Visibly Female, Invisibly Male

[LostInTime]

The Story of My Gender Identity

My family allowed me to be a girlish tomboy (as long as I was still a girl). The Dad I was scared of took me fishing almost every weekend. He pitched to me so I could practice my swing, and taught me the importance of batting left-handed in a world of righthanded pitchers. We bonded silently through fishing and sports without any emotions or feelings; talking was unnecessary. My father never treated me like a daughter or a son. I was someone to be trained into the ways of manhood, but a silent manhood, where talking isn't necessary. But I was still a girl, even though deep down I felt like his son, not his daughter. Men were scary. They hit little girls and their brothers. Why would I want to do that?

I remember the time I taped my developing B-cup breasts with masking tape, age thirteen or fourteen. My parents were gone, and I walked around the house with my breasts taped flat under my shirt, admiring how I looked with a boy's chest. The tape hurt like hell when I pulled it off my nipples. I never did that again, but sometimes I thought about it. Later, when my breasts grew much larger, I wished they could go back to that B-cup size, where tape made them go away.

[Laurry]

LIT,

That was a great story about your Dad.  Sounds like a special man who loved his child deeply.

Men don't always (read almost never) verbalize their feelings, especially the strong emotional feelings, but they are there and often run very deep.  They tend to show these through actions and spending time with someone.  As you experienced, it is not unusual for them to spend hours with their loved ones and never say a word.  Women don't always understand this as they verbalize everything.  Just another "stereotypical" generalization that oftentimes results in conflict between the sexes.

And you gotta watch that tape...thank goodness it was masking tape and not duct tape...you may not have had nipples when that was done

....Laurie

[Steph]

LIT,

That was a great story about your Dad.  Sounds like a special man who loved his child deeply.

...

....Laurie

Hey there Laurie.

While LIT's dad may or may not be a special man the story refers to the newspaper article the link in the original message points to

Steph

[LostInTime]

I just report the news, not make it. 

But yes, for the record, my father was a wonderful person and I miss him every day.

I am thankful to have found another article that addresses the FTM segment on the T population.  I feel that the guys are often the most overlooked.  It took me about 8 years before I knowingly met someone who is FTM.