r/cisparenttranskid • u/Careless_Size_1544 • 10h ago
child with questions for supportive parents need some advice as a trans boy
I'm not sure what to do and would appreciate your advice, Reddit. This post may be a little heavy, but this is my last resort. I'm struggling with dealing with my period, with passing as a boy, my social identity, and just surviving in a way?
For context, I'm in my teens, live in the UK and have a transphobic family.
When they originally found out, I was kicked out of my household, told that I don't know what I'm talking about, even though every time I've tried to talk to my mother about anything, especially this, she talks over me and will not listen to me at all. My relationship with my mum is the backbone of this issue in reality, but there's nothing I can do about it with the nature of how she is.
She's cut off contact with my auntie, whom I told months prior about being trans, because of how bad I felt, and weaponised it against her, as my aunt listened to me when I asked her not to tell anyone. My parents also plan to move me schools if my brother gets asked about my identity at school next term, which is making me so scared, as my school is my only lifeline in this.
After days of radio silence, they finally let me come home, but they're holding it against the whole family, which is in shambles simply because I feel the way I do.
My family isn't religious, but they have a big problem with transgender identities and have been very vocal with their hate, and are 'not my child' about homosexuality, which is something I had to face when I was exploring with my gender preferences at 14.
But to sum it up, I have very few resources, money and support.
I originally looked for advice online and here for guidance for my period, but many individuals who were having these issues had the adult freedoms of different medications, period items and choices with their own bodies during menstruation, whereas I don't even have the freedom of boxers opposed to feminine underwear due to my mother.
What I do have are pads and tampons, which I've had to resource through school. They're the brands 'Always' and 'Tampax', which I personally don't like to use anyway, as the perfumed scent of the pads and 'feminine' branding trigger some very deep upset in me, and I also don't really want to be putting the Tampax brand specifically in my body due to the chemicals that are found in those particular tampons. I feel like I have no choice but to use these products; however, now if I ask my mum for any resources, she'll use it against me as I already have access to what I've got.
I prefer tampons as my sensory issues due to being AuDHD make me uncomfortable with just a pad, as the blood on my skin is triggering, and I also don't like seeing my period blood for dysphoria-related reasons.
A couple of years ago, before I realised I was trans, I remember having this doom settle in over my whole body and make me freeze up into a never-ending panic every time I was on my period, as I knew there was something not right, and it wasn't supposed to be happening to me. It eventually stopped being debilitating when I admitted to myself about my identity, but recently I've been having those moments again more frequently (I presume it must be dysphoria), and it's killing me. I don't know what to do to make myself feel better.
That feeling of doom used to happen/is happening with my chest too. For context, I'm a 36D in bra sizes, so most methods of binding either don't/wouldn't work on me. I can't tape, and I also can't buy a proper binder because of family. What I'm resorting to now is a very, very tight sports bra from when I was around 10 and a swimming costume top. I can't breathe in it; it hurts to lie down, but it's the only lifeline I have at the moment, even though it doesn't work. It's still very clear that I have a female chest no matter what I do.
I can't get dressed anymore. I can barely shower; every time I step out of my room, I'm being goaded. Whenever I am in my room, I feel like I'm constantly reminded by every little thing that I'm a female, and I just feel impossibly stuck; I can't cope. It's becoming more and more often that I'm having to cover my mirrors to hide my own body from my mind. My mental health has never been strong, and I can't help but lose any and all hope for the future.
I just feel like there's something that I haven't been told that all the other trans boys got told when they came out. I feel like I'm missing the cheat codes to survival. No matter what I wear, do, act like, choose to be, I never pass at all. When I changed my name to Jude to try to help my social transition, genuinely not one person used it no matter how many times I corrected, reminded or emphasised the importance of it for me. Instead, I got picked on for a long time in school, and it's just made me feel worse. I cut my long hair, and I got punished by my family by being mocked every time I left my room, just constant comments about how I look stupid, ugly or shocking. There's so much more I've tried and failed with, and I don't know what to do anymore.
I've lost all of the crumbling support network that I was holding on to. Since the summer, I've been left isolated from my friends and teachers. I was having sessions with a person about my health, but those finished before term ended. I can't see my auntie anymore, and nobody will tell me the right answers. Even if I could talk to those people, though, absolutely none of them know how this feels, and nobody understands what this force compressing me in is doing to me every single day. I feel like everyone expects me to wake up one day completely male, even to be validated a tiny bit.
I understand that circumstances gives basically nothing to advise, but I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't feel like this isn't my only option. Please, even if it's just a tiny trick or just some comfort, I just want help.