| Transgender facts | - The generally accepted statistic nowadays is that the overall incidence of transsexualism itself is of the order of 1 in 12,000 adults
- Estimates vary on the number of transvestite men in the population, owing to the lack of any research data whatsoever
- Informed guesses have been as high as 1 in 20 adult males
- Over the last 30-40 years, more than 5,000 people in Britain have successfully transitioned between the genders
- It's estimated that at present about 10,000 people are in the process of transition
- Typically, it costs the sufferer their family, home, friends, job, status, assets, savings and respect
- Treatment additionally costs the sufferer approximately £9,000 - £15,000 (in 1998)
- Lack of treatment may well cost them their life
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Blue for boys and pink for girls! That's what the old wives tale states, but in this day and age it's totally different, although we still try to go along with what grandma says. My name is Stephanie Julie Nickles, and it has been since January 2000.
 | | Stephanie Nickles |
Living the life of a Trans person has been hard, and that doesn't include the violent attacks! I decided to take the path of my transition after many years of self doubting, wondering what was truly the real me. I pondered this question many, many times, sitting, crying and just wanting to know who I really was deep down inside. My genetic gender wasn't matching my brain functions, and I sometimes felt like committing suicide, feeling I was trapped inside the body of a man. I even considered cutting off my male genitals as they didn't belong there. So I took the step of seeing a psychiatrist at London Charring Cross hospital, where they diagnosed me as being Transgender, which means they confirmed my true self should be as a woman. All I want to do now is have my surgery and to get on with my life in the gender to which I should have been born, and I was prescribed hormones to feminise my body.
 | | Ladies shoes |
Throwing away the male clothing and going out to purchase feminine clothes was another big step. For any woman, choosing the right style and colour is critical for enhancing the way they feel, and improving their shape and build. Shopping as a Transgender person is extremely difficult. Not many stores stock female shoes above size 8, and there's a great fear of groups of boys and/or girls who follow you around shops, taunting you. Often, humiliated, you leave the store so as not to cause a fuss. I've been hospitalised twice by gangs of youths. In one attack, I received four broken ribs and was off work for eight weeks. Another time I needed eight stitches after one youth decided to bend a large piece of wood around my head. I didn't want to be born like this but it’s the person that I am, and today’s society should know better and be accustomed more to this way of life. I have lived in Worcester now for six years and have been subjected to a lot of verbal abuse and violence. I have now become stronger and more determined to go out and stand for my rights and freedom to dress in my chosen gender, just like every one else.
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