I’ve had approximately fifty laser hair removal sessions to kill off my former beard at £45 a time = £2,250. Emotionally, I’m in the black: any harassment or temporary turmoil is easily cancelled out by the joy of being my most honest self. So I decided to do something I’ve never actually done before: work out the total cost of my transition so far. Being An Inspiration is quite trying and there’s only so many times you can rehash how sad you were as a child. These procedures usually involve reshaping parts of the face sensitive to testosterone: brows, jawlines, hairlines and prominent noses.īut back to my speech at the Marly. For that reason, I fully understand why Mr Inglefield, the surgeon who did my facial feminisation, performs, on average, three such operations per week. It is not fine, it’s soul-destroying if you’re pouring your heart into living as a woman. It’s really nice to not have kids ask their parents “is that a man or a woman?” In that situation, you have to laugh gaily and say it’s fine.
Both in being comfortable to pass a mirror and, moreover, being comfortable on the bus or train, free from the lingering stares of rude people. Those operations have made my life better, simple as that. And to get rid of those ‘male’ features, I have opted to have a fuck-ton of surgery.Ĭonsequently, I am happier with my body than I’ve ever been, so I totally appreciate why many other trans people want surgeries. It’s very difficult to quantify what a woman is supposed to look like, but some of my features – my Adam’s Apple for instance – were distinctly masculine.
I wanted my outsides to as closely match my internal vision of self as possible.
They are just as trans and just as valid as I am, but I was not one of those people. This ticketed event, featuring a raft of local drag kings and queens, would raise money for trans or non-binary people who might be struggling to cover the cost of surgeries.Ī disclaimer: not all transgender people have, or want to have surgeries. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to give a speech at a fundraising event at The Marlborough Theatre, Brighton, in my capacity as An Inspiration.