"Lynn began to think that her story might help somehow. Societal views are partly a media problem. Images of transsexualism routinely come from stories of 'transition'. That's a time when media can focus on prurient, somewhat shocking and often embarrassing aspects of someone's gender change. The stories seem superficially sympathetic, but often convey a sad, dreary image. Readers are left feeling sorry for the 'poor things', and 'certainly wouldn't want it to happen in their family'!
"What doesn't come through is the miracle of release from entrapment in a male body that the transsexual girl experiences, and the happiness she finds as a woman later on. Folks never learn about the tens of thousands of post-operative women living among us who are very successful and fully accepted as regular gals. The public simply never sees these successes."
-- Lynn Conway, 2000/2004 (written in third-person, but bears Conway's copyright)
[Notice how much things have improved since 2000, and also how much better they could yet be.]