Sir And C-cups

[Guest Joanna Phipps]

Sir and C-Cups

The Humor of transition

©2009 Joanna M. Phipps

I know this is another of my patented odd titles but as you read on I am sure you

will see why I am saying it the way I am. If you are trans. you will understand

that the time from starting hormones until the time that something starts happening

can be quite rough on you.

Having only started mine back on Aug 12, 2009 I am in that stage where even though

I am taking my Estradiol and Spironolactone as per my Doctor’s orders there is no

outward sign of anything happening, at least not physically.

I know that from a psychological point of view it has been like I have had PMS for

nearly the last ten days. There is only one thing that I can put this down to and

that is the Estrogen doing its job. Yes there have been some other changes as well,

such as the morning erections not happening or if they do happen they are nowhere

near as firm as they used to be. That is a good sign, it means the Spiro is doing

its job and that should give the estrogen an easier time. I don’t know what my

levels of either Testosterone or Estrogen are since I haven’t had a doctor’s

appointment since Aug 12. I do have a follow up on Sept 11 and have labs taken

the Monday before so hopefully I will know by then.

On to the meat of this essay; if you have read some of my other essays about

transition and some of the issues I faced they you will know that I had to do

two months of fulltime before my gender team would consider hormones. This was

a scary time for me since I didn’t know how well I’d pass nor did I know if I

could handle the stress of living in my chosen gender without the feminizing

benefit of hormones. It was during this time that I began to wonder just what

it would take to be correctly gendered by the majority of the strangers I met.

I had been padding my bras with a pair of socks each side, giving me the equivalent

of probably an A-Cup but that didn’t seem to be enough to get the point across.

I was still getting called Sir by most of those I met. Even starting to wear

makeup didn’t seem to change the ratio. I did notice that small breasted natal

women didn’t have that problem so it was likely something to do with my height

(6’2”) and build (I am over 240lbs). I started thinking that the padding was

just not giving enough of a hint to those who saw me for a matter of a couple

of seconds.

One night, during my shift at work, I got to thinking that maybe what I needed

was a combination of things. Topping the list was a larger set of breasts,

being that early in the course it was easy I just dug out the C-Cup breast

forms that I had warn the few times I cross dressed. This had a nearly immediate

effect, the number of times I was correctly gendered increased dramatically.

During this time I had also learned the basics of makeup and how to handle eye

shadow, this also helped. However there seems to be this holdout crew that no

matter how feminine I look, or how I introduce myself on the phone, insists on

calling me sir. This is not only rude, it is also inconsiderate.

A case in point is something that happened today at the local McDonalds store.

My girlfriend and I had gone through the drive through to get a couple of

breakfast sandwiches. I pulled up to pay the kid at the window, he handed me

the bag with our order in it and said “Have a good day SIR”. I was in a hurry

and couldn’t afford to take the time to correct him so I simply said (hopefully

loud enough for the restaurant to hear) “Someone needs to open his eyes” and drove off.

I still get misgendered by the other employees at work but they haven’t had much

time to get used to the idea that I am Joanna and not my old male self. Most of

the time the guests get it right; even though I have had some odd responses; during

one of my first “Out” shifts at work a customer came up to check out I was bent over

doing something on the computer and continued in that position as I proceeded with

the check out. I like to chat with our guests both as they check in and as they check

out, this particular person addressed me as Sir but when I stood up she noticed my

chest and then the embarrassment hit she switched to Ma’am, stuttered and nervously

called me dude.

I think an incident which happened during my last shift is ultra hilarious. I was

winding down yet another grave yard shift at the hotel and all had been boringly

normal. This older couple came to check out, she got it right and called me Ma’am

and he, right afterwards called me Sir. I went about my business and got them checked

out, she looked from me to her husband, gave him the weirdest look and the two of

them went for breakfast. I have no idea what was said between them over breakfast

or once they left but it did leave me wanting to laugh and laugh hard.

Part of my issue maybe my voice, there is no way I can get to the Alto range that

I used to have as a teen. I tend to end up more in the Tenor range but I’m in good

company; the late Bea Arthur (Maude and Golden Girls) had a fairly deep voice. I am

not sure that I will ever get a good phone voice for me it is the least of my worries

for right now. I have enough to worry about with my transition and living day to day.

Transition is rough, not only on the person transitioning but also on those around

them. I find it good if I can find some humor in an incident and get a chuckle. It

sure helps me over the rough spots to look back and have a laugh (sure it’s at someone’s

expense but that’s the way of humor).