capstone

So you're gender-nonconforming in 1989. What are you going to do about it? [[I want to dress like another gender.|Xdress]] [[I am not the gender I was assigned at birth. I want to fix that.|Social transition]] (set: $exited to false)

(if:$exited is false)[A good portion of the time, the journey stopped here. Many gender non-conforming people found their ways to a life that involved a nontraditional experience of gender only some of the time, or one that lived outside of the desire to make some form of permanent change. No one's path that led to this point was identical to another's path, and as such, this ending represents a very, very wide swathe of several different communities. Explore your options more, if you want:](if:$exited is true)[Sometimes, that was it. Maybe there would always be a sense of something missing and you were just done jumping through hoops. Maybe you realized you could find enough satisfaction in gender play as a hobby or lifestyle that always had an out. Maybe you did the latter because you'd rather have your job/your family/your partner/your kids/your community/money over a personal journey. Whatever the reason, feel free to stick around and explore your options more, if you want:] [[Exploring cis-ness]] [[As art]] [[Butchness]] (link-reveal-goto:"What do you do now?")[(set:$medical to False))]

A number of men who dressed as women did so because they just liked how they looked in dresses and makeup. Others did so to play with their masculinity. {MORE ABOUT THIS] (link-reveal-goto: "Continue.","Final form")[(set:$exited to False)]

The first step in a transition is to begin to live your life in the literal shoes (and clothes and hair and mannerisms) of another gender. People in your life may begin to refer to you as a chosen name and new set of pronouns. {MORE] What are your next steps? (link-reveal-goto: "I'm all good with life like this.","No medical intervention")[(set:$medical to False))] [[I want to change my body to match this presentation.|Medical transition]]

Your life changes forever if you continue. Do you? [[No.|Exit]] [[Yes.|Continue 1]]

[[Inter-community resources]] [[Internal resources for external providers]]

Often, medical professionals wouldn’t have usable information for someone, either out of personal ignorance or malice. Thus, those inside the community became that resource for medical procedures like referrals or basic information regarding hormones or surgery. Generally this was done by word of mouth and printed resources. Exemplar of the latter was FTM, a newsletter for “the female to male transsexual and crossdresser” NOTE. While perusing issues of a newsletter like FTM, you might come across a section pointing you towards a formal collection of tips, advice, and general information about transitioning. {IMAGE] You might then go pick up a copy of Information for the Female-to-Male and find a wealth of resources. Word of mouth resources often occurred through support groups, like the XX Club. {MORE] [[Use the information you've learned.|Making use of networks]]

Next, you'd need to reach out to a doctor you'd heard about from your support group or newsletter who could prescribe you hormones, which was generally (but not always) the first step. This often was done through written communication. Once you'd done that, you'd either have to show evidence of about a year of lived experience as the gender you're transitioning to, or start that year off. NOTE medical advisory bulletin After competing that requirement, you could finally start taking hormones. For transmasculine people, this involved an injection of testosterone about every two weeks. For transfeminine people, this involved an oral antiandrogen to block the effects of masculine hormones and an estrogen to replace those hormones with, which could be via an injection, a patch applied to the skin, or a pill. NOTE hormone treatment article ELECTROLYSIS. [[Next.|Therapy]]

Probably along this journey, you'd be seeing some sort of therapist. AEGIS recommended that speaking with a professional throughout the process could help you unpack some of the feelings going into the transition and make the most informed decisions. In addition to having a notable benefit to the processing of gender related feelings, "the Standards of Care require periodic input from therapists." NOTE deciding what to do. This would not have been without difficulty, as it could be difficult to find a therapist informed about trans issues. NOTE deciding what to do. [[Next.|Time and next steps]]

Are you sure? [[Yes.|Continue 2]] [[No.|Exit]]

Okay, what are you up to? [[I want to explore my relationship to my birth gender|Exploring cis-ness]] [[I'm creating art and/or entertaining|As art]] [[I'm exploring masculinity as a lesbian in relation to my relationship to other women.|Butchness]] Do you stay here? [[No. This is what I do for a while but I want to be a different gender all the time.|Social transition]] (link-reveal-goto: "Yes. I like playing with gender but I still want to be my birth gender sometimes.", "Final form")[(set:$exited to False)]

It will cost something, monetarily. [[I know. I can make it work.|Continue 3]] [[I can't afford it.|Exit]]

Your community, family, or loved ones will not approve. [[I know. I can stand it.|Continue 4]] [[I can't deal with that.|Exit]]

There is absolutely no shortage of content about drag. {GO THROUGH drag magazine and pull out Bits. elvis impersenator also] (link-reveal-goto: "Continue.","Final form")[(set:$exited to False)]

Okay. Check [[these|Inter-community resources]] out.

[[Advocacy]] [[Build community]] (if:$medical is True)[[Stealth]]

[[Make some resources and guides]]

[[Resources/guides]]

(link-reveal-goto:"What do you do now?","What do you do now?"))[(set:$medical to True)]

Why not? [[Some external factor is preventing me from going further, even though I want to, so I'm done with all of this.|Back in the closet]] (link-reveal-goto: "Some external factor is preventing me from going further, even though I want to, so I'm settling for playing with gender as a hobby.", "Final form")[(set:$exited to True)] (link-reveal-goto: "I like playing with gender but I still want to be my birth gender sometimes.","Final form")[(set:$exited to True)] (link-reveal-goto: "I want to continue to live my life as another gender but I do not want to medically alter my body.","No medical intervention")[(set:$hormones to False))]

It's entirely reasonable and fair to not want to change your body in an irreversible way. This option was something a number of people took, for a multitude of reasons.A major one was the risks outweighing the rewards. Certain aspects of your life will likely now be harder because of the invisible lines of gender you straddle. There was an intercommunity concern about the medicalization of transness in the late {MORE], which meant that {MORE]. (link-reveal-goto:"What do you do now?","What do you do now?")

If you're interested surgery, whether that be genital surgery or chest surgery for transmasculine people, you'd certainly need to prove successful life as the gender you're transitioning to, as well as consider the risks of such a surgery. MORE [[I want surgery.|Surgery]] (link-reveal-goto:"I don't want surgery.","No medical intervention")[(set:$medical to True)]