Well I'm sorry. I never suffered from GID. So in a sense, I agree with Rejennyrated, but a lot more so. The question you might be asking is, how come? Well, for starters wanting to be a girl or female from around the age of 5 was just natural part of me growing up. I was never told anything differently. Not that others had the chance to correct what I thought, because even from that age I kept these particular thoughts to myself. I just do not know why I ever did.
Maybe its just because I'm a quite person by nature, a private person, maybe my natural instinct made me kept quite on these particular thoughts, better still this was my natural disposition (I was a girl) and my thoughts and feelings reflected this, even though I was growing up in a different environment.
Again you may ask why did I not have the 'never ending conflict' thoughts in my mind, hence resulting in not being able to cope with these diametrically opposed thoughts, hence suffering from anxiety, depression or even suicide. The only thing I can think of in this regard is that my mind is 'very stable' or I just did what I did, because it made me happy or contented and I never questioned it.
Why? Because it was the right thing to do, I also thought along the lines of, "I was not going to let society dictate to me how I should run my life" and this particular thought pattern did not stem from my 'gender issues'. Not that I ever considered, that I had gender issues. I just did not have the appropriate knowledge at the time to resolve it sooner. More than likely I was doing it because that was what females did.
Well to cut a long story short, I realised I was female. I then did what needed to be done so that I could function as a female in society. I find it extremely abhorrent that I can be labelled 'mental ill', because that is what GID (and its variants) means coming from the DSM. I have lived my life as any other normal highly functioning person does, without any medication, without any therapy before and after.
I have an inalienable right to live my life free of the stigmatization of "mental illness" or "perversion" perpetrated by the medical community or societies. It is irrelevant whether or not my behavior is a "choice" or "innate," because I have a basic human right to live my life, however I wish.
I'm not the only one who considers that the classification of GID should be removed from the DSM and its not the only 'disorder' that is being challenged in the DSM.
So, So how long have you felt that you had GID? I have never suffered from GID
Kindest regards
Sarah B
