Hey, I think I mentioned this in another thread, but I don't remember and I'm not hunting through however many posts I've written to find out. So! A recap/precap! I'm writing a fantasy romance which has as its main conceit a main character that undergoes a full sex change, male to female. I know, old story, right?
However, while the story ends happily, and everyone accepts the transition, and the main character underwent the transition willingly, a trans friend of mine said she felt triggered by passages in the beginning where the newly female main character resists/objects/fights being a woman -- not just in terms of the new social expectations in place, but also in terms of just feeling wrong. In her words, "a charaacter that feels she's the wrong sex is every trans person's nightmare".
I'm not sure if I'm going to change the story, but I want to get some input from other people. I don't want to 'trigger' anyone, nor do I want to handle it disrespectfully, but I feel it's important to the story that there's an adjustment period. Indeed, a substantial part of the story as written, especially her scenes, is her coming to terms with the fact that she's a woman, there are different expectations now, and she'll have a husband.
I guess what I'm asking is... okay, part of what I'm asking for is validation, that it's fine to write what I want to write. That's not something I can control, and I apologize for it. But I also want to make sure that I handle it respectfully, so I'd like to get input on 'transitioning' or 'being forced to live as another sex' and how it makes people feel. Should I tone it down?
However, while the story ends happily, and everyone accepts the transition, and the main character underwent the transition willingly, a trans friend of mine said she felt triggered by passages in the beginning where the newly female main character resists/objects/fights being a woman -- not just in terms of the new social expectations in place, but also in terms of just feeling wrong. In her words, "a charaacter that feels she's the wrong sex is every trans person's nightmare".
I'm not sure if I'm going to change the story, but I want to get some input from other people. I don't want to 'trigger' anyone, nor do I want to handle it disrespectfully, but I feel it's important to the story that there's an adjustment period. Indeed, a substantial part of the story as written, especially her scenes, is her coming to terms with the fact that she's a woman, there are different expectations now, and she'll have a husband.
I guess what I'm asking is... okay, part of what I'm asking for is validation, that it's fine to write what I want to write. That's not something I can control, and I apologize for it. But I also want to make sure that I handle it respectfully, so I'd like to get input on 'transitioning' or 'being forced to live as another sex' and how it makes people feel. Should I tone it down?