Susan's Place Transgender Resources

If you are FTM for example and happened to have more stereotypically feminine interests did they change to more masculine ones since you started testosterone?

If you are MTF and happened to have male stereotypical interests did starting estrogen make your interests and hobbies more stereotypically feminine?

Discuss your interests before and after if they have changed.

My interests have not changed at all. I did all of these things before and continue to do them all now with the same degree of interest. Can't say for certain if these are stereotypically one way or the other, so I'll just list them all and let you judge.

- Hiking / backpacking / camping
- Kayaking / canoeing
- Running
- Working out
- Playing video games
- Reading
- Writing
- Watching movies
- Programming
- Shooting / archery
- Driving / cars

Oh, interesting topic !

This came up in group therapy for me a couple weeks ago. I'm MtF, and had noticed that I wasn't interested any more by some fairly violent entertainment so I asked if anyone else had noticed any changes.

Yup!

I made an initial guess that it might be tied into HRT, always looking for an external mechanism to blame. We kicked it around and with the therapist figured out what might be going on.

When we are in hiding we tend to engage more in stereotypical behavior, as part of our camouflage. As we start to come out, initially to ourselves, admitting our true nature and starting to take on our real lives initially with therapy and then HRT, we also open ourselves to new experiences.

As ourselves, it is not as dangerous to try new things or admit that the activities we used as part of our camouflage might not be as interesting as our old persona thought.

I'm not as interested in violent entertainment, and have enjoyed some recent 'chick flicks '.  I do miss wrenching on cars (pesky HOA rules), and am trying to get a shortwave transmitting antenna up ("Ladies of the Net" on 40M...), so not everything has changed.

Basically, I'm now more open to new experiences than I used to be. I'm not in danger of being outed by my activities any more.


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My interests and capacity have changed while my principle values are the same if expanded.  Now being much more comfortable with myself the literature and art i enjoy is more likely from a feminist and romantic place.  My awareness has been fueled, in part, by the misogyny too many women encounter and the freedom i now feel to be my honest self.

My bodily strength and the clothes I wear are now less conducive to the hard physical farm and trail work I have enjoyed for just about ever.  Now I need to change out of my skirts and get into my grubbies before hoping into the kayak, or onto the tractor or recumbent bicycle.  So I do those activities less and have an expanding wardrobe to maintain ;)

My emotional life is different too and that finds me communicating more clearly and in depth with the important people in my life.  Now we can talk more freely about our challenges and feelings.  I find that some of "the guys" are less likely to hang with me while women are more so.

In sum my transition remains a very worthy trade off.

My interests really haven't changed. Those things I avoided because they reminded me of what I wasn't allowed I now enjoy when I couldn't before and those things that were solely in the fold to occupy me to keep my mind off of it have fallen out of the fold but over all my interests are the same. Hugs
Mariah

a little bit. i used to go to the gym and work out alot and was kind of lazy when it came to appearance.  nowadays makeup and fashion are two of my favorite hobbies and I love exploring them both. Everything else stayed the same though, I still like video games and cartoons as much as I did as a kid. I'll be a nerdy girl for life hahaha.

Good question! I still like some of the same things - driving fast, angsty/angry music, outdoorsy stuff, recreational substances, learning, watching a movie here and there, reading, etc.

But the direction has changed a bit - I like tons of music that I previously did not, I can't sit still for action movies, except for the stupid cheesy romance subplot part which gets me every freaking time now, seeing people or animals get hurt is physically uncomfortable so I can't watch war movies anymore, I read poetry instead of sci-fi, I'll talk to people all day long about anything at all instead of preferring solitude. In fact, I HAVE to interact with people or I get all depressed now.

New things include cooking a decent number of my own meals, usually vegetarian because my body now severely dislikes a meat-based diet, I spend ridiculous amounts of time grooming, and I really dig decorating/setting up the mood of an environment...and like once a month I basically turn OCD about cleaning/organizing for a few days.

How much of that is hormones and how much is living truthfully for the first time? *shrug*

Hm, I still love anime and gaming. Uh, that's probably too common.
Urm, I still love coding, that's not a very feminine activity, mm.

Then again, I'm not sure if the pills actually work beyond a mild placebo effect.

No not really like everything I was interested before stayed pretty much the same. Then again I did always do what I wanted despite gender norms. The biggest difference I did see though was that I was able to concentrate better. My creativity sky rocketed and suddenly I could focus on projects and finish things where as prehrt it was a struggle just to do anything.

Quote from: alienbodybuilder on November 30, 2016, 02:43:08 PM
If you are FTM for example and happened to have more stereotypically feminine interests did they change to more masculine ones since you started testosterone?

I have more motivation to lift. I mean I'm actually seeing decent results from it for once. I'm liking the extra power I can feel in those limbs.

Quote from: Kylo on December 18, 2016, 10:33:36 PM
I have more motivation to lift. I mean I'm actually seeing decent results from it for once. I'm liking the extra power I can feel in those limbs.

This answer is valuable to me because I like to lift weights and get discouraged because I have a weak female body right now.

It's the opposite for me. Even lying in bed all day won't make my muscles atrophy x.x

Quote from: Xirafel on December 21, 2016, 09:44:22 PM
It's the opposite for me. Even lying in bed all day won't make my muscles atrophy x.x

So I take it you are a female with large unwanted muscles then?

Quote from: alienbodybuilder on December 21, 2016, 09:04:24 PM
This answer is valuable to me because I like to lift weights and get discouraged because I have a weak female body right now.

Are you planning on T (or already taking it?)

It makes a huge difference. I am on a low to medium dose for 2 months and already my joints and tendons feel like they can take a lot more punishment, everything feels more resilient. Muscle mass was increasing even without the workouts. Energy levels and the ability to just get up and do things is higher. Fat is starting to disappear from the legs. Traps are freaking rock hard and I haven't even begun to work out a proper regime yet for the areas I want to improve.

I had some doubts about T being of much use on my pathetic body, but it's been like a miracle cure in so many ways. Especially mentally.

Enjoy your newfound muscles boys.. mine have been melting away.. I used to be able to bang out like 16-18 wide grip pullups and now I can barely do 8... :(

I wish I could have the changes to my body with estradiol and still retain that male strength.. alas, not so... but the newfound sensitivity, sensuality, sexuality are so, so sweet.. it feels so nice to cozy up in bed. I have a total newfound love for pajamas.. but still a nudist at heart.

My interests have definitely shifted. I just don't seem to care at all about watching sports anymore. I was never much into american football or soccer, but I enjoyed watching professional and college basketball. I can still find some entertainment in the college games, but the NBA just bores me. And I get a serious twinge of missing my athletic lifestyle.. but I hope eventually to re-enter that world as transition progresses. I used to be such a gamer growing up too and that's majorly faded out also.. I still game occasionally but much less sports and shooters and more arcade/adventure/racing sort of stuff. I've been coping with pretty major depression too which has made it difficult to enjoy things, and I've been getting out less.. I used to be a total gym-rat before transition started. It was how I got out of my head and just forgot about things, especially playing pickup basketball. I still feel an itch to play, but my stamina and strength are so reduced now, and plus to be visibly trans I don't know how that would go over in those really masculine environments.

Quote from: Kylo on December 22, 2016, 11:06:54 AM
Are you planning on T (or already taking it?)

It makes a huge difference. I am on a low to medium dose for 2 months and already my joints and tendons feel like they can take a lot more punishment, everything feels more resilient. Muscle mass was increasing even without the workouts. Energy levels and the ability to just get up and do things is higher. Fat is starting to disappear from the legs. Traps are freaking rock hard and I haven't even begun to work out a proper regime yet for the areas I want to improve.

I had some doubts about T being of much use on my pathetic body, but it's been like a miracle cure in so many ways. Especially mentally.

I start T in February but am still unsure of whether to do it or not.

I had to in my case. Both T and E had first been high and then dropped extremely low for some reason, I was basically running on empty and I felt it. I wanted to start T not only for the obvious, but because if you're operating with barely any sex hormone in your body it lays you out.

So in some ways the immediate feeling better for me was probably because I needed some T or E in my system desperately anyway to help with basic body function.

The rest is the hallmark effects of T. It's doing exactly what they said it would. If you're not sure if you want the changes, maybe wait a bit more, some begin pretty much right away.

Quote from: alienbodybuilder on December 21, 2016, 09:56:41 PM
So I take it you are a female with large unwanted muscles then?

Muscles look masculine and I want to look less so. Stupid stinky body.
You can have them, take them. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.

I don't really feel anything has changed, in terms of interests/hobbies although lately, I noticed that I'm somewhat less interested in watching hockey (I'm Canadian) then I was in the past. On hormones since 2004.

I don't feel the urge to watch gender bender porn anymore, and also am not compelled to exit reality to play my video games as female characters either.  Still enjoy the video games, but it is now lower on the to do list.

Quote from: Artesia on December 23, 2016, 03:37:34 PM
I don't feel the urge to watch gender bender porn anymore, and also am not compelled to exit reality to play my video games as female characters either.  Still enjoy the video games, but it is now lower on the to do list.

Hm, I wrote something like that before, uh minus the porn.
One committed suicide. The end.
One got what they wanted.

I would say HRT has allowed me to enjoy things I have always enjoyed, but without lingering confusion or shame at liking, for example, wearing fuzzy PJs, watching Disney JR. shows, and cuddling my stuffies. Shortly after transitioning I purged my DVD collection of probably 2/3 of its content, and did the same with my book library.

Quote from: Daria67 on December 29, 2016, 12:44:33 PM
I would say HRT has allowed me to enjoy things I have always enjoyed, but without lingering confusion or shame at liking, for example, wearing fuzzy PJs, watching Disney JR. shows, and cuddling my stuffies. Shortly after transitioning I purged my DVD collection of probably 2/3 of its content, and did the same with my book library.

What kind of stuff did you watch/read before and what do you watch/read now?