Questions from Students

What exactly sparked the realization that you personally were just not meant to go through life as your birth sex?
I am confused; does this mean you are homosexual/gay?
Are you religious?
If transgender is not considered a mental disorder then what is it?
What's your definition of "tranny," transsexual?
Like in the MTV show, "The Real World," how do you feel about transgendered people being in the media? Is it good? Bad? Informative?

Is your family supportive?
How does your family take all of your decisions and changes in life?
How do your children feel about this?
How did your families respond to your decisions – from the time they found out to now?
Do you have siblings and if so, how is your relationship?

When your parents became unglued when they saw you, how did their actions make you feel?
What was it like when you were growing up in your family? Did you know then?
Why don't you come out to your family?

If you had surgery to change your genitalia, was it painful?
How long was the recovery period?
Where did you have the surgery and why there?
Do you finally feel comfortable in your body? Or are there still things that you want to change?

After making the decision and changes, how did you feel? Do you ever feel the changes were too drastic and wish you could change it back?
Any regrets (of surgery)?
Do you ever wish you hadn't gotten the surgery?
For those who have had surgery, do you regret anything you have done or changed about your outer appearance?

Do you suffer from depression also?
What kind of mental health issues are related to transgendered people?
Do/Did you take hormones? How did they affect you at first?
What was one thing that surprised you when you decided to make the transition?
Based on your own personal experience, do you feel life was easier before in your previous gender or now?
What is a way that society discriminates against you now that you did not notice before your transition?
What advice would you give someone considering this change in lifestyle?
How did the initial gender change, change your daily life? What did you start doing differently?
What was the scariest thing for you about your gender change?
Do you feel that you live a double personality/life?

You haven't had the surgery yet; do you use the male restroom?
Does it bother you for people to call you transgendered? Would you rather be "categorized" by
male/female?
Does being a transsexual make you nervous going out in public in regular social situations?
How has it affected your past and present relationships (with family and friends)?
How/Does it affect your career goals?
How do you feel about fitting into society's "roles" or "groups" that we have put on each gender?
How does it feel to have been discriminated against by your siblings, in your occupation?

I've heard of something called "passing". What is that?
Do you ever think that everyone around you knows you're transgendered?
Do you think most people that meet you know or not and how does it make you feel?
How often in public do people notice you are a transgender/transsexual?
If you are noticed in public, do people make rude/mean comments?

After you meet someone you are interested in, how long do you wait until you tell him or her you are a transgender/transsexual?
When you start being sexually intimate with someone, do you let them know beforehand that you are transgender?

Nancy Wichmann