As a trans woman one of my deepest regrets is never having had the chance to experience a period. I did have an unusual kind of vaginoplasty, peritoneal pull through, which causes me to spot for a day or two every 3 or 4 weeks. It is exactly this inconvenience that was one of the reasons I opted for it. I wanted to be as close to a cis woman as possible. I had always had a woman’s brain; I just needed some help with my body and genitals to conform them to it to be congruent. I am happier than I have ever been since completing my evolution, but there are things I long for that forever will be out of reach for me. To have periods, to have the ability to become pregnant and bear a chid of my own, they are still some of my fondest fantasies.

Many of my cis girlfriends do not understand this. They also do not understand the joy I take in getting a mammogram or visiting my gynecologist, putting my feet in the stirrups and being examined by her with a speculum. All these things make me feel more authentic, more feminine. No matter how authentic and passable we become as trans women, there are always little things that for many of us will be forever out of reach, yet still treasured in our imaginations.