Plastic surgery can be a boon to those who need it, but it cannot by itself effectively or convincingly feminize the trans-woman. 

In the article entitled “It’s a grey world; trans-feminization” on this website, I have pointed out that even after the trans-woman has undergone the very best of feminizing surgeries & now possesses a perfect, stereotypically female figure, a lovely face and even a normal appearing, functionally orgasmic vagina, she is still confronted by a group of persistent problems that cannot even begin to be resolved through the benefits of surgery alone. 

More than skin deep

Trans-women are human with human needs & desires just like everybody else. In this sense they want to be not only liked, accepted & admired but also loved & cared for.  However, beauty isn’t everything.  I think we have all known people who were physically beautiful yet inexplicably not terribly attractive, whereas others despite lacking as much physical beauty seemed highly attractive, because of the intangibles.  And this isn’t just a case of the ‘eye of the beholder’.  It mostly has to do with personal features that go far more than skin-deep, features such as one's vibes, attitudes & personality.

Beyond the physical

The intangibles are complex & they go way beyond likeability.  For example, the wiring of the trans-woman’s brain is programmed to define her feminine sense of identity, and that is all.  This unusual wiring of hers does not extend to her sexual orientation or preferences, or to the nuances of a feminine personality.  This is why some trans-women continue to move & speak with a male style, to sit in their chairs with their legs wide apart & to be needlessly aggressive at times in their dealings with others, despite earnestly wishing to become more overtly feminine.

The feminine mystique

Of course the nuances of female body-language & behavior can to a degree be learned, like learning a foreign language, indeed in medieval samurai society high-born genetic women were schooled in the techniques of being “super-feminine”, where their body language, facial expressions and behavioral habits were deliberately exaggerated to an unnatural degree that transcended those of normal femininity, & the result could be appealing if not highly erotic.  This kind of faux femininity may have been feigned, but a more natural form of spontaneous, unforced femininity that doesn’t have to be learned accompanies the use of effective forms of feminizing hormone therapy (F-HRT).   This is one of the inevitable consequences of what I have personally termed “fractal feminization”. 

Fractal feminization

The first point to make about fractal femininity has to do with facial feminization.  No amount of surgery can mimic the feminizing influences that hormones exert upon the face, and particularly on the eyes.  The feminizing hormones when administered effectively alter the face in the same manner that the hormones of pregnancy alter a genetic woman’s face, making it softer, prettier & more appealing.  Furthermore the living face, in contrast to the face in a photograph, is a dynamic platform for exhibiting one’s facial expressions.  
The most attractive feature in a woman, in my opinion, has to do with her eyes, as they reflect her aura, her feelings, her vibes & personality.  This reflects the intangible feminine “mystique”, which simply cannot be faked, hence the critical importance in the trans-woman of natural facial feminization, extending down even to the cellular level.

Cellular femininity

This brings us to my own original concept of fractal femininity, whereby feminization whether it involves the natural cis-transformation of the prepubescent girl into the adult woman or the process of trans-feminization in the trans-woman, starts from the inside and works its way naturally outward & upward, from the tiny scale of the molecular & the microscopic to the macro scale of the person in her wonderful entirety.   This means that in order to truly & convincingly feminize the human body to a credible degree so that it appears & feels feminine not only from afar but from up close and not only from looking at a still, air-brushed photograph but meeting someone in the living, dynamic flesh, one must naturally re-engineer it out of feminine building blocks instead of throwing a superficial veneer of femininity over it like a coat of paint.  It means feminizing the body’s individual cells & working from the ground upward. 

Changes both physical & mental

Neither physical nor mental feminization can be put on & taken off like an overcoat.  Only hormones have the power to physically feminize the entire body.  They do this to great effect when administered expertly & correctly, leading not only to buttock & breast development but totally altering the body’s fat deposition, adding here, taking away there, narrowing the waist, softening the muscles and the skin, reducing body hair while restoring it to some degree on the scalp area. 

Beyond facial & bodily feminization, the use of feminizing hormones also promotes powerful mental & particularly emotional & personality changes, shifting the person’s “aura” in the feminine direction.   Changes in brain & mind powered by feminizing-HRT allow the mind to match the person’s new gender identity in terms of personality, mood, sensitivity and level of patience while reducing the typically masculine traits of impulsivity, anger, rage & aggression. New behavior patterns encompass differences in body language, in gait, posture, even manner of speech and vocal texture.  Meanwhile over and above these natural hormone-induced changes one has to voluntarily unlearn a lifetime of ingrained masculine habits such as becoming less blatant & forceful with people and sitting demurely in a skirt with ones knees drawn together instead of spread apart, for example.  None of this is easily or rapidly achieved but the rewards are great, including a newfound confidence & peace of mind. 

The end result

In the words of one of my patients, “I used to feel emotionally numb all the time, and I didn’t want to go out.  Oral hormones did little to change this, indeed I think I probably knew more about feminizing hormones than my family doctor who prescribed them for me.  But now, after about 18 months on effective, non-oral feminizing hormone therapy with your help, I feel unstoppable, strong & beautiful.  Men gather around me like moths to a flame and I am in complete control of both my personal & professional lives.”