Transexuals

I know there are probably a couple of transexuals on here, just wondering whether you're pre op, post op, reasonings behind the change, who you're attracted to, what kind of person do you attract?
A lot of questions I know, but hopefully not too condescending/offensive. It's just something I know little about, other than what I've seen in 'exotic' films. I just like to know what makes people tick

I am female-to-male, have been on testosterone injections an saving up for top surgery (removal of breasts and reconstruction of a male chest) for five years. As for the reasons behind my transition...I struggled with being identified as female from twelve to nineteen, starting with the onset of female puberty. I was an emotional wreck, supremely unhappy, self-harming and suicidal. I reached a point at which I had to start transitioning or end up killing myself. It was that simple for me. I wanted to live, but I couldn't keep going as I had for nineteen years, so I had to act. Scariest thing I've ever done; also one of the most rewarding.

As to who I am attracted to, I am bisexual, but gender identity and sexual orientation are not related. I grew up around the GLBT community, so my sexual orientation wasn't much of a struggle; the struggle usually comes when I try to explain it to other people who think gender identity is correlated to sexual orientation. When I was only attracted to men, I identified as gay.

As to who is attracted to me, it's people who are attracted to smaller guys who are pretty butch and a little femme and are confident and comfortable with themselves. I get offers from all sorts of different people, straight women and gay men, bisexual people and even some lesbians. Perhaps they pick up on my trans status, and maybe they don't; perhaps it comes as a shock when I come out, but it doesn't bother me if it doesn't; perhaps they are as flexible and comfortable in their sexuality as I am.

Can't speak for everyone, of course. This is just my experience and my feelings. Bit of a long reply, sorry - I enjoy sharing my journey - but I hope it helps with some of your questions.

Rob, thank you for posting this topic, and Tenrou, thank you for answering. Transexuality is always something that I've always had an outsider's curiosity of, but I've never met anyone who had gone through it or knew really anything about it. It's good to finally have the opportunity to have that curiosity abated.

That being said...I have to ask at the risk of sounding ignorant...how do they do the "bottom" surgery? I have trouble wrapping my mind around how that works.

Am female to male transsexual am only out to my husband and sister also to my dr as well
am going to come out to my psych today in hope that he will refer me to a gender therapist

TMI warning!!

For a long time I thought that transman bottom surgery was pretty much not a practical thing given our current medical ability, or if they did, it would be more or less ornamental and wouldn't be that aesthetically good. It wasn't until I watched "My Transsexual Summer" (I think it was called) last year, which followed a group of trans people meeting up over the course of a few weeks, that they talked about phallic construction and actually showed a post-op trans guy. It is a much more complicated procedure than transwoman- they have to take skin from the arm (which obviously leaves a very big scarred rectangle on the arm) and skin and fat from the buttocks (which again leaves a scar) and surgery is over the course of two years. They insert a pump inside the construction and the transguy has to slowly pump it up in short stages so it can be used (he doesn't attach himself to a pump, it's just something hidden under the phallus that he squeezes). That's the only surgery I know. Some places might do it differently.

Wow...that's much more complex than I imagined (rofl given what it is...don't ask how I imagined, please ). Thank you for the answer.

There's another FTM bottom surgery in which they go in and clip the tendons that anchor the clitoris, so that it's a sort of mini penis in its own right after the growth from hormone therapy.

It's been a few years since I looked at surgery options, though, and I know next to nothing about the surgeries for MTFs anymore.

Very interesting MTF webpage. Even includes some before and after pics. Amazing. If you didn't know ahead of time, you probably couldn't tell just from looking.

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/conway.html

Wow, I forgot I posted this. I've been wrapped up in other things lately (charity work, go to bubutu.org to donate ) thanks for the replies. Unfortunately its left me even more confused than before! Haha.
Have people ever been disappointed either way that you haven't had everything done? For instance I've always found the idea of pre op m to f transexuals quite appealing (best of both lol), but I should imagine that's not the goal of most or all transgendered folk?

Transgender =/= Transsexual. Anyone who feels that their gender is the opposite of the body they are in (some people say that nonbinary people can still qualify as trans, but I personally don't use the term for myself) is transgender, but a transsexual is someone specifically who is, has or intends/wants to physically transition. Sometimes full transition isn't possible for a number of reasons (money, medical practicality, fear of operations etc). I think the main point is the level of dysphoria a person experiences and whether or not they feel they can live their lives as they are or with just a pronoun or appearance change or whatever. Full hormones and surgery isn't important to some people as long as they are accepted and respected as their preferred gender.

Great answer, thank you and sincere apologies to anyone who might've been offended by the questions or tone.

Pre op.
I'm a guy, duh! Who wants to pretend to be a girl!?
I'm Pansexual, which means I like humans of any gender varient. But I tend to prefer fellow sadomasochists, bi guys and straight girls.
Unfortunately I tend to attract straight guys and gay girls.