Infrastructure

The young today haven't needed to take advantage of an entire underground infrastructure which had been built up around gender variance. So while much of the 20th century consisted of stealth transitions, secret drag balls, dressing clubs for heterosexual married men and makeover studios, these have started to disappear as gender expression began to go more mainstream.

It's understandable that those things were put into place when in many places gender variance merited being arrested by police, but now the need for secrecy is largely gone even as some stigma remains particularly for those who are older.

I contrast the difference from when I was in my twenties to today and it is stark. LGBTQ youth express themselves openly in public (right wingers would say brazenly) which ultimately aided me in taking my final steps towards becoming fully myself.

My meetings a few months ago with transitioning youth in their twenties also showed me how being more free of childhood trauma can do wonders for both your confidence and your self-esteem.