I feel like a female when I throw off my man clothes when I get home and put on my girly things. I feel like a female when I take my HRT. I feel like a female when I feel like me. Feeling female is such a big question. It can be visual, mental or just feeling finally right. All I know is that I love my girly feelings so much better than before.

Heather

I kind of look at this differently.  I have always, at least since I was 11, felt female.  I just didn't look like it and certainly wasn't allowed to let it show.  I can think of several occasions in the past when I was doing super macho things with the thought in my mind that I was faking it all.  One time in particular I distinctly remember thinking, women aren't supposed to be here, when thinking about myself.

I've been on HRT now for a while and I honestly really don't feel any differently about myself.  I do look kind of different though which seems right. And makes me happy..  What I'm wearing or what I'm doing don't seem to make much difference. 

So if I had to describe what it feeling male or female is I can only say I don't know.  All I know is what I feel like and my mind has always said that was female.

I've felt female, but somehow WRONG, for a long, long time.  On and off when I was very young, and again starting in my early 30s. (In between were T injections, military service, and general deflect, defer, and deny activities).

Now, since I started HRT, I wake up feeling female and RIGHT every morning recently.  I'm even happy, and cheerful, which I haven't been EVER.

Quote from: eli77 on June 08, 2014, 01:43:34 PM
No, you won't ever know. We don't have the same experiences. Just like a black cis woman doesn't have the same experiences as a white cis woman. Or a cis woman born in England has different experiences from one born in Japan.

We have this idea that there is this mythic commonality among all women. Something that unites us together as one type of being, one version of reality. And to a degree, there is something to that. I have more similarities, more commonalities to another female than I do to a male. But that's all it is, really. We don't, we can't, experience our lives and our identities the same way as another human. Any other human. Ever. It is an unfortunate limit on the human condition, on communication. It's also why we developed poetry, music, literature, art--to try to find a way of crossing that impossible threshold, of offering impressions of our reality to another.

But we have to accept that not-knowing. You have to trust the inside of your head because that is all you've got.

A clever person said on these forums some time ago, "Everything I do is something a girl does because I'm a girl." Well, everything I feel is how a female feels because I am female. What does it mean to feel female? To feel like me.

I agree. It is not whether or not I feel female, because that has always been what I have felt. Hrt  just  helps our body to more align itself with how we have always felt. That s at least my feelings on it.

Jo

It's visual and emotional

One of the things that's been at the back of my mind for years is that, if I was to transition, would I have to put on a feminine act.  For this reason, I always dismissed transition as an option and viewed myself as a guy with an interest in all things female.

However, now that I view transition as a more viable way forward for me (from an emotional standpoint, I'm pretty well sold on the idea but this has to be weighed up against a lot of other factors so is by no means a 'no brainer' for me), I have come to realise that it's not about being one thing or another but just being me.

However, there are some very clear differences between the genders and, even though (due to family issues) I am still having to present fully as male at present, when I do something in what I perceive to be a female way (sitting down in the bathroom or sitting down in a feminine way are good examples), it gives me the warm feeling of at least being on the journey inside.

Amanda

Hi there.

I was on a nearly 20 year hiatus from HRT, trying to ignore my overwhelming femininity. I had my GRS back in 1991. When I stopped any kind of HRT, I slowly started getting angrier, and this made it harder for me to enjoy anything. Lots of denial in there. I just restarted HRT a few days ago, and the relief I feel now is not like anything I can compare.

I present as male, but am often referred to as a ma'am, miss or missus. It is who I am.

Having estrogen [Estradiol] even a low dose for now, going thru my body again is the right match for my brain. I don't feel much different other than feeling so much more confident and sure of myself; I can't imagine now why I ever quit.

This proves to me that transitioning and GRS all those years ago was the best thing I could have done. I was right. I no longer care much what others think or how I present to them, they can 'clock' me all they want, I am who I am, and comfortable finally [again?] to be me.

Tanya

I am feeling really girly today I'm wearing pink panties and a matching pink bra and a floral dress with a bow and white heels.  Hugs Shannon

It feels to be female when you want to transition. A cis girl will try to fix it if she is in the wrong body and being treated as the wrong gender. What could be more female than that?.