Josimelonie knew early on that she was not a boy. She has lived as a woman since she was a teenager and underwent gender reassignment operations. In the star-Format “Let’s be honest!” she asks herself uncomfortable user questions.
Trans, transsexual? Transgender. Which term is right for you?
I use the term trans for myself, as many in the community use it, because if you start with the easier one. The term transsexual refers to sexuality and being trans has nothing to do with sexuality at all, only with an identity. And the term transgender comes from a pathologizing time and was used to make trans people healthy. But we are healthy and therefore the term is out of place. And trans is much easier anyway. You no longer have to worry about whether it’s transgender, transsexual, it’s just trans.
How do you respond to people who say, “This is too confusing for me”?
On the one hand, I can understand that you find it confusing, but on the other hand, if you find it confusing, you have to be aware that you live a very privileged life and that you don’t have to worry about it. And in the end it’s just “understand and apply once”. And I don’t think it’s that complicated when you put it down that you convince yourself it’s complicated.
When did you realize you were a woman?
For me, gender was never that important. I only felt this in kindergarten, for example, when I went to the group at carnival as a princess and everyone said: “You’re a boy, you can’t come as a princess.” Because I was like, “Hey, why not?” So if you just noticed, here in our society we decide, that’s what boys do, that’s what girls do. And then I felt that I was definitely not one of the boys. This actually developed early on. It was around the time I was 12, 13 that I really knew I was trans that I could really judge it. When I actually – I don’t know if people still remember – I saw Lorielle London on TV and she showed me that there are ways to stand up for yourself and be yourself.
How was your path to physical change?
The journey of people with a trans background is of course very different. For me it was the case that I first decided for myself that I would now go this route. From one day to the next I spontaneously went to school as a girl, and of course I had done that before at the fair and things like that, or at carnivals. And then I actually didn’t go to a psychologist until I was 15, and that’s actually how I started my journey. But as I said, like many others, I didn’t just go for the everyday test; I had already been living as a woman for a long time when I started the medical steps.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
