Undoubtedly some will maintain that their cross-gender identity existed always and did not become stronger through transitioning.
Others will find that their cross-gender identity was strengthened or at least more forcibly acknowledged through transitioning.
For some, it's difficult to look in the mirror, see a gnarly man and say, "I am a woman".

So, obviously, (in the case of MTF's) one needs some sense of female identity to start down the road to transition.
Along this road, one may discover a new-found joy and depth in a female identity.
Thus, the chicken and the egg paradigm.

Any thoughts?

I see the trajectory my transition has taken as growing into the full role of being a woman, starting from the important but submerged seed that is my sense of who I am.  That I was always not really a man, although I was male, was obvious to me from an early age but I needed the hormonal and life changes that I've followed to begin to fully realize it.  The hormones and physical changes ease that and make the path smoother but I don't think they could do it all by themselves.  I'm not there yet, not by a long shot, yet I've come far enough to see that it becomes a feedback loop, if you will, the sense of being a woman being reinforced by being treated as a woman which strengthens the sense of being one, ad infinitum.

Kinda nifty the way that works . . .

hugs & smiles
Emelye