Being gay/bi/straight/whatever IS NOT A BEHAVIOR!
It's not a taste in clothes, or a taste in music, or a taste in movies, or a taste in food.
It's not being polite, or tidy, or happy, or messy, or impolite, or untidy.
It's a physical and emotional attraction to other human beings.
That is all.
Yes, Many gay people exhibit some cross-gender behaviors, but those behaviors are also found in straight folk, and those behaviors don't mean they're gay. Being physically and emotionally attracted to the same gender is what means they're gay.
I don't have to check the mirror for my gender identity.
I don't have to look in my pants to know if I'm male or female.
Cisgender people don't have to check the mirror or their underwear either.
You could tie them up and deprive them of all their senses, and they'd still know, innately, whether they are male or female.
A man can be horribly maimed in an accident and lose his penis, and he'll still identify as a man. (Though the whole penis-culture might make him feel deep shame which he'd understand as being "less of a man" without his penis.)
It SHOULD make people go O.O!! when they consider the amount of physical pain you're willing to go through.
You should call her on the whole "cut off the tits and attach a penis" line.
Yes!
NO ONE would do that if they had an alternative, less painful, easier way of making their lives livable.
Tell her that she's on to something, that she should imagine how much pain your chest must be causing you, how much stress it's inflicting on you, for you to be willing to risk such pain, not to mention the possibility of complications.
How much pain would something have to cause her for her to consider cutting it off.
Yes, there's something wrong with us, obviously!
No "healthy" person would go through all of this for no good reason.
The amount of stress and psychological pain a human feels when it's not able to be itself is immense!
That pain, that stress, is caused by something, by the body and the brain being wired in separate directions, by the mismatch.
Yes, transition is serious and shouldn't be taken lightly, but just for that reason alone it seems stupid to brush the reasons for pursuing it off as something trivial!
Ugh...
I'm in a ranty/irritated mood.
I can't talk for everyone else, but I love my body, and I love it more every small step I take towards making it right for me.
I have never "hated" my body. It's just never fit me.
I've learned to live with what I know I can not do, though that's been a great challenge to me and I can't help but to hold out a sad little light of "what if" and wish for the day they could do more for me, but I've learned not to count on it, or hope for it so much it interferes with what I got.
Transition is something I can do. I can correct a certain number of things about my body that I feel a deep, internal drive to correct.
I am doing it for me.
Not for privilege.
Not for escapism.
Not for other's comfort nor discomfort.
Not for men.
Not for women.
Not for fashion.
Not for work.
Not for sports.
It's for me, for myself, so that I can feel more comfortable within my own skin.
Being more comfortable in my own skin is a gift for those around me.
I can't take care of others if I can't take care of myself.
Being happier, healthier, more balanced, less suicidal, will be good for my relationship with my husband and daughter.
It'll be good for my relationships with friends and other family as well, because I'll actually have something to give.
Being this stressed, this hurt, this worn down by something that I can changed, is something that wears me down, that steals away a large part of me, from me and from everyone who I share my life with.
Ramble ramble...
Gonna stop here.