Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I was just kind of wondering how people presented before figuring/coming out with their trans identity  :)

I presented myself as the sex I was born into: female. I was raised as a female - all the physical evidence pointed towards that, that's what I was told, and it was what I thought, but it never felt right. I was completely ignoring this other 'self' (I guess?) and I didn't start feeling more comfortable until I started breaking the norms that societal conventions placed on me. Also, I had never heard the terms 'trans', 'gender-queer', and 'androgyn(e)' till I started college and was more involved in GLBT pride programs; it's where I probably took my first 'baby steps' out of the closet.

As a child, it was a constant struggle against my family - I dressed male and they did everything possible to force me into a female presentation.  They even bought my wardrobe, female of course. As an adult, I got tired of doing things their way and dressed as male as possible but mostly looked androgynous until I moved to Australia.  Now I'm living full-time as a male and presenting as such.

As a little kid I wore a lot of hand me downs from my brother and male cousins with the occasional really girly thing my parents would buy.  After that I had mostly gender neutral clothing (tshirts and jeans), but that's what pretty much everyone wears here.  I went through a really girly phase through late high school/ early college with makeup, feminine shoes, lots of jewelry, and long blond hair.  The wrong feeling that gave me helped me figure out my gender, and now I'm back to tshirts/hoodies and jeans.

Yea i thought about that but then there would have to be a lot of choices! I figured people would explain what they marked in the poll like some already have, I guess there wasn't much need for the poll then lol =P

I generally preferred the gender neutral clothes of jeans and a t-shirt. I dressed feminine for specially occasions when I knew it was to be expected. During the year I identified as genderfluid I had a range of options from completely masculine (dress shirt and tie), neutral (jean/t-shirt), and feminine (slacks/blouse). My gender became apparent when I realized that even my most feminine clothes tended to have trousers to allow for my masculine identity and activities. Once I decided to transition I filled out my wardrobe from the men's section and haven't looked back. I still have some female clothes left, mostly dresses and costumes in case I want to go back to doing drag from the proper perspective. To explain, before I came out as trans I participated as a drag king in two drag shows. Actually my coming out to campus was on stage when I boldly announced I shouldn't win the competition because the person I was presenting was who I truly was. From that day on I have only used my chosen name on campus.

I presented male all the time, but I spent parts of the day dressed as I wanted to when I felt safe enough. I was a chicken.

I presented as male with a very monotonous wardrobe. Just jeans and a plain t-shirt or a hoodie. It makes it interesting now trying to create a more androgynous/feminine wardrobe. People definitely notice a difference and say something about it (especially my family).

I wore a lot of jeans and oversized hoodies, at least when I wasn't stuck in the trash we were forced to wear in Catholic school. When I was about 12 I decided that I wanted to live in some bad 80's metal time warp, and wore raggedy pants and huge black Sabbath and Judas Priest tshirts, bandannas and the like. That eventually morphed into baggy camo pants and more band shirts, and through most of high school I fluctuated betwee (I'm not proud to admit this) mall goth-ish, visual kei light, and what I wear now: jeans, boots or converse, and hoodies.

there was a brieft point, for about two years, where I was trying incredibly hard to be feminine. I forced myself into skirts and full dresses and hated myself for it, felt like I needed to scream 'This isn't me" at everyone who saw me. The only bit of girlyness I ever truly enjoyed was makeup. I loved wearing coats that covered my chest and heavy black eyeliner, even before I came out at trans. But anything that was specifically, absolutely female always made me just feel wrong and vauguely sick to my stomach.

I dressed in boys' clothes my whole youth. Hit eighth grade / puberty and then was like woah wait a second, there's something wrong with me. Became really withdrawn and quiet and started wearing girls' clothes because I thought that was what I was 'supposed' to do now. Went through many phases in high school trying out different styles of girls' clothes to find one that felt comfortable and felt like 'me'. Then senior year I went back to wearing guys' clothes and loved it. Then I graduated and learned what transgender was. So the summer after that I went into big denial and decided I needed to give being a girl a real shot. Dressed the girliest I ever had - which was short shorts and low v-necks. After summer, I went back to boys' clothes because I didn't feel like me. About two years later and here I am.