I was about 5-6 (it was in kindergarten, I know that much) when I realized I wasn't a girl, but it wasn't until I was about 12 that I realized I was a boy. (Haa, I've always been a genderqueer sort).

When I was 5-6, I thought everyone was like that, though, and that "girls and boys" were just meaningless words grown-ups made up. I was kinda happy when my mom spitefully told me about a FTM guy whom she referred to as a he-she. "Great, sex changes are possible, and he has a girlfriend, so love is possible!" XD  Since we have ->-bleeped-<-ty sex ed and I didn't know anatomy very well, I thought I was intersex for some time. I was kind of upset when I figured out I wasn't. I couldn't figure out why it upset me. @.@

When people ask me this question I generally respond that there was never a time I didn't know.  In my earliest memories I remember thinking I should be female like my sister, and I was incredibly jealous of her.  I remember being 6 and lying in bed wishing that I would have some sort of accident that caused me to lose my penis, because I hated it so bad.  I also remember when I was 12 we had a 2 day Sex Ed class and we learned about testicular cancer and that you may have to have your testicles removed if you had it... I couldn't wait to go home and check myself to see if maybe I had it so that I may lose my testicles. 
Somewhere around age 20 I realized that you could actually transition with hormones, surgeries and so forth... and that's when I knew that I was going to transition.  I planned out for 2 years to move away as soon as I finished college.  Within a 2 months after finishing school I was living in Portland and on my way to starting the transition process =)

My earliest memory is of experiencing gender dysphoria at age 3 or 4.

It's never stopped since then.

At age 16 I finally learned the meaning of "transgender" and knew immediately that was me. Prior to that I just thought I was a lesbian and that all lesbians felt this way - blame the sheltered Christian upbringing, lol.

Stress about my body started at like 11 or 12, I think I figured it out when I was 15.

I always knew I was a boy.  I think when I was younger I seriously was waiting for a penis to just grow.  When my mom bought me a book at age 17 (Our bodies: our selves, or something similar...great book btw), everything finally made sense.  I transitioned at 18, and am 29 now.  I can never repay my mother for the information she gave to me and the life she allowed me to pursue. 

As a side note, as a "thumbs up" to my family, they always knew I was "different" and when I came out it was cool with everyone.  Yeah, my fam is pretty cool

Always knew something was off, assumed it was because I was a lesbian at 16, and came out as such. I was 18/19 when I finally worked out that this is what it is.

I was raised in the country so I rarely had to deal with people calling me the wrong pronouns and such because my grandad and I would always go into town and never correct anyone. It wasn't until we moved, maybe at 15 that I started getting pissy with people calling me "she" that I realised something had to go.

When I was 6 I already hated being labeled as a "girl". From then on I was always extremely self-conscious and when puberty hit I would wear bras that were too small to bind my chest down to force it not to grow and I would always wear super baggy hoodies that I could hide in whenever I sat down. At around 17 is when I learned about trans* and decided to pursue my transition.

For me, realizing came in steps. It first started when I was a toddler being potty-trained but then it was just "I want to pee standing up, because that's how I should do it." And I got into an argument with my mother over the issue and learned when you want to do something, don't tell your parents about it...so I peed standing over the toliet. xD I always considered myself a boy - however, I was also Alice in Wonderland, so when I was called a girl, well, it was part of pretend, and in pretend I was always a boy, but that was so much more real to me. As a kid I didn't care about pronouns one way or another.

Puberty brought me closer to "getting it". The first thing I did was reject EVERYTHING, then come to see that I was only rejecting it because, well, it wasn't the puberty I wanted to happen, and I prayed every night that my boobs wouldn't grow bigger. So, online, I clicked the 'male' box and lived through it. I hid a "civil war in my crotch", denying it until about a year and a half ago, when I risked being dragged to a doctor and possibly getting called out on lying.

Once I learned changing was possible, it's on my mind 24/7, and that was, oh...when I was 16 or 17?

It was definitely 5 or under..I recall asking an aunt if she knew where you went to have sex change operations at that age.......

Quote from: Lee on April 01, 2011, 03:04:20 AM
It's good to know that I wasn't the only one who had this impression that trans people were guys in dresses.  All I have to say is thank god for the internet.

this. I knew something was very wrong, even when I was as young as 8-9, but repressed it, overcompensated, for years because of this. Even once I started questioning my gender at around 18, I wouldnt let myself venture to anything trans or ftm, and stuck to researching androgyny/genderqueer-ness. I didnt accept myself as trans until I was 21. Its amazing what internalized transphobia will do to your resolve to learn about yourself. Now that I've educated myself more its getting easier to deal with on a daily basis.

I always felt awkward 'playing girl'.  My earliest memory could be when I was in kindergarten. Don't know why my parents didn't bother to dress me in pink and teach me things girl should do when I was growing up(thank god!) As I don't recall playing with other kids other than my little sis before, it was my first experience of social situation at age 5.

When I was six years old I announced to my mother that I wanted to 'grow up to be a man'.

When I was twelve I started minimal attempts at binding (mainly wearing as tight a one piece swimsuit as I could get under everything).

When I was eighteen, I was officially diagnosed.

Take your pick on which age I 'knew' at.

Age 10 when I got my first period. I was deeply shocked. I shut down completely. I somehow assumed that I was a boy, but the period made me realise that I was not. But I insisted on getting my hair cut short even then, even after I knew I was not physically a boy. Hated girls as a small kid, never played with them. Started falling in love with them from 11-12 though, so I just presumed that I was a lesbian for years. And I did not grow up in a country with a strong trans movement, heck, even homosexuality was outlawed till late 80s (I'm from one of the former socialist countries), and from age 19 I was moulded into a lesbian proper "You like girls?! We knew you did! You look like it! You gotta wear this, read this, listen to this!".... So I've only been coming to terms and accepting myself from 7-8 years ago, and I am 34 now.

Something always seemed off, increasingly so as I got older.  Figured out what exactly it was at 13, was told I was full of crap, tried to forget the whole thing until I couldn't anymore--left the closet at 15 once and for all.

I was lucky to have been raised in a relatively open-minded bubble when it came to gender roles, esp. in the years before middle school, and had no clue that so much of the world was stuck in prescriptive attitudes.  When I realized transitioning was what I had to/needed to do, I had no idea it would be such a big weird deal of a thing to relatives, friends, bystanders, etc.  I thought, "okay, I have a condition, ignoring it won't work forever, so I've gotta fix it before it becomes even more of a pain in the butt.  Lots of people have conditions, right?"

And when people started acting strange about it, I was jaw-drop dumbfounded.  Completely shocked.  I probably still am.

I kind of always knew, found out was transgender/transsexual was when I was eight, and then I realized that was what I was at around thirteen.

you could say i still don't "know" exactly. but all this gender confusion started for me about two months after my 22nd birthday.

3 when i knew i was a boy. 18 when i realized i could medically transition

13 but i always knew i was a boy i just didnt know that trans was a thing until i was 13. i started coming out when i was 14 and 15.

I have felt like I was female for as long as I can remember.......but, I guess the first time I ever came to the realization that I was trans was about 18-19.  Without the internet, I don't know how long it would have taken me.