If dating takes a leap into the unknown for everybody, the process surely raises some extra dilemmas for transwomen. Especially in Lithuania, the most backward country in the European Union as far as protection of transgender rights are concerned.
Plus, having your identity displayed can be difficult in a system that exclusively recognizes personal names in relation to the gender assigned at birth. Surely nicknames can help in the short term but, in the long one, your identification card becomes a skeleton in the closet hard to get rid of. By being confined in this legal and physical limbo, transgender persons are invisible in the society. In a society that is still established on patriarchal dogmas, conducting a safe romantic and sexual life becomes even more challenging for transwomen.
Taking a closer look to the problem, two main reasons can be mentioned to explain the difficulties that transwomen face in dating. The first concerns the choice of whether coming out as a transgender while dating, thus being more exposed to the risk of verbal and physical abuse.
The second reason has to do with modalities and instruments related to dating: on which means a transwomen can rely in order to plan and conduct a date? Maybe spontaneous face-to-face interaction? Social networks, dating apps? If we take into consideration the first option, not to be aware of the reaction of the other person to your transgender identity, is a high factor of risk and a discouraging reason to engage in a date. It could be then concluded that for transwomen dating pool is often object of a double-standard.
In the first scenario, transwomen might be accepted in the dating arena, but still running a high risk of being objectified, having their identity very much sexualized and often being secluded to a secret dimension, not worth enough to be visible in daylight.
