We Got Mail

In response to a couple of recent posts, first from Jeni on transgender PTSD:

"Post Transitioning Stress Disorder
I don't see it as being merely post.
I see it as applying before, during, and after.
One only has to look at how the trash tabloids LOVE outing and demeaning post-op transsexuals, who have successfully transitioned and managed to make a career as a woman. 

Each time the smear campaign is carried out, it's sole intent is to sell news copy, and bash transsexuals for being different.
And what happens to most such women after being outed? There's extremely rarely any follow-up."

And most likely some of the effect undoubtedly carries through to the trans girl on the street and the public at large.

And Connie added : (From an interaction she had had previously with a man) "In the case I was describing, I would say it was as much his disorder as it was mine. I don't think he was trying to hit on me (I've had that experience many times before), but he was trying so hard to show me he was accepting of my gender expression that it left me with the feeling of being "less than". His intentions were good, but his ignorance made the whole thing condescending. I always reply with a polite "thank you" in such cases, but I often walk away thinking that I should have provided some education (not always a polite thing to do). 

The fact that I recognized his remarks as being condescending may well be PTSD, but anything that interrupts my feminine identity and reminds me of a self I have tried so desperately to leave behind would do that, as well. I have managed to at least ignore those obvious things, such as having male genitals or the necessity to shave my face, to the point that they are annoyances I must endure. I rarely allow these things to be a reminder of my male self because I have control over those feelings. I cannot, however, predict what and how someone else will say or do something. Try as I might to be prepared for someone else's reaction to me, being cognizant of that which may burst my bubble is a hindrance to my own self-identity, so I choose to ignore even the possibility of that happening...until it does. Maybe that is the PTSD you're referring to"

Yes, I do think it all plays in Connie because once we begin to face the world as trans women, we have to learn the "dance" all women have to face.