Art of Transliness

Adrian: It depends on the state. There are filing fees, costs associated with publishing your intent to change your name in the local papers, and the court fees. I would say budget between $100-$300 dollars for the whole process when you represent yourself in court. We also suggest that you do not disclose to the judge your motive to change your name as it relates to your gender identity. Just say that you want to change your name “to better represent myself” - that phrasing seems to do the trick nearly 100% of the time.

Zak: I can’t say for sure whether or not you’ll have a period in between getting the implant removed and having them go away on testosterone. I can say that it often can take a few months on testosterone before periods completely stop. I don’t know how long it takes for periods to resume normally after the removal of a contraceptive implant, but looking online it seems like they can resume after a week or so after having the implant removed and so that would make it fairly likely that you would have one or two periods before testosterone kicked in and stopped them (assuming you started testosterone right after getting the implant removed). Everyone’s body is different, though. Some people have their periods stop much faster on testosterone than others. 

Zak: I definitely had no clue that I was transgender when I was 15, and so if there’s something wrong with not always knowing than the two of us are in the same boat. I’ve met people who didn’t realize they were trans* until they were in their 30s or 40s, and heard of people who didn’t realize until even later. Everyone figures things out at their own pace and has their own journey. There are people out there who always knew that they were male (or not female, anyway), as well as people whose gender identities are more complicated or have been more fluid throughout their life or who took longer to figure everything out. So, I’d personally not worry about it too much if you’re just know realizing things at 15. You’re certainly not alone in that respect. Instead, I think it’s important to focus on what is right for you and to really think, research, and reflect. :)

Zak: Sure, although actually it would be easier for me to just make a video on that so I’ll do that today. 

Zak: I honestly don’t know. If you are malnourished, that will certainly affect muscle development and stuff like that. I did find a video of someone talking about starting transition with an eating disorder that you might at least find interesting in that the person discusses how their physical transition has impacted their eating disorder (I should warn you that he does discuss his eating disorder and how it feels, and so that might be triggering to you or others). Overall really I have to say that it is difficult to say because I’m sure that this would depend and I don’t know too much about the physical issues involved here. It’s good that you are trying to get help. I know that Ryan Sallans frequently talks about his experience with being trans* and having overcome and eating disorder so he might be a good person to reach out to.