Yeah, I was a target all through childhood as well. I was called a crybaby, I was always an outcast with a love-hate relationship with the boys where one minute I'd be their friend and the next minute they'd all be laughing at me, I was teased for having a girl as a best friend, I was always called names for reasons that I don't even remember or understand, and then in middle school when my gender dysphoria really started, I just turned into one giant target. Both the boys and the girls made fun of me for wearing short shorts, singing soprano in choir, doing very feminine behaviors like crossing my legs, and just being effeminate in general. I even got beaten up a couple of times. And unfortunately, I internalized this teasing, and started hiding my feminine behavior for the sake of blending in, trying everything to get over it. And now 15 years later I've developed pretty significant amounts of social anxiety, and reclaiming my true self has been very difficult because I came so much to associate my female self with shame and fear.
