I'm looking to see when you first knew when you were different.  For us older gals, since info was very limited, so we couldn't figure it out, we didn't know until much later in life were transsexual (transgender wasn't used back then).

Also, at what age did you realize that you were transgender?

For me, 4/43...
For me, I knew I was different when I was 4.
The realization that I was indeed transgender didn't happen until 4 decades later when I was 43.

What about you?

8/11.  I realized I was different when I was around eight.  I came to know what that difference was when I was 11.  Info on what to do about it was nonexistent.

First idea was around 4 before kindergarten but had no idea what it was then ...realizing maybe in my early teens ...I have come to the realization that I dont like the word transexual ...it sounds dirty at least to me...prefer transgender...transexual sounds sexual in nature and to me this has nothing to do with sex at least not the physical act of sex

5/26.  After law school I actually made an attempt at transitioning that never got beyond the research phase.  I actually self diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (as it was called then) after reading a copy of the DSM III manual I obtained from the University Research Library at UCLA.  I was lining up a therapist when I noticed that Gender Identity Disorder was classified as a mental illness.

So I made a discreet, anonymous call to the State Bar and asked if a mental illness diagnosis could get you disbarred.  Turns out it can, and that was that. 

A year later I was married to someone totally wrong for me and settling into family life, and thinking that was going to "fix things."

5/19.

I knew from around kindergarten that I was different somehow, but I always just figured I was "the weird outcast kid" and left it at that. I didn't even start questioning my gender until puberty and even then I didn't think about it in those terms. It wasn't until I was 19 that I actually asked myself if I could be transgender. I began looking back on my memories and my feelings and it just clicked. Being trans just made so much more sense than any other way I'd tried to explain my weirdness over the years.

6/18

my sister got a my life size barbie for christmas one year and i didnt.

i threw the biggest hissyfit until my dad went and got me one

...just so i could wear the barbie's clothes

and i knew i was transgender at age 18 when i started presenting as a woman full time..i never felt so alive in my life.

12/31

When I was 12 we lived in a community with a common swimming pool. I always wore a shirt in the pool. One day, some random boy asked me if I was a boy or a girl. I had no answer.

Fast forward to where these things are even discussed, yea I was a girl.

8/17

I started to feel uncomfortable with my body at 8 and just felt off with clothing and social groups from then on. I don't remember much in general before that age frame either if that makes a difference.

I knew what I wanted to *physically* look like around 14, but didn't think I was trans as I didn't want to be a male. Similar to Sinclair, I had a few experiences where others asked if I was a girl or a boy around this age.

It wasn't until 17 that I realized what non-binary was.

Four. Though I didn't have a word for it at that age (also: 1974 lol!) I realized at that age that I 'was supposed to have been born a boy'. I  more or less socially transitioned  at age 10.

Hmmm...  I knew something was messed up at about the age of 5/6; but had no idea what.   By the time I was concerned enough to think I needed help, I'd also come to the conclusion based on various TV / Horror shows (of which I was a huge fan) that psychiatric help meant torture the patient till they agree to say they're ok.

Thus, I decided it would be best to not mention the weird.

Yeah.  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" did not paint a rosy picture.  Added to that, in my profession it was illegal so even asking for counselling would have led to immediate termination.

I may be the odd duck here, but I didn't really realize that something was off until 15. Before that, all I did was play soccer, all day all night.  All my friends played, both girls and boys.   Throughout the years I kept looking for a word or definition to explain what I was feeling.  Then around 36, I found a site, and that site instantly clicked in my head. I have known I am trans since then.  It has taken my SO 6 years to come around to my side of things. hopefully that will last!

TLDR: 15/36

Realized I was different when I was 5 in kindergarten

Realization at 14-15 about needing to transition/being trans

In all of my memories, I've had the same gender, but I didn't know the word "transgender" until I had a computer with the internet, which was probably when I was 9. Before then, I thought about my gender as the things I like, but if anyone knew I liked, or if I acted upon, I would be thrown out into the streets.

As all of you know, thinking this way has some very negative effects, which thankfully we've confronted.

4-5 years old


Scanned, inspected and approved by the NSA

Presented diagnosable symptoms of gender dysphoria at 8.
Realized I was different: around 15.
Suspected I might be transgender around 40.  Instant denial.
Figured out that I really was transgender: 61.

What can I say? I am a slow learner. 

The mention of classification as a mental illness brings back memories. I was around the 4-7 yrs old when I was insisting on being female to no acceptance, by the age of 9 I was continually cross dressing in my sister's clothes. The 'cure' presented by the family doctor was to allow me to dress and to be humiliated by every family member at all times even to the point of being taken out to the shops etc.

It didn't work obviously.

As a little kid I didn't really think about physical gender, I just remember constantly trying to get people to let me do 'boy things' and hating it whenever they treated me like a girl or made me wear feminine clothes. My pet hate was being called 'cute', 'beautiful','sweet' etc. Starting puberty aged 7 or 8 was tough because it made the point that my body was different from all my cis-male friends' in a way that was significant and obvious. About the same time I realised I wasn't just a tomboy, which was how my family had always described me. I first heard of being transgender when I was 13 and it just seemed to fit my experience. Five years on I still haven't 'changed my mind' like people said I would.

I first knew I was different at around 4-5, then at around 12 the dysphoria got real bad. I didn't hear the term transgender though until my 20s.

Quote from: KathyLauren on September 16, 2016, 06:50:27 PM
Presented diagnosable symptoms of gender dysphoria at 8.
Realized I was different: around 15.
Suspected I might be transgender around 40.  Instant denial.
Figured out that I really was transgender: 61.

What can I say? I am a slow learner. 

That's inspiring. It's never too late to be who you are!