So... I've been thinking. Lately, my four year old has taken to shedding her clothes and running around the house naked and my wife and I have been joining her in solidarity which she finds amusing to no end. When we're naked, it's almost as if gender just becomes a non-factor. Stripped of clothing, hair, makeup, and other material trappings, the difference between man and woman in this state is biological. And biology is a fact that doesn't take to dressing up. It is what it is. So as someone who has wrestled with gender dysphoria most of their life, why don't I feel it strongest when laid bare? I ask you all, if divorced from all the gender norms now associated with male and female, would you feel as passionate about your need to transition? Would you still long for a physiologically female body if you didn't have any need to fit the image of womanhood pushed by marketing?

for me it has nothing to do with the perception through the eyes of the billboards . Growing up I've always wanted to fit properly in a bra and a dress. I was in a bar some 30 years ago and told a girl I didn't know , but was talking that I wanted her body. I didn't  mean sexually. I saw woman not through the eyes of advertisers , but through my own need  for my body to conform to my brain's perception of what I saw of the female gender. I love the feel of my breasts when I take a shower. I love the look of my body as the fat shifts. This has nothing to do with womanhood portrayed by the media , but everything to do with raw gender identity strip bare to the flesh.

For me it had nothimg to do with billboard or other perceptions created by other people. My need to transition grew with me over time. Seeing the people around me and not fitting in. I didnt see myself as male and i didnt look female i was stuck in limbo and it has always been that way untill i transitioned. Now i do have that feeling of fitting in. So i think that if you have a need to transition you do it because your brain tells you your body is not right. And to me being nude was when that feeling was the strongest..

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if you have a need to transition you do it because your brain tells you your body is not right. And to me being nude was when that feeling was the strongest..



+1 on both points there. For me it has to do with not recognizing what I see in the mirror or looking down. Sure I recognize it, but only from repeated viewing. When shaving my face it is familiar in tiny spots. But I am still surprised(confused)  when I see my full face or body reflected in the mirror.

I am glad you are comfortable but I have to admit to a puritanical embarrassment to being nude, even with my wife of 25 years. Unless I am exhausted, I can't even sleep in the nude.

My hang ups I guess.

Joanna

You don't have to explicitly hate your genitalia to be transgender.
I don't have a problem with my genitalia. I'm a girl, so it's a girl's genitalia no matter how it looks 
Furthermore my genitalia only concerns me and my boyfriend, so as long as none of us have a problem with it and I don't have dysphoria, I feel no need to make it a problem.

I do crave the feminizing effects of HRT though, I love to have a nice curvature. I'm simply feeding my body the hormones it didn't produce itself. I have a driven force to transition in that manner.

Ok here's the thing - when I was naked was ONLY time I really felt strong dysphoria. The hormonal and surgical changes were the only thing I was interested in. i'm never been in the slightest bit interested in image - clothing - beauty or any of that guff. I was ONLY interested in altering my body, and since I did that 31 years ago I've had no issues. Of course its gratifying that people now respond to me as a woman, but I can honestly say that was the icing and not the cake.

Now I find this interesting, because ultimately we are all seeking the same end-point, which is to be able to accept ourselves as validly female, and go about our lives in that way, but it does seem as though my approach to this was much more purely medico/physiological than is the case for some people.

I just always wanted a vagina. Okay, bye.

Edit: I mean, I wanted to be a girl, and my primary motive was that I wanted to have a vagina.

I am naked about 70% of the time... But when I look at myself in the mirror I just don't see me, I see a stranger looking back at me. I definitely wanted to transition based on my own wants, not because of society. In my eyes society could bite me, because it's caused me more pain than it's worth and I figured it was time to make myself happy by being who I was.

Quote from: Atria on August 12, 2015, 12:56:35 PM
I am naked about 70% of the time... But when I look at myself in the mirror I just don't see me, I see a stranger looking back at me. I definitely wanted to transition based on my own wants, not because of society. In my eyes society could bite me, because it's caused me more pain than it's worth and I figured it was time to make myself happy by being who I was.

This is how I feel too, except I see my dad looking back at me, and ew....

I love the nude beach.  As I've been presenting as more femme, I had a similar thought... "oh geez, I'm gonna look masculine" (as if I don't day-to-day).  But I went anyway, and had the marvelous experience of "transitioning" in an extremely public way!  I'm really looking forward to baring it all as the hormones start to do their thing.

I used to be a nudist. Now, halfway between, I don't know if I could do it. I have a penis, breasts (D cup as of last measurement) and a shape about half way between. I'm not sure I would be comfortable letting that all hang out. Oddly, it's the middling shape, I think. If my shape were closer to feminine I think I'd be OK with the dangly bits showing. As an aside, I used to wonder at the folks who got surgery or fat relocation. Now, with as much as 4 years to go for my body to do that on it's own I just want those changes done!

You know, I find this interesting.
Earley on, I struggled to understand, why I liked pink, wanted to play with dolls, hated geting my hair cut short. And so many other sterio types. I hurt, I was looking for validation, I found none.

I descovered, Androgen insensitivity, and through that I struggled more. I learned that man and woman are mearly two ingrediants for procreation, and that this is all those are. any place gender is found outside of this is a lie, a human creation made real through asociations made due to the segregation of these ingrediants.

When naked we rid ourselves of a great amount of the artifiacially created gender, eg the norms, the rolls, the looks. However, Gender does exsist as part of our make up, sub routines caused by the brain to take part in the lifestyles of one or the other, but diversity is key to evoloution, so as much as we are programed to conform, we are also programmed to resist.

This is our personality, our individuality, our human diversity. offering us choice to do, or not to do. so without the ingrediants for procreation, gender is nothing more then ones own unique place in society as an individual. My roll in life is to choose how I have my hair for myself, to choose what I wear fo rmyself. to present how I choose for myself, why? because I am a woman? NO. Because I was born into a society where I connot live inside the confines of the boxes made due to extra procreational gender.

So if I know, what I like, doesnt make me female, and how I act doesnt make me female, and the removal of that between my legs doesnt make me female. Why do I, after knowing all of this still feel like a woman? The answer can only be, because that is my place in this world.

So yes, without the aplication of extra procreational gender, yes I would still be dysphoric. But In a world without it, a more trans accepting society, a wrold with a wider array of gender varients, although I would still be dysphoric, I wouldnt suffer with it as much.

I could appear nude in public and I would be somewhat comfortable doing it but I don't run around nude in the house unless it's a quick trip to the dryer for something to wear. This a a big difference over my pre surgical state because I was always worried the my emotional barometer would misbehave in public. That alone made me pretty insecure in the male role.

I have always wanted/needed a male body. In all respects. Regardless of society. I'd still feel this way on a deserted island.

This is an interesting topic to find here. In my considerable experience it seems that most TS people have never cared much for nudity or nudism. This makes sense for someone with body dysphoria. I've wondered if this might be one indicating factor in understanding ourselves. I've never had any problem with being nude. I've done social nudity at hot tubs and beaches and such and been quite comfortable with myself. I'm not TS, though, and consider myself bi-gendered/androgynous. There are a number of different TG conditions, though, and apparently even different TS conditions, so this may vary accordingly.

I'd be interested in hearing other more feelings about nudity here.

This might sound weird, but my penis has never really been a source of dysphoria for me. To me, body hair, facial hair, my receding hairline, and body shape are huge triggers for me. In fact, my penis and I have had a lot of fun over the years, but if you told me I'd get in a car accident tomorrow and lose my penis and the only way to save anything was to give me a vagina, my reaction would be "meh." This to me is a big source of confusion for me. Like if I'm really TG wouldn't I hate the appendage I share with others born male? I don't, it's fun, I'm not all that attached to it either though.

I have noticed that since I've hit "self realization" that I don't touch it nearly as often and I find myself imagining a vagina in it's place, but this has only happened very recently as I've seriously started considering transitioning. If I do transition and have SRS, I will not miss the pain from getting hit in the dangle bits, that's for sure.

Quote from: KatelynBG on August 13, 2015, 10:53:11 AM
This might sound weird, but my penis has never really been a source of dysphoria for me. To me, body hair, facial hair, my receding hairline, and body shape are huge triggers for me. In fact, my penis and I have had a lot of fun over the years, but if you told me I'd get in a car accident tomorrow and lose my penis and the only way to save anything was to give me a vagina, my reaction would be "meh." This to me is a big source of confusion for me. Like if I'm really TG wouldn't I hate the appendage I share with others born male? I don't, it's fun, I'm not all that attached to it either though.

I have noticed that since I've hit "self realization" that I don't touch it nearly as often and I find myself imagining a vagina in it's place, but this has only happened very recently as I've seriously started considering transitioning. If I do transition and have SRS, I will not miss the pain from getting hit in the dangle bits, that's for sure.

I don't think it's weird at all, I feel the same. For whatever reason we're ok with our genitalia, and that's awesome. We're not less-than the tgirls who hate their genitalia and wish to change it. We're all strong women.

I like being nude especially around our home.  When I lived as a guy nudity was OK and I occasionally did the nude beaches and hot tubs.  Now it is a different story.  I still like being nude in private but my low down dangles cause me dysphoria and seem an even worse fit than before.  Not sure I have the confidence to be out there in public with what feels like a mismatched upper and lower half.  I do love the changes and expect even more while I am gradually becoming more comfortable with just who I am and the truth of how I look.  We will see about the future when it gets here

One of my brothers had the mistaken belief that our genitals would shrivel up and fall off after I told him of my significant shrinkage.  Damn I wish he was right!!

Quote from: Tessa James on August 13, 2015, 12:19:57 PM
When I lived as a guy nudity was OK

As a guy, I always found nudity gross. I wasn't disgusted by my body, but I didn't feel good about it the way other guys seemed to.

Now I'm completely comfortable with my body. I like to keep my blinds open or I'd traipse around the house nude a while lot more.

I was always a girl and needed to be female - it was as simple as  that. Everything else was secondary.