I'm a ftm transsexual living in Finland. In Finland we need a trans-diagnosis from a doctor to (more easyly) get threatments and juridical changes. There are only two doctors in the country who can give the diagnosis. I tried to get it but was denied because i have depression. I then started taking testosterone on my own. I tried to get my name changed without a doctors recomendation but was denied. I complained to the court and am now waiting for their decicion. It's very hard living with these official documents.

Two years ago i was in a psychiatric hospital because my depression. They told me i'm a girl all the time, tried to force me to use the womens bathroom, called me with my official womens name and sometimes they even laughed when i said i'm not a girl. I know other transsexuals with the same experiences from psychiatric hospitals from recent years. They tell people they will never get hormones and force ftm's to use dresses. This happens mostly to people under 18 and noone seems to care.

This is a very disturbing story. I feel very sorry for this girl and hope that she can find a way to resolve her very real concerns. I am a pre op MTF living in Hawai'i and have had some level of unwanted and unwarranted harassment, not quite as bad as this, and it is extremely frightening.

move to Thailand - the culture here is very tolerant of trans-gender persons.

Tranphobia in Finland:

I am a Male to Female pre op transexual, and I was stopped on the street and immediatelly beaten because of my gender. The agressor hit on the floor, said very agressive words ("you are a f**king man! You don't have a pussy to have lipsticks or a hat like this") and was demanding to have my hair cut ("you have 1 minute to cut your hair or I will beat you"). I knew I couldn't confront him phisically and I had no chance to run away. What scared me most is that I became a sort of hostage and I had to take him to my place (!!!) - it happened very close by where I live, after I left the public bus - and after a lot of talk he went away without further phisical damage to me.

It's the first time I have dealt with transphobia in this country, and for some moments I really thought he could have killed me. I am really scared and don't know what to do, since he already knows where I live. I also woiuld like to know how to react in such cases, when calling to police is just impossible at the moment