Ones mental image of oneself (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by edg@lemmy.world to c/trans

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Does anyone else have or had a problem creating and maintaining a female self image in your mind? I can barely do it if at all, and it can be a little distressing. I can only see myself as the overly masculine body that I currently have.

I'm not on HRT nor presenting as a woman in public. Maybe if I was my self image would change?

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[-] dandelion 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

that's so sweet of you- I have so much more to say about this topic, and what I wrote was an embarrassing mind dump rather than an organized piece of prose.

I actually have poetry I wrote I could share, sometimes I feel they say more for me than my prose can.

If you have any questions anytime my inbox is open, btw - I'm a pretty open book and like thinking things through, so ask me anything, really.

EDIT: here is some of my shitty poetry, it's meant to convey the idea, it's meant to be practical that way rather than primarily good poetry.

I am some kind of woman
the aspirational kind

How does estrogen feel
like a crackling TV fuzz bubble wrap 
circling your breasts and hips 
more a kind of awareness 
than a sensation 
a spotlight
an irrational happiness 
a full-body smile

"Gender identity"

Hidden from the senses
Inferred shadows 
Constraining, defining, shaping
Without a trace
Like water wondering about the shape of a bowl

Gender

A story of you
Told by others
Repeated and retold to yourself 
Weaving fact and fiction 
Ever changing and immutable

Womanhood

A lie concealing 
The sublime

Trans woman
A disciple of womanhood

Woman in their eyes
Why not mine
Gender outside me
Trying to find the door
To let it inside

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago

I think you underestimate your "eye" for poetry.

How does estrogen feel like a crackling TV fuzz bubble wrap circling your breasts and hips more a kind of awareness than a sensation a spotlight an irrational happiness a full-body smile

That one in particular, that's some good shit right there. Evocative, descriptive, emotionally honest. I'd be proud of that one if I had written it. It paints and feeling with words and that is what poetry does best.

I personally dig simple, short poetry anyway. It's harder to pull off, but when it works, it hits harder. Yours work, at least that's these do.

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025

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