Back to basics

Before we get too far along this road, I think its important to explain a few things about what being a transsexual means. Transsexualism is just one of many forms of gender diversity that fall under the umbrella term of Transgender.

We all exist on what is called the gender spectrum. 99.9% of the world views gender as a very black & white thing. You are either male or you are female.These roles are so fundamental to our existence that most people have a very hard time understanding there can be any middle ground. The truth is that there is a wide range of roles  between male and female, made up not only of the ones defined in the linked article above, but even situations as unremarkable as a woman who works in a traditionally male-dominated industry as construction (no that that is by any means unremarkable...I'm just trying to make a point).

I should point out that transexualism is an issue of gender identity, meaning that even though I exist in a (currently) male body, my mind and my heart has always identified as female. This is very different and is in no way related to sexual orientation, which is what Gay and Lesbian fall under. These are completely independent of each other and the desire to become a female has no relation to whether I prefer to be with men or women (for the record, the answer is women...so far...we'll talk more about that later).

So, all this begs the question...how does one go about "becoming" transsexual? Well, contrary to popular belief, it is not a choice that one makes. Its not like I woke up one day and decided I want to be a female. I have always wanted that. The only choice that was involved was deciding to do something about it, although at this point in the game, its questionable whether even that is a choice for me. Let's just say I've reached the point where not becoming female would spell certain doom for me, psychologically and possible physically.

The truth is that there is very likely a medical reason for it, which is what the next post describes.