On a slightly more cheerful note, this is my reply from a discussion on prime_liquor in which one poster (I'm not quoting him! I'm not!!!) suggested that transsexuals not undergoing hormone therapy or considering surgical reassignment sit down and evaluate why they have made these choices. I thought some of you might find it interesting.

For me and for now, this is why:

Harlan Ellison once said something to the effect of, "If you don't absolutely have to be a writer, if the words aren't spilling out of you to the point where you can't control them, then please don't do it. You'll just put yourself through unnecessary agony, and probably fail, and anyway the world doesn't need any more writers."

This doesn't apply perfectly to my transgenderism (and I definitely think the world needs more trannies way more than it needs more writers!), but it's been sort of a working model for me. For now, anyway, I know I can live in a reasonably happy fashion with the body I've got. It doesn't suit my self-image at all, and I wish I had a different one (as do most people, I suppose, but I don't think they usually go as far as wanting a completely different gender). As long as I can live decently with what I am now, though, it seems unnecessarily painful and expensive to go the hormone/surgery route. I admire the hell out of people who do choose that route, and should I ever reach a point where it's what I have to do, I think I'd be brave enough to pursue it. (I pretty much know I'd be brave enough, but you don't ever really know until you get started, do you?) It's also good to know that, should this ever become necessary for me, I have a life partner who would fully support my decision. He already thinks of me as male, and I don't think the physical changes would be very problematic for him.

I realize that in the eyes of some transsexuals, this makes me less of a tranny, not a real tranny at all, a mere fag hag, etc. They can bite my fat one. I can't imagine a stupider reason for transitioning than peer pressure.

Oh, and if anyone out there is kneejerk-PC enough to be offended by the use of my Klinger icon when discussing these matters, they can bite my fat one too. (It's going to be nothing but teeth marks pretty soon.) It amuses me, and that's all the reason I need.