I was trying to turn on my computer, when I heard the lecturer start speaking. I thought it sounded like another male lecturer we had earlier, but I look up and see this well-dressed brunette dressed in a skirt. I turned to my neighbor and whispered, "This is going to be an interesting lecture."
Sure enough, the lecturer pointed to a picture of a young boy and said that was her picture when she was younger. I guess it was kind of expected, since we were given lecture notes about gender identity. I have never met anyone who was transsexual (at least, not that I know of), so it was still a very interesting lecture. She talked about how she was confused and suppressed when she was a child. How she went through a denial stage in medical school, got married, and managed to reach a stage of professional success, yet, she was still unhappy and unsatisfied.
Finally, despite having everything most people would consider satisfying, she felt "profoundly bothered...depress," uncomfortable as a male, and felt alone. She experimented with cross-dressing and her spouse knew she had fantasies. Finally she got help and came to terms with things.
She then went through the sex change process of hormonal, surgical and legal change. Although it was a difficult time for her to change at that time period, she said she was lucky she had tenure and she was in a relatively understanding environment. She continued to talk about how most people in her situation become socially marginalized and driven to crime, prostitution, drug abuse, and other health risks, which causes many people to identify transsexual people with those characteristics. Yet, for her, the most painful part was what the process of transition did to the people who were closest to her such as her family.
This lecture definitely gave me mixed feelings.
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