Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hey all, I guess this is something I really wanted to get some good feedback on, from everyone.  I know it will matter a bit if you've already fully transitioned, how old you are, etc, as I'm sure how we live everyday effects our dreams in terms of self, but it has always interested me.

I am nearly full time (only a couple days here and there when I still kinda have to be male), and will be full time in August, but I still dream mostly as a male.  I'm wondering if, and when it will change. I'm 42, so that's a long time of maleness... lol.

So, please vote, then tell a little about your history... and if you used to dream in biological, and now fully dream in the gender you are now, how long did that take to start?

Thanks!!

I'm barely ever conscious of myself in my dreams, and the low proportion of dreams that I remember doesn't help. So, I'm sorry, but I can't really bring any reliable data.

I can't really select any of those options since I have a good proprtion of dreams where I'm not either. I have dreams where I'm different animals, not even human, and sometimes just a formless mass. It largely depends on the dream. All my most vivid ones, emotionally intense ones, and happiest ones, I have been female. Which has led to some odd situations since some of my dreams take place in the past, in a time where some people were alive, and in those times it's like... hmm... it's like living an alternate life. I really don't know how to explain it. I guess the mind works in mysterious ways, lol.

I do have a recurring dream, and it's one I've had for years. And I'm female in that one too, only not myself. It's someone else, someone I feel like I should know, or did know, or something. It's the same dream every time, same events, always plays out the same way.

Interestingly, though I rarely have them, in all my nightmares, I've been male.

Come to think of it, I think I do remember, too, that in most dreams where I notice I'm male, I also notice I'm feeling bad. I guess it's logical for a transsexual to associate their birth gender to discomfort.

all my dreams are like real life...  And all are through my eyes.  And while I have dreams of dressing, and being a woman, etc, almost all of my dreams are still in male form.  Just last night I was fighting demons with Sam and Dean Winchester... (A Supernatural reference for those who don't know the show)...  I also, for some reason, was putting a sailboat together.. (What's that about Freud?)  but I was male.  (and kicking ass against the demons!)

I suppose I'll still kick butt fighting demons as a woman, but so far, I haven't been dreaming that way....  Just wondering when (or IF) that will happen....

I can't answer to the 'when', but as to the 'if', I think there's a very good chance.

There's also the possibility that you've had lots of these dreams but you just forgot them. ;)

I remember one dream I had where it went from one to the other. That was a very unusual dream, very vivid. I actually posted it here.

*rummages around in the archives*

Quote from: Sephirah on August 16, 2008, 03:29:45 PM
In it, I was walking in an abandoned city and, at the time, I was male-bodied. I saw a fight taking place in the ruins of an abandoned church, one that was semi-demolished and looked like it could fall down at any minute.

I say fight, but in reality it was several young, very frightened looking ladies backed into a corner, surrounded by a group of soldiers (at least that's what they looked like - although they were wearing appliances similar to gas masks).

Anyway, in muffled voices I could hear a constant stream of... sexual references as to what they were going to do to these women, and the delight they would take in doing so. This only made the women even more terrified and if they could have clawed through the wall, they would have ripped their fingers off trying.

Against my better judgement (that being "you really don't want to go over there, this isn't your fight") I approached the group. And then I noticed I was dressed in the same attire as these soldier guys.

One of the women spotted me and she shrank away even further, whereby the soldiers turned around and saluted. I have no idea why, but then they removed their masks and started...

*sigh*

Well, the remarks can't really be repeated here, but you could probably imagine what was said. Lots of comparisons with female dogs, female horses, slang terms for felines... and how they looked as though they were begging for a good... you know.

...

Anyway, that was when I started to feel very strange. I looked at the two groups repeatedly. But I couldn't move. I was like a rabbit frozen in the headlights of a car. I stared at my hands, then at the women, then at the soldiers.

And I felt disgusted. And horrified.

I said how abhorrent the soldiers' behaviour was (not exactly using that word or that turn of phrase *blushes*) and then removed the mask that I was wearing. This was when I caught sight of my reflection in the smashed glass of a nearby window. It definitely wasn't that of a male.

They were shocked for a second, then leering and wanting to know where "a piece like me got hold of a uniform."

The women were all staring at me as well, but their expressions were ones of solidarity and... hope almost. I felt connected to them, I felt like I belonged. And these soldier guys were a threat to us.

...

They forgot about the other women, and started to approach me with hideous grins on their faces. I admit that I was scared, but only partially with the threat of what they could do to me... also with the realisation of who I was and how I now felt totally disconnected to something I previously thought I was.

So, apparently my physical body had changed as well and I was, to all intents and purposes, a woman.

Just before I woke up, they all lunged at me and I removed two silver magnums from holsters that had somehow appeared at my sides, a-la Lara Croft, and sent them into the next life with those lecherous smiles still on their lips.

I walked towards the group of women, smiling, and felt... at home.

...

*blushes* Sorry for the long post, but that one dream, the vividness, the impact, changed my whole perception of how I see myself and my connection with my true gender. It's been like that ever since. I feel more of a kinship and deeper emotional connection with women, and that I am now one of the girls.

I usually dream I'm full physical man but I had like maybe two dreams where I was a me getting the change and another where I was a female android > <

In my dreams I'm either male or don't have a gender. I have the ocasional dream where I turn into a girl or go into the body of a girl in my dreams but thats about it. This has probably been going on for a year atleast, I can't remember sorry. I haven't been on hormones or had surgery but I pretty much live full time as male. Only time I'm 'female' is with my family or friends of my Mother.

I think there are ways to teach yourself how to have lucid dreams. You could parade around in a castle with any body you want.  :D I only had a dream like that once and wasted it on ice cream!  ::)

Wow, Didn't really think about it. My dreams typically have me change very quickly from one person to the next, but almost every dream I spend most of it as a female even if my gender isn't something I really notice in the dream. However I rarely dream about myself, and when I do it's usually a nightmare.

I am now almost always a woman in my dreams now, prior to transition I was always male.
That is if I can see myself at all, and am not actually watching the dream rather than being a participant in the scene.

Very interesting. I'm trans in most of my dreams ...

I often don't remember any of my sleep dreams.  However, my day dreaming is usually, if gender is relevant, from a woman's perspective. 

Granted, I'm not actually sure if that makes any sense, but I've never related to a typical man's view on much, if anything.  In terms of gender, I've always related more to the average female perspective and that carries over into any of my concious projections.

Many of my dreams I have no clear sense of self, almost to the point of similar to watching a movie. Of the ones I do, they tend to split 50:50 male:female. However, depending on the "WTF am I doing factor!" program running in my head at the time the female dreams can be nil.

Prior to transitioning I was mostly male in my dreams occasionally female.
After I begun transitioning there was a 3 month delay between how I dreamed my body was and how it actually was meaning after I'd started growing breasts I still dreamed that I was a flat chested male.

Now my body is as it is IRL (Pre-op MTF) I'm generally seen as female however.

interesting to see how others dream...  I am always aware of self.  It is always in the first person, and is always like real life.. (well, the feeling, not the circumstances!)

My most vivid dream of becoming female, and I'll try to keep it short, was I was at a military base with my girlfriend.  I knew there was some type of experiments going on, and after a little bit, I came to realize that I was a part of it.  I was in a flight suit while on base.  My girlfriend kept telling me I was becoming a woman, and although I knew that to be true, I kept telling her no.  I was seeing changes over a couple of days, and it was obvious.  One day, she says "You're a complete woman now!  Go look in the mirror!"..... so I went into a private bathroom, and took off my flight suit.  I was shorter, and my face was beautiful...  I took off the flight suit to reveal me in shorts and a tank top, but I was definitely a woman... breasts, hips, etc.  So I had to find out.  I stripped nude, and sure enough, I was completely a woman.  I had such a wonderful feeling at that moment... pure joy.  So, then I HAD to find out, you know, if it was real... so I lowered my hand, and touched myself... then woke up.  But the dream was SO VIVID, that I literally felt the weight of the breasts on my chest for the first half of the day... (That's how real all my dreams are)

But really, I still dream almost always as a male......  blah

My dreams have always been "as seen thru my eyes" also, I cant recall ever looking back at myself as someone else would see me. Over the 50 years of dealing with this I would say the dreams from MY view were mixed male/female depending on what the subject matter of the dream was, when dreaming of flying (aircraft related) it was always in boy mode, also have many dreams of grand art works and projects...those are always in girl mode! and my real life career is art based as well, and well..."me being just me" my mind has always been in "girl mode" no matter what the physical appearance to people is.

Now try and figure this one out please!
I have had this recurring dream over many many years where I am naked in crowds or otherwise normal public settings, but I am always trying desperately to find a place to hide!! They are not pleasent dreams and there is no sexual content at all...in those dreams I am neither boy nor girl...just "there" trying to hide.

Quote from: auburnaubrey on April 29, 2012, 12:51:43 PM
Just last night I was fighting demons with Sam and Dean Winchester...

You watch that too? I'm waiting for the next season here in the UK. They are very buff indeed!

Dreams are very important to me. It's a playground for my subconscious to let rip. I can judge the state of my subconscious mind, my subconscious motives much better in dreams than in the awake state. The last few dreams have been very revealing and in a very positive way. It's like, I'm finally starting to like and accept myself for who I am.

One of the themes for many of my nightmares is where I've been constantly and instantly read. A few dreams I've been dressed in male clothing but I'm still a woman. The reoccurring nightmare has been where I've been desperate for the ladies' bathroom/toilet/restroom and can only find open plan cubicles!  I've had a few dreams where I've been some sort of amalgam of male and female. But my old male presentation? Not for a long time.

Michelle G:

Quote
To dream that you are naked denotes fear of being found out and exposed over your activities. You feel that you are being misjudged.

To dream that you suddenly discover your nudity and are trying to cover up signifies your vulnerability to a situation.

To see a naked person in your dream and you are disgusted by it represents some anxiety about discovering the naked truth about that person or situation. It may also foretell of an illicit love affair, a loss of prestige or some scandalous activity. On the other hand, if you are accepting of someone else's nudity, then it implies that you can see right through them and their intentions. Or perhaps, you are completely accepting them for who they are. If you do not care about someone else's nudity, then it suggests that you need to learn not to be afraid of rejection.

*For an in depth analysis, click on  Dream Moods' Common Dreams: Naked (http://dreammoods.com/cgibin/nakeddreams.pl?method=exact&header=dreamid&search=nakedintro).

I just remembered this dream/nightmare I often had as a child (at least 100 times), and a little research on the website on which I found the above explanations just stunned me. So much I decided to double post I can't believe I dreamed of something so strongly connotative of transsexualism and never realized it. A few tears even came thinking of it, whilst I don't really cry often.

(Actually, this is exceedingly long and off-topic, so I'll post it on my blog instead. The link is in my signature.)

I'm not transitioning yet (gotta get money) and so am fully physically female.  I have had maybe 2 dreams in my life that I can remember where I was female.  All of my other dreams were male.    Dreams don't have much of an emphasis for me unless there is something in them that just makes them stand out.  If they don't stand out, I consider it purely mind spew from whatever is going on in my life.

Quote from: A on April 30, 2012, 07:50:10 PM
I just remembered this dream/nightmare I often had as a child (at least 100 times), and a little research on the website on which I found the above explanations just stunned me. So much I decided to double post I can't believe I dreamed of something so strongly connotative of transsexualism and never realized it. A few tears even came thinking of it, whilst I don't really cry often.

(Actually, this is exceedingly long and off-topic, so I'll post it on my blog instead. The link is in my signature.)

Thanx A, a lot of that really makes sense, I am not really "disgusted" or uncomfortable at other naked people at all, and for a lot of years would enjoy nude beaches etc. because of the good "personal freedom " vibe they had.

I think these two lines might say it best as to what I feel,

QuoteTo dream that you are naked denotes fear of being found out and exposed over your activities. You feel that you are being misjudged.

To dream that you suddenly discover your nudity and are trying to cover up signifies your vulnerability to a situation.

Happy to be of assistance.

As a side note, I finally posted on my blog.

Well, I just had the first clear dream of myself as I am now (living full-time but pre-op) just last night, and I woke up very happy about it!

Reading this thread reminded me that once a few months back, I had dreamt about myself as male having sex with a woman, and I felt all yucky about it when I woke up. 

Before my female inner core became clear to me, I used to dream on and off about a woman who understood me completely, I used to feel very comfortable with her there and very sad when I woke up and realised that it was a dream. More recently I find the nice feeling of the dream is alive in me every day, and that I have ended up looking and dressing rather like her! So I wonder sometimes if that was my true self trying to express itself through the repressed tangle of ideas that was my former life. 

I dream as both. It's as if my brain knows I haven't truly transitioned yet or something. As I get closer to going full time, my dreams seem to have more of a female me.

I mainly dream as a boy. This didn't strike me as weird before I acknowledged myself as trans, strangely enough. The dreams where I'm enough of a person to have hair, clothes, a face, etc are all boy-dreams.

Hm, it seems that boys have a higher rate of dreaming as the right gender, regardless of the stage of transition. I guess you guys are more straightforward, eh.

We certainly face less in the way of societal roadblocks/conditioning that tells us it's not okay. I wonder if that plays into it.

Quote from: Marion on May 04, 2012, 04:34:56 PM
We certainly face less in the way of societal roadblocks/conditioning that tells us it's not okay. I wonder if that plays into it.

I'm also a complete Narcisist in my dreams too ^o^

I'm a guy in my dreams, with a cisguy body. In some nightmares I am a trans guy, but that's merely because the nightmare is about being the victim of a hate crime (watching Boys Don't Cry before bed? NOT a good idea). In other nightmares, I'm a girl, that kind of girl who gets killed by a monster/murderer/whatever in horror films.

Quote from: PixieBoy on May 06, 2012, 06:19:20 AM
I'm a guy in my dreams, with a cisguy body.

I've just realized I don't have any idea what my genitalia are in my dreams. I definitely don't have breasts, but I'm not sure if I have a cock or not. My dreams are like video games in that there's a lot of drama but no going to the bathroom, so it's not like there'd be an opportunity to know. (I don't have sex dreams ever for some reason.)

 It's been a very long time since I have dreamt myself male... I am almost always female in my dreams, and I always am in recent memory.

For a MtF, these dreams are very comforting. :)

I had a dream the other night where these two big guys were getting aggressive towards my best friend, and I was female.  I always have dreams that I am rescuing her, and have always been male in those dreams.  But I was female in this one, and I wasn't able to defend her.  Even though I am well versed in martial arts, I didn't know them in my dream, and I was kind of tossed around......

Not a great way to start dreaming as a woman.....  I'm sure Freud would have a field day with this one...

My dream gender transitioned with me, gradually at first, then very rapidly.  It's been so long, I don't remember.  I'm always me, female, in female social situations.  I always dream as a gay woman.  I wear gender appropriate clothes in my dreams, use gender appropriate restrooms which are always waay below cleanliness standards (maybe that's a good therapy area *L*).

99 percent of the time I'm a biological female like in my everyday life.  To be honest I've only had my first male-bodied dream a few weeks ago and I was having sexual intercourse but it wasn't pleasurable as I couldn't get it up.

Sad life.

Had an amazing dream last night that I was finally in girl mode while dealing with my "alpha male" customers, my hair was long enough to put into cute blond pigtails and I was wearing shorts and a tank top...in the dream it was business as usual as if nothing was different...a happy omen I hope!! :)

btw, my hair is growing out nicely and I'm so excited to have it as long as I want, I have natural blond hair but have never had it this long before, I have always been asked if its my real color, lol  And my wife spends a LOT to get hers about the same shade ;)

Nothing really fit me well.

but Generally Im female or TS. In that I either have my ideal female body.. Or I have a  nice body that has feminine form, breasts, face, but I still have the boy parts. I've hard several dreams where I look in the mirror, notice my hair is longer and start to think "Oh no I better cut it before people suspect what I am!" but then my face will grow very feminine and pretty and I'll be like "Oh well.. maybe I'll just be fine."

If I'm a man, it's rare but Im not myself. I'm some random guy I've seen. It's rare as I only recall this like once.

Generally when I'm myself and male, Im extremely androgynous. Basically to the point that I know I'm male, but look entirely as a girl

Most in my dreams I'm male and as I wake up I realize it's not true yet -.-" Maybe that's why I don't really like dreaming. Or waking up.

Well, in my dream last night, I switched between being male and female.

@Edge-- well fits being genderfluid?

Anyway, I usually dream sort of being agender or genderqueer (wouldn't have known the word). The gender I have is not actually known.

But last night I had a weird gendering dream. I was getting a tattoo at a hospital clinic (yep stupid huh?) and it was really not a very good tattoo, kind a square with different colors inside. Anyway, I was in the women's section in the the clinic for the first part of it, and they get to the very last color which they were going to fill in and then  they said. "To finish this tattoo you have to go over to ______ clinic", which turned out to be the men's clinic. I asked why but they were not able to tell me. I started going over and then I woke up and said "weird" aloud. And then my second thought was "that's a really stupid tattoo".

I actually thought this might be a kind of significant dream.
The pattern was a square with different colors inside. Funny thing but the one they needed to fill in was blue.


--Jay Jay

I have only had one dream, to this point, where I appeared as female.

I do not remember a lot about the dream itself other than it was in black and white and it seemed like I was living out an action adventure video game.  A lot of running around, jumping, dodging baddies.  Anyway, having survived whatever was going on, I walk into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror and it's me in boy mode.  Than I bend down below the mirror to splash water on my face.  When I come back up to look in the mirror again and everything is now in color and I see myself, for the first time ever, as a girl.  Nothing outlandish, just a girl in a hoody with brownish hair pulled back in a disheveled ponytail.

Do you remember falling asleep in high school and all of a sudden you dream that you are falling and you wake up with a jump?  That is what it was like.  So, at 4:14am on July 4th I jump out of bed after seeing myself in this dream and the only words out of my mouth were "what the f... was that?"

Meaningful, maybe. 
Memorable, absolutely.

I used to have dreams where I either was a girl or was becoming a girl and everyone around me treated it like it was a totally normal thing.  Usually, I was pretty ok with it to.  Although, I remember one dream where my family couldn't afford the best "equipment" to let me be a girl (it was a weird dream) and I was very self-conscious about not looking "real" enough.

I don't really have those anymore.  Then again, I don't recall much of any of my dreams anymore.

Quote from: TessaM on July 23, 2012, 02:55:09 PM
Glad I found this thread. I was actually thinking of this the other day. I thought that if i'd eventually end up dreaming as female, id defenitely have fully transitioned (ie; id have the proper amount of confidence)
Anyways, before transition I frequently had nightmare, and I was male in 99% of them. Super occasionally I would have a dream where I would "cross dress" (MTF remember) and I would just feel so amazing, then I would wake up and genuinely feel ashamed.
Now, I EXCLUSIVELY dream as a female. I always dream in the first person, and im always female in all of those dreams. People treat me as such, and I have no such problems with anything.
Speaking of dreams and what not, I have this recuring nightmare where im driving a car, and i cant seem to brake (or rather, the brakes are not proportional to stopping power. Ill slamm them and ill only slow down slightly!) everytime i crash i wake up. Also, if I try to turn, I just end up spinning like im on ice, BUT I still keep going fast. Ive had this dream or a similar variant since I was an infant (round 4) any idea what this could be? FWIW I cant remember having a dream like that in the last 4 months or so that ive been living full time.

I've had that dream before.......  I'm sure Freud would say it's a fear of losing control, or not having control.... or not being able to do something about a problem you're facing...... but then again, I'm not Freud!  I do wonder how a 4 year old can be driving a car!   ;)  Dreams are weird sometimes.  I dreamt last night I was in this cool bar with a TON of my friends... but they were only friends in my dream.  I didn't know a single one of them in real life!  And, I was a total guy... my "old" self.   I kept saying, "I don't know why we don't do this more often".   It was such a good feeling... then my dinner came out, and it was 3 whole chickens (I'm a vegetarian), and a whole pot of this stew...  And I had no problem eating the chicken! (Never said in my dream I was a vegetarian).  I woke up, and just wondered how totally random that all was.

Oh well, it was better than the zombie apocolypse dream I had right before that one...

When I can remember my dreams, I usually have little conscious awareness of my gender except that I am myself; Other times I can clearly tell that I am one gender or the other, or at times, both.
Although I especially love when my brain decides to throw me visions of my full-bodied male self. Makes me feel like I'm seeing myself as I should be. *sigh* :I

I keep having the brake dream also. Sometimes it's trying to stop at a stop sign on country road. Sometimes it's in a parking lot at a store. Scares me everytime I have it. No matter how hard I press on the brake petal I just keep going. But somehow I have never crashed. But I think that's because no matter the dream when ever I am in extream danger of getting hurt I just wake up. I do get hurt but in my dreams but never very badly.

I almost always dream I am my biological sex, or ambiguous sex. I can't ever really physically tell, it's more of an aura that tells me whether I'm male, female, or otherwise.

I think my brain is far too aware of my situation, because even though I mostly dream I am female, I'm almost always aware that I'm transgender as well. In waking life, I always consider myself male, but I'm also overly aware of the fact I'm trans, so I think that part carries over into my dreams, and my dreams recreate real life for me instead of giving me a dream of being male like I've always wanted. >_>

I think I had one dream that I remembered where I was female.  I usually only remember the bad dreams.

I'm not sure which of the poll options would best suit me.

When I first started transitioning last year, I usually dreamed that I was male. Eventually, I started having some dreams where I was female. These days, most of my dreams I'm genderless.

Thinking about the poll question it seems that in most of my dreams I'm genderless. But in the dreams that I do have a gender U think that it is about a 50/50 split. So not sure which one to choose.

I have not made any significant steps in physical transition yet, but I'm almost always male in my dreams with the exception of nightmares and dreams involving dysphoria, coming out, etc. As far as I can remember I have very rarely been entirely female within a dream without some form of recognition placed upon disliking the body I was given/desiring to be physically male.

I normally can't recall my dreams but the ones I most easily do often I am female and they are very intense. Others are about recent events and neither male or female. I do really enjoy the female dreams though and I am sad when I wake up that they were only a dream.
One can dream, literally.

One of my favourite dreams happened a long time ago, when I wasn't even considering transition. As far as I can remember, I've always had dreams in which I was female, and needless to say they were the best. But this one in particular I haven't forgotten, probably because of the 'charm' it had. I was wearing this beautiful white dress, heels and had long, wavy dark hair. I felt GORGEOUS, and it all seemed like a commercial, very oniric. I was riding the bus and it was half empty, and sunlight was bathing the whole scene like you wouldn't believe. It was like New York in summer (even if I've never been there). So I get off the bus, and walk through these street that seems like an abandoned industrial place of some sort, but not dark or creepy or anything, and as I turn my dress and hair just move flawlessly like in those perfume commercials...

...and then I woke up.

I was expecting at least to see the name of the perfume but I didn't make it. :D So I figured I was dreaming I was a model or something and I was starring in this clip. I've never felt more beauty and peace in my whole (and real) life.

Crap.

In my dreams, I am the same person that I am in reality - a pre-op transwoman. Oddly, I have quite a few dreams which involve me trying to avoid being seen as a male, which I find strange as normally my dreams make no sense whatsoever.

Before I fully accepted myself as a trans woman, I would have an occasional dream to where I was a woman...those were the best. After finding out and accepting who I was, almost any dream I'm not genderless in, I'm female.

I very rarely recall my dreams except in a few occasions where something extreme happens in them (and I wake up in shock), but as an MTF that's been "repressed" for most of my life (meaning I didn't even know it, my subconscious was hiding this from me), some dreams made an impact on me. I've dreamt that I was growing breasts in a few seconds as I had my hands on my chest, or that I was simply in a woman's body, and I've even dreamt of having a sexual experience as a woman 2 or 3 times. Waking up from those dreams was a very sad experience as I of course would have wanted them to last longer or to have some sort of control over them. Unfortunately conscious control always made me wake up immediately so I've never been able to fully enjoy these dreams to their full extent.

Still, it's one of those hints that I always chalked up to fantasies but, in retrospect now that I've "discovered" and accepted that I have gender dysphoria, were clear signs that I should have listened to sooner.

Dreams don't often seem to have a noticeable gender for a lot of people, it's like you're one of those Ken dolls with no genitals. Or I am anyway, occasionally have nightmares in which I have to hide breasts which for some reason are hanging in full view. (Let's not analyze that for subconscious meanings...)

Several lately that have been in the correct gender and also with some lesbian romance. Not a lot of sex, but that may change if/when I have SRS.  Nice to have my subconscious tell me I am heading in the right direction.

I had a dream that i fully transitioned. I looked like a younger version of my mother kinda cute but i was frantic over something.

I always dream that I'm the opposite sex, but it's kind of like a Tom and Jerry sort of thing in that I never actually see my face. Sometimes I actually "borrow" a face from some random girl I saw on the street that day. Basically, I dream of redoing my day as a female.

My dreams usually lack gender, and most of the time I play no role in my dreams at all. They are often like I am watching a movie, and I am the camera--not an actual person. Any idea what that means?
The times that I do play a role in my dreams I don't really notice my gender, and others don't either. I have had dreams where I am dressing as a woman, one time I put on a wedding dress! I would love to have this really happen.

If I don't have dreams as a woman does that mean I'm not really suffering from GID?   

Quote from: Hippolover25 on August 12, 2012, 09:45:50 AM


If I don't have dreams as a woman does that mean I'm not really suffering from GID?   

Not at all........ the mind is an interesting thing, especially on a subconcious level.  I just wondered how everyone else had dreams.... looking at the poll results, there is no "one answer fits all".

I find it strange that I don't even really have dreams in which my hair is even long...... but then again, 40 plus years as a guy, I'm sure I have much more ingrained subconcious memories than the 1.5 years of being female.

Although I have had a few more dreams lately about me being out with friends in a dress, or getting dressed as a woman, so I guess I'm getting there.......

Quote from: auburnAubrey on August 12, 2012, 05:48:02 PM

but then again, 40 plus years as a guy,

Thanks for replying! I'm glad to hear that about dreams...plus if that is your picture you have posted, you don't look anywhere close to 40 years old! You look like a 25 year old woman. But then I know I'm really bad at telling people's age.

Quote from: Hippolover25 on August 12, 2012, 06:39:43 PM
Thanks for replying! I'm glad to hear that about dreams...plus if that is your picture you have posted, you don't look anywhere close to 40 years old! You look like a 25 year old woman. But then I know I'm really GOOD at telling people's age.

LOL!! I fixed it for you!!   ;D  :angel:

You sooooooooooooo made my day, you don't even know!!

I have had several over the last week, but can't remember any details apart from the fact that I was a woman, and there didn't seem to be any anima/animus guide figure present.
Previous to transition I had the usual female guide figure representing the subconscious and it's messages, but don't have her very often, nor have I acquired a male animus in her place. 
According to Jung the figure is opposite to your gender, and deals with emotional messages.

Karen.

Quote from: auburnAubrey on August 12, 2012, 05:48:02 PM
Not at all........ the mind is an interesting thing, especially on a subconcious level.  I just wondered how everyone else had dreams.... looking at the poll results, there is no "one answer fits all".

I find it strange that I don't even really have dreams in which my hair is even long...... but then again, 40 plus years as a guy, I'm sure I have much more ingrained subconcious memories than the 1.5 years of being female.

Although I have had a few more dreams lately about me being out with friends in a dress, or getting dressed as a woman, so I guess I'm getting there.......

You truly look much younger than you are, but don't let it go to your head! :D

Unfortunately, I don't remember my dreams. I'm trying to remember the last time and it was so long ago that I don't even recall it. I've often wondered if this is connected with the gender issue and whether I am dreaming about things that I don't want to remember or only play out more dysphoria? I wonder whether any of you started recalling your dreams more after starting HRT or SRS compared to pre-transition?

Quote from: Elena G on August 13, 2012, 08:29:07 AM
You truly look much younger than you are, but don't let it go to your head! :D

Thank you dear........ and I'm sorry, but I can't promise that!!  LOL!   ;D :angel:

For those who have trouble remembering dreams, try melatonin. The first time i took it my dream was so vivid i woke up talking and when i went back to sleep the dream started where it left off.

My gender doesn't normally come into play when I dream, but if it does either it is the gender with which I identify or it is a dream which makes a point of changing my sex from biological to what is desired.  On occasion I do have dreams in which I am simply my biological sex, though much less so currently than in the past when I was still not certain about/particularly concerned with my gender.

I almost never dream, but... The few times I had been dreaming about being the opposite gender when I woke up  I had to check that nothing was missing (same thing I do when I dream about teeth falling off).

Worst time: A nightmare in which I was a small girl being raped by Santa Claus. Still scares the crap out of me.

Quote from: Apples on August 16, 2012, 07:12:42 AM
Worst time: A nightmare in which I was a small girl being raped by Santa Claus. Still scares the crap out of me.

Wow, and I thought my dreams were demented...

Mostly I dream genderless.
The last time I recall gender is having sex, being penetrated and actually had an orgasm before I properly woke up.

Pretty amazing, never had such when with male plumbing - maybe because of more regular masturbation? Who knows...

Axélle

I had an interesting dream last night, where I was "in the middle", but looked like I do now, sans the make up.... Anyway, I was at this place having an interesting conversation with David Letterman (yeah, that David Letterman!! LOL), and this girl Gina, who I don't know, but in my dream, I knew quite well.  I was presenting male at the time and had to go to the bathroom..... So, I'm walking back to the table, and Gary Shandling (I have no idea why him... he's a comedian) bumped into me and said "Oh, excuse me miss".

So I go down to tell Letterman that Shandling thought I was female, and they were all getting up to to sit at a table to eat.  So as I was walking to catch up with them (I was a part of the group), Billy Crystal was in my way, and I kept saying "Excuse me Billy", like I knew him.  I finally got around him and I saw Gina walking up these stairs, so I said "Hey Gina!  Tell Letterman I've got a great story for him to use on the show!

For some reason, I wasn't wearing shoes, so I went outside to get them, but couldn't find them....... then I woke up.

So, I didn't dream female, but at least I had my long hair, and looked like I look now....... so maybe I'm getting closer.

But seriously, how random?

Last night... what is happening?

My posting on this thread?! :)

I had to go wee, and there I stand in front of a urinal (pants down I guess?) pulling up my vj and do some first rate STP with a nice thick stream.
Hum, only dribbled on my thigh after I was done... :)

I then woke up and had to do the real thing sitting down –
I think my un-aided dream proficiency far surpasses my real STP proficiency, he-he :)

Axélle

I had SRS in 04 and about four nights ago I had a dream that I was in a parking lot and I pulled it out and was spraying a huge stream of urine all around like I was wielding a weapon.  I had on a baseball cap and a pinch of Copenhagen Snuff in my lip and I was hanging out with a couple of actors who portray manly men in television and movies.  I don't remember which ones but they were in character.

Then a night or two later I had a dream that my closeted gay neighbor was wearing about three shades of eyeshadow and I was trying to show him how to put some carbon in the crease but he didn't want any carbon in the crease because he was trying to prove to everyone that he was straight at the time.

As I haven't transitioned yet, mostly male sometimes female, if it's even me. Sometimes my personification changes to someone else entirely like an actor/actress or a video game character, though I can't remember which gender is more likely in those. Sometimes there is no personification at all. I also have a lot of trans-related dreams, normally in the closet related, which is pretty much how things are now irl.

Half the time I'm gender-less, the other half I am 9 times out of 10 female but not always me.

My most often recurring dreams are either fighting to survive a thermonuclear attack or doing it with some male friend from the past. Not sure which I find more disturbing.

Normally I don't have any specific sense of what I am in my dreams.  One thing I've heard before is that you're not supposed to be able to hear your own voice or see yourself in your dreams.  This hasn't always been true for me.  Recently I had a dream where I was looking at myself directly in the face, possibly in a mirror, and remarking that my hairstyle was exactly what I had been trying to figure out I wanted done.  I appeared fully female and was even smiling.  This is the first time I've knowingly dreamt of myself as being female.  I am currently struggling with my look as I'm growing out my hair and not sure of the final direction so it's no wonder I had this dream.

The only commonly recurring dream I have is being able to fly.  It is a wonderful feeling until I wake up, then it is incredibly depressing!

I usually dreamt as my original sex until I transitioned, and that transitioned along with me.  Now, I am always a woman in my dreams. 

I just remembered a dream I had last night. I was having my whole reproductive system removed and changed! It was freaky. It was like a group of alien beings were ripping me up and changing my innards for female ones, my family was watching and I was having a s***load of pain, but I felt comfortable, relaxed and happy at the end. The uterus was weird though, it was like a hollow ball that would function as an uterus, not a purely organic one. It just came to me a minute ago, I usually like to try to recall the dreams I had that past night every morning, but today I just wasn't successful. I guess some things take time to register in our conscious mind.

Weeeeird.

I'm most, about 95% of the time my biological sex. Though recently i dreamed i was female to male and woke from srs.

Quote from: DianaP on August 16, 2012, 11:15:05 AM
Wow, and I thought my dreams were demented...

And that was not even bad. The worst one not only appeared as female, but in my own wedding.


Never, never, ever. PUKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Even as a little Kid I dreamed as a male but maybe thats cause all my heros and people i wanted to be like were male too. I always played a male in fantasy games with my friends apparently too one of my best and oldest friends when I came out to her to tell her that I was going to transition she simply said I am not suprized even back when we first met in like 1st grade you always pretended to be a boy in our games when we played Xenia warrior princess you played hercules. So for me I guess its just natural that I always dreamed as a male.

Majority of the time I've dreamt I was a male. I was boy when I was youngest (around 6) and each year that I grew, I also grew in my dreams. The only time I am not a male is when I'm having a very bad nightmare. It's the kind you feel is real until something forces you to wake up. It's scary sometimes but thankfully I get to go back to dreaming as my male self the next time.

Quote from: auburnAubrey on April 29, 2012, 09:11:17 AM
Hey all, I guess this is something I really wanted to get some good feedback on, from everyone.  I know it will matter a bit if you've already fully transitioned, how old you are, etc, as I'm sure how we live everyday effects our dreams in terms of self, but it has always interested me.

I am nearly full time (only a couple days here and there when I still kinda have to be male), and will be full time in August, but I still dream mostly as a male.  I'm wondering if, and when it will change. I'm 42, so that's a long time of maleness... lol.

So, please vote, then tell a little about your history... and if you used to dream in biological, and now fully dream in the gender you are now, how long did that take to start?

Thanks!!

Its like anything in life, it takes time for things to change as you have been in a male role for years, not too long though.

Just depends on how comfortable you are in your new role.

I used to always dream as female. I'd wake up, realize I was in my male body, and lay in bed wondering WTF. Lately I've been having more trans dreams. A lot of them are high anxiety dreams but I guess I'm integrating better.

I started having trans dreams about a year ago.  There was one – very vivid – and then nothing for weeks.  And then another. And then quite a few over a period of months.  These days I would say perhaps 20% - 25% of my dreams are trans dreams, about half clearly male bodied, and the rest indeterminate.  According to my therapist, non-trans people simply never experience this. 

I've had 2 dreams where I was female, that I can recall.

They were so vivid, every feeling, every detail.

This is one of the things I obsessively do when I lie down to sleep, everynight I hope to have a similar dream .

In some dreams im me, in others im my birth sex, in others im my birth sex. Its weird, alot of my dreams are mashups of unrelated people and places and are always hard to make sense of lol

This is so interesting!  Thanks for sharing your dreams, y'all, I really enjoyed reading about them.

In my dreams I'm always real me, except for one time when I dreamed of turning into a woman and woke up thinking "well, that was weird...oh bugger".  At times I've seen real me in a mirror or from a third-person POV or something, and he's always the same.  Same face, same hair (my biological hair but a bit wirier and a bit more ginger), same height etc.  He's not too different from biological me and probably what I would look like if I was born male.  Essentially, he's the phantom me that lives inside my brain and is what my brain always thinks I am.