15-11-2013, 02:19 AM
Julie and Doodlebug,
I must admit that I find endocrinology a horribly complex subject and hormonal interactions often to be counter-instinctive. To hazard a guess you are both a bit further towards the female end of the gender spectrum than I am, although my own feelings are in fact perhaps much the same as those expressed by you, Doodlebug. Just as I have suggested that circumstances may cause movement between the crossdresser and transgenderist parts of the spectrum, so I suggest that they may cause movement from the transgenderist into the transexual region, or between all three. I do not feel that you, Doodlebug, can be absolutely at the female end of the spectrum, otherwise I think you would feel compelled to seek transition, come what may.
For myself, eventually marrying the long time love of my life, and coping with the responsibilities that came with acquiring a ready made family, allowed me for a long time largely to overcome my dysphoria without needing ways to express or sublimate my female side, until the kids left home, and an increasingly stressful and competitive environment at work, and falling T levels brought it all back. I started on NBE and also happened to be prescribed various T-suppressant and/or gynecomastia promoting drugs, eventually discovering PM, and indeed all these have helped in keeping my marriage intact as I have moved back a distance towards the female end of the spectrum
.
I would guess that you, Julie, never or only sometimes got pushed far enough towards the male end of the spectrum for you to overcome, at least consistently, the dysphoria and girly urges caused by the interaction of your high T and gender orientation. If that doesn't make some sense, well, at least I tried to provide an explanation
I wasn't seeking to disparage the article in any way, only trying to arrive at a more flexible model tha avoids sorting people too rigidly into boxes. And I'm a spectrum minded person. Those of us that find ourselves in-between can find highly polarised points of view unhelpful, and the author is refreshingly free of polarisation.
I must admit that I find endocrinology a horribly complex subject and hormonal interactions often to be counter-instinctive. To hazard a guess you are both a bit further towards the female end of the gender spectrum than I am, although my own feelings are in fact perhaps much the same as those expressed by you, Doodlebug. Just as I have suggested that circumstances may cause movement between the crossdresser and transgenderist parts of the spectrum, so I suggest that they may cause movement from the transgenderist into the transexual region, or between all three. I do not feel that you, Doodlebug, can be absolutely at the female end of the spectrum, otherwise I think you would feel compelled to seek transition, come what may.
For myself, eventually marrying the long time love of my life, and coping with the responsibilities that came with acquiring a ready made family, allowed me for a long time largely to overcome my dysphoria without needing ways to express or sublimate my female side, until the kids left home, and an increasingly stressful and competitive environment at work, and falling T levels brought it all back. I started on NBE and also happened to be prescribed various T-suppressant and/or gynecomastia promoting drugs, eventually discovering PM, and indeed all these have helped in keeping my marriage intact as I have moved back a distance towards the female end of the spectrum
.
I would guess that you, Julie, never or only sometimes got pushed far enough towards the male end of the spectrum for you to overcome, at least consistently, the dysphoria and girly urges caused by the interaction of your high T and gender orientation. If that doesn't make some sense, well, at least I tried to provide an explanation
I wasn't seeking to disparage the article in any way, only trying to arrive at a more flexible model tha avoids sorting people too rigidly into boxes. And I'm a spectrum minded person. Those of us that find ourselves in-between can find highly polarised points of view unhelpful, and the author is refreshingly free of polarisation.