The Other Side

On Monday afternoon (8 November), the mayor of Camden Sabrina Francis was joined by local councillors and community leaders to open what was described as the “first trans crossing” in the borough of Camden, Pink News reports.

Danny Beales, Camden councillor and cabinet member for investing in communities and culture, tweeted: 

“Today, we opened the first trans flag crossing in Camden. Wonderful to make a clear statement that everyone is welcome in Camden! An honour to be involved in making this happen.”

As often is the case in Britain these days, there are those who try to make any support for transgender people into something that has nothing to do with trans rights or with the fact that British anti-trans activists are doing their best to ruin the lives of trans people. So there has been complaints about the zebra crossing disturbing police horses and guide dogs (!).

It should not be too hard to make a guide dog to understand that this too is a safe place to cross the street.  And I am glad to say that dogs are not transphobic.  We have to stop putting marginalized groups up against each other in this way. The local council said it had taken safety steps and audit before installing the design.

This crossing is there to tell all that transphobia that is the a real problem, and  that trans people deserve to live their lives in peace and dignity, as everyone else. That is a message that deserves to be heard in the streets of London.

@RoseyOLR asks over at twitter:

So this whole dysphoria thing right: are there like people who had it bad and transitioned and now don’t? Or like is it just a permanent feature?

You can read the whole thread, but here are some of the answers:

@RileyFaelan It shrinks as your transition progresses. It may go away entirely, but this doesn’t happen to everybody. People get varying amounts of dysphoria from different aspects of gender, which is why it makes sense to seek your own way of transition, and focus on what most dysphores you.

@QuillaTheHun I have trouble remembering how bad my gender dysphoria used to be. I still get flashes of it sometimes though, especially now during the trans moral panic.

@LGBTQPastor Cis folks need to understand this thread. It’s never a light switch.

@LisaTMullin It dropped a lot transitioning and on HRT. At about a year I just started feeling…good.. I did have genital dysphoria that was still there until my GRS.

@ellen_thalia_n My dysphoria is almost gone. I’m confident enough now. Ofc there are still male features that I’m going to adjust. Step by step.

@Charlotte_Alexx I feel like I have very little dysphoria left, especially compared to where I was a few years ago. It definitely gets better, but I wouldnt say it goes away entirely

@cassesque Mine’s tied to low mood now. It’s usually not there at all. I’m not sure if I call it dysphoria because that’s all I know or if it’s just normal body issues that most people go through.

@cassesque Mine’s tied to low mood now. It’s usually not there at all. I’m not sure if I call it dysphoria because that’s all I know or if it’s just normal body issues that most people go through.

@HyaenaMom It shifts: Nowhere near as bad as I used to be since lower surgery & HRT. As each source of dysphoria is put to rest, the next (in a diminishing list) comes to the fore. Its important to be realistic about transition goals but “realistic” was pessimistic & selling myself short.

@Rattlesire It REALLY depends. The only “dysphoria” I suffer from is my voice. I don’t feel its deep enough, but I’m also not super far along in transitioning, so I’m waiting before I decide on surgical options. I’ve met many however who lapse into it their entire lives.

@CirqueAmy For me, it’s diminished substantially. It used to be utterly debilitating, and now, I don’t feel it much at all for most of the time. It isn’t gone completely, and I don’t expect it will ever be, but it is so much better. The lowest levels of pre-transition dysphoria are higher than nearly any dysphoria I now experience. The rare times that my dysphoria peaks nowadays, I’m still able to function, and I know that it is temporary and that I’ll soon feel better. Transition didn’t solve my problems — just one of them. And it made it so that I can work on solving the rest, instead of having the dysphoria suck all the willpower and energy out of my body and leave me curled up crying on the floor.I hope this helps!

@isomeme I’m transitioning – social done, legal and physical in progress – and dysphoria has reduced markedly. I still have bad days or weeks, but nothing like before I started transitioning.

@K8TBenoit I think after about 20 years being out as trans and on HRT, I’ve gotten used to the settings I have now.  No surgeries, but I’m okay with it.I occasionally still have moments where I’m a little jealous of cis folks, but they quickly pass.

@theInmara Mine has not gone away completely. But I am trigender with conflicting dysphorias, so it’s complicated and medical science cannot provide what I need yet (or probably ever). Transition still absolutely saved my life, though.

@NameIsFun2Say Yeah I’m only 8 months in and my dysphoria is significantly less than it was. It’s not gone yet but it’s definitely trending that way

@discount_Ripley Everything just clicks now. There’s some elements of life that are still a little janky, inelegant perhaps, but that’s more because of the environment rather than a feeling within myself.

@Cleofoxx I had really bad dysphoria and I have really bad dysphoria now, but I deal with it better and the strong episodes are less common. I still hate my face and figure but i can at least recognise that it’s mostly just dysphoria. Problem is i also have body dsymorphia lol.

@vote_checkbox Inside of myself I am calm and satisfiedOutside of myself I still dislike mirrors and all the other stuff I “can’t do” yetThe first part makes the second part far less suffocating

@autistictic Changing my name, pronouns, and radically only wearing clothing and accessories that fit my gender identity have made a HUGE dent in my dysphoria already…I KNOW if I can medically transition as well it will be either totally gone or barely any will be left.

@jamieelisefoto3 Like others have said, a low mood can trigger it or if I’m really exhausted .But the amount of time I’m not feeling it is has grown exponentially with my transition timeline.