intimidated or empowered?

[Brody Brown]

Hey!  Just a simple questions.  To all you lovely men out there who are sitting on my side of the fence, or maybe i'm sitting on yours,  after transition, do you feel more intimidated by other men who may or may not be ftm or do you feel empowered to go over and be like wassup lets chill sorta thing?  kinda an odd question but im just curious because im finding out about all these new "rules" men have some sort of code and the question came to mind.  for me personally i feel empowered because its like "ahhh" im one of my own kind now, you know what i mean?  well any comments are welcomed, good or bad. much love all. Brody B.

[randomroads]

Men don't have rules or codes. Society forces men to have rules or codes. At the moment I'm unable to pass well enough to hang out as 'one of the guys' but when I DO hang out with guys who are okay with me being trans I act like every other gay man out there. I flirt if they're cute, I joke and laugh when it's appropriate (and sometimes not, if I had a drink!). I don't concern myself with rules besides the typical 'don't double dip' which even some men in their 50's (I'm thinking of a specific guy I know) STILL double dips.

[Kreuzfidel]

I feel neutral, I suppose.  I mean - as far as another FTM goes, they're just another man at the end of the day.  I react to them and view them the same as I would any man or woman for that matter.  People are just people and I don't really get intimidated by them unless they're threatening me or someone I love and I don't really feel empowered by them unless they're doing something to really inspire me.  *shrug*