Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria
This is NOT an indictment of TG stories, and in fact my opinion is that they provide a wonderful "safety valve", for us.
Now the truth is finally coming out. According to "them", whoever they are, about 90% of Transgender folk just live their lives as their birth gender and do nothing. I would agree with that number if the occasional Cross Dresser is included in that number. For years and years, those who transitioned faced awful discrimination and hatred that may still go on in many places. Now, despite Trump, normal human kindness seems to have prevailed. Things are better, at least where I live.
In the late 70's, when I had my first brush with a diagnosis of GID, the assessment was made on the second visit to the Counselor. I was in my early 30's. Now days, at 71, I look back and think that perhaps the diagnosis was wrong for the following reasons. Because of my very dysfunctional childhood, I hated men and hated being one. I was also mild and soft spoken, so some interpreted that as being female. I hate it that American culture decides that mild men are perhaps, almost certainly, gay. Not criticising gays, but I was never gay.
My conclusion on the matter is that had the previous issues been resolved, I'd likely finished my life with my family intact. I'd have been married for 52 years now. The solution to my issues did not include transition, but perhaps I did need a divorce from a very damaged alcoholic woman who refused to get into treatment. Or perhaps I could have been more adamant about her getting treatment.
In 2004 when I was involuntarily hospitalized because of suicidal ideation, their first diagnosis was "Worn Out Caregiver", not GID. Hmmm.
At my age, I'm not going to attempt to live as a man again.
Comments
I have been meaning to write you
I would like to consider us friends. I have been going through some rough times myself and have some empathy toward yours.
Then, let's Chat.
The first 7 years years were bloody awful, but then things began to get a lot better. Today, though most of the family is gone, save one Daughter, I'm happy and content.
How can I help?
Gwen
Just being here helps
While I am pretty lonely, I'm not alone if you get my drift.
I agree
I agree with you about rapid onset gender dysphoria. I only wish I had your first diagnosis, unfortunately my first diagnosis was skitsofrenia at age 8. This led to 6 years in an institution on meds and therapists trying to fix me!!!!!!!!! Thank god for Dr. Goodwin that said I was not skitso and that I had GID. At 14 I was let out and back to my parents that were ilprepared to deal with what I had. They would not put up for adoption and would not let me be me. I attempted suicide 5 times while still living under their roof. It was not until I signed a DNR that my family knew I was serious.
I cross dressed for several years just to feel somewhat correct in my life. I was lucky and met a wonderful man that never put demands on me and never asked me to do anything for him. He took me in and helped me with becoming the true me. To this day I owe him my life. I was a lucky one I survived. I just hope there will someday be a way to truly identify those with GID and those who don't. I am now 55 and have been happy in my life for 30 years. thank you for saying what you have.
opinor ergo sum
Charlotte Van Goethem
You are quite welcome
There can be/could be genetic issues that cause so called GID issues. I am XXY non-Kleinfelter's and who knows for sure what that does to one. I wish those who founded the Puritan ethic would just go pound sand. Really.
The one man that I felt drawn to, a drop out Catholic Priest, died of a severe stroke not long after I met him. There have been men who I have felt drawn to but nothing ever happened. These days, since the dust has settled and the blood dried, I am a sort of female "Eunuch", after Matt 19:12, and live a celibate life, writing, studying religions, and road tripping.
Life is good.
Gwen
ROGD
WARNING--LONG POST
ROGD (rapid onset gender dysphoria) is junk 'science'. It is an invented syndrome coming from a group of anti-trans hate groups. It is supported by Zucker and Blanchard, the originators of 'autogynephilia'. I am not going into their claims in detail, but in summary Z and B declared that all trans women fall into two specific groups:
a: young and 'pretty, who are all actually gay men trying to deceive straight men into sex.
b: older men, who are all autogynephiliacs, that is obsessive masturbators who get turned on by making themselves look as much like women as possible.
They did some 'research' on this, which consisted of asking a sample group whether they were 'a' or 'b'. Every response (most of them, natch) that didn't fit the pre-decided narrative was disregarded by Z and B and explained away as 'lying' by the respondent.
We now come to ROGD, which is a syndrome invented to explain the increase in people coming out as trans. A dispassionate observer might think that the increase might be explained by a mixture of greater social acceptance and more available information, but no. The ROGD concept originated with an anti-trans group called "Fourth Wave Now" and was simply another way of shouting that being trans is a matter of mental illness and social contagion. The phrase used is "transing of children", and the concept is the usual rubbish mixture of almighty trans cabal and Big Pharma conspiracy drivel. It was pushed hard by a really vile group called Transgender Trend, who recently demanded that teachers be required to out trans children to parents. The ROGD concept was also pushed by another group called Young Trans Critical Professionals, whose name says it all.
Recently, there has been a risible 'research paper' published by Lisa Littman (can't be bothered to check the spelling) of Brown's University, that shows how prevalent the 'problem' is. When the paper was published, in a very obscure self-promotion online journal, one question was asked, which was about methodology. How did Good Dr Littman get her sample responses?
By sending out an online questionnaire to, ahem, three websites. They were Transgender Trend, Fourth Wave Now, and Young Trans etc...
She had a lot (I lie) of positive responses, including from Blanchard, and the concept has been pushed hard by the three hate groups. However, not only has WPATH derided the concept, but Brown's has declared that it is disassociating itself from Littman's 'scientific research' because, to put it in simple terms, it is utter bollocks.
Hope that helps.
So Very similar
to Paul McHughs attempts to make it "not real", the 80% desistancy myth, etc. granted back then it was less well known, more likely just a general definition, and NOT much training for your general therapist or Psychologist I would think. the Creation of ACPeds (the fake facsimile of the Amerian ACADEMY of Pediatricians the real and scientific organization, in order to promote their fake science and junk theories) shows the lengths these people will go to. They use bad studies (not scientific nor peer-reviewed) in order to promote their theories, heck they rig them ahead of time to make SURE it comes out the way they want, and never get them peer-reviewed because they KNOW it will be ripped to shreds. they put them in "academic journals" to try and give them legitimacy, but every one of them is NOT peer-reviewed, just self-aggrandizement operations, just like you have diploma mills to make anyone a "dr" of something to make it look "official".
as Brown's did with this, John's Hopkins did it with McHughs, so much so that when he tried to publish a "new" article, using someone who still worked there (university I think) as a co-author, in order to use the university moniker, he was SHUT down and WARNED NOT to do that again. I don't know if anything happened to this co-conspirator or not, but I hope he at least got a warning if nothing else.
while I am NOT saying that Gwen's case is not what they say, it's most DEFINITELY NOT that way for most trans. the WPATH standards do not really ALLOW this anyway. you can claim to be Trans, but if they follow the guidelines there is no RAPID anything, as most of us well know when it comes to transition. no child is put on HRT and given a surgery date, even adults (unless they BYPASS the WPATH guidelines) it takes years at minimum to do it properly, and that's if they can afford to PAY FOR IT.
Teresa L.
Transgender victimization.
I think that MY best treatment would have been to live out my life as I was, except to be allowed to be mild and quite effeminate, but not gay. When I was young, I really liked girls, and was quite jealous that they got to be the pretty ones. I was likely addicted to mild porn the first time I saw it around age 10, starting with the Sears Catalogue, and moving through Cosmopolitan. Later came Playboy and all that.
Around age 50, trying to be the person that my beliefs demanded, and not making those demands on any other person, I was well past child having age and began to find the sex drive to be tedious. Not explaining a lot here, my marriage was approaching serious melt down after 38 years, and I started to think about castration. Around then, I discovered the TG world, and that seemed to assuage lots of guilt. In early 2004 I found a Urologist who would do a cash under the table procedure cheap. Yeah, so voluntary Eunuch.
Counselors were fast to grab onto that and insist that I was TG. Now, years later, I agree that most TG manifestation can have a non surgical solution, living their lives out as men but privately women. I'm Post Op (2007) and living as a woman, and do not plan to de-transition because after 15 years living like this, I act like a woman, and would be interpreted to be gay if I tried the man act now.
The conservative Christian folk that I tried so hard to please, were the first people to reject me.
In 2018 I have little to bitch about despite Trump.
After I die, maybe the answers will come?
My main issue with the whole business is that I was "diagnosed" as having GID on the second visit to a counselor. How could she know that fast??? OR, was it junk science as you say?
My life was eventually destroyed, though even I am not sure that was wrong.
Calling BS on yourself...
I was talking to a friend today who knows me well. He told me that my concerns about ROGD were silly because I've been GID since almost birth. No more whining I suppose.