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Originally Posted by feelgood
I've heard this term used for transexual and I haven't been able to figure out what the meaning of it. What's Pre-op and Post-op??
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The terms refer to whether the transsexual has had sexual reassignement surgery (SRS). Pre-op, or pre-operative, refers to transwoman who still have male genitals. Some will have an orchiectomy, removing the testicles, for medical or aesthetic reasons before SRS, but they are still pre-op. Post-op, or post-operative, refers to those who have had SRS, and thus have genitals of their desired sex.
Though you didn't ask, I do refer to pre and post transition a lot, so I'll briefly explain that. Pre-transition refers to the time period during which the transsexual is living as their birth sex, and post-transition refers to the time period during which they are living as their desired sex. The transition time varies somewhat; some don't go full time (begin living as a woman 24/7) until a year or two after they begin treatment, some begin right away. For some, there's an identifiable coming out day, while for others they'll go full time in one place but not another.
Sissy was one who went full time very early on, and had one of those D-Days I referred to above. She came to live with me one day, went full time the next, and has never lived as a male since. Such a one-day transition is, I think, rare, but does occur. In some cases, it happens at the end of a year or two, or more, of treatment.
For older transsexuals, which is most of them, transsitioning gradually, coming out at home but not at work is a very common pattern. They'll start living their personal lives as a woman, but hold off on transitioning at work as they practice and get used to living in the social role elsewhere, and come out at work later on. This is where Jen is; she goes to work as a man, but comes home and chages into her female persona. Over the next year she plans to come out to her family and next year at her job.
Curiously, some transition at work first, especially those who have an understanding workplace. Melanie Daniels did it this way so as to make the transition easier on her children, changing on her way to work then on her way home again each night.