I am, not sure how to answer your poll, Meghan.  In some ways I really envy all the young 'uns on here.  They have access to forums like this and so much information.  Back in the dark ages I was very sheltered.  I grew up knowing only that something was wrong.  I was convinced no one else ever had these crazy thoughts, like my body and I am out of sync here.

Kristi

I don't understand the question.
I THINK Female.  Or maybe it was masculine?  Because I mean, I was definitely trying to be a normal boy, it was just something that I knew wasn't me the whole time.  But I've never been super super girly either.  I'm more girly than some.  But not like over the top.  I would say amongst my friends, I'm the most girly, but amongst the general populace, probably only at 70 percent girly.

I don't know!!!

Female Of Course

I really do not know any other way. From such a very young age I was doing all of the things little girls did. Without going into an extreamly long post I pretty much grew up as a girl. I don't ever remember doing boy things.

Deb

I bet it would be an interesting story. 

Cindy

I had a really hard time choosing what to pick, too.  And that surprised me a little.  I'm a gg, and I was expecting the answer to pop into my head immediately but it didn't.. and then I tried to separate my femininity from my being female and I couldn't.  My thought process was kinda..

"What is more important to my identity: my femininity or my body?" *crickets chirp*
"...Well, if I was a guy, would I still be feminine?  I.. think so.."
"Soooo maybe you should answer feminine?"

So I did.  Feminine it is. But I feel masculine sometimes, too, and sometimes I feel like an even mixture of both. At those times, maybe I would have answered female...?  Gah!

Good question.

ps- It would have been the same growing up, too.  Except I think growing up I never had moments of feeling masculine so my vote would be even more accurate.

Honestly, I'm somewhat baffled by people's responses to this poll. Personally, I took a lot of time thinking about it, and realized that I never really thought of myself as either, though now I identify as male. Do most people just answer automatically in concordance with their current state, or have you really all felt exactly the same your entire lives?

I would have thought more people would say neither... not just those who identify as androgynous already. And btw, this isn't meant to ruffle any feathers... I'm just curious.

SD

Quote from: Sebastien on March 16, 2009, 02:23:52 PM
Honestly, I'm somewhat baffled by people's responses to this poll. Personally, I took a lot of time thinking about it, and realized that I never really thought of myself as either, though now I identify as male. Do most people just answer automatically in concordance with their current state, or have you really all felt exactly the same your entire lives?

I would have thought more people would say neither... not just those who identify as androgynous already. And btw, this isn't meant to ruffle any feathers... I'm just curious.

SD

Mine wasn't clear cut all the way through either. Like I said in my original post:

Quote from: Nero on March 14, 2009, 05:07:51 PM
i thought of myself as a boy, so 'male'. but after puberty set in, i started forcing myself to accept 'girl'. funnily enough, puberty had me behaving more male than ever.

there was a definite demarcation in mine. Before 11, I thought of myself as a boy (though intellectually knew I was a girl), but then puberty set in at 11 years old, and I forced myself to accept being a girl and I tried unsuccessfully for awhile to fit the role.

From early childhood up to mid teens I could have said *nether.* I didn't identify as neither, although I preferred associating more with girls then I did boys, and most other times I was a loner. I didn't really start thinking there was something wrong with why I was so much more interested in relating with girls until I was in my mid twenties and discovered I was not interested in girls like guys are.

But there was no way for me to know what was strong until to many years later when I found out about transsexuality. So it would be difficult to have a pat answer to this poll under those circumstances. The closest I could come would be *Neither* when I was a kid, to *confused* in between, and definitely *female* after I discovered there was a name for it, what it meant, and it could be corrected. Then it made sense why I felt the way I did about my innerself and my desire to be the same on the outside. *Female*

Cindy

Quote from: Sebastien on March 16, 2009, 02:23:52 PM
Honestly, I'm somewhat baffled by people's responses to this poll. Personally, I took a lot of time thinking about it, and realized that I never really thought of myself as either, though now I identify as male. Do most people just answer automatically in concordance with their current state, or have you really all felt exactly the same your entire lives?

I would have thought more people would say neither... not just those who identify as androgynous already. And btw, this isn't meant to ruffle any feathers... I'm just curious.

SD

I didn't answer because I wasn't sure how, I'm similar to you only the opposite.
I am a bit surprised as well.

Quote from: Kristi on March 15, 2009, 08:57:34 PM
I am, not sure how to answer your poll, Meghan.  In some ways I really envy all the young 'uns on here.  They have access to forums like this and so much information.  Back in the dark ages I was very sheltered.  I grew up knowing only that something was wrong.  I was convinced no one else ever had these crazy thoughts, like my body and I am out of sync here.

Kristi

I felt exactly the same way. I was 100% convinced that I was the only person who felt this way, and I had no idea how to categorize it. When I first encountered transgendered people in the media (whether transsexual, drag queens, crossdressers, Tootsie/Some-Like-It-Hot man-in-a-dress gags) I came to the conclusion I was a degenerate freak.

I grew up confused ...  . That's the best way I could put it. I was born a girl, went through phases of trying to fit into my skin ... being girly, being a tomboy, being a lesbian, then a butch lesbian, then classified as a bulldyke (I hate that term) ... but inside, I always knew I was a boy ...

Quote from: Alyssa M. on March 16, 2009, 07:59:28 PM
When I first encountered transgendered people in the media (whether transsexual, drag queens, crossdressers, Tootsie/Some-Like-It-Hot man-in-a-dress gags) I came to the conclusion I was a degenerate freak.

Yes that was me as well, which is probably the reason I had such a hard time admitting who I was, even to myself.  The media is not kind to us even now, but it has come a very long way since the days of portraying Max Klinger as a looney bird, and constantly decrying Renée Richards as nothing but a perverted sicko.  Those stereotypes haunted me for many years.  If I was one, I certainly could never let anyone know about it, even myself.

Kristi

Tanks Kristi

QuoteIf I was one, I certainly could never let anyone know about it, even myself.

That is the clincher that kept me in the closet for a lot of years as well. Who could I talk to about my confusion?

So if I am referring to the past to answer this poll, it would have been, confused and scared 

Cindy

QuoteMale

Was a boy when I was a little kid then a man but always male 

Like others I was convinced I was a freak and indeed told so many times. Sure, I saw in magazines the super feminine TS's of the time but felt that was unreachable and not really myself.

To be totally honest I've never been totally happy with female stereotypes but am not sure if that's just denial due to be not classically pretty enough to pull them off. That combined with having a very female identity messed with my head.

So at the end of the day have to say female/feminine...

Female.

I didn't think I was a freak... honestly, I had no clue there were female-to-male transsexuals until I was 18 and saw Boys Don't Cry. Prior to that, I think I'd heard of drag queens, but obviously never equated that with transsexualism. As far as I was aware, "women" who liked girls and tended to dress in a more masculine fashion were lesbians. I saw a news program on lesbian families when I was 10, the first thing I had ever heard about lesbians in general (my parent kept me COMPLETELY sheltered), and decided that must be me... though I never did feel comfortable with the lesbian label. And seeing Boys Don't Cry was enlightening, but only in that I knew what I was, yet didn't want to be it. I didn't want to be persecuted and beaten down and possibly killed for who I was.

I never really felt like anything, really. My parents and those around me were always so convinced I was a girl, and despite my telling them for years that I was a boy, no one believed me. The signals in my head conflicted with those in the outside world, so I compromised: I became both and neither, an entity comprised of flesh and bone and substance but without gender identity. Perhaps that's why it took me 24 years to start my transition.

SD

A girly female is my choice because I feel most at ease when I think of myself as a woman. I want to accept everything that goes with being a woman, good or bad!

Dani

I chose masculine because quite frankly, I couldn't grok the difference between male and female for a while but knew I was being pressured into being a "girl" even if I didn't feel like one. But being told I'm a girl I didn't work out that I was a "boy" because that would mean people were lying to me.
I knew I wasn't a girl. I didn't understand how I wasn't a boy, but I knew I wasn't "something that was called a boy"...


if that makes any sense

I chose Neither.

I grew up with a girl's body but never considered myself female and certainly not feminine. I called myself "Jimmy" as a child but never considered myself male or masculine.