"I have always known I was a girl."

[iris27]

The writing in the article is a little problematic, especially wrt names and pronouns, but this young woman's courage is amazing.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2011/12/11/led_by_the_child_who_simply_knew/?page=full

The twin boys were identical in every way but one. Wyatt was a girl to the core, and now lives as one, with the help of a brave, loving family and a path-breaking doctor’s care.

(photo caption) Nicole Maines, 14, her twin brother, Jonas, and their parents have traveled a long, trying road. Nicole Maines, 14, her twin brother, Jonas, and their parents have traveled a long, trying road.

(snip)

“Dad, you might as well face it,’’ Wayne recalls Jonas saying. “You have a son and a daughter.’’

That early declaration marked, as much as any one moment could, the beginning of a journey that few have taken, one the Maineses themselves couldn’t have imagined until it was theirs. The process of remaking a family of identical twin boys into a family with one boy and one girl has been heartbreaking and harrowing and, in the end, inspiring - a lesson in the courage of a child, a child who led them, and in the transformational power of love.

[yardwork]

1. K&R

[HillWilliam]

2. K&R

Read it all the way to the end. What a strong, smart, beautiful young lady.

[TheDebbieDee]

3. I have a theory about all this..........

When I had biology class in high school and college, we were taught that a sperm (with its sex chromosome) fertilizes the egg/ova (with its own sex chromosome) and a shell of some type miraculously forms around the egg/ova that prevents other sperm from penetrating the egg/ova and adding more sex chromosomes..........

But this theory must be bullshit! I believe that more than one sperm fertilizes the egg/ova on a fairly routine basis - if it were possible to examine the sex chromosomes of everyone in the world, I believe we would find more than two sex chromosomes occurs more often than thought.

I also believe that the human race has been mistaken in its belief that there are only two sexes; male and female.

I think there may be three sexes; male, female and the sex/area in between.................

[iris27]

4. Or none of the above. Gender is something I just don't identify with at all. I feel unbelievably

out of place in highly-gendered spaces, masculine or feminine, doesn't matter. It's like a language I don't speak and can't learn.

[HillWilliam]

6. And the question I'd ask of our society

is why you should have to. You're fine just being.

I've never thought narrowly-defined roles to be natural.

[TygrBright]

7. I won't say I felt as though I was the only one like that, but we seem to be awfully few.

"A language I don't speak and can't learn" is a good description. I have a detached intellectual understanding of the assumptions attached to gender, but... They don't make sense to me, and try as I might, I can't make them make sense.

People are people.

I have learned to "pass." And I was lucky enough to find a soulmate who just happens to fit the preconceived assumptions our pathological culture has about "appropriate." But it could just have easily (and has, at other times in my life) been "wildly inappropriate." And I never, ever saw why the hell it should be anyone's business but mine and my partners'.

I wish our culture wasn't so sick.

But I'm glad I finally recognized that it's the culture that is sick, not me.

wearily,
Bright

[MadrasT]

9. I am the same way.

"Or none of the above. Gender is something I just don't identify with at all. I feel unbelievably out of place in highly-gendered spaces, masculine or feminine, doesn't matter. It's like a language I don't speak and can't learn."

I am the same way. I am in a female body and am now OK with presenting as "female", but I don't fit the female stereotype at all. It has been very puzzling to me.

(But then, I never felt like I should be male instead, either. My mother wanted me to shun all things that were too "female", which wasn't much of a problem for me because I just didn't care that much.)

I generally have male partners who don't really fit the male stereotype, either.

It was a really interesting article. I can't even imagine being that strongly driven to identify with the gender that matches my body, let alone the gender that doesn't.

Gender issues puzzle me. I am highly sympathetic to all human gender issues because it has been so confusing to me (even when I feel like I can't understand all the motivators, I surely understand the confusion and angst that comes with "not fitting the expected stereotype".)

[HillWilliam]

5. I've listened closely to a couple of NPR pieces lately

Actually there's quite a palette of gender (or non) expression. Reality is nothing like the Mendelian XX/XY binary. The exploration of DNA and the human genome got a lot more complicated than the pioneers ever thought. The science is still evolving and it's fascinating to hear the results.

[Evasporque]

11. The most restrictive definition of gender in Western Culture...

...are the norms society and culture impose on the individual by enforcing a gender binary system.

Gender is not binary despite the factual acceptance of stereotypes.

I have mused a lot on gender and keep coming up with four aspects of gender that influence and describe gender in a individual. They all work together and given the nature of the culture can also be at odds with one another.

Societal Gender - the gender expression and identity society and culture enforce upon the individual. Stereotypes included....
Gender Expression - Outward gender appearance...clothing, makeup...behavior...
Gender Identity - Self accepted idea of gender in conjunction with Gender Expression, independent of sexual gender.
Sexual Gender - The genetic and secondary sexual characteristics of the individual.

Many of the problems faced by transgender people today is a result of Western Societies imposition of binary gender stereotypes upon the individual starting at a very young age. There is a natural division of gender based on roles but we enforce and reward specific rules, regardless of the needs of the individual.

[uriel1972]

8. Heh I know what the title feels like

but growing up in a small country town didn't present me with a lot of information or options. I have recently come to terms with it and have felt a lot better for it. Unfortunately, I'm too ill and I think it's too late to transition, so I've had to resign myself to living in a man's body.

There's worse fates in the world.

[Zorra]

10. K&R

born this way

[William769]

12. K&R!

[Angry Dragon]

13. The article brought tears to my eyes............