Jaimie Wilson was 21 when he posted a set of side-by-side photographs from before and after his gender transition on Instagram in early 2017. A musician, DJ and model (HuffPost Canada described him as a Florida native, while other reports placed him in Ann Arbor, Michigan), he shared them to show that transgender people do not all fit one picture, and he later described the years behind those pictures in an interview with the British site UNILAD. His story is less about how he looks now than about what it took to get there: years of hiding, a family that turned away, and the relief of finally living as himself.
Below, his photographs sit alongside the main points of that interview, plus some background on what gender dysphoria is, what testosterone does and does not do, and why family acceptance matters so much to transgender young people.
Who Jaimie Wilson is and why he shared these photos
Jaimie was assigned female at birth. As a teenager he experienced gender dysphoria, the distress that can come from a mismatch between a person's gender identity and the sex they were assigned. At that point in his life, the idea of building a career in music and modelling while openly being a young man felt out of reach.
By the time these pictures went online, things had changed. He was performing, modelling, had well over 100,000 Instagram followers and, by his own account, was more confident than he had ever been. Posting the comparison shots was his way of telling teenagers in the position he once was in that their future is not fixed by where they start.
Photos like these tend to travel quickly on social media because the visual change is striking. They are worth reading carefully, though. Each picture is a moment Jaimie chose to share, not a medical record, and the outward change is only one part of a much longer personal process.
Growing up hiding who he was
Jaimie told UNILAD that he was certain he was male by the age of 15. He grew up in a strict, religious household, though, and decided that coming out so young would not be safe. So he waited, planning to deal with it once he could live independently.
In the meantime he found small, private ways to be himself. He bought clothes from the men's section whenever he could and tried them on in front of the mirror. At home he kept those clothes in a drawer hidden under a top layer of girls' clothing, in case his parents searched his room.
The hardest part, he said, was believing he might never be able to transition at all. He kept his feelings to himself for years, afraid that telling anyone would cost him everyone he loved. Many transgender adults describe the same pattern: knowing early, then concealing it until it feels safe to speak.
Starting to transition
Eventually Jaimie decided to go ahead. Transition is usually slow and costly, and it can involve social steps (a new name, pronouns, haircut and clothing), legal steps such as changing documents, and, for some people, medical care. Not everyone takes every step, and none of them is required for someone to be transgender.
For Jaimie, one of the first big moments was cutting off his long hair. He told UNILAD that the world around him stayed the same, yet it felt completely new. His anxiety in social situations and his general stress, he said, faded away.
"I became a more happy and lively person. I became me."
Later he began testosterone therapy. He compared starting hormones, after almost two decades of living as someone else, to finally being given something that let him look, sound and feel like the person he had always pictured.
What testosterone actually does
Testosterone, prescribed and monitored by a doctor, gradually produces changes such as a deeper voice, facial and body hair, more muscle and a shift in where the body stores fat. Some of these, like the deeper voice and facial hair, are permanent; others can reverse if treatment stops. Periods usually stop within a few months. Treatment needs regular blood tests, because testosterone can raise red blood cell counts and affect cholesterol and the liver. Anyone considering it should talk to a doctor experienced in transgender care.
Losing friends and family
Jaimie came out while still at high school, and many friends drifted away. He thinks they were worried about what others would say, at an age when fitting in feels everything. His view is simple: he changed his appearance, not who he is, so anyone who left over that never valued the person underneath.
The deepest loss was his family. He had been raised to believe that family love is unconditional, and he described realising that, in his case, it was not. He remembers coming home with short hair and men's clothes and hearing his mother say she did not mind that he liked girls, but asked why he had to look like that. To him, it showed that what she cared about most was his outward appearance.
His advice to people raised the way he was is not to spend a lifetime trying to please relatives who will not accept them. Real family, he said, will love you as you are. He summed up his own experience this way:
"I didn't lose family. I lost people that share the same blood as me."
Why acceptance at home matters
Research backs up how much this matters. The Trevor Project's 2024 national survey of LGBTQ+ young people in the US found that transgender and nonbinary youth whose pronouns were respected by the people they lived with reported lower rates of suicide attempts. Young people in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those in very unaccepting ones. When respondents were asked what support looked like, the top answer was simply trusting that they know who they are.
"Passing" and other common myths
Jaimie said one of the most harmful assumptions he faced was that a trans person must have always "looked the part". As he put it:
"There are no 'signs' to be transgender."
"Passing" means being seen by strangers as the gender you identify with. It can make daily life safer, but it is not a test of whether someone is really transgender. Some trans people never take hormones or have surgery, and their identity is just as real.
A few other myths come up often:
- "It's a phase." The American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual describes gender dysphoria in teenagers and adults as lasting at least six months and causing real distress. Many adults report having hidden their feelings since childhood, as Jaimie did.
- "Being transgender is a mental illness." The same manual says gender nonconformity on its own is not a disorder. What can be treated is the distress.
- "Everyone regrets transitioning." Studies vary in quality, but a 2021 review estimated regret after gender-affirming surgery at around 1 percent.
Jaimie also described his body in a way many people find surprising. He said he did not have to accept a new body; the image he had carried in his head for years simply became real, and he made the body he already had feel like home.
A younger child's story
Many transgender people say they first sensed something was different when they were very young. The short documentary below follows Jack, a boy who was assigned female at birth, and shows how his parents learned to understand and support him. It is a useful companion to Jaimie's story because it shows the other side of the same situation: what it looks like when a family chooses acceptance early.
If you are a parent trying to make sense of a child's questions about gender, start by listening without judgement, and talk to your family doctor or a paediatric specialist about local support. If you are a young person in Jaimie's old situation, LGBTQ+ helplines and youth organisations in many countries can talk things through confidentially.
Jaimie's photographs are striking, but what stays with you is the plain message behind them: he did not become someone else. He became comfortable being who he already was, and he wanted others to know that is possible.
Sources: Jaimie Wilson's interview with UNILAD (2017); PinkNews, 27 March 2017; HuffPost Canada, 31 March 2017; Wikipedia: Gender dysphoria; Wikipedia: Masculinizing hormone therapy; The Trevor Project: 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People. Photographs: Jaimie Wilson.
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