‘I transitioned in 1977 as a teenager – it was basically the Stone Age for trans healthcare’
Marilyn Pieronek transitioned at 15. (Instagram/mardipantz)
Marilyn Pieronek transitioned at 15. (Instagram/mardipantz)
A trans woman has spoken out about how she transitioned in 1977 when she was a teenager.
Marilyn Pieronek, aka Mardi, has blown away social media users with her insightful and harrowing life stories about growing up trans.
The 63-year-old Canadian shared with PinkNews that she began transitioning socially in 1977 when she was 15.
“I came from a sort of like a centre-right family, so it was very tough growing up.”
They added that back then it was difficult to access the type of information they needed to fully understand themselves and their identity.
@pinknews Meet Marilyn Pieronek, aka Mardi, she’s a 63-year old Canadian trans woman who has blown up on social media with her insightful and harrowing life stories. She took time out to speak with us to share her incredible journey… #lgbtqia #transgender #canada #transitioning #pride ♬ Piano music(806606) – Draganov89
Pieronek found solace in the other trans kids in the area to help with their journey, who were young runaways themselves.
They said: “That’s where I started learning tales about Vancouver. That was the place where people went to transition. There was this place called Davie Street, which was like the gay Mecca of Western Canada.”
Pieronek ran away from her Conservative home in Calgary at 15 and headed straight for Vancouver to start afresh with her trans friends. But they admit that their naivety made them unaware of the harsh reality of their situation.
“On the bus over to Vancouver, I remember asking the kids, ‘so what do we do when we run out of money?’ Are there places we can go for help and stuff?’ They just looked at me like I was crazy, and said, ‘we work Davie Street’, and that’s when it downed on me.”
They were thrown into a life of sex work to navigate life as a runaway trans teen and to fund her gender affirming surgeries.
Their first day in Vancouver was also when their addiction to drugs began.
They said of their addiction: “As a 63-year-old woman, I just cradle that inner child of mine. She was just so scared and she didn’t want to do that, but that’s what you had to do back then.”
Since then, they got sober and decided to document and share their life both thorough their podcast, A Life Lives Trans, and social media videos.
They frequently talk about their experiences, including getting bottom surgery at 35 years old. They shared that they were so afraid of having the surgery when they were younger after seeing the work done on another girl when she was 18.
“It was basically the Stone Age back when I first went to see a doctor about it. I was 18, 1980. Their handiwork was not like it is today.”
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