Whats in a fem name?  (Changing to a fem name, and back.)

I am a fem guy, or dikey girl.  Take your pick.  I may never take hormones or surgery as I enjoy the male and female roles I have.  I don’t think of them as roles, but as me doing what I like.  I would be as uncomfortable going total fem 24/7 as total male 24/7. So I find myself hanging in a neither land.  Walking down the middle of the road, bumping everyone going and coming!

Since Jr. High I have dressed in women’s clothes: blouses and pants, often with a stuffed bra.   That was thirty five years ago.  The last ten years I dressed full time en fem outside of work, and full time the last three years as I was self employed.

Two years ago I started using my fem name full time. I didn’t legally change it, just started using it.  Why?  It felt to be just another ‘alignment’ of my outside presentation with my internal self.   It was not a smooth change. I’ve met a lot of resistance.  Some have refused to use it. I’ve lost business and work.  It bothered a lot of people.  It brought up fears and questions of trust.  I was hard to stereotype. To make quick presumptions about (unless they were not good!)

So my 'Katie' name bothered a lot of people. I tried variations like Katie-J, or even Katie-John to no avail. I'm tired of the uphill push.  I’m going back to my guy name in public, and keeping "Katie" for my real friends.  And undercover in the ‘real’ world.

Katie Smith, CaliforniaKatie