If you had been born in the "opposite" body....

[ZaidaZadkiel]

Well, IF i were to choose my body, I would pick a 100% female body over what I currently have any day.
It's not even that I could dress in any way or other (I mean, i already wear a skirt if i feel like, even before 'mones and all)

It's more like, it feels more proper for my way of being, to inhabit a female body.

I wouldn't want to have children though. But who knows, crazy life, rite ?

Though personally, I would prefer to be a sea unicorn. Narwhals, ->-bleeped-<-yeah.


OH  I KNOW
I would rather be an Alternative Rock.
Like, it would look like a common rock, except with tattoos and piercings

[wendy]

What a sad thread.

No I'd be not be happier.

Why?

Because maybe others have been happier because I existed as is.

But I do feel same way now as when I was young.  Just never solved it.

[Luna!]

Changes in childhood aside, I'd probably end up nearly the same as I am now. One of the reasons why I stopped transitioning is that I realized changing my sex wouldn't solve anything. My internal gender seems to drift here and there, through boy/girl/both/neither, so I'd have just as much joy and just as much self-hatred in a female body. I guess I'd have more fashion choice, but I'm mentally pretty close to being able to make my own rules in that arena anyway.

At the moment, I'm going through a fairly masculine (for me, anyway) phase, and I'm quite satisfied with the guy who looks back from the other edge of the mirror; if I was physically female, I'd hate myself so much right now... Probably at some point I'll get really feminine again (hopefully I can handle it, haha...)

Oh, and the 'monthly event' is no fun, or so I hear. I'm glad to not have that one.

[ZaidaZadkiel]

I wouldn't mind the menstruation.
IF I was able, i'm sure i'd like to have children at some point.
But since I'm not, I dont care.
I could be a "father" but I dont want that.

[wendy]

I wouldn't mind the menstruation.
IF I was able, i'm sure i'd like to have children at some point.
But since I'm not, I dont care.
I could be a "father" but I dont want that.

I would have liked to be a mom.

I am glad I got to be a dad.  My children happen to be most accepting of me including my son.  They would not have existed if I were born gender that appears more natural to me.

Depression and anxiety is a human condition and it is higher in transgender community.  Removing gender issues does not necessarily remove depression and anxiety.  I know friends that are totally comfortable and made correct decision to transition and still have depression and anxiety.

......................
After careful analysis for several years, question for me becomes what to do now for me.  Being transgender is a "part" of my life and I have unfortunately allowed it to "consume" my life.  What I have done has been correct for me but it has come at a painfully high price.  A second question is what we can do to educate society and promote diversity.  Nature loves diversity and society hates diversity.

[Pica Pica]

I like that, as that wise film, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves' said...'Allah loves wondrous diversity'.

[Metroland]

I don't think I would be happier if I was born in a female body.  Anyways I think that I have some tweeking to do. I would like to get some hormones to reduce my male appearence and enhance my female appearence and maybe a surgery here or there.

But I believe that I can make it work with a male body.

[Photonic Soul]

I'm not entirely sure. I think there would be too many variables to even speculate what my life would have been like. I imagine I would feel I would have more freedom to express myself, but then there would probably be other problems for me to deal with instead.

The only major issue I've had being in a male body is knowing that I will never carry my own child.

That said if I was still born with Neurofibromatosis, I still wouldn't. With a 50% chance of passing this on, I've decided that the risks of even fathering children is too great.

[the_physicist]

oh wow, my first thought was: hell yes, I'd want to have been born with a male body.
but I wouldn't be in the place I am now if I had been, so no, it wouldn't have been good really. plus, I don't want to be a guy actually. And I actually think I would have had far more problems if I'd been born with a male body, as it probably would have been terrible at school. I think there was definitely a lot of pressure at my school on boys. Not a single gay guy at my school? yeah right. just no one dared to come out. anyone androgyn acting feminine would probably have been pounced on. 
damn, now i'm making this thread depressing again?

[childofwinter]

I don't know - sometimes I think I would be happier, sometimes I think I wouldn't. I really think it depends on how I feel.

[shelly]

Really like this thread, as i think every single person, not only on here but in life in general has thought what it would be like to be the opposite gender. Think with me it would depend on where i was on the sliding scale as to what answer i gave, but trying to give a neutral answer (which is hard at the moment as i am leaning heavily over to my female self at present) i just think i would be no different than what i am now, just wishing i didnt have breasts i guess, bearing in mind that is what i dream about having being male. Just think it might be easier to be born an andro female than male, just looking at the clothes aspect, mean to say, name an item of clothing a male can wear that a female cant, dont exactly work the other way round though.

[ZaidaZadkiel]

name an item of clothing a male can wear that a female cant, dont exactly work the other way round though.

soldiering protective gloves.
they be big even for my hand, a woman's hand would be like tiny.
protective cups for genitals
speedo 
and maaaaaaaaaaybe, emo pants. Because really, only men can look emo wearing emo pants. Girls just look like girls.

[Up North]

Great topic.  Yes, I would have been happier.  I spent my tomboy childhood, wanting to be a boy, complete with physical attributes.  None of my friends were into 'girly' things.  When I reached puberty, I wished I could have an operation to remove all the bits and pieces to do with bearing a child - I knew I'd never need them.  When I was a student and fell for all the gay guys, well, yes, life would have been much easier if I'd been a guy myself, instead of being rejected all the time.  My years in the military would have been no different on a career level, but the bloke-me would probably have done a lot less sleeping around than what the real-me did, in a weird attempt to hate and abuse my female body.  And now, I would definitely be a lot happier in a bloke's body.  It's only since I moved here that I've started to realise that I'm not who I thought I was.  It would be so much easier if I could start all over again in this town, but in a different body.  The folks here just aren't ready for people who don't fit 'the norm'.  They're just about coming to terms with regular gays!

And as for the future?  I really can't imagine not being lonely, either in the near- or distant future.  How the heck does someone like me find a companion?

[Simone Louise]

I have also thought often about this (and about the concept some have of a self separate from any body). My conclusion is the body has a profound influence on the personality. I imagine I would be quite different if I had an athletic body about a foot taller than mine--without changing the sex. Clearly, to have been exposed more to female hormones throughout life would have had an effect.

I would rather have been born female. On the other hand, a perceived increased vulnerability to abuse causes me to hesitate (as if I have a choice). And, I have learned to be pretty happy in the body I have. I would like to ditch some of the expectations Pica referred to.

S

[grrl1nside]

Yes, I would have been much happier as a tall, quasi-Nerdy, gawky, tomboy, lesbian wearing very casual clothes and a ponytail. I know exactly what I would have been and if I could snap my fingers to be there in an instant I would. LOL, I actually have an easier time imagining myself as a female then figuring out where the heck I fit in guy-land. Could you tell?

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the Androgyne board but this was just too enticing a topic.

[Shana A]

Not sure why we're discussing this with only opposite or binary body options in the androgyne area. The body I am in my dream state is intersexed, w/ female secondary sex characteristics. There is no exact opposite. I'm sure my life would've been different born in a female body, however if I had the same psyche and personality I have now, I would probably be pushing against the binary constraints of that box too.

Z

[mimpi]

Interesting how we are talking about the opposite body and not the opposite brain (gender identity). Or opposite sexual orientation for that matter...

[Pica Pica]

I think we're talking about opposite bodies to tease out our relationships with the bodies we have. Talking about binary bodies because we are looking at where we would have rubbed up against ourselves in those too.

[kyle_lawrence]

I think we're talking about opposite bodies to tease out our relationships with the bodies we have. Talking about binary bodies because we are looking at where we would have rubbed up against ourselves in those too.

Hmm, thats not what I was thinking when I started this thread, but I don't disagree with that.  I think the topic of having or being born with an androgyne body has been discussed enough here, and usually leads to major thread drift now anyway.   Also, the language to discuss gender without binary terms just doesn't exist yet,  so Its clearer to use concepts everyone gets. 

The body I am in my dream state is intersexed, w/ female secondary sex characteristics.

Intersexed was one of the things I thoughts I had, but as I mentioned in the OP,  doctors usually 'fix' that and create a binary gender, so I ruled that out as an option for this thread.   Maybe we need a "If you had been born intersex and the doctors didn't make you binary...."  thread.

//preemptively puts foot in mouth in case of any offended intersexed people.
/// feet taste gross.

[Shana A]

Intersexed was one of the things I thoughts I had, but as I mentioned in the OP,  doctors usually 'fix' that and create a binary gender, so I ruled that out as an option for this thread.   Maybe we need a "If you had been born intersex and the doctors didn't make you binary...."  thread.

//preemptively puts foot in mouth in case of any offended intersexed people.
/// feet taste gross.

To the best of my knowledge, I wasn't born intersex, however many years ago, I had a dream in which I saw my "true self", and in that dream my body was a mix of female and male. It was a profound moment in my realization of my androgynous nature.

Z