ok guys, i was just thinking about this..

cisgendered men are well, kinda weak if you think about it.. not physically but emotionally, say a cisgendered guy has a small dick.. well he would feel terrible about it, it would keep him from standing proud and tall, when it really doesn't matter!

I dunno, I just feel like we are much stronger mentally then many guys.  We have dealt with so much more then they could ever imagine.  We deal with having breasts and vaginas, and femmy voices, hips, periods, childbirth(for some of us) AND to top it all off we also have to deal with the people who don't even believe us when we tell them we are men, AND we have to deal with transition.

We are strong. Just think about it.

just something I was thinking about.

sure I bet a lot of guys would enjoy being in a woman's body for a few days, but we are stuck in a females body 24 7

sure I bet a lot of guys would enjoy being in a woman's body for a few days


Most settle for being in a woman's body for 15 minutes a night.

But there are a lot of ways to define strength, and you hit one, but hitting one does not make it true across the board.

While I understand your rationale, my practical experience with transmen has led me to believe that the opposite is true in fact.

- N

I've thought of myself as a terrible weakling for my entire life. For most aspects of my life, I think this is a true and accurate characterization.

After I came out a couple of years ago, I realized that in one respect, at least, I could call myself strong: so far, I hadn't killed myself.

Pretty much all living people can say that about themselves, unless they're in the process of dying by their own hand. If they are, then we can argue semantics.

In actuality, I am a very emotionally weak person. But I also have a plethora of mental illnesses, so you might not even really be able to call that a 'weakness', it would almost be like calling someone who is physically handicapped that their legs are weak.
I react too strongly to negative feelings, but I have excellent control over how I act on these emotions(well, that's not entirely truthful. I'm terribly weepy. T_T).
Now that I think about it... what really constitutes 'emotional strength'? Considering all of the terrible depression I have had, you might be able to call myself strong because of that. But my inability to recover from my mental illness might also make me weak.

I have gender-identified in different ways over the years, been married to a man, am marrying a woman, have had friends whose sexuality and gender-identity were different from mine. I've studied feminism, and masculinities. Perhaps because of all this, I really don't think that I am in any position to comment on one group in society being weaker (or stronger) than me. An individual, perhaps, yes, if I knew them well, and had a contextual point of comparison, but not whole groups. I have never accepted being judged solely on my gender, and am reluctant to do the same to others.

I think it's a very individual thing.

Not everyone grows up the same way, from the same parents, in the same society... some people in certain cultures are designated a gender role even if it doesn't match up with their sex. It's just what their culture does.

Some cisgender men are taught emotions are not weak, some are taught it is their weakness, but so are some cisgendered women. And sometimes parenting doesn't determine that your child turn out like their parents. My parents have raised 9 children all the same way, and they're all different because it takes more than just society and your parent's ideals to shape a person. There's just so many variables that make up a person and they're all very individual things. I can't say we're stronger than most men, not even emotionally. I don't know every cisgender man in the world, and in my experience they come in all sorts of different flavours. The same is true for everyone else.

I dunno, I feel pretty strong. I used to think I was weak because I'd gotten into an abusive situation and stayed there for years, but now I know I'm pretty tough for getting out of it. I could have easily died.  Now I feel like I can take on anything.

I've never really felt strong, but looking at all this crap we have to go through, I'd say we're pretty strong, but also very weak. We put up with all this, and a lot of us live to tell the tale, whereas any cis guy never had to put up with any of it. However, through all of this, you also feel really weak from all of it.

In the end, saying we're stronger emotionally isn't quite right, but we all are strong to make it through this.

Only some of us, which isn't really indicative of anything.

Personally I feel strong enough to stomp out into traffic and juggle a bunch of cars.  I've been through hell getting here, my entire life has been one nasty roller coaster ride.  However here I am and I'm still kicking and now twice as high.   

I think that many of us are very strong, many of us are scared/insecure/shallow, and even more of us are a combination of strength and weakness... Just like cis-men. Some are strong and could go through the emotional rollercoaster of being trans and come out stronger on the other end, some are weak and wouldn't be able to deal with this all.


I totally agree with the following comments (which is pretty much everyone, lol):

Quote from: tekla on June 19, 2010, 02:40:01 AM
But there are a lot of ways to define strength, and you hit one, but hitting one does not make it true across the board.

Quote from: Arch on June 20, 2010, 12:11:48 AM
Pretty much all living people can say that about themselves, unless they're in the process of dying by their own hand. If they are, then we can argue semantics.

Quote from: Turtle on June 20, 2010, 08:12:42 PM
Perhaps because of all this, I really don't think that I am in any position to comment on one group in society being weaker (or stronger) than me. An individual, perhaps, yes, if I knew them well, and had a contextual point of comparison, but not whole groups. I have never accepted being judged solely on my gender, and am reluctant to do the same to others.

Quote from: Lachlann on June 20, 2010, 08:26:45 PM
There's just so many variables that make up a person and they're all very individual things. I can't say we're stronger than most men, not even emotionally. I don't know every cisgender man in the world, and in my experience they come in all sorts of different flavours. The same is true for everyone else.

Quote from: SilverFang on June 21, 2010, 09:32:46 AM
Only some of us, which isn't really indicative of anything.

Quote from: Lachlann on June 20, 2010, 08:26:45 PM
I think it's a very individual thing.

Not everyone grows up the same way, from the same parents, in the same society... some people in certain cultures are designated a gender role even if it doesn't match up with their sex. It's just what their culture does.

Some cisgender men are taught emotions are not weak, some are taught it is their weakness, but so are some cisgendered women. And sometimes parenting doesn't determine that your child turn out like their parents. My parents have raised 9 children all the same way, and they're all different because it takes more than just society and your parent's ideals to shape a person. There's just so many variables that make up a person and they're all very individual things. I can't say we're stronger than most men, not even emotionally. I don't know every cisgender man in the world, and in my experience they come in all sorts of different flavours. The same is true for everyone else.

I'm with him on this. There are so many variables in each individual that you can't lump everyone up in a whole pile...I've seen some really strong cismen and some really weak ones...likewise I've seen some very strong transmen and some really weak ones...There are just too many factors in play here...