Alex Mariah Peter
After transphobic experiences, she dares to take the step forward
Alex Mariah Peter
© instagram.com/alexmariahpeter
Alex Mariah Peter has made a steep career after her GNTM victory. But she also uses her wide reach for serious topics and education – such as recently with a picture from before her transition. She explains what this is all about in a detailed story.
Alex Mariah Peter, 24, knows her history and celebrity are polarizing. One of the reasons why she gave her followers permission to ask questions about her transition. Before doing so, however, she clarifies that asking questions without permission is insensitive because they are aimed at very private issues and no one is accountable to anyone else.
In the past she has kept a very low profile on the subject. However, two negative experiences in one day, in which she was attacked as a transphobia, showed her how much need for speech and clarification still existed. With her step on the offensive, she wants to ensure a more sensitive handling of the topic, but also for a more sensitive togetherness and maybe help other trans people with it.
Alex Mariah Peter shows a picture from before
To start her question and answer session, Alex posts a picture of herself before she started the gender reassignment procedure. Posting a picture from before the transition is a big step, which is also viewed with some criticism in the queer community. Alex says they have received many sad messages expressing their fears that such an image would legitimize further requests for footage from and before the transition. Likewise, it can be a trigger when someone suffers from gender dysphoria, which is the rejection of secondary sex characteristics that are inherited from birth.
Alex nevertheless decided to post the picture because on the one hand she felt comfortable with it and would no longer identify with the photograph, she reveals in her Instagram story. On the other hand, she would have the attention of her followers so that she would be listened to. She would have preferred not to show the picture herself, because what role does it play whether the public knows what she used to look like, she became famous on GNTM as Alex Mariah Peter.
She admits that questions about the former name or appearance suggest that it is not the person who is present that is important, but that there is more interest in the external person from the past, although they are still the same person.
Alex Mariah Peter clarifies in a Q&A
Precisely to clarify such situations, the 24-year-old announces a question and answer session for the next day, in which she would also like to address serious issues such as hormone therapy, but makes it clear: “But I won’t talk about it what gender reassignment measures I have undertaken.” For example, she does not count her open discourse about her breast operation as part of her transition process, since a breast was already present, which is why it is easier for her to deal with it openly.
The first question the model answers is her name. She deliberately chose no other name, Mariah was just added. As a reason she gives: “It was also a sign to myself that I’m not a different person. Only my exterior has adapted to my interior.”
A very important question in the story is about hormone therapy. One person wanted to know “how was hormone therapy for you”. Alex also asks this question and answers: “In the beginning it was very exhausting, physically and mentally. I slept an exorbitant amount for the first six months and let’s put it this way: Maria didn’t become Mariah for nothing. Attitude and temperament is sometimes at the start and especially at the beginning of hormone therapy it wasn’t necessarily less, but maybe a bit more and more irrational.” The hormone dose is by no means adapted to the hormone balance of a woman, but is significantly higher – roughly comparable to that of a pregnant woman.
Outing, desire to have children – Alex as private as seldom
And as previously announced, the former GNTM candidate does not shy away from an answer. Even intimate questions about her coming out and her desire to have children are answered diligently and there is a lot of positive feedback. Very touched, she thanks her followers with another picture.
Colleague Stefanie Giesinger celebrates the step into the public eye and comments under the picture: “Love you Superwoman”.
Source used: instagram.com