How old were you when you knew something was different?

[LordKAT]

I was 3 going on 4 in a head start pilot program. They took away my tonka truck nd had me hold a doll so they could show how well the program was working. I knew then and there that I was not as other people perceived me. I thought I was a foundling alien for many years. I think that is how I got my love of Science fiction. Maybe not but oh well. I went through a lot of silence and hiding within myself  from everyone. The day my dad told me I could date was real weird. My crush on a girl in school would never do so I went along when a 'friend' set me up on a blind date. That was a Disaster. It turned out to be my uncle. Yuch!!

[Luc]

Heck, I thought I was a boy for all intents and purposes until I was 8 and the doctor told me I was growing breasts. Obviously, that's an overstatement, but I didn't really think much of anything was wrong until then. Just figured my folks were pretty strange for wanting a boy to wear dresses, and I refused to wear them from age 5 on.

SD

[Radar]

I've known I was male since I can remember. My mother was quite against my "tomboy" ways but my father was O.K. with it. He actually kind of encouraged it. At 12 I completely knew I was male and was going to live that way. My family had other thoughts about that. Even my father started encouraging feminine things. Puberty was a hellish, traumatic nightmare for me.

In my late teens I decided I was stuck in a female body, there was nothing I could do about it so I might as well try my best at being a women (which in retrospect I did a bad job). I would be "interested" in a few female things just to humor people. I thought if I faked it enough I could enjoy the role of being female and keep my male identity to myself. WRONG. Dysphoria does get worse with age.

I don't remember when I learned that ->-bleeped-<- is real and not a problem or mental illness, but I never had the balls to transition. Things got bad enough that I decided that's it and it's either transition or die. I wish that I had the knowledge and courage to do this sooner.

[notyouraverageguy]

I guess I'm an exception here.    I was always a tomboy, mostly happy to wear skirts as long as they were long and billowy. From 14-15 yrs old, when my womanly figure began to emerge and my parents put much more pressure on me to act feminine, I started thinking more and more that I should have been born male. I increasingly voiced these thoughts to my family. I think I heard the term "transgender" when I was about 16 or 17, researched it on the internet, and had the "AHA!!" moment.

Since I was content to be female-bodied until my parents started trying to make me act feminine, sometimes I wonder if I'm truly FtM transsexual. I have been known to "kick against the pricks," so I fear that maybe I've fooled myself into thinking I'm a ->-bleeped-<- when perhaps I'm just fed up with being treated as second-class cos I'm a 'woman.'    But I don't feel like a woman... maybe I'm androgynous, leaning towards male... 

Oops, sorry for going off on a tangent.

Lol its ok. Don't try to put yourself into a category. People worry so much about labeling themselves, they lose who they really are. Just be yourself, be happy with who you are. Don't try to change to fit into something society says you are.

[GDTripp]

Lol its ok. Don't try to put yourself into a category. People worry so much about labeling themselves, they lose who they really are. Just be yourself, be happy with who you are. Don't try to change to fit into something society says you are.

Thanks for the reassurance, C³.