Quote from: Aussie Jay on January 20, 2010, 05:08:13 PM
I'm sorry to beat a dead horse but I really want to know am I the only one who thinks I would be a completely different person had I been born male? I'm not talking about if that's good or bad at the moment... But your experiences make you who you are. I really can't imagine I would have been the same child. I definitely wouldn't have been the same teenager. Once again not saying there are not both good and bad points to being THAT guy but I would never have met the friends I have... I wouldn't have had the experiences I have... The jobs I've done... The sports I've played... I wouldn't have the character I have... I wouldn't have had to adapt and overcome and have grown etc.
Just wondering people's opinions...
Well, probably because being transgender doesn't really define me as a person, it just makes life a lot more difficult. Just like a cancer patient isn't exactly defined by having cancer, though the experience might make them value life a little more. They don't have to have gone through cancer to value life a little more. Sure, I may not have participated in some of the same things that guys were brought up with or in the same way they were, but that doesn't guarantee that they're going to shape you as a person either. For example, just because you bring up a kid a certain way doesn't mean they're going to be exactly as you tell them to. And the values I was raised with, would have been no different.
People use stupid stereotypes on everything and it's easy to be misjudged on just about anything, but I feel like my personality and the person that I am was built not from a condition. I don't think it's taught me any major life lessons that I couldn't have learned from anywhere else. I'm not that kind of person who only feels empathy toward something if I'm going through it myself. In fact, I'd wager I'd still be sympathetic with people who are TG because I would have still seen the same things and be taught the same things. Being transgender has only truly crippled my life in the passed few years because I wasn't thinking about it nearly as much, though I was aware of it.
The thing is, there are too many different types of people in this world, who were raised the same way and socialized the same way who end up all being different from each other(my family is a testament to this.) And I can't really fully buy that I'd be a different person because I've always known what kind of person I am, it's just harder to express it sometimes. If anything if I were born a boy right from the get-go, my life would have been probably a lot better emotionally and I'd take that with all the disorders I have. I'm pretty much gimped by them at this current time, I can't even have a regular job. So with that in mind, I would choose being born a boy a from the get-go, because I don't see how it's necessary for me to go through all that and have added depression on top of everything else. Even without all my disorders, I still personally don't see the point. I don't get why people call me strong for having something that is unfortunate to have. And I honestly don't think I'm all that strong either if I'm having all these break downs. I'm not that kid who gets terminally ill and never complains or is never rude or all that.
But hey, this is just me.