Alternative Treatments For Gender Identity Disorder

        I am providing this information out of compassion and caring - the information from this point on is  based on a combination of personal experience and the experiences of those closest to me..   Even though I have made my purpose and intent clear, the amount of ill-informed hate mail I receive is amazing. It shows me that many people have a strong personal stake in seeing themselves as helpless victims. They have a need to be able to say with conviction, "I can't help it! I have no choice but to do what I'm doing." If this describes you, we also request that you STOP READING NOW!!

        Having made the above disclaimer, I also realize that hormones, surgery, and/or transition are impossible or life-shattering for some people even though they represent the only medically-recognized treatment method.  I can tell you in all candidness that I wish someone would have done this for ME ...well, now I'm doing it for you. Why?

      Well, for instance, unless a person is very passable without much assistance, he or she is not likely to be accepted as a member of his/her chosen gender except in the most casual situations. It is true that issues of passability can be helped with electrolysis, hormones, and practice - but not every problem can be overcome. Also, many people have families and jobs which they stand to lose - further complicating transition. It is possible to learn to live with this non-acceptance, believe me, but it isn't easy and I think a lot of people are too delicate emotionally to get through all of the BS.

        Is there any real choice? My belief is that while you are a victim of a medical condition, you are not a helpless victim, and that you have as much ability to make rational decisions about your own life as any other human being. Gender Identity Disorder is probably caused by a combination of genetic mis-wiring and in-utero issues - and these are factors over which you have no control. What you do have control over, however, is what you do about your situation.