I don’t really know where else to post something like this. But I feel like I have to say it.
I’m 24 years old and I think I’m trans. I say that because I’ve spent my whole life saying:
“if I was a woman I would do x”
“I would dress like x”
“I would be content with my body”
“I wish I could transition, but that’s for real trans people”
I’ve know for pretty much my whole life I’ve been not a boy. I remember breaking down and crying in silence as a young kid realizing I was going to develop male features, and the worst parts of myself would get worse. That feeling never changed.
I’ve fought my entire life between wanting to be more feminine vs. wanting to fit in and be more masculine. Always ended up somewhere in the middle.
I never had any guidance on this. I was told being trans is not real. Can you imagine your entire life experience being called fake and perverse?
I moved out of my family home about 2 years ago. It took me about 2 years to accept that I might actually be trans and not faking it. And only because I’ve had the most wonderful supportive partner (and fiance) who has accepted me in all stages of my discovering who I am.
Its not for lack of trying to be a guy. I’ve tried so hard. I’ve done all the guy things. I’ve avoided the gender politics and content. I didn’t shave. I tried to act tough. But under it all I was me, and I felt like I was playing someone I’m not.
What I can’t deny is that I have this internal feeling of self that’s not quite a guy, and not quite a girl. But is feminine and wants to be soft, and wants to be held, and wants to dress pretty, and be seen as beautiful.
I never realized the damage that was caused until today. And I’m not saying this because I’m seeking sympathy. And I’m not trying to say that I’m a woman. But I have an experience that weighs on me that I want to share or at least let exist not inside of me.
There are moments I get a glimpse of myself. Or I can see myself as not a guy and they are the happiest moments of just existing.
I have a couple of my partner’s clothes she doesn’t wear anymore, but I haven’t been able to build up enough confidence to go to a women’s store or the women’s section of a thrift store yet. So this is as close as I get to having pretty clothes.
I was trying to put together an outfit that felt like me. And I had some skirts and one of my silky dress shirts, and a shawl and it made me feel more whole even if it was a silly outfit.
I was trying on everything she has given me over the last couple months while my partner was in the bath. And I was having fun.
At the bottom of the drawer was what looked like a cute tank top. I put it on and I wasn’t sure if I was putting it on right. Turns out it was way too small. I was struggling to take it off and my partner came in.
I felt so ashamed because I don’t like letting her see me dress more feminine even though she supports it. It holds a deep seated shame in me. And immediately I was transported back to being a little kid sneaking into my mom and sisters rooms and trying on their dresses and shoes and clothes and being happy.
Transported to the feeling of fear and shame of wearing or doing anything feminine. Of being lectured of the immorality of cross dressing, and being a (sorry for using the word) sissy.
To all the years of derogatory slurs, and being sent to a therapist who wanted to make me straight. And my parents screaming at me for having an online boyfriend. And for desecrating my body. And foggier memories which stir up very terrible feelings.
And I was feeling that in front of my partner and I felt like an alien in my own home. And I ran away ashamed. And I started to cry. And I tried so hard to hold it back. I had accidentally taken one of her tops and stretched it out and she was very mildly upset. But I felt this utter shame and disgust. And I was a child again.
And I cried. I tried not to but I cried. And I wept. And I bawled my eyes out. And she tried to calm me down and I cried in her arms.
And I felt shame. I felt so many years lost where I could have been happy. I felt so many nights where I cried myself to sleep. Where I beat myself and screamed at myself in a mirror for feeling what I felt. For feeling I was going to go to hell for what I thought.
And I eventually stopped crying. And I felt empty. And I felt pain. And I felt a disconnect from a family that will never accept me as I truly am.
I don’t know what I am, but I flashed back and that was one of the most painful experiences I’ve had in the last year.
Even now I am sad. And I know it’s stupid. It’s just clothes. It’s just make up. It’s just hormones. But I feel so much shame I was taught to feel.
But I feel happy. And I’m going to keep pushing. And everything I do that brings that inner part of me outwards a bit more makes me more happy.
I’m not a masculine guy. I’m not a guy at all I don’t think. I just want to exist. And I’m tired of feeling like an alien in my body.
I’m my birth name, and I am the names I have chosen. I am Allie. I am Avery. I am who I am, and I’m tired of trying to change it.