Quote from: Gewaltraud on October 03, 2013, 05:35:01 AM
I usually just call myself Gewaltraud, which is a stupid play on words. Waltraud is an old, Old, OLD "female" German name and der Gewalt (a masculine German noun) means violence.

Yeah, I was puzzling over the name, too.

I knew someone named Waltraud -- a daughter in a family in Freiburg that I met Scottish dancing around Germany and Switzerland, back when I lived in Munich.  But everyone called her "Traudl".  BTW, I always thought it was "die Gewalt", and it also could be translated "force" or "power", e.g., Staatsgewalt = power of the state.

i generally avoid defining myself as anything.  None of the labels seem to describe me particularly well, except maybe "gender variant," and I'm always afraid if I say "I'm an X", people will start telling me that if I'm really an X, I have to do/think/feel A, B, and C.  Much of my life has been spent joing some group or other in the hopes of feeling like I (finally!) belong somewhere, and then finding out that there are too many things I have to do/think/believe to be a part of the group, but can't do.  So I end up leaving or being frozen out.   After enough experiences like that,  you learn to stay on the periphery wherever you are.

Quote from: Sarah7 on October 03, 2013, 06:16:32 AM
I'm an editor and I'm really into words. I like collecting the various definitions and interpretations of all the new language that has sprung up around gender and sex over the last few years. I just used all the distancing language like "technically" because people can get pretty sensitive around labels, and I wouldn't want to impose anything unwanted. As always personal preference trumps everything including definition when it comes to identity stuff.

Also, I meant "outing" in the sense of being "open about." Not in the sense of "coming out" as a thing. Basically I just meant that I don't feel comfortable discussing my experience of gender with most people out in the world. So generally I avoid those kinds of questions or lie if I need to.

I think you should publish a book.  I do not think I have seen any books like that before.  You could fill an unoccupied niche.

Quote from: Asche on October 03, 2013, 07:36:20 PM
i generally avoid defining myself as anything.  None of the labels seem to describe me particularly well, except maybe "gender variant," and I'm always afraid if I say "I'm an X", people will start telling me that if I'm really an X, I have to do/think/feel A, B, and C.  Much of my life has been spent joing some group or other in the hopes of feeling like I (finally!) belong somewhere, and then finding out that there are too many things I have to do/think/believe to be a part of the group, but can't do.  So I end up leaving or being frozen out.   After enough experiences like that,  you learn to stay on the periphery wherever you are.

I think that is a good way to look at it.  I know about being on the periphery.  It seems that I never fit in, where ever I go, or what ever I do.  It can be lonely at times.