Forums:
Taxonomy upgrade extras:
The Clinic
Copyright © Tracy Lane, 2013/2021.
Anyone here remember their annual school physicals?
To this day, I still cringe at the memory for various reasons. Back in Ridgewick Elementary, we used to have at least one every year (two if you count the annual sports check up). Ours could be really embarrassing, because they were usually unannounced and we often had to take our medical in the same room as the boys.
It always started out the same way. First, we were ushered in two lines into the gymnasium, where the nurse divided us into two groups; 'girls' on the right side and boys on the left. This was where things started to get kind of weird. The boys only had to remove their shirts and singlets, but we had to strip all the way down to our panties.
I'm not exactly sure why this was, but I can hazard a guess based on the guidelines and protocols governing the treatment of transfeminine students. I think there must have been an unofficial policy to examine the tranzies more closely. And as we'd all been born male, the school board couldn't have us fraternizing with the 'real' girls.
There was no partition in the room at that time, so the boys got to see us undressing on the other side of the gym. After we'd taken everything off, we had to fold our clothes in neat piles and leave them on the wall-side bench. It's hard to describe how embarrassing it was, standing there in nothing but our undies, waiting for the doctor to call us into the clinic. All of my friends agreed it wasn't fair that the boys got to keep their most of their clothes on, while we had to mill about in our panty-knicks.
When the Doctor was ready to see us, the boys sat down on the left side while we were told to line up and wait their turn. The "clinic" was at the far end of the gymnasium; a brightly lit space with a table, some chairs and a set of scales. There was also a folding screen next to the doctor's chair, in case anyone needed a more "thorough" examination.
Like most of my friends, I was blushing to my hairline and trying to hide my underpants by crossing my hands in front. A couple of girls picked up their vests and tried to hold them around their waists, but the nurse told them to stop being silly, and made them wait with their undies on open display.
By now, you're probably wondering what kind of panties we were wearing. Back in those days, thongs and g-strings were banned by order of the school board, so most of us were wearing plain cotton full briefs. The majority wore pastel-colored knickers with elastic waistbands, while a few of the "cool" girls had floral prints with a little pink bow at the front. I was wearing white cotton pants, the kind that come all the way up to the belly button (yeah, if I'd known the medical was that day, I would've worn something different).
One of my friends – Helena – had on a pair of bright red nylon briefs that shimmered under the lights every time she moved. Naturally, she stood out amongst the crowd, and was the subject of schoolyard discussion for the next few days.
Over the next fifteen minutes or so, the Doctor called us up to his table one by one. When my turn came, I walked up to the scales in my snowy white panties, feeling every eye in the room on me. My tummy was fluttering with butterflies, and for a while I felt like I was watching myself from a different perspective (this used to happen to me a lot when I was young). Stepping up onto the scales, I held my arms up in the air while the nurse weighed me then took my measurements. My heart was literally pounding against my chest, because my entire body seemed to be completely on view, as if I was stark naked. I wasn't really, of course, but that was how it felt.
After the nurse had finished with me, the Doctor asked me my name, then checked it off on his medical form. I instinctively went to cross my hands in front again, but he told me to hold them by my side while he checked my breathing (it's odd how a stethoscope always feels cold, no matter how many bodies it touches).
He asked me numerous questions during the examination, mainly about my family and general health, instructing me to turn round while he examined my spine. I practically fainted on the spot, knowing that I'd be facing my entire class at that second. It's strange: I suspected that worse was yet to come, but seeing everybody staring at me in my fresh white knickers was embarrassing beyond all description.
For some reason, my examination went on much longer than anyone else's. Completing the preliminary physical, the Doctor got me to perform some flexibility exercises. I must have been blushing from heel to crown by that time, knowing that my panties had been viewed from every possible angle. When he instructed me to spread my feet as wide as possible and place my palms flat on the floor, my pristine white bottom went on display to the whole wide world.
When he finally finished (after what felt like half a million years) the Doctor made another note in his report and sent me back to the girls' line. Walking across the room in my bare knickers, that strange, disembodied sensation swept over me again, twice as strong as before. My belly seemed to be melting with warm, liquid heat. It seemed so terribly unfair; none of my friends had spent so much time in their panties, parading about before half the grade.
I brushed shoulders with Helena at the half-way mark; it was her turn with the Doctor, and she looked even more reluctant than I'd been ten minutes before. Her bottom jostled along in tight little circles, highlighted by her glimmering scarlet panty-pants. I wondered how long she'd be under the stethoscope, breathing a sigh of relief that my ordeal was over.
Well, not exactly. For some inexplicable reason, we weren't allowed to get dressed again until the last girl had been examined. There were at seven more girls to go, meaning that the free show would continue for at least the next twenty minutes (if not more).
Question: By definition, does a transgendered story absolutely require transgendered characters? Could it simply be a story in which the male reader adopts a female character's perspective; ie becomes the girl in the story?
Is this a story or a blog?
I'm not sure if this is a story or a blog.
School physicals in New York, while I went to school, in the 50'sand60's took place at your own doctors office or clinic. The only time we lined up like that was to get our polio shoots in the late 50's.
As to question one, there are F to M stories, just at least at this site very very few. Is there such a thing as FtM story sites?
As to question two, I think the answer is yes. Since I think what you posted is such a story, I think it answers the question. It would be more so if your protagonist undergoing the same situation was a bit older, perhaps grade 6 and perhaps some of these girls were beginning to mature so to speak.
Rami
RAMI
Thanks for your reply, Rami.
Thanks for your reply, Rami. To answer your initial comment; it's not intended as a blog, it's a piece of fiction told in the first person from the perspective of a biological female. I posted it here to discuss the fundamental definition of transgendered fiction; I used this particular forum because it might be considered off-topic by some users.
>As to question two, I think the answer is yes. Since I think what you posted is such a story, I think it answers the question.
Thanks. You've grasped the point I attempted to raise with this posting - a transgendered story doesn't necessarily require transgendered characters. By my definition (probably quite unorthodox by conventional wisdom), if a male reader assumes the viewpoint of a female character within the story, then in effect, the reader has become the girl in the story. That would constitute a form of transgenderism in itself.
By definition, does a
In my opinion, NO, twice. Of course, this is a definition question; if 'transgendered story' is defined as protagonist switches gender (which is not quite how I define it), then the protagonist has to switch gender to fit the definition. Duh.
But even so, that wouldn't require a male protagonist.
Ummmmmm. It depends on how it's done. IMO, if you do like the above, and there's no way to tell what the protagonist WAS (or WILL BE), then no, it doesn't qualify. If it is not observed in fiction, it is not. (say that in your best Yoda imitation) If the protagonist (why do I keep trying to type 'protagonish'?) observably switches, or references a past time in which they were not this-gender but that-gender, then it would qualify.
I am, of course, the only one allowed to have an opinion on this. {/sarcasm}
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads
By definition, does a ...
Yes, it does. Either before or after the transformation. ;-)
(Not taking into account universes where there are other genders than male and female.)
But then, that wouldn't be the way I'd define it either.
What about a story where everybody but the protagonist is transgendered? (Let's say somebody takes a wrong turn and stumbles into the meeting of the local TG support group without realizing the mistake at first. ;-))
What about a story where the protagonist merely speculates or dreams about being a different gender or switching gender?
--- Martin
No, it really doesn't...
If the protagonist is an MtF TS, they were never truly a male protagonist. If the protagonist is a genetic female observing a TS's transition, they are not a male protagonist.
The only "TG" stories that would have a male protagonist are ones that either involve identity death, or ones that have a male non-ts observing the transition of a ts character, or ones that involve partial transformations of a mostly-male tg to a still mostly-male physically. Or other variations on these themes.
Though I really don't think simply assuming a male readership but making your protagonist female and expecting your male readers to "put themselves" in your female protagonists shoes makes for a TG story either.
Abigail Drew.
>if 'transgendered story' is
>if 'transgendered story' is defined as protagonist switches gender (which is not quite how I define it), then the protagonist has to switch gender to fit the definition.
Is that the only acceptable definition? Does a transgendered story automatically involve an explicit change in gender? Or can it be something more subtle? For example, if the story involves a female character whom you identify with so completely that you imagine yourself in her position, have you not "switched genders" in your imagination?
Is that the only acceptable
No. "Of course not".
If it's not explicit, some will miss it. Oh yes. *shrugs* Now... that's not saying it needs to be explicit.
Then it wouldn't be the story doing the transgender part, would it?
Combining the last above, taken to extremes, with the kvetch about M2Fs being female not male, one could extend both and say everything I read is therefore a transgendered story, one way or another. Which is IMO bullsh**; the descriptive 'transgendered' becomes entirely useless.
So, IMO, one should restrict the category of 'transgendered (story)' to something usefully descriptive. Otherwise, you could just call it 'story' and save some bits.
Still the only one allowed to have an opinion on this. {/sarcasm}
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads
TG narrator
I suppose you could call an anecdote like that a TG story if you follow it with something like: "I can recall that day perfectly clearly, even though I never really was a girl in that school; I was never a girl in any school. What's it called when you remember something that never happened?"
Why would it need that
Why would it need that particular clarification? If you* can imagine yourself in the narrator's position, haven't you changed genders in a sense?
*Assuming you're a male reader.
Protagonist?
No in four ways.
The classification is about the subject matter. It can be from someone else perspective, a friend or a family member etc.
If I get your usage of the term male meaning genetically, then no, It can be it can be the other direction Female to male.
Depends on how you define male, many consider that it is not the genetic physical make up that defines us but the mental one, in which case this who are transgender never really count as their physical gender seems to indicate
Finally you have those people and stories related to them who do not fully fall in either category, that is those who are somewhere in between, gender & sexuality are both spectrums. these still fall with in the general category.
Well, a T.G. story can
have an all female cast, eliminating the male protagonist.
May Your Light Forever Shine
Third question:
Does the story feature Prawns?
Hmmm....
To the topic - no, I don't recall any grade school physicals (or most of grade school)... See, I didn't exist before 5th grade, or at least the last few weeks of 4th...
Now, let's tackle your "two questions":
• By definition, does a transgendered story absolutely require a male protagonist?
Nope... There are stories where the protagonist is bit trans, but a supporting character is... And, depending on which definition of "transgender" you use (WPATH or GLAAD or...), there may be no requirement for "male" anywhere. I know a person who is "polygender" as she/he/... describes it. (Sometimes She, sometimes He, sometimes neither.) And, I've communicated with someone who says they're neither male nor female, despite what the birth certificate says.
• Could it simply be a story in which the male reader adopts a female character's perspective; ie becomes the girl in the story?
Not really sure I understand the question here... Are you saying that you have a story within a story, and in the outer story the protagonist is male, but HE loses himself in the story he's reading, where the protagonist is female? Perhaps writable, but it would be a challenge, at least as I understand it.
>Are you saying that you have
>Are you saying that you have a story within a story, and in the outer story the protagonist is male, but HE loses himself in the story he's reading, where the protagonist is female?
No. I simply mean if you, as the reader, lose yourself in the story and temporarily forget you're a male, then you've figuratively changed genders by adopting the female character's perspective. We could therefore argue that the story is implicitly transgendered, even if nobody changes gender within the narrative.
I don't know...
I don't know about that. (implicitly a transgendered story if a reader can identify closely enough with a different gendered main character).
Not that it diminishes the story any way. Quite a few mainstream stories have male or female protagonists that are read by females or males... The best of those stories - most readers are sucked in, and identify with the protagonist. I don't believe this makes the story transgendered in any way. The fact that a male can identify with a female protagonist or that a female can identify with a male. That would imply that the story is only SOMETIMES transgendered as it would depend on who was reading it.
Annette
Nope
That just means it's a well-written character. A well-written character will bring readers of any gender into a story. Conversely, a poorly-written character won't bring anybody into the story.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Had a crazy thought
(well, not like anyone could tell 'crazy' from my normal...)
An actress auditions for a new TV/cable drama series (not on Fox!). And finds out that she will be playing either a post-op or a just-ready-for-op M2F transsexual, say at a high school. She takes the part. The written story has both her-as-actress and her-as-character, in-show segments.
(I'd really like to see her-the-actress having to wear a prosthetic penis in underwear to portray certain scenes as her-as-character - talk about not-usually-found-in-TG-fiction!)
I feed this into the "Is This A Transgendered Story?" question and get a response of "Ow!"
On the other hand, it might be a good read, categorization questions (and answers) aside.
Ellen