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- The invisibility of these successes supports notions that
gender transitions often have rather sad outcomes. At present,
the media only spotlights transsexual people on two occasions,
namely when "someone well-known changes sex" and when
someone is a victim of discrimination, harassment or attack.
Media stories about someone's "sex change" are never
followed-up to find out what happened years later. Instead stories
always focus on pre-transition life and struggles during transition
and never on their life afterwards. This lack of balance in exposure
shapes society's notion that transition leads to social marginalization
or worse, because we "never hear about them again".
Only stories of occasional social failures and victims of harassment
and attacks remain visible longer term.
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- Lacking successful role models, and confronted with deliberately
staged, stereotypically-prurient images of "transsexuals"
from media like the Jerry Springer Show, young trans girls are
often terrified to tell anyone about their condition. Constantly
reminded of the violence and discrimination that trans people
face, but unaware that large numbers of successful women get
beyond such difficulties, many young transsexual girls can't
see any way out of their awful predicament. Social stigmatization
of transsexualism leads many young people to internalize a lot
of undeserved shame, embarrassment and guilt about their condition.
As a result, young transsexual girls often waste precious years
before they seek help, and many never find a way to correct their
gender condition.
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- Recently the veil of invisibility has been lifting, as many
post-operative women all around the world have begun creating
websites to help others. Some of these women are quietly "out"
within the TS community. Others share their stories by being
"virtually out" (VO) only via the web (while otherwise
remaining woodworked or in stealth). We are very fortunate to
finally be able to learn about their lives, as they become listed
on webpages such as this one. Lynn hopes that more and more successful
women will quietly come out, and feel comfortable sharing their
stories this way via the web.
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- The women listed on these pages are a very diverse group.
They are of many different nationalities, races and ethnicities.
They come from a wide range of social classes and family backgrounds.
They transitioned at many different ages. Some have been postop
a long time, others transitioned more recently. Some have been
"out" for many years, others are still living stealthily.
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- Many of these women had to suffer terrible trials in order
to transition, especially those who did so years ago. Some rose
from extremely humble beginnings, including living on the streets,
and yet succeeded anyways. Others had easier transitions in more
recent times in the more enlightened western countries. A few
were even fortunate enough to have had the support of their parents
when they were young. As you'll see, this
webpage isn't meant to be an "honor roll" or whatever. Instead it is
meant to be place where these many diverse yet representative role
models can come forward and become more visible - role models who are
mostly accessible via the internet for interactions and help.
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- The thing that makes these women "successes" isn't
how far they've gone in their careers, or how much money they've
made, or how pretty some of them are, or how well known some
are as entertainers. Those accomplishments are very meaningful,
and show that transitioning doesn't have to hold a woman back
from achieving traditional social measures of success. However,
the real successes we find here are ones of the heart. They are
successes in living "life in the large". We see it
in the happy faces, and sense it in between the lines of their
stories. These are the successes of women who have survived and
corrected their earlier transsexualism, and gone on to find joy
and comfort and peace in their lives.
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- Taken together, our stories will gradually help change people's
views of the transsexual condition. After all, we are happy and
productive contributors in all walks of life: as doctors and
lawyers, as scientists, engineers and programmers, as airline
pilots, as entrepreneurs, managers and office workers, as university
professors and students, in politics, in education, in law enforcement,
in the skilled trades, in modeling and in entertainment. The
realities and completeness of our physical gender transformations
cannot be denied. Many of us are wives, lovers or partners in
long-term loving relationships. You can put a compelling human
face on the transsexual condition by browsing the websites linked
from these pages, which contain information about the experiences
of these successful women.
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- Lynn hopes that these women's stories provide hope, encouragement
and role models to others, especially to those young transsexual girls-to-be
who are facing gender transition. As teenagers they (and their parents and
loved ones) need to learn that a complete correction of their
gender condition is now possible by applying the knowledge gained
by the pathfinders who have gone before, and by exploiting the
miracles of modern medicine. They also need to learn of the profound
advantages of undergoing gender correction while young, as opposed
to living in angst in the wrong gender for decades and then finally
transitioning, in desperation, late in life. If parents can just
learn to see that their transsexual child is really a "girl
with a physical problem" rather than a "boy with a
mental problem", then that child's future is especially
hopeful. With parental love and support, a young transsexual
girl can now reach for her dreams, and go on to live a full and
joyous life as a woman.
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- [For more information on MtF transsexualism, see
Lynn's TG/TS/IS
information webpages]
- [*For more about the prevalence
of transsexualism, see Lynn's
Prevalence
subpage]
- [For information on MtF Surgical Sex Reassignment,
see Lynn's SRS
webpage]
- [For more weblinks on MtF gender transition, see
TS
Women's-Resources]
[See also note
below: "These pages pass into history"]
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- Photo Gallery of Successes:
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Some Ways to Use these Pages: