If I was to ‘live as a man’ from tomorrow, what would I do?

[TheOGCCL]

I don’t pretend to be an expert in trans issues but I am fascinated by how society drives gendered behaviour.

I believe anyone wanting to change gender would normally ‘live’ as the opposite gender for a while, or even permanently. But what does that mean? What would I need to do to live as a man? I’m guessing use male facilities but anything else? Grow a beard? Plenty of men are clean shaven.

I don’t wear dresses or skirts or have long hair, so why do trans females sometimes think this is part of living as a woman?

Let your partner know if you notice that there is anything in the fridge that needs to be disposed of.

As someone who’s been through the process it means coming out to some people and using your preferred pronouns (and new name if you change it) with that group. That’s all the psychiatrists/doctors are looking for when they ask that.

What makes you think you’re a man though?… What do you do differently to us women?

So a man is just a woman with a different name?

I think @alexk3 is saying that living as a man is exactly the same as living as a woman.

Not everyone changes their name, and a change of name doesn't mean that someone lives differently. Asking, or demanding, that other people use opposite sex pronouns doesn't make someone live differently either, it's the other people who are living differently by demonstrating their allegiance to the faith of genderism.

So if living as a man is exactly like living as a woman, what’s the point of declaring this change? Don't we all just live as human beings in either a male or female body?

i heard a woman went swimming topless recently (no the Man Friday campaign) and when challenged she said she was a man.
I guess that walking down the street shirtless is another way the sexes can be distinguished. And learn to pee standing up wherever you fancy.

Such a great thread! And laugh out loud funny.

but I do agree with the last poster, that we all just live as human beings in a modern western society. Living as a man compared to living as a woman under the Taliban, or in Saudi Arabia or traditional Sub Saharan societies in which women were expected to perform most of the agricultural labour : that’s very different. So the apparent differences really seem to be about socialisation and economic and social opportunity.

Of course , the real differences are physical, driven by the difference encoded in our chromosomes from conception. That’s why TWATW. The role, the behaviour (a bit) , the appearance can be changed - up to a point.

If I was a man, people ( that would be me) would expect me to be able to get the lids off jars, with or without tools.

but I do agree with the last poster, that we all just live as human beings in a modern western society. Living as a man compared to living as a woman under the Taliban, or in Saudi Arabia or traditional Sub Saharan societies in which women were expected to perform most of the agricultural labour : that’s very different.

Yes, and the GRA could only have happened in a society in which women had more or less equal rights with men. In the early 20th century, if there had been a GRA, a woman who wanted to vote could have just declared she was a man.

This idea of living as the opposite sex only happens in cultures in which there is very little difference between the lives of men and women which isn't directly related to the difference between male and female bodies.

I don't get this. There are substantial differences between men and women in terms of income, domestic work, healthcare, rates of murder and assault by partners. This all stems from differences in our bodies. How do you see this as very little difference?

In the clinical sense when you are in the process of being diagnosed with gender dysphoria for medical transition then yes, living as a man is exactly the same as living as a woman apart from you are using male pronouns/name - which does mean you are living differently in that you are hearing gendered terms in relation to yourself that are not the ones typically used for people of your birth sex. For the purposes of diagnosis you live as a man in the way I’ve outlined so that the clinician can be confident that hearing male-gendered terms about yourself is helping your dysphoria and hence feel more confident that physical transition is the correct route if asked for.

I’m not arguing that you aren’t treated differently by other people if/when you pass as male, just that when doctors ask this I gather that they are only looking for the patient to be doing what I’ve explained.

I don't get this. There are substantial differences between men and women in terms of income, domestic work, healthcare, rates of murder and assault by partners. This all stems from differences in our bodies. How do you see this as very little difference?

What I said was the same as you are saying, that the differences in the lives of men and women are directly related to the differences between men's and women's bodies.

Meaning that we all have the same rights under the law, and other than those things which are entirely about differences in our bodies, men and women can live very similar lives. There are no longer arbitrary rules which have been the case in the past and which still exist in some societies. Things like women not being allowed to vote, or to go to school, or having to cover up their entire bodies and heads, or not being allowed to drive...

I'm not sure why you think that differences in domestic work are directly related to differences in men's and women's bodies though.

I don't. Surreptitiously checking to see if I've grown a penis somehow.

Scratch your balls.

Oh, wait.

Loose the capacity to find anything.