what is or was the most irritating thing about being male

[JLT1]

It just hurts to even try to remember what it was like to be male.

Jen

[Emjay]

Omigosh, wow....  can I pick all of the above?  And um, while I'm at it most likely everything that follows my post too.

Being called "sir", the whole male bonding thing, the um...  morning wood one (which thankfully doesn't happen much anymore, thank you hrt!), body hair, Everything, etc....  Yep all of them.

Plus my own personal constant reminder.....  my freaking voice.  Drives me bats**t crazy every time I have to open my mouth.  I hate the sound, the tone, the way it resonates in my chest.....  I'm working on training it but yeah, one second of not thinking about it and there it is....  the freaking radio DJ voice in all of it's glory.  Yuck

[Eevee]

A lot of things bug me every day, and most of it is social. I was just talking about this the other day, and I think the one thing that constantly bothers me more than anything else is whenever someone told me how much they liked how manly I was  . I'm making a big effort to be as far from that as I can, so at least I don't really hear that anymore.

[Randi]

In 1969 in the United States, males born between 1944 and 1950 were subject to a draft lottery.  My birthday came up #8 out of #365.   If your number was less than 195, you were almost certain to be forced to serve in the Army and would likely spend a year in Vietnam.

If you were physically fit and otherwise qualified to serve, the only legal way to avoid going in the Army was to volunteer for another military service.

Of course no women were subject to the draft.  Ten military women died in Vietnam. They were all volunteers. Over 58,000 men died in Vietnam.

That's a pretty stiff penalty for being born with a penis.

Randi 

[Kaylin Kumiho]

Aside from feeling like I had the emotional depth of a kiddie pool, a massive unexplainable hatred for myself, and that omnipresent and exhausting male sex drive? Probably the social atmosphere surrounding 'being male'

[janetcgtv]

Just being born male. PERIOD. Can't think about anything good about it.
I would rather be born a cis female

[Jill F]

OK maybe not THE most irritating thing, but this always royally pissed me off.

Every time something ever broke or wasn't working correctly, I was expected to fix it or deal with it. 

This included cars.  I don't really know anything about fixing cars, but my wife would always try to punt the problem to me.  I always joked about "waving my magic wand" and pointing downstairs before telling her to call a mechanic. 

[Myarkstir]

The worst part is then having to go pee with it like that. Ugh.

I also second that motion

Though everytime it happens i smile now cause mine is on death row, november 24. (See timeline below for hint on what that means) 

[JohannaJohn]

Maybe it would be having to "live up to the male ego" when socializing with others...to avoid being labeled as "gay"...

Including...backing down from a fight because it allegedly is "unmanly" -- did it every occur to those who hold THAT attitude that maybe, just maybe, the world might be a better place is there were not the constant "male ego" thing of "having to "prove" you are a man" -- negociation and conciliation usually work a lot better than fistfights and one man trying to show how "macho" he is to other men.

Maybe the "social stigma" for a man to wear nail polish.  Wearing nail polish is such a FANTASTIC feeling for me, and I never again want to NOT have my toenails painted beautiful red or maybe pink, unless it is totally unavoidable.  For now, just 5 week in on these strong female hormones, I wear divers boots at the pool at my apartment complex because I am not quite ready to "come out" at my apartment complex -- I have only "come out" to my genetic girlfriend, one other female friend, and my 6 year old daughter -- and all of these females accept me as I am which I am SO happy about -- WOW!

Other things, too, maybe I will add more thoughts later...what a great thread to have started!!!

Johanna.

[JohannaJohn]

Although, at the beach where I am a stranger, I have several times already appeared, totally opening, with my toenails bright red and my fingernails deep beautiful feminine purple color, while in a male bathing suit.  I have gotten some strange looks from both men and women.

My genetic girlfriend gets quite amused at the looks I have gotten at the beach, with lovely polished fingernails and toenails.

Johanna.

[peky]

The most irritating thing of having to perform and assume the male role was having to endure the chauvinist jokes and attitudes...

[Hikari]

Feeling wrong. That is the worst thing, like as male, there is no comfort zone, it all just feels wrong.

[Kaylin Kumiho]

OK maybe not THE most irritating thing, but this always royally pissed me off.

Every time something ever broke or wasn't working correctly, I was expected to fix it or deal with it. 

This included cars.  I don't really know anything about fixing cars, but my wife would always try to punt the problem to me.  I always joked about "waving my magic wand" and pointing downstairs before telling her to call a mechanic.

I know exactly what you mean with this one, doubly so because I have some self-taught proficiency with computers. God, it feels like literally every day I hear: "Hey, you are good with 'things like this'" or "Hey [birth name] is really great with things like that!", where for some reason the 'things like that' is nothing to even do with computers. (stubborn watches, microwaves, tvs, anything that even remotely resembles 'technology'.

[Chloevixen]

The years spent trying to hide who I really was just to fit in with people I did not really care about.  Getting called "sir"
Being expected to be a subject matter expert on all things sports, cars, and other unimportant stuff.

Also zippers on boy jeans, when you wore boxers...those accidents happened enough.

[stephaniec]

It just hurts to even try to remember what it was like to be male.

Jen

a true piece of wisdom

[Kaydee]

Feeling wrong. That is the worst thing, like as male, there is no comfort zone, it all just feels wrong.

Yes, this.   And never understanding why it all felt wrong (as I didn't know I was trans.)

[Kaelin]

I'm going to cheat and say that the worst thing we (male/female/other) are told is to be something other than our best selves.  Whether we are told to dominate, be dominated, suppress our talents, nature, or expression, feign interests or force gendered skill acquisition, feel shame or pride, or avoid certain types of friendships with certain people, we are being confronted by a system of control.  To me, it is the most detestable thing, because while biology can be especially frustrating in its own right, norms are a society's own doing.  Society's role is artificial, and its underlying problems can't be fixed with hormones and surgery.

[EllieM]

worst thing about being male? for me, its was not being born female, knowing that I would never grow a life inside me.

[Lady_Oracle]

The intense rage and anger I'd feel constantly.

But a lot of that probably came from my dysphoria

[SciNerdGirl]

The funny thing about me is that I've spent most of my life not realizing I was a transgendered woman wishing she was a cisgendered male, while presenting as a male to the world.

It took me a long time to realize that when I would look a beautiful women, the feelings I had were usually not lust, but envy.

There are so many "guy" things I like doing, I'm just not one on the inside. 

However, the one thing about being male, that I find the most difficult to deal with is that I am expected to be a provider.  I don't mind my job (in fact I kind of like it, and I'm paid pretty well), the problem is that as a male, I am in a constant state of stress about my job.  I cannot do my job because I enjoy it, I have to do it because I'm expected to provide for my family.  I think I would be better able to handle this constant stress if my mental gender was male, but I'm not and the stress of being forced into being a sole provider while being a mental female is really hard, and I find it pretty irritating.

J.

J.