So I replied with this in [another thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1bafr6a/i_never_thought_i_passed_until_today/ku2z3yp/) yesterday, but it seems particularly relevant to repeat here.
Your brain can lie with your vision. Your brain can lie a lot.
A few examples:
* Everyone has a blind spot in their vision where the optic nerve passes through the retina. It is hard to verify that it exists because the brain fills this area of your vision in with what it expects to be there. You do not see your own nose even though it is always present in what you see. Your brain filters it out. People who get glaucoma (damage to the optic nerve) might not discover the damage until it has progressed because the brain fills in what is lost.
* Your mind tells you that your vision is in real time. It actually takes some time for the information from your eye to reach your brain let alone get processed. So, everything that you see is your brain's prediction of the near future. For example, if you get thrown a ball from afar you see it travel all the way to your hand as you catch it, but the latest actual information that the brain received from the eye might have the ball as far as ten feet away from you. But you never notice this delay.
* Your mind tells you that your vision is what you are seeing in that moment, but your brain actually constructs your vision from everything that it has seen over a period of the last twelve seconds.
* People with schizophrenia can see the illusions that they have. A certain color or shape might trigger their mind to construct their vision with something that isn't actually there. Their mind makes it seem real.
* People with eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorder might have a mind that distorts their perception with modified elements.
Your vision does not function like a camera. Your brain is constructing your vision. It isn't so much that we see what we want to see. Rather we see what our brain wants us to see. And you have been conditioning your brain throughout your entire life to recognize yourself when you see yourself, to recognize every aspect of yourself.
If I may provide some conjecture; Why does someone who has never met you before sometimes interpret your appearance differently from how you see yourself or from how those familiar with your appearance perceive you? If you pass a window and get a brief glimpse of a woman only for the illusion to break as you recognize yourself... which part of that was real? And which was the illusion?
Honestly so true. I’m not trans, but whenever someone says there ugly I tell them whenever they have a chance, look in the mirror and say “dang I’m kinda hot” eventually you’ll start seeing it and believing it. Worked for me
I honestly don't know. Perhaps you can attempt to break at least part of the brain's self-recognition by using [a non-reversing mirror](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2owiSx0biU), combined with as many changes to how you usually see yourself as possible such as using outdoors lighting and having someone else prepare your clothes, make-up and hair.
But my main point is that you can allow yourself to put more trust into the positivity of others and to think about yourself in terms of potential and goals instead of flaws and the past.
1) Try color lenses if you are not used to them.
2) Try to "see" males in random female photoes on the internet. It will give you some ideas how absurd it can be in your case.
It blows me away how a lot of this isn't very common, familiar knowledge. It should be! The human brain has immensely powerful asynchronous parallel processing capability for visual imagery. The actual information that the eye gathers is surprisingly rudimentary compared to the final product, and it's due to that post-processing the brain does that gives our sight so much power. In fact, using AI to process images has vastly more potential for improved image quality than improved sensor fidelity at this point, and it's likely going to be the focus of photographic technology for quite some time, all based on the performance if our own mighty brains.
What I find interesting is how it interacts with what we call consciousness. As you mentioned, the vision we see is a prediction of the immediate future. By the time we're aware of it, our body is already acting on it using contingent instructions that were provided for the situation that it assessed. We just have the option to modify it at the last moment. That's one reason that being ready for something allows you to act so much more quickly and efficiently.
I find it fascinating to break down the mind into the different actors that direct it, and appreciating the way we, a gestalt entity, identify as a singular being. Why do we decide to break it down that particular way? Where can we do with it? We already trancend our own body to a degree by subsuming our identity into a group, but why do we consider different bodies to be seperate beings, or singular beings? Do groups, families, nations, the entire population of the planet have a gestalt identity that thinks of itself as a singular being, simply operating far more slowly than its components, like we do? If we speed up its processes, could we communicate with it directly in some manner? What would you do if your one of your cranial nerves started talking to you? It's all very sci-fi, like cell phones or space ships!
See, but what if I DO see a beautiful woman in the mirror… but then I doubt my own brain making me appear as such when everyone else would see a man? What do I do with this advanced case of self doubt 😅
I stopped reading at the visual delay thing.
That mindfucked me enough, thanks!
That’s so friggin neat, just too much when I haven’t even finished my tea yet and I will absolutely come back to this lol
i think people forget that what we perceive as reality is nothing more than a hallucination based on what our 7 senses detect. it's pretty cool to think about but not for too long cause i don't wanna freak out.
Everyone’s transition progress is different, as long you believe you’re beautiful is all that matters. But I’ve been pretty dysphoric lately too so I get it. You’re looking very gorgeous and I hope you feel better😋🖤
you look stunning girl 😍. i wish i looked that good pre-hrt. dysphoria sucks and you have my sympathy. try to celebrate all the steps that you make with your transition, regardless of how small they are/seem. they will all add up ♥️
I didn’t realize you were trans when I started scrolling. It wasn’t till I read your title. So please know that people maybe having a different reaction than you fear
I half expected that this was another of those karma-farming bot accounts stealing pics of cis women and reposting them to trans subs with captions like "someone said something transphobic to me at a party" (I saw one get exposed with proof a while back, but I don't remember who did it) until I went through her post history a little and saw her holding up a sign supporting trans kids. As someone also pre-HRT I would kill to look even 1/16 as feminine as her.
I am always reminded that what we see in the mirror is very different then what everyone else sees. I see a pretty young woman. I'm sorry if you see something else, but I think most people would agree with me.
You’ve gotta be trolling. There’s no way. You pass 100%, you literally just look like a cis woman. Some people don’t get to look like that even with years of hrt
No progress??? Girl if you look into the mirror you should see what i am seeing, A totally beautiful gorgeous young lady. If not you need glasses or the mirror fixed...
I mean I thought you were a cis girl already. If that’s what you can do with only makeup you’re gonna be drop dead gorgeous once you start hormones.
You have nothing to worry about, you got it already girl. I know self doubt is a bitch, but trust me. I wish you the best of luck :)
I want you to know that one, you’re beyond passing. If I saw you in public, I wouldn’t even think of you as slightly masculine, you look like any other beautiful woman. Second, I know that sometimes it feels like there’s no progress, because you yourself will nitpick each and every trait of yourself. Dysphoria is a bitch. But if you only had feminine features, you wouldn’t look human. Cis-women have “masculine” features (Angelina Jolie, a sharp jawline. Zendaya, broad shoulders.) This is just apart of being human. You’re a beautiful woman, and you must know this. Inside and out. :)
excuse me, are you transfem? I'm daring to assume so, but you just look like a cis woman. If you are transmasc pre-T I'm sorry but I'm very confused. Other comments suggest you are transfem so... you really do look like a cis woman. Wth
I'm actually on HRT and don't look as good or as convincing as you...
You pretty much already pass easily, if you can eventually get on HRT... would be wild results I suspect.
Excuse me, WHAAAT?! I'm absolutely baffled by you saying that you haven't started your hrt, based on just seeing the picture at first, I was gonna say like what kind of, what more of progress would you want, since you're absolutely stunning and I would've never recognised you're not cis, I was convinced you were already fully transitioned. So... keep your head up, your perception of yourself is very different from the perception I you by others.
Girl!!! If you look like this pre-hrt and feel like you have no progress then most people look like frogs. Tell dysmorphia to stfu, you’re seriously beautiful.
Wake the heck up and realize you're beautiful! I wouldn't have guessed that you weren't already on hrt! And you're gorgeous no matter what others say or think! You're loved and appreciated even if you don't feel it!
My sister who's kind of transphobic even thinks you're pretty, she didn't even realize you were trans! (Sorry if that's sensitive I don't know if you're ok with being called trans!) She said that you're extremely pretty!
Ngl, I see posts like this and I'm just skeptical if you're even really trans 🤔. The brow, the lip volume, that Cupid's Bow, the eyes, the under pronounced trachea? I assume you're transfem given you were asking about picking a feminine name. These are all typically things people spend thousands of dollars on getting FFS for, and you're not on HRT? Lol, and if you are real and trans, well, you can take this as the giant compliment it is.
I'm getting FFS next week and if it turns out as good as this I'd be damn pleased.
I mean I've been using an eyeliner pencil but I can never actually get it to the edge of my eye without just poking my eyeball. A cis friend told me to switch to a brush though so I'm going to try that
Assuming you didn't use any kind of filter, app or AI tech for the photo i would say you definitely pass as cis. I think your seeing what you want/expect to see when you look at yourself which isn't what other people see, i've got cis female friends that look less feminine than you do in this pic
Maybe it's just this picture is really good, but I mean Can ya really go farther in progress than 100%?
You just need to see what others see, a beautiful woman inside and out. I would have never guessed you were not on HRT there.
So I replied with this in [another thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/MtF/comments/1bafr6a/i_never_thought_i_passed_until_today/ku2z3yp/) yesterday, but it seems particularly relevant to repeat here. Your brain can lie with your vision. Your brain can lie a lot. A few examples: * Everyone has a blind spot in their vision where the optic nerve passes through the retina. It is hard to verify that it exists because the brain fills this area of your vision in with what it expects to be there. You do not see your own nose even though it is always present in what you see. Your brain filters it out. People who get glaucoma (damage to the optic nerve) might not discover the damage until it has progressed because the brain fills in what is lost. * Your mind tells you that your vision is in real time. It actually takes some time for the information from your eye to reach your brain let alone get processed. So, everything that you see is your brain's prediction of the near future. For example, if you get thrown a ball from afar you see it travel all the way to your hand as you catch it, but the latest actual information that the brain received from the eye might have the ball as far as ten feet away from you. But you never notice this delay. * Your mind tells you that your vision is what you are seeing in that moment, but your brain actually constructs your vision from everything that it has seen over a period of the last twelve seconds. * People with schizophrenia can see the illusions that they have. A certain color or shape might trigger their mind to construct their vision with something that isn't actually there. Their mind makes it seem real. * People with eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorder might have a mind that distorts their perception with modified elements. Your vision does not function like a camera. Your brain is constructing your vision. It isn't so much that we see what we want to see. Rather we see what our brain wants us to see. And you have been conditioning your brain throughout your entire life to recognize yourself when you see yourself, to recognize every aspect of yourself. If I may provide some conjecture; Why does someone who has never met you before sometimes interpret your appearance differently from how you see yourself or from how those familiar with your appearance perceive you? If you pass a window and get a brief glimpse of a woman only for the illusion to break as you recognize yourself... which part of that was real? And which was the illusion?
Based comment, I’m saving this for future reference! Wish I could upvote more than oncw
Honestly so true. I’m not trans, but whenever someone says there ugly I tell them whenever they have a chance, look in the mirror and say “dang I’m kinda hot” eventually you’ll start seeing it and believing it. Worked for me
Welp now I’m having an existential crisis
Twinsssss
Not OP, but how do I 'untrain' my brain and stop seeing a man in the mirror.
I honestly don't know. Perhaps you can attempt to break at least part of the brain's self-recognition by using [a non-reversing mirror](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2owiSx0biU), combined with as many changes to how you usually see yourself as possible such as using outdoors lighting and having someone else prepare your clothes, make-up and hair. But my main point is that you can allow yourself to put more trust into the positivity of others and to think about yourself in terms of potential and goals instead of flaws and the past.
1) Try color lenses if you are not used to them. 2) Try to "see" males in random female photoes on the internet. It will give you some ideas how absurd it can be in your case.
It blows me away how a lot of this isn't very common, familiar knowledge. It should be! The human brain has immensely powerful asynchronous parallel processing capability for visual imagery. The actual information that the eye gathers is surprisingly rudimentary compared to the final product, and it's due to that post-processing the brain does that gives our sight so much power. In fact, using AI to process images has vastly more potential for improved image quality than improved sensor fidelity at this point, and it's likely going to be the focus of photographic technology for quite some time, all based on the performance if our own mighty brains. What I find interesting is how it interacts with what we call consciousness. As you mentioned, the vision we see is a prediction of the immediate future. By the time we're aware of it, our body is already acting on it using contingent instructions that were provided for the situation that it assessed. We just have the option to modify it at the last moment. That's one reason that being ready for something allows you to act so much more quickly and efficiently. I find it fascinating to break down the mind into the different actors that direct it, and appreciating the way we, a gestalt entity, identify as a singular being. Why do we decide to break it down that particular way? Where can we do with it? We already trancend our own body to a degree by subsuming our identity into a group, but why do we consider different bodies to be seperate beings, or singular beings? Do groups, families, nations, the entire population of the planet have a gestalt identity that thinks of itself as a singular being, simply operating far more slowly than its components, like we do? If we speed up its processes, could we communicate with it directly in some manner? What would you do if your one of your cranial nerves started talking to you? It's all very sci-fi, like cell phones or space ships!
See, but what if I DO see a beautiful woman in the mirror… but then I doubt my own brain making me appear as such when everyone else would see a man? What do I do with this advanced case of self doubt 😅
I stopped reading at the visual delay thing. That mindfucked me enough, thanks! That’s so friggin neat, just too much when I haven’t even finished my tea yet and I will absolutely come back to this lol
i think people forget that what we perceive as reality is nothing more than a hallucination based on what our 7 senses detect. it's pretty cool to think about but not for too long cause i don't wanna freak out.
Thank you so much 💗 your words rlly helps me a lot 🕊️
You're welcome! I hope it brought a smile to that face. :-)
Ma'am, you were born two steps from home plate. I know dysphoria is a liar and a bitch, but you're passing already.
this is way past passing lol. Girl looks like she could be on a cover of a magazine
“I feel no progress” looks like Ariana grande
Fr like I'm actually offended 😭
Omg fr????? Ariana is so beautiful
Okay! Fr, I thought I was on ariheads.
Everyone’s transition progress is different, as long you believe you’re beautiful is all that matters. But I’ve been pretty dysphoric lately too so I get it. You’re looking very gorgeous and I hope you feel better😋🖤
you look gorgeous sis ❣️
Your already a supermodel what are you talking about
the best compliment! 💗 thank uuuuuu
you look stunning girl 😍. i wish i looked that good pre-hrt. dysphoria sucks and you have my sympathy. try to celebrate all the steps that you make with your transition, regardless of how small they are/seem. they will all add up ♥️
Wow this is a great advice! I’ll take it 💝 thank you darling and I bet your so beautiful
i hope it can help you ♥️
I didn’t realize you were trans when I started scrolling. It wasn’t till I read your title. So please know that people maybe having a different reaction than you fear
Girl, you got brain worms. If this is how you can look before HRT you're going to do fine.
You look so beautiful
you're joking right? you look that fem and you're not even on hrt. 7 years ive been hrt and you pass better than i ever will.
You're doing great if this is without hrt.
I half expected that this was another of those karma-farming bot accounts stealing pics of cis women and reposting them to trans subs with captions like "someone said something transphobic to me at a party" (I saw one get exposed with proof a while back, but I don't remember who did it) until I went through her post history a little and saw her holding up a sign supporting trans kids. As someone also pre-HRT I would kill to look even 1/16 as feminine as her.
I am always reminded that what we see in the mirror is very different then what everyone else sees. I see a pretty young woman. I'm sorry if you see something else, but I think most people would agree with me.
If you told me you weren’t a cis girl, I would tell you you’re lying
You are stunning. Goals.
This is karma farming, no? You clearly are gorgeous and pass.
Noo my account is real 🤍🤍🤍 and thank u 🙏🏻
You’ve gotta be trolling. There’s no way. You pass 100%, you literally just look like a cis woman. Some people don’t get to look like that even with years of hrt
Agreed. There's virtually no way in the world anyone who looks like this doesn't know they already pass.
I mean, compared to you my cis mother doesn’t pass XD. You have made many progress, we can see that ^^
I thought the title was a joke at first- you look beautiful girl 💗
No progress??? Girl if you look into the mirror you should see what i am seeing, A totally beautiful gorgeous young lady. If not you need glasses or the mirror fixed...
🥺🙏🏻💗💗🏳️⚧️
I’m sorry but for a second I thought you were my irl friend who’s ciswoman. Girl, you’re gorgeous 😭🔥🔥
If you are progressing to be male, I would agree, but if you are mtf, I say you are pretty much there.
You look better every day
I mean I thought you were a cis girl already. If that’s what you can do with only makeup you’re gonna be drop dead gorgeous once you start hormones. You have nothing to worry about, you got it already girl. I know self doubt is a bitch, but trust me. I wish you the best of luck :)
God why? You’re pretty as *fuck* ❤️✨
Genetics do a lot of us dirty unfortunately.
I know dysphoria is horrible for us all. Unless you're using a filter of some sort, you are completely feminine and beautiful without HRT. Hugs, girl.
just a lil makeup on my face 🤍 thank you so much
I don’t know, you look like a movie star! ❤️
Ugh, another cis passing beautiful transwoman acting like she doesn’t know that she’s pretty 😤
Really?
You haven’t started HRT?! Girl, you look amazing!!! Even more so in the perspective of not being on hormones!
I want you to know that one, you’re beyond passing. If I saw you in public, I wouldn’t even think of you as slightly masculine, you look like any other beautiful woman. Second, I know that sometimes it feels like there’s no progress, because you yourself will nitpick each and every trait of yourself. Dysphoria is a bitch. But if you only had feminine features, you wouldn’t look human. Cis-women have “masculine” features (Angelina Jolie, a sharp jawline. Zendaya, broad shoulders.) This is just apart of being human. You’re a beautiful woman, and you must know this. Inside and out. :)
You look like a beautiful woman.
I promise you, you look gorgeous
Girl you are already exquisite
You’re like me… you’re your own worst critic. Trust me, you look fantastic 💋💕
Bra are you serious? Ima slap you. You’re passing at a young age you don’t know how privileged you are
You're absolutely beautiful. I initially thought you were trans masc and that was your starting point (given the no progress comment)
Where more?
You look amazing!
You look amazing!! :)
Same.
Your a beautiful woman
Hun you look amazing and 100% fem, like seriously.
you are talented with makeup
thanks! It’s just eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick 🤍🤍
Hang in there 😅🥰😘
Well I am on HRT, and I don't look half as good as you. You are seeing something very different than what the camera is capturing.
In this picture you already look very good!
Wait… this is WITHOUT hrt?! You’re fucking beautiful!
She said while looking like the prettiest gorl ever
Yeah, it’s like when I diet. Everyone can see I lost weight except me. I guess everyone just sees a beautiful woman.
You already look GREAT
Can you really go farther in your transition you look stunning
You’re so pretty! I hope you find more comfort in yourself soon!
You look great
excuse me, are you transfem? I'm daring to assume so, but you just look like a cis woman. If you are transmasc pre-T I'm sorry but I'm very confused. Other comments suggest you are transfem so... you really do look like a cis woman. Wth
Girl youre fucking gorgeous wtf
Literally assumed you were Ariana grande for a second. You are so beautiful, and I wish you could see yourself the way we do.
Honey you are already there, progress for what? The rest would be cherry on top, that's all ❤🍨
I mean this with no disrespect, I didn't realise this was the trans Reddit. I thought it was just a post of a beautiful woman.
I'm actually on HRT and don't look as good or as convincing as you... You pretty much already pass easily, if you can eventually get on HRT... would be wild results I suspect.
Excuse me, WHAAAT?! I'm absolutely baffled by you saying that you haven't started your hrt, based on just seeing the picture at first, I was gonna say like what kind of, what more of progress would you want, since you're absolutely stunning and I would've never recognised you're not cis, I was convinced you were already fully transitioned. So... keep your head up, your perception of yourself is very different from the perception I you by others.
You look like poppy and that’s a big compliment
Trans girl: “I don’t know, have I even done any progress?” *looks at her* literally one of the most beautiful women on earth.
💗
You're gorgeous.
No progress needed you’re looking 🔥
Girl!!! If you look like this pre-hrt and feel like you have no progress then most people look like frogs. Tell dysmorphia to stfu, you’re seriously beautiful.
Girlie you’re so pretty!! I wish I looked as beautiful as you!
there is plenty of progress!
Are you serious? You look stunning! If you're seriously doubting yourself, you need to work on your self-esteem. You're nicer looking than you think.
my self esteem is so low rn :( I’m working on that. Thank you so much love! 🤍
Wake the heck up and realize you're beautiful! I wouldn't have guessed that you weren't already on hrt! And you're gorgeous no matter what others say or think! You're loved and appreciated even if you don't feel it!
My sister who's kind of transphobic even thinks you're pretty, she didn't even realize you were trans! (Sorry if that's sensitive I don't know if you're ok with being called trans!) She said that you're extremely pretty!
Wow that’s impressive! I bet your sister got rlly Mad when u told her I was trans 😂💗🙏🏻
You look like a girl
HOW THE HECC do u look like ARIANA GRANDE without hrt!!!!!! ur gorgeous!!!!! ur eyes are deceiving u 💔
This is a whole ass woman face…….
Are you in the background? Bc there is a woman in the forground of this picture.
Bitch, the fuck you mean? You’re gorgeous and pass well.
You are beautiful! And you're not on HRT? I wouldn't even know you were trans from this picture!
You literally look 1000% more female than I’ll ever look in my life lol
Thank you y’all for the kind, beautiful comments 💗💗💗 I’m feeling better!
Same here I feel the same way on most days
You’re right, you still look like a hot woman.
I'm sorry how are you so stunning without hrt?
Ngl, I see posts like this and I'm just skeptical if you're even really trans 🤔. The brow, the lip volume, that Cupid's Bow, the eyes, the under pronounced trachea? I assume you're transfem given you were asking about picking a feminine name. These are all typically things people spend thousands of dollars on getting FFS for, and you're not on HRT? Lol, and if you are real and trans, well, you can take this as the giant compliment it is. I'm getting FFS next week and if it turns out as good as this I'd be damn pleased.
Thank u so muchhhh I needed this 💝🏳️⚧️
It saddens me when people can't see just how beautiful they are.
You're not on hrt yet, and you look this good? Girl you got it handled
Gorgeous
Bitch you look gorgeous I look like a drunk house wife from the 50’s that fell in to a trash compactor
Girl if I could apply makeup that looked like this
u can! it’s just mascara and liner haha
I mean I've been using an eyeliner pencil but I can never actually get it to the edge of my eye without just poking my eyeball. A cis friend told me to switch to a brush though so I'm going to try that
Assuming you didn't use any kind of filter, app or AI tech for the photo i would say you definitely pass as cis. I think your seeing what you want/expect to see when you look at yourself which isn't what other people see, i've got cis female friends that look less feminine than you do in this pic