The prevalence of "I never would have guessed"

I wont lie, I used to have privileges. Male, White, Cis, Christian, Normal. Etc. Those were the Privileges I enjoyed. They got me into a lot of awesome situations in the past. They were never worth the cost.

I started transitioning about a year ago, On my birthday. When I decided I was going to transition I felt like for the first time in a long time, I was finally doing something 100% for myself. And I was Sacrificing a lot of my Privileges.

Male - Out the window instantly. I'm no longer male so people wont respect me like they would a male. I'm not really deemed completely female either so I don't get any of the minor privileges afforded to the fairer sex. People wont stop and hold doors open for me. And, to be honest, That is OK. The majority of my friends are female so I feel a need to maintain that small bit of my old self. I'll hold the door, not an issue.

White - For some reason a lot of people instantly disregard you as other, even if your skin is the same color, when you tell them you "Used to be a guy." In the levels of respect that people get just by being themselves White Trans women are near the bottom, and people even further segregate Trans women of Color below that. This kind of pisses me off. I love all my Transistors equally and I feel just as much heartache at the violence against Trans women of Color as I do White Trans women.


Cis - I said I was trans right? A feeling I had for a long time. But the truth is until you act on your condition to help resolve it you are stealth as Cis. Transition is like the Uncanny Valley Effect going in reverse. Very rarely can you overcome the valley though.

Christian - I've been having Christians use the bible to say I'm a sinner and going to hell. Seems like they don't know the bible.


Normal - HA!


But then, something happened.

Lately, people seem to be blindly ignoring me. I'm not stared at when I'm out in public. I'm a little loud and out, a little bit proud as well. But it isn't until I mention something that could possibly out me to a new person that they stop, quirk their head and go.

"What?" Then when I or a friend explains their eyes go wider and they say those magic words. "I never would have guessed."

Tuesday I had 5 different people tell me that. And each time I enjoyed it.

Like I've said in the past. I'm never planning to go stealth. I feel like having people who are proud and open about who they are is a positive thing to the world, and to the transgender community.

Without people being open about it we'd never get any where when it comes to our own rights.

But now It seems like I'm slowly sliding into stealth which is why I constantly out myself.