I feel manly!

[Vincent E.S.]

My dad let me mow the lawn for the first time today! For as long as I can remember, the only people who ever mowed the lawn at our house have either been my brother or my dad, so I kind of feel like I'm finally taking over my duties as a male child even though the reason why my dad had me mow the lawn wasn't as any sort of gender acknowledgment. (My brother left for college and neither of my parents wanted to mow.) I'm probably going to utterly despise the lawnmower by the end of September, but for now I feel amazing, kind of disgusting, but amazing nonetheless.   

Did any of you have a sort of euphoric "Yeah! I'm a man!" feeling after doing or being told to do something?

[Elijah3291]

One time this girl came up to me and talked to me FOUR times while I was at work, she was obviously interested, but I didnt ask for her number, when i told my dad what happened he "repremanded" me "it was your move to ask for her number!" it was cool getting what i thought of as father to son advice on girls.

another time, was also with my dad, after visiting him in Texas after I started T, I was noticing how he was just acting different around me, acting more cude and less careful, moare like he would with a son, he walked aroung in his boxers (and so did I) and he was talking about mold in toilets, and I told him "what! mold isnt gross, whats it gonna do?" he says "IT COULD JUMP UP YER ASS!" and that was hilarious, because he never talked like that with me before, he treated me more delicate.

[Sharky]

My family has done some very affirming things without realizing It. It's like on a subconscious level they have always known.

I was raised by my grandparents. In a lot of ways my mom was more like a sister. My whole life when  something ever needed fixing or matinance around the house my grandfather would always teach me how to do it. Plus he would often say he was teaching me so I could take care of the women in the house. 

I've always worn men's clothing, but I when I started to exclusively, and and wearing stuff that was  clearly from the men's section and not unisex, one morning after getting dressed, I was feeling a little self conscious about how masculine I looked and as worried that someone would give me greif, and but I wpassed my grandfather in the hall and he goes "hey you look good kid!"

One time I was complaining that my hair was getting long and my grandfather goes "why don't you just shave It? That's what I did when I was your age. "

My grandparents have accidently used male pronouns.

My grandmother generally uses insults that are reserved for men on me.

When ever something heavy needs to be carried I get called.

Accompanying in bad neighborhoods.

Growing up I was friends with this girl and she would always say things like "your such a guy. " we used to play house a lot. she was usually a stripper or something sexy. There was a bar and a pole in her basement and she would dance for me and would give me lap dances. I would tip her with monopoly money. Lol. We took playing house to whole new levels.

My now stepdad asked me before marrying my mom. I also walked her down the aisle.

[Ryno]

Growing up I was friends with this girl and she would always say things like "your such a guy. " we used to play house a lot. she was usually a stripper or something sexy. There was a bar and a pole in her basement and she would dance for me and would give me lap dances. I would tip her with monopoly money. Lol. We took playing house to whole new levels.

I envy your childhood.
Growing up my best friend and I would play lame Lion King type games where I was always Simba or another male characters. We also played Transformers a lot, pretending we were the transformers going around shooting things. She hated those games.

I can't think of anything too gender-affirming... When I was 12-14 or 15 it was my job to mow the lawn just because my brother was too much of a fat lazy douche to do it even though we were supposed to take turns each week... He did that with the cat boxes too, always making me do it because "he had a job/girlfriend/social life/essay/whatever bs excuse of the week". So I guess from that I've always felt like I played more of a male role in the house. My dad used to teach me about cars whenever he had to work on them too, from a young age, and any home renos he'd do he'd make sure I was involved. I loved it... He used to take me to his odd jobs when he did brick laying too, so I got to play a lot of "male" roles growing up.

Recently though ... just being stealth in my city and at work and such I guess, people do and say things they wouldn't around women. My aunt is good about it but she still can't bring herself to call me Ryan and still says "you go girl!" to me. And my dad doesn't acknowledge it at all.

[James42]

Well I'm completely stealth everywhere now, even without a name change. So I get that feeling a lot.
But ever since I was a kid, I would do things like carry heavy boxes or furniture and my grandma would always say "you shoulda been a boy" or that I could be a football player cuz I have broad shoulders.
I've always done everything a son would do with my dad, he never excluded me with that stuff.
One time when I was around 5 I had a huge crush on my teenage aunt's friend, and I drew her a card asking her to marry me...instead of finding it weird or anything, she thought it was the cutest thing and kept the card for years.

[skakid]

My dad JUST had me mow the lawn too! Only him and my brother do it, so when he asked me I was just like "...yeah, sure." It's fun too because we have the type of lawnmower that you sit on and drive.

[kyle_lawrence]

I have to admit, the OP kinda made me LOL, because I've had to mow the lawn ever since I was strong enough to push it.  I was probably 12 when I started doing the smaller level half our our lawn, and then my dad would do the bigger area with the hill.  Now me and my brother are supposed to take turns, but usually he ends up doing the whole thing all the time, and I let him.

I guess something that could be kind of an affirmation of my manliness is when I work on theater sets.  I came in and joined the crew with very little experience in construction and power tools (all volunteer community group) and was the only 'girl' there most nights.  No one hesitated to teach me how to use any of the equipment, and never offered to help with moving stuff around, unless it was something that obviously required more than one person.  I'm getting kind of anxious now for the next show to start so I can build stuff and make dirty comments with the guys again.

I've also always thought of driving stick shift as more manly, so teaching my brother to drive stick was pretty cool.  I was a little scared for my car though. he wasnt very nice to my poor clutch at first.

[Ryno]

I've also always thought of driving stick shift as more manly, so teaching my brother to drive stick was pretty cool.  I was a little scared for my car though. he wasnt very nice to my poor clutch at first.

I've always thought of driving stick as more manly too. I was jealous as hell when my aunt let my brother take her stick shift for a spin but never let me.

Driving in general has always made me feel more manly, even before I let the thought of being trans cross my mind. I felt like I was in control, especially passing chicks going out for a run and ogling them subconsciously... Bounce.

So ... I guess my real answer would simply be driving my dad's spare car. I got it pretty much every day after my brother moved out. It was practically my car. Man I loved that piece of ->-bleeped-<-. <3 It's sad that a machine has made me feel more like a man than the people in my life.

[Kentrie]

I was walking into an elevator leaving the movie theater and I just walked right in front of these women and got on the elevator first and my mom said "You're supposed to let women go first!!!" That's the only time I felt great when she yelled at me.

[Windmill]

Haha, when the girl behind the counter at a store said "Awwww!" cause she thought it was the cutest thing ever seeing a guy shopping for his mom's b-day.  Also when my lil bro, aka best bro ever, got irritated with the people who assumed I was female rather than male after giving out my chosen name.

[Alexmakenoise]

Did any of you have a sort of euphoric "Yeah! I'm a man!" feeling after doing or being told to do something?

Well, I've done a lot of "manly" stuff, some or most of which is not fit to print.

But I think the most manly thing I ever did was moving my mom and younger brother to a different state in order to protect them from my dad when he became abusive.  I missed the first few days of my second year of college because of it, but it was the right thing to do, and it wouldn't have happened had I not stepped up and made it happen.

I also helped to rescue a close friend from homelessness.  He was an Aussie ex-pat in America for whom things had gradually gone very wrong.  I got him a plane ticket and flew with him to his brother's house in Canada so that his brother could help him get back to Australia.  His brother had been trying to get him to Canada without any luck (didn't have time to come down to SF and find him), so I feel like I really made a difference.  I went to visit him in Sydney a year later.  It was good to see how much better his life was, and how much his family appreciated having him back. 

[TheAwesomePrussia]

Well, for me it was actually my girlfriend's mom. About a week after coming out she decided it was only fair that I not spend the night anymore.
While not really the best thing ever...It felt nice to be acknowledged as having the same stipulations as any other guy.
Also when my friend wouldn't tell me what her facebook status was about, saying, "Sorry. It's a girl thing."
Yea. I dunno why that sort of thing makes me feel kinda proud, but it does. xD

[Wes]

When I was growing up all thru my childhood, I had this feeling that my father wanted a son. And the fact that he always treated me like one always made me feel good. It was almost like he knew even when I was a child that I was a boy and always did things with me that a father would do with a son. Taught me how to fish, build, use tools, let me paint my room myself, sports...etc. It was pretty nice that I didn't have a father that treated me like a girl all my life.

[Jeh]

I helped move some heavy risers when I was volunteering backstage at a theatre. I'm short, and the guy in charge was short too, and he came over just as I was finishing and the pile I was helping lift them onto was as tall as I was. I joked about that and the other guy said "Yeah, I feel your pain." I just felt included.

Also, guys have stopped holding the door open for me. Sometimes they still do the kind of half-hold it open like if they've already gone through they'll hold it until I get there, but every gender does that for every gender here. People don't stop and hold the door for me to go through it first any more. I do that for people (cute girls ha ha) sometimes and it feels good.

And I've walked a female friend home at night, too.

[TheAwesomePrussia]

Okay. I may be a straight male, but regardless, this kind of made my day yesterday. xP
I was hit on by a gay man at a Starbuck's! xD
It all started when he saw that I bleached my hair and styled it, apparently that somehow translated as "gay male". He seemed kinda disappointed when I told him I had a gf. ^^;

[Dante]

Actually, the very same thing happened to me! It sorta became my job to do the lawn mowing, and I was really happy to have the job typically meant for the son of the family.  I feel a little silly for being so happy about it, but it certainly is a good feeling. Of course, I got tired of mowing the lawn very quickly, but my dad pays me to do it, so it's not so bad. 

[Preston]

I helped my dad do yard work all day (and week, apparently. he's calling it Hell Week). And as I was working up a sweat looking rugged in work gloves with dirt all over I definitely felt manly. Dysphoria kicked in when I couldn't take my shirt off, though.

[Clive]

A female friend and I were once laughing and carrying on (this was before I even gave anyone a hint that I might be trans) and she suddenly said, in response to some daft comment of mine, 'What do you mean, boy?'  Then she stopped and looked at me, as if to say, 'Why on earth did I just say that?' and corrected herself, 'I mean... girl.'  It really buoyed me up, lol - it was as though somehow, at least in that moment, she saw me as a boy and addressed me as one instinctively

Growing up I was friends with this girl and she would always say things like "your such a guy. " we used to play house a lot. she was usually a stripper or something sexy. There was a bar and a pole in her basement and she would dance for me and would give me lap dances. I would tip her with monopoly money.

Mint!  Just - the coolest thing I've heard in yonks, as they say in my area, lol.

My sister and I were friends with non-identical twins growing up - a boy and a girl.  I was friends with the boy, and my sister was friends with the girl, so we were 'The Boys' and they were 'The Girls.'  When we'd play The Famous Five, I'd always play the part of the elder boy, Julian.  Our poor little brother had to be the dog, lol.  Not quite as adventurous as Stripping House, mwehehe, but I do remember once we tried to solve the mystery of who was stealing the plums from our next door neighbour's tree.  That was quite tense.

Those were the halcyon days, lol!  The Girls would play with baby dolls and watch 'Babysitters' Club' videos, whilst us Boys would build forts and ghost trains out of the sofa pillows and play 'Prince of Persia' and 'Aquanoid' on the Acorn computer.  Occasionally we would indenture The Girls as slaves and tie them to the climbing frame in the back yard.  Hmmm...  Perhaps that approached Stripping House territory...

When girls ask for help, I feel manly. 

Ahh yes, me too.  Unfortunately, as I'm such an obvious weed, this happens seldom.  Though there was one incident at university when I was quietly reading The Mayor of Casterbridge in my room and I heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the kitchen - I ran out to find one of my female flatmates cowering in a corner while a pigeon ricocheted around the room, knocking over crockery, ironing boards and empty wine bottles.  'Get it!' she screamed, 'Get it!'  So I launched myself at it and rugby-tackled it to the ground, grabbed it firmly and tossed it out of an open window.

Don't no pigeons wanna mess wit me.

I've always thought of driving stick as more manly too.

Do you know, being British, where we call it 'Driving a manual,' the twenty seconds it took me to work out what 'Driving stick' meant were perhaps the most exciting of my life thus far