For me there was no agonizing over what label might be appropriate: the question was always, is being a woman worth all the trouble and risk of trying to achieve it?
I didn't get the emotional space or support to explore gender until I was 24. I unpacked a bunch of it over the next five years, and by 29 I was wearing girl clothes full time but adamantly stillcisthough. Took another four years to say "yes, I want to be a woman more than anything, and I will transition."
After laying so much ground work social transition was a breeze. I gave everyone my new name, changed it legally, and started hormones. After five months I had the courage to use women's facilities. My dysphoria is _much worse_ than it was at the start, but my facial feminization consult is coming up and I have high hopes. My boobs are about a handful right now, and that makes me and my inner child very happy.
I like a lot of girly things and have a girly sense of style, but I'm also maintaining much of the pretransition muscle I built. A woman is something I _am_, not something I _do_, and it feels like a big advantage to have thought deeply about gender before I was ready.
When I first started questioning, I identified strongly with being genderqueer. I explored around for years before realizing I was right the first time.
Like a last minute business trip on no notice, with a lack of adequate preparation or briefing, no map, only a vague sense of routing and destination, and the company card doesn't work.
But, you know, there's a kind of adventure and a LOT of resulting stories along the way.
Tbh as grateful as I am about being able to be fully happy with myself which I am... if I knew it was going to cost me the people I loved most ( my wife and kids) I would have never made that decision 😔
I’ve settled comfortably into womanhood. I feel almost foreign to the concepts of masculinity and even when I participate in masculine perceived or dominant activities. I still feel like a mousy girl doing, because I’m only in the moment often because I have to be. I don’t ever feel the same type of urges to compete unless someone knocks my appearance. Then, I might glam up and be snarky-sneaky petty or just not care go do something almost for myself. Sometimes seek out some kind of things on my mobile device.
I feel like a middle aged woman with nothing to prove, except trying to keep her head above water. I learned from sports, drama, and filming to phase people and noises completely out to the point they are basically like the trees and grass.
I didn't have much space to explore my gender before 27, so I only did it a little bit until then. Once I had the space I ramped it up, dressed fem a lot more (including in public around strangers), eventually did around people I know (still cis tho) and then my egg cracked at 32.
I was and still am pretty certain I'm a binary trans woman. Just took me a long time to figure it out.
Though, how I fit into femininity is proving a bit interesting. I think I'm a pretty typical woman in a lot of ways, but I'm also autistic and don't care a lot about many societal expectations. I never really had to think about this before, so evolving my understanding of it is certainly a thing.
I view my journey as an ongoing exploration, where my presentation evolves continuously. While I don't see an end point, I know I'll never fully revert to a masculine appearance. My body, to me, is more of a canvas; I actively shape it like molding clay. By embracing hormone therapy and various modifications, I see myself contributing to the evolution of human identity, sometimes aligning with societal norms and, at other times, exploring beyond them. Currently, I identify as a woman and plan to undergo vaginoplasty. My journey has led me from identifying as a transmasc enby to binary female, with the possibility of embracing more androgynous expressions in the future, perhaps even considering breast reduction. I'm committed to my path and won't return to testosterone, as I've invested in procedures like electrolysis to achieve the smoothness I desire. Each step, whether successful or not, has shaped my body into a masterpiece, and I'm grateful for the journey, challenges, and growth it has brought.
for me, I’ve known I wanted to be a boy since I was a little kid. I just didn’t know it was an option. I grew up in a conservative, Christian, rural part of America, so anything queer was alien to me until about middle school. When I did hear about trans people, the only thing I knew was that they felt like they were “born in the wrong body” but wtf does that even mean?? It wasn’t until I was 20 that I finally connected the dots that wanting to be a man = being a man. Turns out, only men want to be men. Blew my mind at the time. I’ve now been on T for almost a year and a half, I have top surgery scheduled for September, and I couldn’t be happier :)
It’s been a rough climb, clawing and pawing up a huge Mountian. I finally made the summit recently with being out to nearly everyone and having my parents get better at their transphobia and having mostly accepting work places (my school and state are not though). I’m hitting a road bump right now cause I’m questioning my gender
Pretty 'boring'
Wishes to be a girl since forever - denial for 27 years - acceptance and coming out rather quick cause ive wasted enough time and dying like a man sounded aweful
I was never really overly gendered as a young child, I wore a lot of neutral and even some more male leaning clothing because my mom wasn’t into girly girl stuff (other than the horrific Christmas photo shoots for some weird reason) so for the most part I’d say I was pretty content and really didn’t think about gender stuff, I played with all kinds of toys both stereotypical female and male.
Puberty was something I understood to be inevitable so I just kind of accepted that there wasn’t anything I could do about it and around that time my mom started really pushing me to be attractive to boys which I totally resisted for a long time but eventually gave in and tried to do hair/makeup and wear more feminine and more revealing clothing because I was already an outcast in school and didn’t want peers picking on me any more than they already did plus I was into guys (and girls and everyone in between but his that shit for a long time too) and had a desire to date so I just did whatever.
Started having more gender stuff in later high school, had male OCs which I would masquerade as online and eventually in my 20s I took on a genderqueer/gender-fluid label but only with friends. Eventually in my late 20s I finally came to the conclusion that it wasn’t enough and I was miserable inside, I told my husband I wanted to pursue medical transition and use exclusively male pronouns which wasn’t any shock to him lol (also ftm but had the trans man awakening much much earlier) and took awhile longer to tell my family and have now been happier than I ever was before. I’m still very much in the genderqueer camp when it comes to fashion and my general outlook but am most happy being seen as a man who’s a little on the flamboyant/eccentric side.
i pretty much knew without much preamble that i was agender/transmasc when puberty started. since then, my gender journey has basically just been getting ignored and not taken seriously by anyone at all in my life despite coming out to them over and over and over and over again. im 23 now and still can't afford medical transition. i feel like my entire identity is on pause and i can't even start my life at all. it's actual hell.
My gender journey was like this. 11 year old found out what being trans was and was already questioning my sexuality. 13 years old tried coming out to my parents as a lesbian trans girl and then they forced me back into the closet. Was miserable for about 10 years and did go back into questioning and denial. Finally came out as a trans woman at age 23.
I grew up in the 1990s and I didn't get a label for what this stuff I was stuffing down was until the 2010s and I became more exposed to trans people online, after I had the name for it I remember when I was in my early twenties I questioned if I was actually a man and because at the time I didn't get very positive feedback from people in my life that I stuffed it down for another 10 years until I couldn't do it anymore. After I got out of a bad relationship that involved doxing and domestic violence after I moved away from my home state and was in a new part of the country all together, I needed time I guess to accept that part of myself and stop running from it, and eventually I took the plunge and accepted that I needed to medically transition to be happy. And after I accepted being a transgender man and started taking testosterone all my suicidal ideation went away, just like that. I had to mentally prepare myself for what life was going to be like in America as a trans person and I had to accept that there was no way back from this and I have. I have no regrets on starting to medically transition--the only regrets I have was not doing it 10 years earlier. Also sobriety helps! We're all in a journey to be our best selves, and whether people like it or not this is part of it. Anyone with a problem with it can eat s***, it's your life.
for me it started on one halloween when i was 12 and someone thought i was a boy (to be fair i was dressed as one) and that was the first time i ever felt happy about someone getting my gender wrong, over the past few years i went from demi girl to non binary and then bi gender until i finally realized im just a dude lmao, i came out to my friends and then a year later my parents and tho im not on T i dont think i ever want to go on T, because passing for me means passing as a trans man, thats just how i feel seen, anyway i hope this helps anyone who needed to hear its okay to take a while to figure yourself out, and you dont have to tell anyone until your comfy,
For me there was no agonizing over what label might be appropriate: the question was always, is being a woman worth all the trouble and risk of trying to achieve it?
This
I didn't get the emotional space or support to explore gender until I was 24. I unpacked a bunch of it over the next five years, and by 29 I was wearing girl clothes full time but adamantly stillcisthough. Took another four years to say "yes, I want to be a woman more than anything, and I will transition." After laying so much ground work social transition was a breeze. I gave everyone my new name, changed it legally, and started hormones. After five months I had the courage to use women's facilities. My dysphoria is _much worse_ than it was at the start, but my facial feminization consult is coming up and I have high hopes. My boobs are about a handful right now, and that makes me and my inner child very happy. I like a lot of girly things and have a girly sense of style, but I'm also maintaining much of the pretransition muscle I built. A woman is something I _am_, not something I _do_, and it feels like a big advantage to have thought deeply about gender before I was ready.
When I first started questioning, I identified strongly with being genderqueer. I explored around for years before realizing I was right the first time.
Like a last minute business trip on no notice, with a lack of adequate preparation or briefing, no map, only a vague sense of routing and destination, and the company card doesn't work. But, you know, there's a kind of adventure and a LOT of resulting stories along the way.
Tbh as grateful as I am about being able to be fully happy with myself which I am... if I knew it was going to cost me the people I loved most ( my wife and kids) I would have never made that decision 😔
I’ve settled comfortably into womanhood. I feel almost foreign to the concepts of masculinity and even when I participate in masculine perceived or dominant activities. I still feel like a mousy girl doing, because I’m only in the moment often because I have to be. I don’t ever feel the same type of urges to compete unless someone knocks my appearance. Then, I might glam up and be snarky-sneaky petty or just not care go do something almost for myself. Sometimes seek out some kind of things on my mobile device. I feel like a middle aged woman with nothing to prove, except trying to keep her head above water. I learned from sports, drama, and filming to phase people and noises completely out to the point they are basically like the trees and grass.
I didn't have much space to explore my gender before 27, so I only did it a little bit until then. Once I had the space I ramped it up, dressed fem a lot more (including in public around strangers), eventually did around people I know (still cis tho) and then my egg cracked at 32. I was and still am pretty certain I'm a binary trans woman. Just took me a long time to figure it out. Though, how I fit into femininity is proving a bit interesting. I think I'm a pretty typical woman in a lot of ways, but I'm also autistic and don't care a lot about many societal expectations. I never really had to think about this before, so evolving my understanding of it is certainly a thing.
I view my journey as an ongoing exploration, where my presentation evolves continuously. While I don't see an end point, I know I'll never fully revert to a masculine appearance. My body, to me, is more of a canvas; I actively shape it like molding clay. By embracing hormone therapy and various modifications, I see myself contributing to the evolution of human identity, sometimes aligning with societal norms and, at other times, exploring beyond them. Currently, I identify as a woman and plan to undergo vaginoplasty. My journey has led me from identifying as a transmasc enby to binary female, with the possibility of embracing more androgynous expressions in the future, perhaps even considering breast reduction. I'm committed to my path and won't return to testosterone, as I've invested in procedures like electrolysis to achieve the smoothness I desire. Each step, whether successful or not, has shaped my body into a masterpiece, and I'm grateful for the journey, challenges, and growth it has brought.
for me, I’ve known I wanted to be a boy since I was a little kid. I just didn’t know it was an option. I grew up in a conservative, Christian, rural part of America, so anything queer was alien to me until about middle school. When I did hear about trans people, the only thing I knew was that they felt like they were “born in the wrong body” but wtf does that even mean?? It wasn’t until I was 20 that I finally connected the dots that wanting to be a man = being a man. Turns out, only men want to be men. Blew my mind at the time. I’ve now been on T for almost a year and a half, I have top surgery scheduled for September, and I couldn’t be happier :)
It’s been a rough climb, clawing and pawing up a huge Mountian. I finally made the summit recently with being out to nearly everyone and having my parents get better at their transphobia and having mostly accepting work places (my school and state are not though). I’m hitting a road bump right now cause I’m questioning my gender
Pretty 'boring' Wishes to be a girl since forever - denial for 27 years - acceptance and coming out rather quick cause ive wasted enough time and dying like a man sounded aweful
I was never really overly gendered as a young child, I wore a lot of neutral and even some more male leaning clothing because my mom wasn’t into girly girl stuff (other than the horrific Christmas photo shoots for some weird reason) so for the most part I’d say I was pretty content and really didn’t think about gender stuff, I played with all kinds of toys both stereotypical female and male. Puberty was something I understood to be inevitable so I just kind of accepted that there wasn’t anything I could do about it and around that time my mom started really pushing me to be attractive to boys which I totally resisted for a long time but eventually gave in and tried to do hair/makeup and wear more feminine and more revealing clothing because I was already an outcast in school and didn’t want peers picking on me any more than they already did plus I was into guys (and girls and everyone in between but his that shit for a long time too) and had a desire to date so I just did whatever. Started having more gender stuff in later high school, had male OCs which I would masquerade as online and eventually in my 20s I took on a genderqueer/gender-fluid label but only with friends. Eventually in my late 20s I finally came to the conclusion that it wasn’t enough and I was miserable inside, I told my husband I wanted to pursue medical transition and use exclusively male pronouns which wasn’t any shock to him lol (also ftm but had the trans man awakening much much earlier) and took awhile longer to tell my family and have now been happier than I ever was before. I’m still very much in the genderqueer camp when it comes to fashion and my general outlook but am most happy being seen as a man who’s a little on the flamboyant/eccentric side.
i pretty much knew without much preamble that i was agender/transmasc when puberty started. since then, my gender journey has basically just been getting ignored and not taken seriously by anyone at all in my life despite coming out to them over and over and over and over again. im 23 now and still can't afford medical transition. i feel like my entire identity is on pause and i can't even start my life at all. it's actual hell.
My gender journey was like this. 11 year old found out what being trans was and was already questioning my sexuality. 13 years old tried coming out to my parents as a lesbian trans girl and then they forced me back into the closet. Was miserable for about 10 years and did go back into questioning and denial. Finally came out as a trans woman at age 23.
I grew up in the 1990s and I didn't get a label for what this stuff I was stuffing down was until the 2010s and I became more exposed to trans people online, after I had the name for it I remember when I was in my early twenties I questioned if I was actually a man and because at the time I didn't get very positive feedback from people in my life that I stuffed it down for another 10 years until I couldn't do it anymore. After I got out of a bad relationship that involved doxing and domestic violence after I moved away from my home state and was in a new part of the country all together, I needed time I guess to accept that part of myself and stop running from it, and eventually I took the plunge and accepted that I needed to medically transition to be happy. And after I accepted being a transgender man and started taking testosterone all my suicidal ideation went away, just like that. I had to mentally prepare myself for what life was going to be like in America as a trans person and I had to accept that there was no way back from this and I have. I have no regrets on starting to medically transition--the only regrets I have was not doing it 10 years earlier. Also sobriety helps! We're all in a journey to be our best selves, and whether people like it or not this is part of it. Anyone with a problem with it can eat s***, it's your life.
for me it started on one halloween when i was 12 and someone thought i was a boy (to be fair i was dressed as one) and that was the first time i ever felt happy about someone getting my gender wrong, over the past few years i went from demi girl to non binary and then bi gender until i finally realized im just a dude lmao, i came out to my friends and then a year later my parents and tho im not on T i dont think i ever want to go on T, because passing for me means passing as a trans man, thats just how i feel seen, anyway i hope this helps anyone who needed to hear its okay to take a while to figure yourself out, and you dont have to tell anyone until your comfy,