Would you have transitioned if you were a child today?

@AssassinatedBeauty I think people who could have been gay but chose to extinguish that part of themselves and go on to have fulfilling lives, contented marriages and lovely children look back with relief at having not succumbed to their gayness.

Out and proud gay people think thank fuck I came out.

GC feminists look back with relief that their wasn't the option to transition when they were younger and they love being women.

Out and proud trans people think 'thank fuck I came out'.

And of course some people massively regret their gay experiences and some people de-transition.

My point is, people usually have strong feelings about something they can personally relate to.

As a child I wasn't treated as 'a girl' by my parents, just as a child who wanted to learn. I was taught how to cook by my mum and do DIY by my dad. I was never made to feel like I couldn't do something because of my sex. My mixed group of friends who I was always playing out with didn't differentiate between girls and boys and the game of the day was usually Cowboys and Indians, or riding round on our bikes. Sometimes it was Mummies and Daddies. I was called a tomboy by some and mistaken as a boy as I had short hair but I just shrugged that off.

Now with the commercialisation of childhood, things for girls and things for boys, I think my parents would have had a much harder time shielding me from the gender ideology and stereotyping prevalent in the late 1970s and early 80s. I am certainly struggling now with my own children.

Would I have transitioned? No, because I didn't see that I was handicapped due to my sex. That realisation has come much later.

I owe my parents much.

Probably. It wasn't so much that I wanted to be a boy. I just didn't want the half life of being a girl.

Do you think that being concerned about children transitioning who might have grown not to need to is "having negative feelings"?

Really interesting OP @isabeltydoria - I never considered transitioning once and maybe that's why I don't have negative feelings around children that do.

I wonder how many women who aren't GC feminists would have transitioned as a child? I bet if this question was posted in Chat there wouldn't be many.

I don't know really. I didn't mind bring a girl I just hard not being able to do things because I was a girl.

I wanted to do karate and football and rugby. I didn't want to wear pe knickers or do netball in stupid tiny skirts .

I wanted the toys my brother got bought I didn't an't the babies and my little ponies I got bought.

I certainly hated by body. And I hated what i wasnt allowed to wear out of principle over how I felt. I didn't want to be a boy but I wasn't allowed to he treated like the other girls were either.

I did wonder what was wrong in my head that I couldn't accept what my parents accepted so readily and what didn't bother any of the other girls. ( sports selections and school shoes and school trousers etc)

No. I was a tomboy, played football, always the goalie because I was too good at tackling.

I also climbed trees, played cricket - I was great at this many sixes, often turned into fours, but I was often put 'out' because I wasn't giving my brothers the time they needed at the wicket - beach cricket. I was never allowed to bowl after three straight wickets in a row.

But I always knew I'd be a mother one day. So I loved my biology and my sex. I also discovered the joy of orgasms (multiple) from an early age; by masturbation I hasten to add.

I have three children.

I’d have definitely have been vulnerable to the ideology.

I was also desperate to be a boy and was often mistaken for one. It probably would have been suggested to me if I had been growing up then.
I really don't think that even at the age of 9-10 I would have believed I could have changed sex, but adults repeatedly telling me that I could might have changed my mind.

Yes as far as hormones but not needles or surgery because I was terrified of them.
I definitely thought I was really a boy though.

100%. I used to cry at night because I wasn’t a boy, fantasise about having a penis, I had v short hair from the age of about 8 and wore boys clothes as much as possible, absolutely hated school uniform and compromised with a skort in middle school.

I had a late puberty and didn’t start periods or develop breasts until I was 15, and by that time this was a cause of huge shame because by then I’d accepted I had to be a girl and felt completely defective as one.

By the time I was 20 or so I was content to be a not particularly feminine woman, and after having my eldest at 22 I embraced my womanhood much more.

If the option to ‘become’ a boy had been in the table I’d have been straight in there.

I don't think I would have done, because my parents allowed me to be myself and were supportive. They weren't concerned about conforming to gender norms as neither of them did, particularly my mum.

But, I think I would have been attracted to the idea though. I hated being a girl, I did "boys" activities and wore "boys" clothes. I wanted to be a footballer and my heroes were male footballers. I was rubbish at interacting with most other girls and sought out male friendship groups. I was very good at academic subjects that are stereotypically male.

I found puberty to be deeply distressing. I hated getting hips and I particularly hated getting breasts. I was resistant to wearing a bra for a long time, I wouldn't wear skirts or a blouse at school. I found periods to be awful, which was alleviated by discovering tampons which made it less distressing for me. Even though I knew I was female, I had harboured some hope that I might grow up to be a boy/man when I was a younger child. Puberty put a crashing halt to that immature fantasy.

As I got older, that did all ease, and by the age of about 20 I'd realised and accepted I was a gender non-conforming bisexual woman.

Come to think of it, daim - most people I know who spoke out the loudest about Section 28 were themselves adult gay men and lesbians. Would it be fair to suggest that they did this because they had a twinge of envy for what could have been had they been successfully pressured into 'normal' heterosexual relationships in their youth? Sounds unlikely to me.

I don't think so. I detested being called a tomboy. But I'd have been even lonelier as a non conforming girl. There was a period when I would only wear jeans and pastel coloured checked shirts. Pastel fitting the stereotypes enough to tick the girl box, which saved hassle as a pre-teen, jeans and shirts because that's what I felt comfortable in. When I was a teenager most people dressed pretty gender neutral anyway.

I hated the idea of puberty (and hated puberty come to that, does anyone not?). But would have hated the idea of doing stuff to my body more, so no don't think I would have transed.

But my parents were very anti stereotype, who knows what pressures I might have felt if growing up in different circumstances.

No I wouldn't have transitioned. I found lots of aspects of being young & female difficult, such as adult men perving, also wanted the 'freer' lifestyle I saw for boys. But did I want to be one? Never.

My (gay) sister - absolutely (not 100% sure if my parents would have gone on but who knows?). Possible my as I was a copycat with my big sister.

Both of us are happy to be female but with all the hooha and craziness. Kids don't really 'get' forever do they?

Hmm. Having known women who've had mastectomies, I can't say I have much 'envy' for 'what could have been' had I been allowed to cut off my own breasts.

An interesting thing I have noticed is the most vociferous opponents to gay equality often come from devout Christians who admitted having homosexual tendencies in their youth.

I’ve also noticed women who could possibly have transitioned in their youth are now the strongest opponents to the trans ideology.

Perhaps it’s a feeling of relief at having escaped something terrible mixed with a slight twinge of envy at what could have been.

Yes quite possibly. Or the non binary thing whatever that means.

No. I knew I liked girls and I was envious of boys because the girls liked them but I knew this made me a lesbian and not transgender.

I reckon my mum could have. She started puberty early and disguised her chest with baggy clothes and was always pleased when mistaken for a boy.

Trans kids are very different

Okay: how? Genuine question.

I have done a lot of shutting up and listening to the experiences of parents if trans children back when I was trying very hard to go along with this. I was sure if I just listened enough, I’d clearly see how this was different. “Consistent, persistent, insistent” “it’s not just about toys and dresses!”, all of that. I never did.