Trans Woman Explains Her Gender Identity | Diary of a Trans Popstar

People sometimes ask me, what do you mean by 'identifying as a woman'? After all, most people say they don't think about gender much, so they can't really understand what strongly identifying as a gender is like.

I can't speak for everyone else, but for me, I guess it's simple. It goes back all the way to early childhood, as early as I was taught that there were boys and girls. It was clear that I wanted to dress like the girls, do what they do, and so on. As a kid, most of my friends were girls, and my favorite books were stories about girls. I guess that was the beginning of me 'identifying as female'. After all, it's just natural for people to identify with others they find similar.

Now, some of you may say, you can be a boy and still do all these things. Well, in the environment I grew up in, it wasn't very socially acceptable. You might then say, now that you've grown up, you should know better. But again, it's not that simple. Even if I could be a feminine man, I wouldn't be happy. You see, I also had gender dysphoria, in that I didn't like to be physically male, I felt uncomfortable about the idea of being in a relationship as a man, and so on. And these feelings increased as a I grew up, reaching a crisis when I was in my teens.

So this is what being trans is like. At least for me. I hope my story will help more people understand us.