Hey Guys (and any lurking gals)
This will sound strange but it's starting to get warmer and many people are wearing shorts. Im just a little concerned that my knee caps are too low compared to a cisguy.

Biology states men have shorter thighs, and women longer ones (for childbirth i think), therefore guys have their kneecaps a little higher. I know its not noticable (unless you're a doctor/ obsessed with these things) but it irks me a little, and theres no way i can ask a doctor to just move my kneecaps up a little XD.

Does this aggrieve anyone else? (i dont seem to have any other problems bar this). Or does anyone else have a strange dislike?

Yours
The Gentleboy

I don't care about my kneecap location, but I have the fattest milk maiden legs.  In. The. World.
Losing over 100 lbs has not made much a difference, either.
So I get the leg dysphoria in general. Not gonna stop me from wearing shorts though. 'F 'em.

I never knew that about kneecaps! My cis roommate doesn't often wear shorts, but I think I'll ask him to throw some on later so I can do a kneecap comparison.

Like MacG, I too suffer from fat leg syndrome that no amount of weight loss has seemed to change. As soon as I'm healed up and cleared to exercise after surgery, I'll be doing some more work on this now that the weather is nice. Hopefully I can thin them out a bit.

Every now and then I feel like my feet look dainty. But I have pretty small hands/feet compared to the rest of my frame. Probably nothing will stop me from wearing shorts though. It is too hot for pants. My roommate has already been warned that I'm planning to be topless for the forseeable future after surgery, and he's all for it. Sometimes you just gotta own it.

I have kinda fat legs at the moment as well guys. It'll probably get so hot that ill have no choice BUT to rock some shorts. i have found out though that wearing trainer socks tends to elongate my legs and make them look a little less fat.

Quote from: MacG on April 17, 2015, 01:21:32 PM
I don't care about my kneecap location, but I have the fattest milk maiden legs.  In. The. World.

Haha oh man that is the best description ever, I love it.

As for the OP...I wasn't even aware of this being a thing. I wear shorts for as long as humanly possible, to the point where it's become a running joke among the people I know. I actually remember one girl staring at my legs (this was after I told her about my past) and she goes "how could you have ever been a girl at any point? They are so hairy." My arms are shorter as well and I just joke about being like a T rex. I don't think it matters to most people. I'm just a stocky little hobbit.

Plus even though generally XY people have longer legs than XX people, this is only a general thing. Bodies vary. It's like saying men on average have a 5-6 inch penis, there's tons of guys who only sport  3 incher, or on average men are 5'8" or higher, many men are shorter. I had a cis male friend at university who was shorter than me, had a relatively high voice, some feminine mannerisms, and other features that are atypical for someone born male. This was back when I was out not by choice but by circumstance, and I remember being with him one day. He had a full beard and all. But one day we were together and when he left, I was talking to a girl that was with us. She was one of those "I'm so liberal I've dated lots of trans guys and and I know all about teh tranz" types lol. And she goes on about how nice it is that a guy who is further along is helping me and supporting me and stuff. And I'm like, what, A isn't trans lol. But she goes on about how she thought he was and whether or not I was "sure." I am fairly sure because his name was so ugly that no man would ever choose it for himself, lol, plus one time he was going commando in his shorts and I got a glimpse of his balls.

Only reason I'm telling this story is to show that there's no point in wondering what people are gonna think about your features. Most people won't care, but even people who claim they can "tell" based on features can be wrong too. My attitude is that if someone looks at something about me and thinks that I "must" be born female is that they're only making an assumption. Yes, in my case, there is truth to the assumption - but how many cis men have they "clocked"? haha. Like my cis friend who got "clocked" as trans. And I have two ways I can take it. I used to think "oh man people could tell if they looked closely, will they embarrass me in public by asking or saying something? What will they think? I don't want them to think of me as not being a 'real man.'" Or I can think to myself that "they made an assumption and that their problem, they don't know me." Those who are close to me know me as a man and respect me, and only those I have outed myself to are aware of my history. Everyone else in my life doesn't question my manhood so if some randomer wants to focus on my little legs or my voice or my facial features, and assume that I am born a female without knowing the details, meh. They're not worth my energy. If someone was rude enough to mention something about "trans" in relation to me, in my presence, I'd make their dumbassery known, because it's extremely rude and invasive to make assumptions about someone's body or someone's life without knowing them and hearing it from them personally.

For a while I was worried about my legs. I actually wouldn't wear shorts (and prefer not to) because I feel like my legs are too short. But, I've known a lot of short guys who have short legs. There's a reason why there are pants and slacks designed to give you a longer look. I honestly don't think most people look at things like legs and think "that person isn't what they present as!" I think as trans people we are pretty critical of ourselves. It's been said a thousand times before, but confidence is key. I have fabulously strong legs and thighs and the only comment I've ever gotten while wearing shorts is that I'm clearly not a long distance runner. People assume I did a high impact sport like wrestling or football.

I have long thighs, wide hips and a short waist - the perfect female body  It's never stopped me from passing. Most people don't notice those kinds of details.

I also have patellofemoral syndrome, which is also mostly a female problem. Forget what my knees look like, I'd be happy if they worked right, LOL.

I seriously doubt that cis guys are going to notice where your knee caps are. Or cis women either for that matter. There are so many builds out there. I have heard that women have longer legs and shorter bodies while men have shorter legs and longer bodies, but its not something I notice.

If anything, a cis girl is more likely to notice muscular legs than where your knee caps are. Because we come from a very different background than the cis population, I think we tend to notice our bodies more in terms of what is the norm for men and women than other people do. If you want to wear shorts, go for it.

sam1234

Well from a girl who likes guys point of view. I (surreptitiously ) look at guys because I'm attracted to them, but I have never looked at a guy's knee caps. 

i never knew about kneecaps. i wouldnt mind my knee caps being lower cuz ever dang time i end up hitting them on some sharp, solid surface. however this is a pretty fun thread. got a lot of giggles reading lol

Quote from: Cindy on April 17, 2015, 06:26:23 PM
Well from a girl who likes guys point of view. I (surreptitiously ) look at guys because I'm attracted to them, but I have never looked at a guy's knee caps. 

I bet you're gonna start now!   

Quote from: Cindy on April 17, 2015, 06:26:23 PM
Well from a girl who likes guys point of view. I (surreptitiously ) look at guys because I'm attracted to them, but I have never looked at a guy's knee caps. 

Sweet

I've never noticed any kneecap discrepencies but I have noticed that my legs are fairly shorter than my torso. I'm not too worried about it though because it seems to be a genetic thing in my family. My grandfather had a longer back and shorter legs but he was an over 6 foot beast so I doubt anyone noticed.   The only thing about it that bugs me is that I wish I'd started transitioning earlier because I seem to have inherited a lot of his genes and probably would have been really tall.

The possibly positive thing is that I've looked into leg lengthening surgery (yeah, as crazy as it seems) and since I already have short legs I could gain a few inches and still be perfectly proportionate.

I'm not a big shorts fan, due to tactile sensitivity, but I have worn them. I get gendered correctly. What you say may be true, never heard it before, but I doubt anyone cares or is looking for it. I know for dysphoria logic rarely matters though. But this one does strike me as statistically insignificant, as to where kneecaps are. Do people know this odd little factoid?

Surgery would likely be VERY expensive.

--Jay

I dont even think the surgery exists. If it does itll be far too complicated and as you say ridiculously expensive.

I know and have realised that nobody judges a person gender on their kneecaps but as soon as I found that fact out I cant help but compare my knees to guys and girls, in order to see if theyre are any guys with lower kneecaps. It has literally become an issue in the last month, I never knew or cared about it before but this seems to annoy me.

I think once Ive found a few guys with kneecaps in the same part as mine (dont ask me how im going to do that), it'll fully sink in that nobody gives a damn where my knees are, and that its a completely ambiguous trait thats not noticiably associated with either gender.

Thanks for the reaffirming words though, I guess I do just need more confidence (it may also have something to do with me not publicly wearing shorts for over 2.5yrs)

Gentleboy

Being gendered by your kneecaps...
Getting hung up on tiny details like this is dangerous thinking. You're going to drive yourself absolutely nuts over stuff that no one cares about.

Its hardly dangerous thinking all ive said is that it irritates me a little bit, mainly because i know that its a scientific fact and that people are wearing shorts so im seeing knees everywhere. I know nobody is going to judge me or gender me by my kneecaps - except someone trained in the area and even then that's not likely to happen.I just wanted to know if anyone else had a really strange dysphoria (used in the broadest sense) with knees, or anything else for that matter. It's not a problem that can be solved, I can assure you I'm not going nuts over it.

Well it's not the same exactly, but I live in NM and wear light weight summer pants and light weight (long) pjs more so than shorts. It's comfortable to me.
Nobody stares at you or anything.

--Jay

I've never heard of that. Though I know my legs are a bit f-d because the knees bend inward rather than straight. I'm not sure if that's normal or just my bad luck with skeletal structure. I've always disliked how it looked. Nothing to do with gender, really. I feel like...an anime school girl.

Quote from: BenKenobi on April 19, 2015, 02:54:56 PM
I've never heard of that. Though I know my legs are a bit f-d because the knees bend inward rather than straight. I'm not sure if that's normal or just my bad luck with skeletal structure. I've always disliked how it looked. Nothing to do with gender, really. I feel like...an anime school girl.

I have a mate who started walking too early and he developed "bandy legs" where the legs bow outward, it looks hilarious, esp when he wears shorts and he rips his pants so often. It may be to do with bone structure but i do know a fair few people whose knees bend in - they tend to be rather skinny so maybe adding weight might help? I dont know! The anime school girl legs may help if you cosplaying though - but thats one slippery slope into nerdville.

Gentleboy