Quote:
Originally Posted by Esme nha Maire
Thanks, Dapper - I'm still a bit floaty on painkillers and didnt notice. I meant wondering if MTFs tend to be sure of their gender earlier than FTMs. I;ve now edited my post to correct this.
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That is what I thought you meant.
Interesting question!
Based on my reading of trans people, historically MTFs were aware of their gender identity earlier than FTMs.
As a gender therapist, I have seen this to be the case, as well. I believe that the reason for this is because FTMs have another identity to describe some of the conflicting feelings...tomboy. There is a word, and identity that they can "kind of" fit into. MTFs only have gay and female.
It tends to be puberty when the boys (FTMs) put it all together. The changes in their body triggers the realization that they are not female. Some even talk about thinking that puberty would "never happen to them because they were a tomboy/other word that is similar".
90% of my adolescents are FTMs. However, I don't think that this points to there being more trans boys than trans girls. I believe it is because the girls are getting therapy earlier. Since I only see kids 14 and up, and the girls are coming out earlier, I wouldn't see them. I can tell you that when I go to trans health conferences, the parent/child section has more than double the little girls (MTF) running around than the little boys (FTMs).
What I do see is that the FTM adolescents do transition earlier than the MTFs. Parents are much more nervous about their trans girls coming out. I see them wanting the girls to hold out until college. Sometimes they will put them on hormones, but they insist that they wait until college to socially transition. College is much "safer". My main goal with the parents of trans girls is to at least put them on testosterone blockers. That I can usually get parents to do because they hear me when I say that their children will have a much harder go of it the more their face masculinizes. Boys I am usually more hesitant about going on testosterone because of the voice change that can't be reversed. I would say that I am much more conservative than the typical gender therapist when it comes to boys getting on to testosterone. Nowadays the parents are ahead of me. Some come in the door almost ready for their trans boys to get on testosterone. This is all because they come in super educated. It is not like it used to be only a few years ago. I don't like Caitlyn Jenner, but she sure did help the trans community when it comes to "coming OUT".
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For myself, I think that finding "butch" as gender is what held me up. I kept telling myself that I wasn't a woman (that my only gender was Butch), but that I was ok with being female (my sex). Female masculinity is somewhat accepted in our culture, so I could essentially live as a "man" (hair, clothing), so it "held me together". I didn't realize how free I would feel after I came OUT and got on testosterone. I didn't realize how much anxiety (social and general), was the reason for my irritability and angst (which unfortunately impacted others), was due to not having the "right hormone" in my body. I am so much more calm and emotionally level now. It really is freaky. I never knew if my clients emotionally leveled out due to hormones or due to anticipation of their body changing. Getting on hormones myself gave me the answer to that question (it is the hormone).
I started out with a small dose because I wanted to make sure it was the right decision. Pretty quickly a thought came to me..."I need the medication in my system...if the outcome of that is that I am masculinize to the point of looking male, then that is what the outcome is". That is how necessary this hormone is to my mental health. (Unfortunately, for the first 6 months I had to jump around to different dosages (long story), so my emotional state was not balanced at all).
Now, of course I am very happy with my changes, and very happy being male, but I think the above points to the power of hormones. And I don't know what evidence could make it more clear that this is a medical condition. Like many who are diabetic need insulin to have a balanced, healthy body and mental state, many trans people need cross sex hormones.
The end. lol
ETA: I started transitioning in my mid- 40's. Based on the several "over 40" trans men FB groups I am on, most of these men came out late in life, as well (mid 40's, early 50's). A very large percentage of them identified as butch lesbians prior to coming out as trans. I still identify with butch as part of my gender identity.