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jorgelito: No problem on the use of "tranny". Clearly no offense was intended and none was taken.
As to the German athlete you mention, that is a good illustration of the effects of hormones on a genetic female. In the case of Heidi Krieger (now Andreas) the way her body changed was not wanted. Increased musculature, deep voice, whiskers, suppression of the menstrual cycle, etc.
Testosterone must be related to anabolic steroids. I am not chemist or physician enough to comment past that.
Craven_Morehead: Thanks for the kind words.
JustJess: On "Tranny" being offensive, as mentioned not all feel that way. Transsexuals generally dislike it because that term covers quite an assortment of human behavior. I don't like it because it lumps me in one group with drag queens, crossdressers, a variety of fetishists, etc. Its too wide an umbrella. I am a woman and want to be nothing else. Queens and crossdressers are men and are happy with that.
Again, many of those in transition, planning on transitioning, or recently post-op are trying to figure out what is what. In discussions on terminology on some of the Yahoo groups the exchange usualy starts out with a reasoned conversation but invariably soon gets to the "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" level. Snooze.
Transition is just like going through puberty and adolescence a second time. Its a new world out there and there is a lot to learn.
Example: suddenly the TS person realizes that she is far more vulnerable simply for being a woman. All it takes is some jerk yelling "hey baby, come over here!" when she is wearing heels and cannot run to safety. Suddenly she learns that she can and might well be raped.
When living as a male the idea of being raped is not on the screen. Its been the subject of jokes not a real worry.
I was once read as a TS by a girlfriend about this. She was telling me about having been raped. Apparently I reacted with concern for her. But later she told me that genetic women respond with fear. They have lived with that horrid possibility since infancy. I have not. Its not a part of me as it is for other women.
Other examples:
Suddenly she finds that her opinion is treated with far less respect. As a technician I could get with other techs when one of us had a difficult problems. Ideas and suggestions get bounced back in forth. Sometimes two heads really are better than one. On my first tech job as a woman I found that my suggestions would be either pooh-poohed and dismissed or tried only as a last resort. That came as a rude surprise.
She has to get used to things like men interrupting in conversation. Men interrupt women something like ten times as often as the reverse. To this day I often have to bite my tongue when a guy decides that what he has to say is more important than what I AM saying. There have been times when I wanted to slap the guy silly for being so rude. :-)
JustJess, you also asked about why some trans people are so girly. Why they like more extreme fashions.
First, remember the trans people you notice are only a part of the whole. As for the rest I think that what we have here is a second adolescence. They/we/I (pronouns get confusing) wanted to be right in our own bodies for so long going a little extreme in fashion or behavior should be expected. In MTFs that shows up in too much makeup and wearing high heels where other women wear flats and a little mascara. In FTMs it often comes out as a macho schmuck phase as they learn what is appropriate behavior for a man.
Eventually most TS seem to just blend in with the other women or men. After all we don't go through all of this stuff just to be transsexuals. We are woman and just want to live the same sort of lives as others do.
I hope that this addresses most of your questions. If not feel free to ask.
MadMabel
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