As a child, I was pretty girly and didn't have any "masculine interests" but my father was a mechanic and as the eldest I was occasionally 'conscript labour' even though I HATED getting dirty  The only exception was that I developed an interest in steam engines and the people who ran them.

When I transitioned in 1974 it was to a very stereotypical female life typical of the 1950s and 60s and my integration to woman's life was pretty complete. It wasn't until 10 years later that my interest in steam was rekindled and I began volunteering and getting involved with steaming. With previous knowledge and experience I was quickly accepted as "an old hand". After running one day one of the older gentlemen came up to me and commented "I always though running an engine was 'man's work' but watching you work with the engine I see you definitely bring a woman's touch to it..... very nice!"

It isn't what you do but how you do it! 

It has become a fact that many "male trades" now prefer to hire women (if they can find them) - such as welders, heavy equipment operators - because they bring "a female touch" to their work that is beneficial.

Another driver here. I chose that profession as a second choice which ended up being the only choice. It really isn't a bad occupation because most of the time you can dress how you want while driving. And going coast to coast afforded me to experience true diversity first hand instead of through a television.

As for hobbies, well that's hard to say. I like scale models, I like firearms and target shooting. I hate sports and when I used to hunt I never could bring myself to kill anything but rather enjoyed being in nature itself. Now instead of a firearm I hunt with a camera and try to capture nature that moves me emotionally, not neccisarily wildlife but just anything that I felt moved by like an old rosebush that was planted long ago thriving among the ruins of someone's old homplace long abandoned.

When I was a child I used to play with dolls until I figured, or socially programmed, that it wasn't right for boys to play with babydolls (insert sarcasm here). I started to play with the HotWheels then and most of them turned out hot pink when I was done with them. Same with car models I would build. The colors would be of more feminine tones. I liked hair and makeup and used the guitar as an excuse to have big hair, wear nailpolish, makeup and dress a little slutty in school without looking or feeling awkward. My band was pretty popular in our school and the surrounding area and of course that was the eighties. Most guys had mullets anyway but my hair was party all the way around and could put most girls to shame hair for hair. But I was still far more into girly stuff like clothes and all instead of the guy stuff.

Still very much into the guitar. Still like firearms and target shooting. Still love playing with my hair and makeup and clothes. Masculinity residue? I don't really know because a lot of my female cousins played more sports and with the hotwheels and matchbox cars, learned to shoot and admire firearms and hunted way more than I did. It's just that they actually got to be openly female and I seemingly felt more feminine than they did buy had to masquerade around as a male.

I am not talking about what society says it is feminine and masculine . In a way the society developed from us as early gregarious animals ,and the instincts and pleasures helped us in the surviving task , so many of this standards are true at the origins . I am questioning the instincts one have , including in his/her/their childhood . For example a girl brain would induce a child to be a little fearful  , not going to far away from mom . Or a masculine brain would induce more competition / aggression even in play . These traits are often visible from childhood and could say something about how a person will be as an adult , including regarding ' gender '.
I guess I am doing that in my obsessive quest of understanding myself , my real gender , in finding my peace.
I know they are girls that wrestle or practice bodybuilding at top levels , for example , but I think these are the social standards , that a person assumed a gender because of their genitalia could do things typical for the binary-opposite gender and still belong to the original assumed gender.  I want myself to be as feminine as possible , when I imagine myself in the future , i don't want to see the boy traits .Maybe that means to change myself , but I think that is ok , as what I am now  is not the result of a happy scenario , but what I became after an tumultuous life . I just hope I will find out how , not in habits as I already have no interest anymore in old boy stuff , but in accepting myself , in forgetting how and who I though I was before . 
I hate that looking back in my past I can see a lot of 'boy' activity , even that there were many factors involved in my awful childhood . I hate it now when involuntary  I tend to get a body response to a truck , even that could be just a habit after so many years  . I want to be just the girl , I feel inside the need to do that .

BTW , 4 more days until starting psychotherapy , so you will be fine , I won't bother you so much with my crazy mind 

Eh I didn't have any hobbies really to begin with..

I did play video games.. But that died down to an extent after E. I mean, I still do play them, but not with the same consistency.

Is flying helicopters masculine?

Quote from: Natalia on February 13, 2014, 07:18:07 PM
It is a social construct, no doubt. Both sexes are, most of the times, equally able to perform any task. On the other hand, as something stablished by our society, there are hobbies/jobs that are hugely dominated by one gender, such as hair stylists are usually women and construction workers are normally men. Why? Gender stereotypes plus a real natuaral hability to work on that area.

Usually men are stronger, so heavy jobs are reduct of men. Of course a woman can work there, but it is much less usual and women, biologicaly speaking, don't have as much muscle mass as men, so they tend to be outperformed on this tasks.

So, sure, "masculine stuff" and "feminine stuff" are social constructs most of the times....nonetheless they are real. If you are a woman and you love to repair the engine of a car, you are breaking the rules, dissolving the stereotypes, being an exception. I'd love to see these gender stereotypes falling down, but I think our society, as it is today, will need a lot of time until those stablished "laws" can come to an end.

Sexual dimorphism can certainly play a factor.  But, babe, I was born to break the rules!

I am a comic book geek - love super heroines! I know chicks can and do read and love comics, but it's been seen as a domain for boys and men for so long I sometimes feel like it's some vestigial male hobby.

The other thing though is an utterly weird fascination I have for building sites, especially for large complexes. Love seeing all that excavating and scaffolding and cranes and heavy machinery and sweaty muscled dudes and seeing something emerge story by story out of a hole in the ground. Once they're finished though, meh, not interested anymore. I'm not sure what it is that makes me feel so excited and interested by it - never wanted to be a builder or an architect but I can still the amazing planning and management needed to get something like a 25+ story building built. Have three large apartment blocks going up along my route home from the train station so you can imagine I'm in seven heaven at the moment!

Quote from: DrZoey on February 15, 2014, 01:53:32 AM
Is flying helicopters masculine?

I am pretty sure it falls under the gender neutral category of awesome :p

That's not a masculine 'residue' it's just a masculine nature, like the majority of MTF has.

Nothing to worry about, it's completely normal and mainstream in the MTF society.

Quote from: Dahlia on February 15, 2014, 07:06:01 AM
That's not a masculine 'residue' it's just a masculine nature, like the majority of MTF has.

Nothing to worry about, it's completely normal and mainstream in the MTF society.

Like snide remarks?

Quote from: DrZoey on February 15, 2014, 01:53:32 AM
Is flying helicopters masculine?

No, but pretty much anything not designated as women's work - sewing, cooking, serving, etc could be seen as masculine. Mostly because for so long women weren't really permitted to do much outside the home. Going to college used to be masculine. Studying used to be masculine.

Even the things women are said to traditionally like - clothes, shoes etc have their roots in the old system. Women weren't allowed to own anything but their clothes, so of course they were particular about them.

Quote from: FA on February 15, 2014, 07:36:59 AM
No, but pretty much anything not designated as women's work - sewing, cooking, serving, etc could be seen as masculine. Mostly because for so long women weren't really permitted to do much outside the home. Going to college used to be masculine. Studying used to be masculine.

Even the things women are said to traditionally like - clothes, shoes etc have their roots in the old system. Women weren't allowed to own anything but their clothes, so of course they were particular about them.

Knitting was a men's guild during the 16/17th century.

I don't have a overly masculine hobbies. I can, however, build a house with my eyes closed.
Whenever one of my friends needs a garage built, or an addition on their house, it will be me up in the trusses with a nail gun hanging from my belt.
My male friends don't think that's weird, but women stop and talk to me, almost in awe that a fellow woman can use a mitre saw. Most of them say they wish they could do more home repairs and renos.
I do go girly girly in my construction attire, because I feel I do have something to prove, so I'm usually out there in my pink boots, pink hard hat, and a pink tank top. And the boys can carry the shingles to the roof while I watch, there is SOME feminine privilage!

I did wonder how long it would be before Dahlia showed up to express her traditional opinions. I guess I'm just lucky to have never encountered this majority of trans women who are all still basically just like men... though funnily enough, since I live next door to a major lesbian hot spot, I see lots and lots of butch cis women. Personally, since I think trans women ARE women, I think we're entitled to as broad a range of interests and personalities as the cis population.

Quote from: ath on February 14, 2014, 03:21:22 AM
Your skills in the impending zombie apocalypse will be greatly valued 

I think Selene and Violet will appreciate your skills

We all seem to carry insecurities in the gender department, call it dysphoria or else.
I remember so clearly during my life of denial anything remotely feminine was quickly identified and annihilated at once.
I after all, needed to present the hyper-masculine pose to be accepted as a male I so diligently worked on being.

Then came the reckoning stage when slowly I allowed femininity to infiltrate my life. Then after tasting the forbidden fruit, that is "being your self", I opened to her with all my heart.

Then third stage, as in the first, it is a mask, however, this time around it is a true representation of my psyche and inner core. So here to I play up the essence, just as any woman out there.

The more secure we are within the gender of self, the less we care how others see it. We simply take life by the horns and dance tango intertwined and fulfilled.
Dysphoria though will make one crawl down on fours until such doubt is gone!

Quote from: FA on February 15, 2014, 07:36:59 AM
No, but pretty much anything not designated as women's work - sewing, cooking, serving, etc could be seen as masculine. Mostly because for so long women weren't really permitted to do much outside the home. Going to college used to be masculine. Studying used to be masculine.

Even the things women are said to traditionally like - clothes, shoes etc have their roots in the old system. Women weren't allowed to own anything but their clothes, so of course they were particular about them.

My grandmother had a scholarship to Rutgers University in the 50's, and she was born in 1933. It certainly wasn't unheard of or too unfeminine to go to college back then. What went on earlier is definitely a different story. I'd like to add that she did end up dropping out despite being a good way along, due to getting pregnant with my oldest uncle. I know many women from my time in university kept going on with their education after having a kid, but I suppose society back then wouldn't have looked too kindly upon it.

I have a B.A. and went to a university from 2007-2012, and I noticed most classes had more women than men. In fact, I can't think of a single class I had that had more men than women. I double majored in Languages, and I also had a minor in History and used history classes to fill out a lot of my requirements, so maybe this has something to do with it. For the first two years though, I majored in Biology, and the gender ratio I was talking about applied to my science and math classes, as well. Not to mention the general requirement classes required by all majors, giving a good look at how the school was populated in general.

I remember reading a New York Times article may 5 or 6 years ago though not sure that said woman were the majority in colleges

Quote from: stephaniec on February 15, 2014, 08:43:03 PM
I remember reading a New York Times article may 5 or 6 years ago though not sure that said woman were the majority in colleges

Yes, now there are more women. But for a long time, women weren't allowed in college. In fact, it was once thought that studying wasn't healthy for women and could affect their reproductive systems. My point was basically that any 'outside of the home' activity was once considered masculine - basically everything. So any activity's gendering should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Often it is steeped in the history of what was 'improper' for one gender to do.

While things aren't nearly as rigid nowadays, a lot of things labeled 'manly' such as working on cars and such simply aren't traditionally taught or encouraged for women. There are probably lots of cis women who would enjoy traditionally masculine hobbies who simply never tried them. Because they weren't encouraged to try, mistakenly believe they don't have the aptitude or it simply never occurred to them. And vice versa for men, except with men there's also a heavy dose of discouragement to try anything seen as feminine.

Well I still happen to be big into electronics TV's, Surround Sounds, Ect......Also cars will always get giddy over a classic car lol. but really that's about it on the masculinity side of things well besides my job which I hate I'm still a light diesel Mech. which glady to say I'm starting school soon so that will be a past that will no longer exsist