How old were you when you realized....

[Evan]

Seems that the "norm" for most is around 5 years old. I don't know if I realized it then, because my Father did such a good job of feeding into my male leanings. He always did say he wanted a son. It wasn't until 14 that I have a vivid memory of "somethings up here". Right around that time though I learned about gay/lesbian people (yes sheltered childhood), and the butch/femme dynamic seemed to answer all of my different feelings. Until a year ago at 22 when I realized it wasn't working and that I've been miserable in this body. More importantly though that I didn't have to be.

[Alexie]

Three years old.

We should make a "3 year old" club 

Alexie

[LordKAT]

We should make a "3 year old" club 

Alexie

I'd join, I was 3 going on 4. remember it very clearly.

[sarahF]

It still amazes me how many people are like me. The accounts from everyone tug at my heart. Outsiders still ask, why do you WANT to do this?  I just walk away. It's too difficult to go through all that
Sarah

[LordKAT]

It still amazes me how many people are like me. The accounts from everyone tug at my heart. Outsiders still ask, why do you WANT to do this?  I just walk away. It's too difficult to go through all that
Sarah

If only they knew its not a matter of want, it is a matter of need.

[sarahF]

Your right again
Sarah

[tekla]

It still amazes me how many people are like me.

Even if you are 'one in a million' there are still 6,802 other people just like you.

[CodyJess]

I guess this makes me an odd one.

I honestly didn't know until just inside this year. That means 22. I had so many other things going on in my life growing up that I never stopped to consider the possibility that my physical sex was/is to blame for a lot (most) of my discomfort growing up and presently. It still worries me that because I haven't "known all along" I'll have trouble with therapy to get hormones. Bah.

[Alexie]

I guess this makes me an odd one.

I honestly didn't know until just inside this year. That means 22. I had so many other things going on in my life growing up that I never stopped to consider the possibility that my physical sex was/is to blame for a lot (most) of my discomfort growing up and presently. It still worries me that because I haven't "known all along" I'll have trouble with therapy to get hormones. Bah.

No Cody, you're not odd at all. We are all very different and I feel that maybe some circumstances mask what is really going on and in your case it wasn't until you matured that you realized it.
You have, in all likelihood had this condition all your life: the penny didn't drop until now that's all.
Most importantly you have every right as a human being to express yourself the way you feel comfortable. Any knowledgeable therapist will see that. Go for it!

Love Alexie 

[Ms Bev]

I knew when I was very young that I was different.   I was milder, softer, more like the girls.  As a young teen, I learned about Christine Jorgenson, and the best way I can describe my feelings was......I was Jealous!.....but kids born in 1950 couldn't do things like that.  That was for special people.  I didn't plunge into transition to become a "special person" until I was 55, but until then, I became the tough outdoorsman, and filled the role of a man quite well.



Bev

[Debra]

I guess this makes me an odd one.

I honestly didn't know until just inside this year. That means 22. I had so many other things going on in my life growing up that I never stopped to consider the possibility that my physical sex was/is to blame for a lot (most) of my discomfort growing up and presently. It still worries me that because I haven't "known all along" I'll have trouble with therapy to get hormones. Bah.

I had a similar thing happen to me and it did bug me when I read so many stories of others "dressing" as children, etc. I'm 28 and I didn't figure things out till this year myself....going thru therapy helped me remember a lot of memories that I wrote off and forgot about. So don't you fret yourself about that. We all have different stories and we all handle the discomfort growing up differently too.

[Claire Troward]

By the time I was five I knew something wasn't right. I was a gentle, more feminine child and prefered playing with girls than boys. I got a big shock when I entered the school system and discovered that my behaviour was not typical or approved of. I retreated in bookish nerd-dom in order to fly under the radar and be left alone. In 1974 I read an article on transsexualism in a copy of Time magazine and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

[Natasha]

how old were you when you realized...

i also knew when i was 3 years old.

We should make a "3 year old" club 

Alexie

there's one already. (not here)

[sarahF]

Alexie put it best.
Sarah

[Erica2Sweet]

How old were you when you realized that you were a man/woman, and descided to do something about it....

I've known there was something unusual about me since I was very very young but I suppose I was about 19 or 20 when I realized I had some real desires to be (or at least have the appearance of someone of) the opposite gender. I don't really know how else to word that, because it was at that point I began to learn more about my "wiring" so to speak. So, at the time, I did not know the terminology and such, it was just a feeling I'm sure everyone here is familiar with.

[Meshi]

I  was in denial for a long time, being brought up  by parents that were old school.  I knew at a very young age 4 or 5 that something wasnt right, as i never related to men on a man to man level..always an outcast.  Even in my male/female relationships i  was in my mind a female..It was more bisexual in nature than hetro.  I later learned i actually had the midset of a bi female, which i know now.   Ppl  are becoming more accepting, but we have along  way to go.

[aurora17]

I knew it all the time (it's my oldest memory), but I found enough courage (or despair) to start transitioning only around 2 years ago, after the death of my second child. What good is it to keep on living a lie, after all my daughter knows I am a girl, and she's not traumatized at all by me becoming more female every day.

[SilverShadow]

I guess this makes me an odd one.

I honestly didn't know until just inside this year. That means 22 18. I had so many other things going on in my life growing up that I never stopped to consider the possibility that my physical sex was/is to blame for a lot (most) of my discomfort growing up and presently. It still worries me that because I haven't "known all along" I'll have trouble with therapy to get hormones. Bah.

My story right there... I have the same fears about therapy etc.

[sarahF]

We are all odd and we are all "normal"
We all have differant stories but the same
Sarah

[Tranquillity]

My therapist that I am seeing (not GID) has asked me the same question. I cannot truly remember. I would have to sit down and think hard on this. Throughout my forty plus years of life I have noticed things I did that were female like and remember certain times when I was told I acted like a girl. Whether it was the way I was standing or talking or whatever. Most of this was in Grade school.

I had no idea what transgender was growing up. I did not learn till I was in my 20's, by then I was married with kids. I wish I knew then what I know now. I would of started a long time ago......

But to say I can pinpoint a certain time frame, no I can't.