A few things from tonight.
Aug. 13th, 2011 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agent_daniWent to my therapist's support group again (to help support a friend) and found it interesting. She's trying to address the problems that have been so present in that group and that drove me away from it in 2009.
In most ways I didn't find it useful. I was going to say I didn't at all, but that's not true. The topic was plastic surgery, particularly Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS.) My friend is planning to have FFS and I think tonight gave her a lot to think about. When we parted I told her that whatever she decides, I will be there to support and help her.
There was one bit of news that shocked me. Y'all might recall I was in a TG Voice and Communication Group at UNC-Greensboro in the fall and spring. The news concerns one of the women who was in the spring group; she died last month. I think this shocked me more because she's the second trans woman I've personally known who has died, and in as many years - the first, who I had known since the mid-late 1990s, died early last year.
Finally, I think this group session was valuable to me. The topic lead to a lot of discussion among the women present about what they didn't like and wished to change of their bodies. Significant amounts of plastic surgery desires were discussed, and I had a realization - that other than SRS I am not interested in surgery and am very much happy with my body. I think my experiences on that beach in Nags Head in May have helped more than I could have imagined.
In most ways I didn't find it useful. I was going to say I didn't at all, but that's not true. The topic was plastic surgery, particularly Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS.) My friend is planning to have FFS and I think tonight gave her a lot to think about. When we parted I told her that whatever she decides, I will be there to support and help her.
There was one bit of news that shocked me. Y'all might recall I was in a TG Voice and Communication Group at UNC-Greensboro in the fall and spring. The news concerns one of the women who was in the spring group; she died last month. I think this shocked me more because she's the second trans woman I've personally known who has died, and in as many years - the first, who I had known since the mid-late 1990s, died early last year.
Finally, I think this group session was valuable to me. The topic lead to a lot of discussion among the women present about what they didn't like and wished to change of their bodies. Significant amounts of plastic surgery desires were discussed, and I had a realization - that other than SRS I am not interested in surgery and am very much happy with my body. I think my experiences on that beach in Nags Head in May have helped more than I could have imagined.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-13 11:54 pm (UTC)I am mindful of something that my therapist said to me back when I was 17 (yeah, in the Early Jurassic era), to the effect that "women's wear is whatever women choose to wear." That notion has stuck with me since, insofar as it absolves of needing to worry whether we are clothing ourselves in accordance with the (however evanescent) dictates of current fashion.
It sounds, from your description, that your insight on the beach has kept you in good stead with your own sense of authenticity. You'll fare aright!
no subject
Date: 2011-08-17 03:12 pm (UTC)That really is it! I had a fear of stereotypical feminine dress for a while because someone very close to me used one of those transphobic tropes (man in a dress) early in my transition and it stuck. I got better.