The Shemale As A Figure in Art

The male-to-female transsexual must transform her appearance and behavior from the male and the masculine to the female and the feminine. As this chart indicates, such a transformation involves many changes, some of which are relatively simple and easy to accomplish and others of which are more complicated and difficult to achieve. Moreover, the transsexual may elect to skip any change that she does not desire to undergo. For example, many transitioning male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals opt to forego sex reassignment surgery, retaining their male genitals.

Any combination of male and female attributes is possible, and the transitioning MTF transsexual is free to stop the process at any time after her psychological counseling. (Note: The procedures on this chart do not follow the progression that most transitioning MTF transsexuals would be likely to follow; instead, it simply takes a top down approach, as it were, considering the changes that many such transsexuals undergo from head to toe.)

To reinforce her self-identification with feminine gender, the transitioning male-to-female (MTF) transsexual must undergo mandatory psychological counseling and presentation of self as a female on a continuous basis. To acquire a feminine appearance, she must wear a wig or grow long hair, styling it in a feminine manner; undergo facial plastic surgery; have collagen injected into her lips to make them fuller; undergo electrolysis; take voice lessons; have breast augmentation surgery (breast implants); acquire a feminine wardrobe, including lingerie; obtain altered legal documents that correspond with her new sex and gender; and learn and practice feminine behavior. The shemale fiction writer should be able to describe in detail any of these various processes and procedures.

The key to describing shemale characters well is juxtaposition, for a shemale character is a juxtaposition in herself; she places masculine and feminine characteristics side by side, as it were, exciting the viewer (or reader) by the surprising, if not shocking, incongruity of these contradictory features being united in a body that is both male nor female-and yet, strangely enough, neither.