The danger that our trans sisters face, particularly during the initial stages of transition (or prior to any hormonal transition), when interacting with men, due to the perceptions those men may hold.

This serves as a wake-up call, specifically for those trans women who are in the early phases of their transition, or who have not yet begun a hormonal transition but who wish to date men.

As a community, we sometimes, with the best of intentions, encourage and flatter our trans sisters who are just taking their first steps in their transition. We do this to help them build their self-confidence and to help them see that they are beautiful, valid, and feminine. That is a wonderful thing; I applaud it, and we should certainly continue to foster it. However, there is an unfortunate downside. Sometimes, our sisters who are just starting their transition may acquire—perhaps—*too much* confidence; to such an extent, in fact, that it could prevent them from recognizing the ulterior motives that some men might harbor toward them. The reasoning is simple and goes like this: "If I am valid, feminine, and beautiful, then surely I won't have any trouble with any man I want to date, at least not regarding the fact that I am a woman." Wrong. We may harbor all the goodness in the world within ourselves, but that does not guarantee that men will treat us, or perceive us, with that same level of kindness. Let's be clear: the primary danger is that these trans women run the risk of falling prey to "chasers" and fetishists. These "chasers" may speak sweetly to these women and make them feel good about themselves, but, most likely, they do not view them as women, but rather as peculiar sexual objects. My point is that even trans women who possess the absolute ability to "pass as cis", albeit to a lesser extent, are still sought after by these "chasers" the moment it is revealed that they are trans. The other danger is that, even if these men are not "chasers" *per se*, they might simply fail to see these women as real women. They might simply lie in order to prolong the relationship and obtain sexual favors from them. This, of course, happens even with trans women who possess the absolute ability to pass as cisgender—though, undoubtedly, to a much lesser degree. And that is truly regrettable. For we all desire that our partners recognize our identity in the most fundamental sense; yet, out of sheer convenience, they may simply be incapable of doing so. One way to mitigate this situation to some extent is to engage in honest and insightful self-analysis, asking ourselves the following while looking in the mirror: "If I knew absolutely nothing about the person looking back at me, would I believe, based solely on their appearance, that they have more in common with a man or with a woman?" This exercise can help us hone our discernment, guided by our own judgment, during those moments when we feel we are not yet ready.

Does this mean that these women should give up on finding love? No, not at all. They simply need to be patient and wait for a more opportune moment; for what we certainly do not want is to attract "chasers", men who fail to see us as women whatsoever and who objectify us.