Pretty awesome.

We just have to get past the fact that being just plain "gay" or "lesbian" is still a hot subject for the vanilia world.

So this still has a lot more uphill to climb behind that.

It is still a hot subject, but is slowly getting better. Eventually the world wont bat and eye at people who are LGBT. Perhaps we will all live to see that day.

Fuck! I just cried like a baby. Gdit.

You know, this doesn't jsut apply to people pressuring you inside of the trans community. My grandmother keeps saying all of this offhanded passive-aggressive stuff like "You liked dolls as a kid", "You never wanted to be a boy when you were a kid(to which I call shenanigans, because I remember going into the woods and BEING A BOY with the other boys)", and "I hate to say it, but you look very feminine in that."

But I like looking feminine too. I like high heels and dresses and wearing my long wigs out to dinner. It doesn't make me any less of a man the way it doesn't make crossdressers(who identify as male) any less of a man. And what's more, I like my tits. At least for now. I really don't want to keep them, but since I have no money to get rid of them, I enjoy having them and also enjoy the thought that they are only temporary.

This is a very good point. All too often people pull stereo-types out and assume this is what you are going to do. Having recently come out at work, even my management was assuming i was going to be coming in wearing skirts and high heels. I am still wearing jeans and sneakers, and I am no less of a girl for wearing that. I still enjoy working on cars, working metal, and having a hobby in RC cars too. All considered "manly" things, and I have gotten flak for that even. I'm becoming a girl to become a tomboy, that's who I am damn it! Just got to keep fighting to be yourself, but it gets easier.

Exactly, you are who you are and that's it. And if who you are is a tomboy, then you are a tomboy. And if who I am is a crossdresser, then I'm a crossdresser. Not a big deal. I don't see why people have to immediately try to 'discredit' your being trans*. "Obviously you aren't trans because a trans person would never ____." And really, all it does is just fuck me up more. Put my identity down. It doesn't mean that you saying that will make me go "oh wait, you're right, I must not be trans. Thanks for clearing it up."

I created this character to express my feminine side, which I had kept repressed for a long time. When I "introduced" her and explained some of these feelings, I had a lot of people ask me various questions about if I was going to have surgery. To some extent, those are fair enough questions, and I think they were asking them just out of curiosity. However, I was just beginning to feel comfortable expressing who I am, so it kind of ended up coming across as pressure to be a certain way, and it was a bit overwhelming sometimes.

I have seriously considered hormone therapy and surgery, but if I'm honest with myself, there's no immediate need for them. I would definitely prefer a more feminine body and appearance, but I think, for me, anyway, it's important to do things when I feel comfortable. I'm not exactly comfortable with my body, but I think "hate" is too strong a word. However, I will also add that this new year's was one of the rare times that I bothered to make a resolution, and that resolution was that I would start to go for the appearance that I want, and explore my feelings and thoughts. :)

I'm bi-gendered. Surgery wouldn't help me even if I wanted it.

you or me both

surgery might make me smaller around the middle, but it wouldn't help me

Transgirl here... in a word, wow.

This video gave me so much hope. I'd write more, but it's 2 in the morning. XD

Transmale here. And that video is the single most inspirational thing I have ever seen in my life. Was feeling the pressure myself since I only recently came out. But now...I feel more at ease. Nobody needs to dictate to me how to be a 'proper transgender.'

bi-gendered bi-sexual crossdresser aggressive sub here.

surgery wouldn't help me either.

Hey, me too! Except I'm a switch. Bi-gendered, bi-sexual, crossdresser, switch

several people expect me to top, but I'm not really comfortable with it. I could switch, but only part time

*clap* *clap* *clap*

Near the end, I just clapped until he finished. Wow.

I'm single-gendered in real life, but things started clicking about a year ago on how I wanted to be a hermaphrodite... part of me was worried if that even counted as trans.

I don't worry anymore.

What a video. Such a comfort and morale booster.

I'm pre-T/pre-op FtM. I've had many friends (although wonderfully supportive!) tell me that my face is still too feminine, that I have too-large hips/butt area to pass for male easily, that my voice pre-T is too girly to pass even when dressing in male clothes and binding... it's difficult to explain to most that body type does not make gender. My mom throws a fit every time I shop in the guy's section of a store, regardless of how I insist I like those clothes better and make me more comfortable. For those who tell me I'm not male or "trans" enough, I tell them I look in the mirror and see a college-aged male from an emotional and mental standpoint, just stuck with a female body for now and lacking a Y chromosome.

Nor do children's toys or how you dressed when you were younger define gender. I PREFERRED playing with trucks, army men, getting muddy, wearing boy clothes, and playing handball with the boys during recess, but I still played with dolls and pretended to be a "mommy", wore dresses and pink colored clothes that my mother dressed me in, and the like. But at the same time I struggled even during elementary school: I was too much of a boy to play with the rest of the girls, but because I was a girl (and therefore had cooties) I couldn't often play with the boys.

I love this guy.
I am FtM, on T, going for top surgery soon. I would never get my...*points to groin* switched. It just seems creepy.
I like the packers though. Eh.

Same. I plan to pack, but not get my genitals changed. I've researched bottom surgery before and after photos, and almost all came out horrible looking... you can easily tell it wasn't naturally there. Many mentioned in their photo comments they wanted a surgery revision when possible.

Yay for trans guys who opt-out of bottom surgery! :)

Yeah, I freaked seeing what happens. But cheers for those who go through with it.

*brofist?*

Cheers to them indeed, not all can go through with it.

*brofist*