Throughout history men have dressed as women and women as men. Clothing is all well and good but what makes us male or female is a much deeper and more complex issue.
The concept of gender reassignment (sex change) is foreign to most of us. There is intense hormone therapy, extensive psychological evaluation and counseling and major surgery that a transsexual patient must undergo in order to complete their transition from one gender to the other. It is not a journey anyone undertakes lightly.
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Justin was born male but from a very early age, he realised that he identified far more with women than with men. At the age of 23, he finally decided to take the final steps to becoming a woman.
Natalie is now in her 50’s. Born as Albertus, he was married for over 20 years and had two sons with his wife. After his wife died, he finally decided to realise his ultimate dream of gender reassignment surgery to become the women he knew he had always been inside.
Integrating
Even after the surgery is completed, integrating into normal society as a woman when you have lived your life as a man is a whole new experience. From using the ladies bathroom and finding high heels in large sizes to holding your love life together – it’s all just part of becoming a girl.
In two intensely human stories of persecution, courage, real love and lipstick, Sex Etc travels with Justin and Albertus down the long road to becoming Justine and Natalie.
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