Quote from: Cowboi on August 12, 2010, 01:49:24 AM
To be honest there are too many to even know where to begin to point someone. Just do some research on psychosomatic studies. I'm not saying that there are specific studies on trans people who believe they have body parts, but in general there are tons of studies showing how people tend to suddenly "feel" or "believe" something is true once they hear it from someone else (especially from a large number of other people).

If you are genuinely interested in this type of stuff take a psychology class or two, it all is really interesting actually, or at least I think it is

Oh I see.... that's a bit sad as I had been looking forward to reading specific trans phantom body parts studies. But thanks anyway.

Quote from: Cowboi on August 12, 2010, 01:43:42 AM

Ah, one of those wonderful we are both going the same direction with something and missed each other along the way conversations lol.

Haha, high five.

And yeah, this area of research is really fascinating. One of my psychology professors specifically works on hypnosis, placebos, and other instances of top-down (mind to brain, I guess you could call it ) influence in the brain. This stuff is eye-opening, whether you're a hardcore skeptic or mystic or just interested in psychology and neuroscience.

Fencesitter, if I ever get involved in research in phantom limb studies (right now I'm doing more cognitive stuff), I'll try to run it for you.

I have this too, to the point where I'll get into cold water up to my crotch and start worrying about shrinkage.

Quote from: Papillon on August 05, 2010, 05:45:15 AM
Which brings me onto a related but slightly OT subject.  Just like the phantom penis phenomenon, my feelings of gender identity are like memories of having been male.  They are not so much "I should have a male body" but "I used to have a male body" and that, like grieving, I am finding it difficult to adapt to the fact that this is no longer the case.  Does anyone else get this?

This.  Maybe why I'm neither here nor there on the gender thing - there's not enough "should" to push me over to the guy side completely, but enough "used to" that wearing skirts/dresses/makeup sure feels like crossdressing, like someone's going to notice...something.

I can tell you that when I wore a pair of tight boyshort-style women's underwear, and looked down, it was incredibly disturbing to find myself...well, as anatomically impaired as a Ken doll.  So very, very wrong, yet these things seem to sell well enough, so I would suspect that my reaction is not the same as most cis-and-happy-about-it women wearing them.  Haven't worn them since.

I can conjure up a "fantasy dick" if I want to when aroused, but I don't think it's quite into the realm of "phantom", as it only exists when I'm actively thinking about it.  The real live parts I grew myself have always been a bit of a letdown, particularly the boobs ("Yeah, you can play with them if you like, just don't expect me to notice much, it's not like they're mine..."), so I figure I might as well go with whatever works, in the imagery department.  I certainly get the impulse to cross my legs and wince in sympathy when someone receives a particularly painful injury, or is likely to, though.  (unless, of course, it's a safety situation where I have to deliver it.)  And when I did gymnastics, I always hated balance beam for fear of being crotched far more than falling off it and not hitting it on the way down!

Quote from: Kareil on August 18, 2010, 12:41:13 PM
The real live parts I grew myself have always been a bit of a letdown, particularly the boobs ("Yeah, you can play with them if you like, just don't expect me to notice much, it's not like they're mine...")

yea I'm like that with my boyfriend.  I dont like him LOOKING at them, but he can feel them, or lick them.. but I dont really connect with it.  it feels ok, but not amazing.

Quote from: Elijah on August 18, 2010, 04:41:25 PM
yea I'm like that with my boyfriend.  I dont like him LOOKING at them, but he can feel them, or lick them.. but I dont really connect with it.  it feels ok, but not amazing.

Pretty much any other part of my body has more feeling than they do - the actual breast skin is nearly a dead zone, and while the nipples have more feeling, the only sensations that register are "irritating" if someone's playing with them, or "chapped" if someone's licking them.  If I ever had a baby, it'd be the world's youngest Chapstick addict, because I'd probably be hitting the stuff before and after every feeding!  I don't think I've been with a bio-guy who hasn't had a better relationship with his nipples than I do with mine, though I'm filing "ticklish" as enjoying them more, not less, which may be entirely wrong.  It's like the nerves just didn't wire up right with them, for me.

I apologize for the thread necromancy, but I just found this article:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=you-are-what-you-touch

Of course, what comes to mind for me is packers (especially hard packers), and the feeling that they're something solid to map your mental penis onto.

I don't have one at all because my fantasy has to be realistic and the reality for me is I don't have a penis so I don't have a phantom penis.