Your "Gender Pendulum"?

[DanaRSS]

Just because something has been published doesn't mean that its experimental design or statistics are sound, and there are peer-reviewed journals that will accept nearly anything. And especially in the area of gender differences in cognition, pop psychology writers absolutely do overemphasize the differences because that's what gets people's attention.

I am super happy that you brought us some bell curves.    Thanks for the info!  Gender differences in pop psych bug me partly because that kind of science reporting has been used to justify gender segregation in the past.  It wasn't that long ago that people were suggesting women were unfit for the workforce because of scientific studies on brain differences.

[Eva Marie]

Yes, i experience this since I am bigender, or more properly - Alternating Gender Identity (AGI).

When it was at it's worst the pendulum would swing violently one way, then the other way. I was having these swings about twice a month, and they would typically last for several days before I would swing the other way. I never knew when they would hit me. As an example - one day I was headed for the airport and when i stepped on the shuttle at the house I was in boy mode. 45 minutes later at the airport when i stepped off the shuttle I was in full blown girl mode. A shuttle ride made me switch Apparently so.

Low dose HRT stopped the violent swings. Now i tend to be somewhere in the middle rocking gently one way and then the other way. The violent urges to dress en femme or to proceed with transition are gone now, although the thoughts are still there - it's just that there is no urgency to them now. I do still present as female from time to time but it's when i want to, not when I have to.

[Shang]

My gender swings a bit, but it doesn't appear to be tied to my menstrual cycle.  My romantic identity however, is intensely tied to my gender identity (if I'm feeling more male, I'm attracted solely to males; if I'm feeling more female, I'm attracted solely to females).  Anyway, my gender just kind of swings throughout a month or two or even sometimes fairly quick like within an hour.  It's a bit annoying since I can't pass as male and if I cut my hair I look like an ugly girl so that doesn't help me.  I just deal with it by writing a lot.  It's started to balance things out more with me, at least emotionally.

[Taka]

My romantic identity however, is intensely tied to my gender identity (if I'm feeling more male, I'm attracted solely to males; if I'm feeling more female, I'm attracted solely to females). 

that's interesting, i should try to observe whether there are any tendencies like this in me as well. i've never been attracted solely to one gender, but i usually prefer one over the other, and which one often changes. i'll have to try and fit in futa as well, if i really am attracted more to the mirror image of my own identity, that might help me find out what kind of hermaphrodite i really am.

[Shang]

that's interesting, i should try to observe whether there are any tendencies like this in me as well. i've never been attracted solely to one gender, but i usually prefer one over the other, and which one often changes. i'll have to try and fit in futa as well, if i really am attracted more to the mirror image of my own identity, that might help me find out what kind of hermaphrodite i really am.

It's kind of cool to observe, though it frustrates me.  It's not that I'm sexually attracted to them (I'm asexual), it's that romantically I'm inclined one way or the other.  I don't like that it seems to hinge on my gender identity because it makes it hard to be in relationships with people, at least when it's not actual relationships.  I'm sure I might be able to settle down with one person if I found the right person (which includes them being asexual >.>).

[DanaRSS]

My gender swings a bit, but it doesn't appear to be tied to my menstrual cycle.  My romantic identity however, is intensely tied to my gender identity (if I'm feeling more male, I'm attracted solely to males; if I'm feeling more female, I'm attracted solely to females).

Huh, interesting!  I'm bisexual, plain 50/50 with no real preference for either gender.  I'm pretty sure it stays constant for me; I haven't noticed it change when I feel more like a man or a woman.

[androgynoid]

I don't really have a gender pendulum, or at least I don't think I do. I do have a sort of 'dysphoria pendulum' though. My body bugs me to greater and greater degrees until I'm hellbent on taking testosterone and wouldn't mind being perceived as male, and then it just kind of fades away for awhile. I don't have much of a cycle (I'm on 3-month hormonal birth control), so I'm not really sure what controls it.

[DanaRSS]

I don't really have a gender pendulum, or at least I don't think I do. I do have a sort of 'dysphoria pendulum' though. My body bugs me to greater and greater degrees until I'm hellbent on taking testosterone and wouldn't mind being perceived as male, and then it just kind of fades away for awhile. I don't have much of a cycle (I'm on 3-month hormonal birth control), so I'm not really sure what controls it.

That was me from about ages 16 through 18.  I would cycle between 'this is awful, T asap please' and 'don't care,' both physically and socially.  Around 18 or 19, something new hit and I started getting the opposite feelings.  This is kind of weird, but I usually actively enjoy menstruation and the time right before it, because that's when I feel the most connected to my body.  I used to joke about having "reverse PMS" because it makes me feel very calm and contented.  Then things cycle back around.

[saint]

This thread has come along at a good time for me.  I have struggled with going from feeling very feminine and genderqueer, to feeling I am  a man who is 'just a bit feminine'.  When I am feeling more male I tend to forget about the strength of my feminine feelings and become dismissive of them.  The idea of my gender being fluid is really helpful - I just need more practise at riding the waves