It is far more complicated. I have a transgender sibling, who is a woman now. As a child he played baseball, soccer, dated girls, was never a sissy, just very introverted. We always figured he was just quiet. My dad is super quiet. Give him a book and he could disappear and not say shit to us unless we spoke to him. We just figured that's what he was like. 3 years ago I got a text message from my brother telling me he wanted to talk. Our relationship had soured because he married this real bitch. I hated her, and she hated me, and they moved to NYC, well he texts and says he needs to talk to me and I'm thinking cancer. We were very close growing up, shared a room for years.... He tells me ever since he was about 9 he has felt like a woman trapped in a man's body, and it was time to finally come out and be a she. I was relieved, and at the same time confused and scared. On one hand I don't want to say anything offensive, on the other I don't want to make it so obvious I'm filtering. She is completely changed now and happy, and more outgoing than I ever remember my brother being, but when we see each other it's like having the person I grew up with, just more talkative, happier, but looks different. I don't love her any less now than I did before all this, but I respect her a whole hell of a lot more. But it's scary, you think that some asshole is going to kill her, or the discrimination and blind hatred ignorant fucks throw out there. I can't under any circumstances ever see why anyone would willingly change like that if that's not the way they felt and if it wasn't tearing them apart inside. To willingly throw yourself into potentially be laughed at, pointed at, called names, have people pull their kids away, or treat you like you are scum, to willingly say hey I think I wanna be discriminated and treated like shit by society on a whim or because it's a fad is ridiculous. My sister was locked up for 30 plus years, and now she is free, and I support her wholeheartedly. So yes, I think you are absolutely correct, it's far more complicated.
@LaSalleAve, Did they ever go see a doctor at all? Curious how that process goes for a physician and the patient. Physiologically, it has to be extremely difficult to Think and believe it when looking in the mirror Talk about it Confront it
Nothing. And we had no clue. Absolutely no idea. When he was a kid, from 3 years old to around 5, he liked dolls. That was the only thing that was different. But I never saw that, that was just something my aunt told me, he would pick out dolls when he was brought to the store to buy a toy. We used to always get all the same toys, GI Joe, He Man, Laser Tag, football uniforms of our favorite NFL teams from the Sears catalogue. X-Men, and Spider-Man and Batman toys. Never at any point did I ever think this was going on.
I think its an embarrassment to Arthur Ashe and Jimmy V that Bruce Jenner is getting the courage award at the ESPYS.
I don't find it that odd. If you accept the commonly held theory that this happens because certain hormone aren't released in utero or are released when they aren't supposed to be, it makes sense that these folks have this belief from birth. I can also tell you that there aren't many people who are strong enough to go with it rather than live a lie. Most people will live the lie until they die. It must be pretty lonely. However, at some point, some people say, "the hell with it" and do their thing. Some just take longer than others.
I didn't really mean to suggest that. The feeling comes out early and strongly in many of them and there is just no denying it to them. I have a cousin (male) and a school classmate (female) who were both overtly playing for the other team as early as 6 and basically obliged everybody to accept it. I don't know if either has had the operation but both have been living the other gender for decades. I understand the suppression and self-protection. I find it harder to understand living a lie for 60 years, thats all. If he needed to make this change, why not do it decades ago and enjoy it? Changing the subject, but Annie Leibowitz is a really good portrait photographer. Notice the hands are posed out of the shot. No disguising a male athlete's hands, I suppose.
Like most folks in his situation, society doesn't exactly have open arms for it and he IS/WAS a Gold medal winning decathlete. People saw him as uber male, successful and talented physical specimen. I'm sure he might have been confused or even believed he could simply live that way and be moderately happy. He has claimed to be a Christian, socially conservative, and a Republican. Imagine addressing all that balanced against his personal conflict. The Gold medals came when he was 26, his first child less than 3 years later. Once that ball starts rolling, it's kinda tough to stop it and say, "hey, dad really feels like mom, so....". His 2 oldest children from that first marriage aren't exactly supportive. Not on the cover anyway.
Anyone know what's going on with that accident investigation? The little that I know is that Bruce was texting and killed someone while being at fault. Seems like that could result in jail time. How does all of this affect the investigation?
