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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

It doesn't just have to be "oh I'm a man/woman/enby." What qualities do you have or want to obtain as your gender? How do you express yourself? What does your gender feel like?

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 7 months ago (2 children)

My gender is "not man." The title "man" feels like an ill-fitting jacket on me, heavy and burdensome. I describe it, in specific terms, as genderflux demigirl; I only ever feel varying degrees of "girl," ranging from not girl to all girl, but never any amount of man; agender to girl. I don't want to be manly and I don't want to be put in the same category as men. In simple terms, I tell people that I'm genderfluid with they/them pronouns because I find they/them acceptable for all presentations, even if I would prefer she/her.

I don't have any issues with men, it's just not me. I'm still pre-HRT and I haven't built up the courage to try to present femme. The farthest I've strayed is GNC. Regardless, I want people to see and treat me as a girl. I share the sentiment that some of the traits I want and exhibit aren't necessarily gendered, but they're part of what makes up my gender.

I want to be vulnerable, emotional, graceful, and unintimidating. I have a large sense of empathy, but my emotions are locked. I'm wearing a mask unless I'm significantly inebriated and I hate it. I hate that I'm big, strong, and clumsy. I hate that I feel like I have to avoid strangers and give them breadth on the street because my presence might make them feel uncomfortable. I hate that I feel anxious and pent up all the time.

I want people to see me for who I feel that I am When people look at me, I want them to think: cute, adorable, soft, dainty. I don't want the weight, the baggage, and the assumptions that come with "man" because the truth is that I'm not strong, brave, powerful, or confident and I don't necessarily want to exhibit or exude these qualities. As it stands, people assume that I have these qualities because they sort me with men. I am not man. I am me. Hell, I don't even think I'm woman, but I am girl. I want to look girl. I want to feel girl. To some extent, I already behave like a girl. I want people to see girl.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

Wtf I did not expect I would ever read a detailed description of my gender. Are you me?? This is so gay

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

So much this... masculine is not in any way a desire of mine. Nor do I myself at all attracted to masculinity. Being in a group of men is exhausting (although it is VERY easy to get caught up in general jackassery and do some stupid shit), and most of my friend group in middle and high school was girls. The "boys will be boys" type behavior has always felt gross and uncomfortable to be around.

I would like to be someone people are comfortable around, I don't want to be the center of attention or anything. Some days I want to feel pretty, some days I just want to "be".

Masculinity just feels heavy, clunky, and burdensome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Masculinity, or man-ness? I like being a tomboy sometimes, but never a man.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

That is a good distinction. Man-ness I suppose is more accurate in my case.

I think I would consider myself a bit more of a femme leaning enby currently, but would like to experience HRT and think more on it in the future.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm planning on it. Remind me in three weeks and I'll tell you how it's going.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Oh I definitely plan to as well, life circumstances are just highly incentivizing waiting until at least October.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 7 months ago

Gender is a performance and I wasn't given a script.

In other words,

I am mostly just posting this so I remember to make an actual response when I have the time.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The way I describe my gender is, that if I'm standing in a room of men, my feeling is "not one of them".

My feeling when standing in a room of women is "they're like me"

I struggled when people perceived that grouping the other way around.

My presentation was initially basically doing what I needed to do to get people to perceive my gender correctly. Pragmatic. I've never otherwise had a meaningful sense of connection between expression and gender. It could be best described as "pragmatically feminine leaning towards androgynous".

If the world removed the groupings, and it became just a room full of people instead of a room full of people with gender, then I'd be quite happy for my gender to be as unimportant as my eye colour or hair colour. An interesting fact about me, but not a default grouping category people use for me.

I also struggled with serious physical dysphoria, but these days, I see that as distinct from my gender. Even in the hypothetical world I was talking about, with gender relevance being downplayed, I'd still have had to navigate that dysphoria

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Enby here. My gender is Yes. =D

"Are you a boy or a girl?" Yes.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I prefer to say no to that one 😅 "Are you a boy, or a girl?" "Not really? 🤷"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Also a very good answer!

I know some folks would say "Kinda?" Too. 😄

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

My gender is being a Dad, which basically means I'm a parent with occasional facial hair. I could probably be enby but idk where the autism ends and gender begins. My gender feels like a role that could change based on life circumstances and I'm mostly okay with that as long as people don't tell me how or what. It's like I wasn't born with a script and I refuse to read one when someone hands me their script. I've gotten along without one for this long, why stop now?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I simply wouldn't

If you're attracted to me you're queer, I don't make the rules

I express myself as cute, and my gender feels amazing

/j

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

confused flailing and/or squirming?!?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago
[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I'm a woman, but honestly I've always been very much a tomboy. I regularly wear a multitool on my belt and prefer my stuff to be more function than form (though prefer both if possible naturally). I don't wear makeup, mainly because I'm too fucking lazy to deal with that. Lol.

I do occasionally like to girl out though. Lol.

I like pizza, PC gaming, and pi on my pie.

My favorite fictional character is Éowyn, for I AM NO MAN.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I don't know! And with every day passing since I really looked into myself it weighs heavier and heavier on mind. I first settled on enby almost a year ago. A couple of weeks ago I had some key memories pop up/some revelations about myself which convinced me that I am, in fact, transfemme. This gave me so much euphoria bit now... my brain "snapped back"?? I don't understand it. The being sure is gone and along with it, the euphoria. It's all so muddy. I only know that my inner self and my body don't match. Goddammit I am in my 30s, shouldn't I at least know who I am?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Oooo, that sounds familiar. Sometimes I wonder if I'm some kinda fancy-funky metagenderfluid 😅 Like, swishing around between agender, genderfluid, fem, femby, and who even knows what else 😵‍💫 Latelish my best results are from just letting go and letting me happen 🤔 Or, well, letting something happen. Maybe it's me 😅 Anyway, there's a ton of outside crap to struggle with before self can really make itself known and sometimes lots of experiences are needed to knock loose the ones that burrowed in <.< Or just to give perspective for understanding selfness! ... Yeah Idunno where I'm going (in general, but also specifically with this comment 😹) so I'll stop yapping. Eventually >:P

Also, thirties cluuubbb! 🥳 Maybe when we're forty we'll have figured something out 😅

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Transfemme enby here, I can empathize!

I figured myself out around 10 or 11 years old, but growing up in Texas in the 90's never made being myself feel like an option. So I lied to myself that it was just a fantasy, especially after I was outed as gay to my parents at 16. It was just easier to let people think I was a queer guy, and I'll still let people make that assumption even after starting hormone therapy in my late 30's.

Fortunately my gender is fluid enough to tolerate a masc presentation most of the time, but that variability was a pain to manage. I'd be more or less fine for weeks, then I'd wake up to find myself depressed in such a way that could only be resolved by painting my nails and wearing a pair of breastforms.

You just need to be true to yourself, which may involve some interior cartography if your true self isn't just one thing. Take all the time you need to meditate on it, make a mental chart of how your gender shifts overtime and start looking for patterns. Your gender might be cyclical, regularly shifting along a well-trodden course, or it might be dynamic, changing in response to stimuli.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Your gender might be cyclical, regularly shifting along a well-trodden course, or it might be dynamic, changing in response to stimuli.

I have never heard of that! Sounds like I have some reading to do. Thank you! May I ask how old you are now and what kind of hormones you are taking? "Just" estrogen or test blockers as well? Only if you are comfortable sharing ofc <3 could also share via dm if you prefer

Just vented to a good friend of mine (one of 2 people that know about my thoughts) and just getting it all out was helpful as well.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

No worries! I'm quite familiar with how just talking about it to someone who understands can ease the burden of dysphoria and I'm happy to share!

This actually came up in another thread yesterday: https://pawb.social/comment/7129720 but I'll repeat the details here for ya~

I'm in my late 30's now, and started hormone therapy about 7.5 months ago. I'm on 2mg sublingual Estradiol, 5mg Finasteride, and started 100mg Progesterone at 3 months, no anti-androgen.

As of my last testing, both E and T levels are on the low side of normal for the female and male ranges respectively.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I am demon hear me roar

Transfemme woman. I myself am binary and eschew masculinity, but my presentation is neutral-femme.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I too like to manifest my gender expression through hellish eldritch formations.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago

Enby here but I'm keeping my villainous moustache. =3

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

I'm still figuring out what kind of man I am and want to be. One thing is being strong for other people. Being able to provide for and support others is important to me. Then being strong for myself, being able to take things and roll with the punches. Obviously, anybody of any gender can embody those, but to me being able to do that will indicate that I'm growing from a boy into a man. Not quite there yet.

I find myself falling into machismo sometimes. It's not the type of man I want to be. I'll do stupid shit or try to fit stereotypes to prove my masculinity or some stupid shit. Part of being young and unsure of myself, I guess. Deep down, I'm a very sensitive, romantic, and whimsical person, but I've buried that for many years because no men around me show those traits. I hope when I move to yankeeland I'll find some better male role models and more freedom to express myself without compromising my masculinity.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

I don't feel like I've got one at the gender dispenser. I act masculune when it's needed due to my strenght, but I usually don't even think about that. I'm gender-absent mostly, showing stereotypes of both sexes at random.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

It feels like a spring breeze

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

In conversation: "enby"

I still think about it sort of like I did as a teenager before I realized I was trans. I feel like there's two people inside me, and oddly enough, since I was a kid I occasionally noticed that I refer to myself as "we." I don't know if that's normal.

One is a man who loves competition and mainly wants to socialize with men because they're generally more relatable. He also mainly likes things that happen to be traditionally male-dominated like videogames and programming. It's the more "active" side of me.

The other side is a woman who feels like she only recently stopped being ignored. Even now, we don't always get what she wants due to social pressure, but at least we acknowledge her now and understand what she wants. She wants to train our voice and wear more stylish clothes. She feels confident when we appear feminine. That's the more "passive" side of the equation.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Well up until maybe yesterday I was heavily leaning in the binary trans woman category of my identity. Although my gender "feels" more fluid or dynamic?

I'm currently sick and have little to no motivation. Which I have deemed as my default mode as a pre cracked "man"

So today I've been actually really conflicted. Am I depressed because I "feel" like I am a man or am I feeling my gender shift to accommodate my sick/depressed feeling as a way to try and protect myself?

Am I even making any sense ? 😮‍💨

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think most people have some days where they'll feel more masculine than feminine or vice versa, trans or not. You'll just have to observe where it goes in the future. Alternatively, being sick can fuck with your hormones in your body and brain.

Hope you feel better. Being sick sucks. A nice warm cup of tea and a hot shower helps me when I feel like shit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Thanks friend ❤️ That makes a lot of sense and of course being sick can mess with hormones. I didn't even think of that 😏

Also, yesterday was my mom's death anniversary and the first time I grieved her loss as her daughter. So I think in general, this is a really confusing hormonally driven time for me, lol

Thanks for talking me off the ledge a bit. Have my tea with me now and plan on showering once my little one has gone to bed 🐱

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Subversive tradwife.

I basically only wear dresses and go over the top with jewelry while also I doing the cooking, cleaning, shopping and errands in my household while my partner is the bread winner (even if I the one who bakes the sourdough). But we are both vegan, trans, atheist, feminist, tattooed, leftists. So while we do conform to some "traditional" stereotype, we also break just as many in the process. While in my heart of hearts, I am agender non-binary and vigoursly see gender as a human made role, but I find traditional femininity so much FUN that it's the way I love my day to day life.