Definitely Bale. Oh the memes…

[does the voice]
“Swear to me!”

“Wait, do you mean literally, or figuratively?”

Yes.

Probably not the person you might want answering this, but I’ll share my two cents anyway:

I believe men are somehow shit outta luck if not conforming to the strong, tall, muscular, athletic and handsome ideal that seems to be peak masculinity. Although there seems to be an improvement on that front. Further normalising the androgynous look is going to help a lot of transmasc people feel less anxiety about passing. Not in the least because some of these aspects about the general beauty standard for men are unrealistic, even for cis men.

As for me, I’m more than happy to contribute to normalise the androgynous look. I’ve never been happier with my appearance than since I’ve been experimenting with incorporating more feminine traits. Growing my hair out, getting a more feminine haircut, dyeing my hair, braiding my hair, removing body hair, styling eyebrows, that sort of thing. Oh, and most important of all, just doing all of this while never elaborating on it. It’s always just “hey this is my new thing, I will not be taking questions on this”.

I feel like men should not be denied those sorts of thing while still being considered men. And all of us should be free to pursue our own beauty standards. Now to make society submit to those truths…

you’re right btw about romania being hostile to queer ppl, mostly the older folk

Most eastern European countries follow the same blueprint of the elderly being exremely conservative. The youngsters are usually damaged in a way where they are more tolerant, but have some weird homo-/transphobic tendencies. And then there’s people like you who are just trying to live their lives the way they feel they should. Never give up on that!

Now I don’t presume to know what kind of relationship you have with your parents. But judging from some of the stories I’ve seen on this community alone, taking away hormones is probably not even close to the most damaging thing your parents could do to you. So I might be blowing things way out of proportion here, but just in case: Be absolutely sure they’re not going to kick you out to the streets or otherwise put you in danger before you’re in a position where you being a minor no longer impacts your life.

Also don’t underestimate what the hormones will do to your body. Two whole years is a lot of time for changes to take effect, including things you might not be able to hide as easily. Two years is a long time to keep a secret from your immediate family, and there are probably going to be moments where simply “boymoding” is not going to cut it.

Then there’s the leaving the country part, which is likely not going to be a magic solution either. The good news is that you have two years to research everything you need to know in order to find some safety in your life. And I hate to say it, but financial security is going to be a big part of that, as it allows you more freedom to avoid places that are regretably not safe for trans folk. The harsh reality is that this becomes exponentially easier if you’re either talented or highly educated, since most of the safer countries will more readily hand out work visa to those more beneficial to the local economy and job market.

Don’t get the wrong idea, definitely not trying to talk you out of your plans! Just trying to make sure you’re several steps ahead and have planned for all sorts of situations. So the common denominator in all of this is “make sure you’re prepared and keep planning ahead”.

Other than that I wish you all the best, and good luck on your journey.

Not questioning your decisions, but it sounds like you’re doing this solo, and likely without parents knowing about it. If that’s the case, you might want to think ahead to what will happen if someone does find out.

If you’re not in a position where you can trust an adult enough to tell them you’re transitioning (for whatever reason that may be), you’re likely not going to have a safety net when you do transition. Please think over who might support you in your efforts to become the person you want to be. Especially in a country like Romania, where anything LGBTQ+ is under increasing stress from bigots.

So no, you’re not being stupid for asking for help online, but please make sure you know if you can trust anyone from your personal surroundings going forward.

Hey at least they hit with the “you will regret this”, so the receiver knows in advance there’s not going to be an end to the words to come.

Oh I like that one better!

I swear I’m a good girl…

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father Ephesians 3:14

Lot’s of fun yet to be had taking other passages out of context.

Yes, definitely need more of these! I’ll try make some if inspiration hits.

That’s a bug, thanks for reporting. Should be fixed with the next update!

Honestly? Didn’t think that far ahead. Could be growing up twice as fast, but you might not want that. Could be learning things, in which case yay, but underwhelming. Could also be job/life experience, learning important lessons early to prevent making stupid mistakes?

It’s your NG+, so your call. 😊

Meow! :3

Seeing all the recent news I can’t help but feel the US is not a fun place to be right now.

I sincerely hope the political landscape calms the fuck down soon, and all of you can focus on the real issues again. It is beyond unreasonable how much attention some of these culture war topics are getting. It is also obviously a divide and conquer strategy and someone needs to break that cycle.

Are you applying for a job that has you representing the company to the public in any way? If so, you might find yourself less free in your appearance than you would if you have a desk job. And it’s likely not just about being trans, but other things like piercings, tattoos and hair styles as well.

I’m not sure how well woker’s rights are represented in law, either on a state basis or in the USA in general. But you might want to consider finding out with the interview if your potential employer really respects you being trans or not, even if you do so without actually mentioning you’re trans. And if not I’m inclined to say the job is not a safe place for you. If you leave this up to chance, you might be in for a nasty surprise later on in your career there.

But I guess it all depends on how long you can afford to look for a job where you’re going to be respected for who you really are. If you need work fast, there’s also the option of just taking the job stealthily and almost immediately looking for a new job from there. All while pocketing the employment experience, which definitely helps your chances finding other work.

Ultimately there are two things you need to prove in an interview (if you’re dealing with reasonable people and not bigots): Whether your personality doesn’t make you clash with the colleagues you’ll be working with. Wether your skillset matches what the employer is looking for, and employers have this bad habit of not mentioning wanted soft skills in the ad.

Do those two well and the only thing ruining your chances is your potential employer being a twisted bigoted piece of shit, in which case it’s their loss.

Next level truck nuts. 🤣

Haha, somehow there is always a relevant XKCD.

Ah see, you got me there. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind and do things very gayly from now on.

Oh yes, definitely. Having rough edges, or a bad side humanizes a character, which has been proven to lead to more relatable and likeable characters. It’s the driving force behind the whole antihero thing.

The good examples are definitely out there, but all of them are niche and the problem is likely that big productions are afraid of taking a risk by not trying to please everyone. Which also explains why recent large productions all have this shitty writing that feels artificial. Doesn’t matter if it’s feminism, LGBTQ+ themes, representation of ethnic minorities or just the cookie cutter cis white protagonist. They manage to enshittify everything by playing it safe.

That’s a nice take! It is indeed the absurdity of it all that probably does it. My comment was more of a shower thought inspired by this post than a direct reaction to it.

As you can probably tell from my choice of pronouns, I’m still figuring out what the concept of “being gay” even means to me. Though there’s probably no point to doing so. Which only makes being called gay even funnier to me.

That, and of course the ridiculous concepts of what does and does not make you gay, that are going around. But that’s part of the original joke.

Anyone else feel like there have been so many different ways the word “gay” has been used as a slur - both ironically and unironically - that the whole concept just kinda doesn’t work anymore?

The only response my brain produces these days is just giggling and moving on. Like if your intentions are to shock me, I’m afraid that ship has sailed. Best thing I can compare it to is how poop jokes stop being funny when you hit a certain age, and start being a different kind of funny once you hit another.

But it probably really depends on your environment. Obviously if you do feel negatively about the whole, that’s a completely valid stance to take. Don’t think of this as me trying to ifluence what should and should not offend you.

Nothing wrong with a proper scream every now and then. Venting is a healthy practise.