Preferences changing during transition

[DapperButch]

Esme nha Maire,

Yes. It is when FTMs start to get breast growth that their distress goes off the charts. Meanwhile, it is the facial hair and muscle mass which triggers MTFs. That is why kids can no longer "hold it in", at adolescence. They just burst at that point.

I have heard many FTMs say they "never thought it would happen to them". They never thought they would menstruate, never thought they would grow breasts. It just didn't "make sense" to them that this would happen, so they assumed they wouldn't. And these are people that didn't know they were "boys"/trans, they just knew they weren't like the other girls, so it didn't make logical sense to them that they would become women. It's amazing how we can twist things around in our brains in order to reduce our emotional distress is amazing.

Originally Posted by Esme nha Maire

It's as if the brain is wired so that as long as there is a certain minimum amount of appropriate development in the one area, it doesn't get too upset, whereas too much development in the other makes it very unhappy. Which end causes distress from lack and which from excess is invese between the genders.

I like this thinking. You are suggesting that perhaps the reason that some FTMs do not have lower dysphoria is because getting top surgery is enough? Or, maybe you weren't saying that directly.

I can also tell you that you sometimes FTMs say that they didn't have lower dysphoria until after they had top surgery. It is like they start to become more conscious of another female part of their body after the most "womanly" thing about them is no longer there to focus on.