One of my excuses for not transitioning was that I never really felt like a girl, even though I wished I did and never identified as male. I therefore wondered if it would feel just as awkward to transition, despite my secret desire to be female. Now I know that so much of what it means to be a girl (nearly everything, in fact) is dependent on estrogen. It makes me more emotional, more social, and happier, in addition to causing nipple arousal; it's like a burst of positive female energy every time I get a dose! For the first time in my life, it gave me a clear sense of who I am. In fact, I had to come out just days after a dosage increase because it gave me such a strong female identity that I could no longer hide it. Still, I prefer not to think of myself as a woman, because to me that implies a level of maturity that I do not feel I have attained after only 14 months on HRT. I call myself 'transgender female'
