this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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AskBeehaw
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How did your friends and family handle and support your transition? I'm always hopeful that your support system will prove that they were there for you and not for their idea of you.
People keep surprising me. You can have a conservative hardliner who treats you with respect like a human and on the other hand someone who you thought would be totally excited about it but turns out to not understand it, leading to issues.
I'm currently not in contact with my family. It was just too painful and I have to think of my own mental health. Things have been a lot easier since I disconnected from them. It makes me feel like I failed them as a daughter. But it's outside my power and I focus on my new life.
And as you say, it feels like some people just see their idea of you. I don't think that that's what love is. I think when you love someone you will pay attention and listen, and it's not always what you want to hear.
While I'm sad that you had to disconnect from your family, I'm glad you had the strength to realize that it's better that way, at least for now. Maybe they will come around. It can be a real shock to some people, and maybe they just need time to process how different it feels, but I won't pretend to know your exact situation.
Thank you for your response!
I've definitely noticed this too. People I meet in the wild may start with an initial feeling toward me based on their politics, but with people who knew me before I transitioned I think it has more to do with their pre-existing image of me. Some folks seem to have a harder time processing me as a woman than others, and while politics is sometimes involved in the manner of their response, I don't think it's usually the determining factor.
I can often win over someone who's a little conservative at least on a basic level just by being myself. But they don't start with an image of me specifically because of that, but of trans women as a stereotype.
It's a lot harder to get someone to think outside of their established understanding of another person, though. Especially if they're so unaware of what's going on with that person internally that transition is some big surprise.
Like I had friends who I literally used to regularly hang out with with other trans women who completely bailed the second I came out. Their other friends could be women, but not me.
People are weird.