

[icarus_after]

goddamn, i love that letter. every single day i am more and more over this ftm-as-fad shit, and all these young, stupid kids who aren't even willing to take responsibility for their own knowledge base and think that transition is the coolest thing ever and the panacea to a problem they decide they had about ten minutes ago.

[joey_g]

I think "young stupid kids" is kinda rough. I bet some of those young kids may really be trans.

[icarus_after]

yeah, i know that there are young kids who are trans. but the anybody who thinks that being trans is "cool" or "fun" or wants to leap into transition with zero reflection on the process and its impact IS stupid. and every day i see more kids-- and by and large they do seem to be kids-- who show up with no knowledge base, and no desire for one, with a ridiculous idea about what transition means.

so, yeah, those kids ARE stupid and young.

which is not to say that all young people who consider or decide upon transition are wrong. but there HAS been a flood of late, and that concerns me.

[rowanhood]

Many people simply do not have the language to express how they've felt about their gender, until [blank] offers them the vocabulary to even talk about gender, or the idea that it is ok to question your gender, to feel dysphoric, and that many others do too. Do I think these people should RUSH into transition after having this revelation "ten minutes ago," no. But I don't think it is ok to feel we can deny them their identity just because their young and newly claiming this word, or because we've been "doing this" longer...

That letter is great.

[dirtyemployee]

It's good to know there are people providing reality-check resources like this. There isn't much of this sort of harsh/in-your-face bluntness around

Re: That letter is great.

[lukeboi]

Hmm good point about the parental concern and subsequent disregard from the kid.

yeah, this letter is pretty hardcore.

[joey_g]

I have never seen that letter before. There are some important valuable points. But at the same time this letter seems a bit outdated and not giving people the benefit of the doubt. It is a bit over the top, personally.

[icarus_after]

not giving WHOM the benefit of the doubt?

facts are facts, and they're very clear on it being a worse case scenario.

[icarus_after]

heh heh.

i don't have a problem. i am, however, tired of everyone pussyfooting around the idea that NOT EVERYONE IS MEANT TO TRANSITION and that TRANSITION IS A BIG DEAL.

it's ridiculous to me that this idea is met with such defensiveness and denial, and that we aren't supposed to talk honestly about what transition means and who should and shouldn't do it.