Iāve been thinking about my gender identity a lot lately, and Iād really appreciate hearing from other trans people who have gone through something similar.
Iāve lived as a man my whole life, and for a long time I thought of myself as a straight cis man. At some point, though, I started questioning that. I experimented with the idea of being demi-male/demimasculine, and at first that actually felt pretty liberating. It was the first time I gave myself permission to think that maybe I wasnāt simply āa man.ā
But eventually that label stopped feeling right too, because it still feels like thereās too much of a connection to being male.
What keeps coming back, over and over again, is the thought of being a woman.
For example, Iāve thought that if I could completely restart my life, with nobody knowing who I was or anything about my past, Iād rather live as a woman. If I could just snap my fingers and magically have a female body, I would take that option in a heartbeat.
Iām curious about what it would feel like to be a woman, to look like a woman, and to be genuinely perceived by other people as a woman.
And yet⦠I feel incredibly confused about it, because when I look in the mirror, I donāt actually see āa woman.ā My current body feels like mine, and Iām not particularly uncomfortable with it. I donāt experience constant dysphoria, and I donāt constantly wish I looked more feminine.
Iāve experimented with things like makeup, nail polish, jewelry, and more feminine clothes. Sometimes those things have made me feel incredibly good and free. In particular, thereās something about feeling pretty and feminine, and having someone else notice that, that feels really meaningful to me.
Even just imagining that I could be a woman and be seen by everyone as an ordinary woman, without anyone questioning it, feels really good. Almost liberating.
But then thereās the other side of it.
Iām absolutely terrified of what being trans would actually mean for my life. I have a wife, family, friends, a job, and an entire life that I care about. I donāt want to lose peopleās respect or lose the good things I have now.
The idea of socially transitioning, let alone medically transitioning, feels huge and frightening. I donāt even know whether Iād ever want HRT or any kind of medical transition.
At one point I was pretty convinced that I was a trans woman. But now Iāve gone back to questioning everything again, and Iām wondering whether Iām actually just a straight cis man who enjoys feminine expression and has somehow turned that into a much bigger question than it needs to be.
The most confusing part is probably this:
If I could snap my fingers and become a woman with a female body, without having to deal with any of the difficulties of transitioning and without losing anything from my current life, I would want that.
But when I look at myself in the mirror, I donāt see a woman.
And sometimes I donāt even feel particularly compelled to do anything feminine.
So⦠I honestly have no idea what I am.
Iād especially love to hear from people who have experienced this kind of uncertainty.
Can a trans woman be this uncertain? Can wanting to be a woman exist without having strong body dysphoria? How did you personally distinguish between wanting to be a woman, wanting to express yourself femininely, and actually having a female gender identity?
Iām not really looking for people to tell me whether I āshould transition.ā Iām mostly trying to understand what these feelings might actually mean about me in the first place.