Gender dysphoria is one of the most poorly-understood parts of being trans, despite a century of research and the heroic efforts of trans activists.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're going to look at a new model for understanding gender dysphoria--one that offers hope for healing in transition, and not just from transition, in Shattered, the first article of Grinding Glass, a series on trans trauma and post-traumatic healing.
The first part of healing from trauma is going back over the causes of trauma, so we can understand it and reprocess it in a safe environment. It's hard. Its incredibly painful. And we often learn things about ourselves that are hard to live with for a while.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're going to talk about Growing Up Broken--how just existing as a trans kid is inherently, and terribly, traumatic.
Of all the comings-out we have to do as trans folks, telling our parents is one of the very hardest. What it even means to be trans has changed so much that it can be incredibly hard to even get them to understand what your gender is.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we've got "Oh, s#!t, my child just told me they're trans," a guide meant to be handed off to parents of trans teens and adult children, to help them get there.
Scientific research on people is weird and random and chaotic and unpredictable because people are weird and random and chaotic and unpredictable.
But that also means that where we don't have lots of rich research, especially on trans folks, myth and community lore creep in. This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're going to look at What We Know About Trans Brains, and talk about how we build scientific knowledge along the way!
One of the hardest parts of recovering from trauma is realizing--really facing--that our trauma doesn't end until we choose to end it. We carry it with us, reinflicting it upon ourselves, because the pain becomes so familiar.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we face the truth of how we use Slivers of our own trans trauma to keep that pain alive in ourselves. Forever, unless we choose to stop.
You've probably heard from transphobes about how "you can't change your DNA," so nothing you do in transition really matters. "Basic biology," they whinge. Well... what about intermediate biology?
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, come and see How HRT Rewrites Your DNA by just plain turning off the parts you don't need and turning on the ones you do! Now with more wedding photos, from another queer wedding.
Coming out is hard, and coming out as trans is even harder. As trans folks, we have to do it in a way pretty much nobody else ever does.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're looking at the rhetoric of How To Come Out Anywhere, so you can feel a little more confident when you invite the people you love into a deeper relationship with you.
One of the biggest challenges in transition for many trans people is getting their doctors to give them the care and medicines we need.
Patient Self-Advocacy is one of the best ways to bridge that gap, but you probably don't know How To Get What You Need From Your Doctor. Come by and have a read to see what good self-advocacy looks like, as #StainedGlassWoman returns from holiday break!
Facing a complex trauma diagnosis is usually terrifying. After all, if we have complex trauma, it means we've endured some of the worst pain people can endure.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, the incredible Joscelyn Inton-Campbell walks us through coming to terms with complex trauma, in Complex Trauma Disorder? I hardly knew her!, a Facets article.
While we may tell ourselves that This Is Fine, living in the hurricane of a legislative reign of terror has real, physical consequences on our bodies--things we need to take concrete action to physically heal, or they'll eat away at us. This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're talking about the stress response cycle, and the things you need to do to keep your body healthy so we can do more than fight--we can win.
A few years ago, Amanda Roman challenged the question, "It's just a fetish, right?" and changed the world for a lot of trans people.
But what if it's not just a fetish? What if it's never just a fetish?
What if fetish doesn't even work that way?
Come join me this week on #StainedGlassWoman as we look Beneath the Surface at how trans people in denial use fetish to meet needs we're not ready to acknowledge yet.
Recovering from cPTSD can be a difficult journey--but it can be the difference between surviving and thriving, for many trans people.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we'll be Holding the Girl with @JoscelynTransient as she shares one of the most tender moments I think has ever been published on SGW. Come join us to learn more about recovering from trauma, EMDR therapy, and why it's important to take the time to heal.
I have never before in my life read or felt seen as deeply by a feminism like that from A Short History of Trans Misogyny, and this week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're diving deep into mujerísima to understand exactly why Jules Gill-Peterson's work truly is A Love Letter To The Dolls unlike anything I've ever encountered before.
What happens after the end of the second year of hormonal transition, once all the doctors say you've seen everything you're going to see. Why is it that basically everyone sees... well, a heck of a lot more?
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're talking about Transition Timelines, and the science--and lack thereof--of later transition!
I met a gentleman a bit ago, and my time talking to him about transmasculine erasure and living in deep stealth. It touched me deeply, and I think you ought to hear about his journey.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're going to take a long, hard look at The Glass Closet, where so many of us wind up after transition, how high the price of living in stealth can be, and where the line between authenticity and privacy lies.
There's a part of healing and recovery in medical transition that doesn't get talked about very much: sticking to Doctor's Orders, especially in surgical recovery. That's why outcomes are often so good at places like the Suporn Clinic and FacialTeam--not just their surgical expertise, but weeks of dedicated postoperative care, that ensures patient adherence.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're taking a dive into the results of that adherence!
One of the scariest parts of coming out is coming out at work. Unlike your family--blood or chosen--work is just a bunch of people who get thrown together, mishmash, and have to make things work out.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, it's a guide to give to your coworkers when they get that wide-eyed look and think "Oh, s#!t, my coworker just told me they're trans." At least, it should keep people from asking what's in your goddamned pants.
Stop me if you've said this: "oh my god, I did that when I was a kid. How could I have missed that I was trans?!" And then you pop onto social media or call up a trans friend, and we collectively groan at signs missed, from a kid who was obviously trans.
That's kinda weird when you think about it, isn't it?
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we take a dive into trans identity and safety rituals, because There Were (No) Signs we were trans.
When a trans person comes out, one of the most common, and challenging, parts of doing so is responding to family members who say they need to grieve us. A lot of pain, on every side, tends to swirl around the members of a relationship when that happens.
But it's not necessarily--even commonly--a bad thing.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're talking about Letting Them Let Go--when family members grieve us in transition.
Healing from trauma can be almost indescribably painful--but as with anything to do with being trans, we are never our pain.
We are our incandescent joy.
This Christmas on #StainedGlassWoman, we are, appropriately, going to be celebrating A Million Twinkling Shards of Light: post-traumatic growth, where healing trauma can transform who you are and shape the course of the rest of your life.
This week on #StainedGlassWoman, we're enabling Jiggle Physics and taking a deep dive into everything you might need to know if you need breast augmentation as a transfeminine person--including what you need to know if you want boobs like mine. So, breast boobily on by, and make sure you've got your favorite bra on to join the conversation!
Two of the three things that do the most to gender a person most consistently are skills. A person's voice can be trained. Their body language habits can be adjusted. But their hair? So much rests on those little scalp hair follicles, and so much--seemingly--outside our control.
Or is it?
Join us this week on #StainedGlassWoman as we look at some Hairy Situations--and how to get the most out of them!