Thinking about learning sign language, because casually communicating without speech actually sounds neat as hell. Area trans woman gets around voice dysphoria with one weird trick.
@tipsytentacle Yeah, I could do voice work, but it's hard and never really feels like it'd be easy for me. It's not like changing how you dress or walk, it feels like a difficult and stressful performance, while so much of transition has felt natural to me.
@ikea_femme None of this comes naturally to me outside of changing how I dress, but I guess maybe I am just a young trans^tm ( and former cross-dresser^tm) ?
@tipsytentacle personally, i didn't really cross dress before transition, but was always jealous of trans women. A part of me thought I didn't "get" to transition because I wasn't really trans. I hate to say, I think emotional intelligence from novel reading did more to help me realize I was trans than what I wore pre-transition. That's how I realized I was dissociating and detached from my feelings and body.
tl;dr: murakami made me a girl with his silly books about walls
@tipsytentacle But like, the second I tried female presentation (I grew up in a strict household and wasn't really comfortable expressing myself), it was electric. Like, I felt like I owned and inhabited my body for the first time since I was a kid. It wasn't just some crude interface between me and the world.
@ikea_femme body euphoria is a great feeling~!! (^_^)
But really, my crossdressing phase didn't last that long. Three months later, I realized I was trans and that was that (^_^;;)
I am nine months HRT now, by the way~!! <3 So hopefully I am not perceived as clumsy...
@tipsytentacle I'm at six months in a week. It's surreal how well it's worked for me, since I was thinking I was too late for good results at 27.
@ikea_femme That's great to hear~!!! I hope it continues to work well for you!! (^_^)
I feel like things have been terrible for me at 22, but that is probably due to living for the majority of HRT at home with my transphobic parents. (':
@ikea_femme I did not even consider that my walking might be gendered. (<_<;;)
@tipsytentacle Eh, there's a stereotypical male and female gait, but it's not as different as you think. Basically, cis women tend to have a lower center of mass, lower pelvic floors, and bigger thighs. So they tend to move their hips more, and take smaller steps.
BUT! HRT changes your fat in that area so that those changes just kind of happen, it's wild.
I highly doubt any woman would get clocked for her walk alone. She'd probably just get read as clumsy.
@ikea_femme Added bonus: you know a whole 'nother language!
@b_cavello My sister and I are on the autism spectrum (her moreso, while I'm faint aspergers), and some of her peers are fairly high functioning without good speech skills. So communication outside what's obvious to neurotypical people always interested me.
@ikea_femme Hell yes! Very rewarding. Plus, learning new languages is fun (if you're into that kinda thing)! And sign language grammars are v interesting + use of nonmanuals e.g. facial expressions are super cool etc. etc.
(I met my girlfriend at an ASL class we were attending so I may be biased)
@ikea_femme it's kinda got me wondering, is there a (#queer) #Deaf community on Mastodon? Or groups of sign language learners—I only know a little #ASL myself.
@cwylo @ikea_femme looks like @bitboxer might be interested...
https://toot.berlin/users/bitboxer/updates/939
@ikea_femme I've thought about this so many times, oh my gosh lmao