OVERVIEW The changes with HRT are some of the most positive and euphoric aspects of transition. We talk about Jake’s experience with Testosterone and going through his second puberty. He talks about all the different physical changes and the emotional changes as well. We also discuss what it was like as his partner adapting to those changes. SHOW NOTES Jake’s Experience Taking Testosterone Typical trans narrative is based on changes with HRT External, obvious changes … Continue reading Let’s Talk Gender S1E6: Medical Transition: HRT

OVERVIEW Jake has now been out at work for nearly two years. We discuss his process for coming out at work from the preparation, through coming out, and all the frustrations that happened afterwards including HR struggles, bathrooms, mysogeny, and misgendering. Meaghan Ray talks about what it was like to be in the role of the partner during this part of the transition process including having to come out to their co-workers about Jake’s transition. … Continue reading Let’s Talk Gender S1E5: Social Transition: Coming Out At Work

OVERVIEW Coming out to friends and family is a long process that involves lots of uncertainty, strategy, and a bit of luck. We discuss Jake’s process of coming out as a trans man and Meaghan Ray’s experience of that process as his partner, including how this process went for us, what methods we used to come out to people, what emotions we experienced, and what responses we got. We also discuss Meaghan Ray’s experiences of … Continue reading Let’s Talk Gender S1E4: Social Transition: Coming Out To Family

OVERVIEW The first stage of transition is the personal exploration of your gender. We discuss what the process of exploring your gender feels like, how each of us figured it out in different ways, and what it’s like to be the partner of someone going through the gender exploration process. Sorry for the variable sound quality. We are still trying out different set ups to find something that works for us. SHOW NOTES Exposure to … Continue reading Let’s Talk Gender S1E3: Personal Transition: Gender Exploration

OVERVIEW Transitioning is a slow, often frustrating, ongoing process. It can roughly be broken down into four phases: personal, social, medical, and legal. We discuss the general timeline of each phase and how they overlapped for Jake’s transition from female to male. At the end, Meaghan Ray shares what their transition has included so far. SHOW NOTES General Thoughts on Transitioning Typical FTM trans narrative Binary transition from one to the other Medical system sees … Continue reading Let’s Talk Gender S1E2: Transition Timelines

OVERVIEW Language and labels are used to communicate our identities to others but for trans people, the first step of this process is finding language and labels to understand and define our own identities. There is a ton of language that is specific to the trans community and trans experiences and identities. As the partner of a trans person, finding this language can be helpful but also overwhelming. The social context and definitions of labels … Continue reading Let’s Talk Gender S1E1: Language and Labels