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When you were younger, did you express traits typical of the opposite gender?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by micstar615, Aug 1, 2014.

  1. micstar615

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    Research has shown that gay and lesbian individuals were a lot less gender conforming when they were young and typically expressed traits of the opposite gender and sometimes even identified with the opposite gender moreso than their own gender group.

    This was interesting to me because when I was young I played with dolls, mostly selected female characters in video games and a lot of my friends were female. Of course over time you change and develop and may become more in tune with your own gender group but I found these childhood studies interesting and consistent with my own childhood. What were your experiences like? Is this true for some of you guys too when you were kids?
     
  2. Peacemaker

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    well kinda i had a fascination with hair, so i played with my sisters dolls sometimes but also played with action figures, hung around with my female family members alot and was never around my male family alot except for cousins but now i would say identify with females more now i have always hate conformity especially in terms of gender
     
  3. Mmm, not really. I played with cars and Tonka trucks and stuff on occasion, but I also collected dolls and was afraid to play video games that weren't traditionally girly. I thought I wouldn't be any good at them because I was a girl.
     
  4. MassiveExtract

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    Wow! Didn't know that, but in my case it only explains half the story. When I was small I used to play with my female cousins toys, mainly: Polly pockets, cabbage patch kids and even barbies. It seemed normal to me since I also played with G.I joes and wrestling toys. To be honest, toys were toys for me. I didn't notice the difference.

    I was also extremely effeminate, though, but I also liked to box and play wrestling matches with my friends. Can't tell you the times I got bruises and broken noses.

    I believe the signs were clearly there, but as I said, it only tells half the story since I could say that I showed traits of both.
     
    #4 MassiveExtract, Aug 1, 2014
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  5. RobinHood

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    Not really. I was playing with bunch of different stuff and had my own cell phone made from a hairbrush. I was a little inventor. ^^
     
  6. micstar615

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    Hmmm...maybe it's only common for boys?
     
  7. CharlsOn

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    Well, I liked to play in the mud and pretend to be a knight with a wooden sword. I also liked this tiny cars and lego. Football or in general played more with the boys than with the girls. Yep, I was a little boy kind of. Let's call it tomboy.
     
  8. QueerTransEnby

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    No, I played baseball as a 4 year old and have loved it my whole life since. Got into fights at school, wrestled with my dad, and fought with my brother. It's why I think he and my mom are taking this so hard. :frowning2:

    My mom gave me a beach shirt to wear for beach day in 2nd grade, and I didn't like it because subconsciously I thought it was "too gay".

    This is why it's hard for me to believe I was "born this way" PERSONALLY, but the changes happened in 5th grade. *Shrug*
     
  9. CharlsOn

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    Fun fact.
    Once I played with barbies with a friend. Well, "played".
    We took off their heads and dressed them horribly.:grin:
     
  10. Gentlady

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    Well, I loved to steal my brother's toy cars and legos, and three of my four best friends were boys. Well, just compare that to the me that exists nowadays and HOLY COW IT'S GUYISH. :grin:

    And when my brother had hid football practice(since he was 8 and I was 4) I would wait there watching the practice with my dad. Or more like play football with my dad. My bro was my favourite football player ever, and I watched every game that was on tv with him. I think there still is a picture of when his team won, and I ran into the field and hugged him........ Oh well. We were little :slight_smile:
     
    #10 Gentlady, Aug 1, 2014
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  11. micstar615

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    I think it's different for everyone and the only requirement for being gay is liking the same sex, so don't feel out of place :slight_smile:
     
  12. gravechild

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    There really weren't any dolls or female toys around, and a lot of my toys were either boys or unisex... video games, legos, and chalk.. I also played soccer, basketball, flag football. Oh, and there was never a shortage of action figures.

    I'd say any variance came in the form of wanting to wear women's clothes, but knowing my body wouldn't fit them.
     
  13. ChickenLady

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    I stopped playing with barbies and such when I was pretty young. When I did play with them I pretty much ignored the people and just did things with the animals. That's what happens when you grow up around more animals than people. Even then I would always prefer playing with you cars, playing in the sand and soil, things like that. I also hated 'girly' video games and would do my best to convince my brother to play games like Halo with me. xD I also hated dresses. Most of my friends before grade five were guys.

    I never liked sports though, and loved the colour pink for a few years.

    Some of the girlier things I did though was because people would always call me a boy. I always felt a strange need to assert that I was a girl and do I would do some girly things to "prove it".

    Otherwise I was a pretty strange, antisocial child since I didn't know anyone outside of my family until kindergarten.
     
  14. Nychthemeron

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    Actually, no. I played with dolls, dressed in dresses, and liked playing 'fashion' with my dad.

    But, I remember looking at my body and being convinced that I was a boy and that my parents were just keeping my gender a secret from me. The more I think about it, the more I regret overlooking it.
     
  15. Lipstick Leuger

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    I was a Tomboy. I played with my babydolls and also my brothers GI Joe. THis was the 70's so that was brave. I also used his Eval Kineval stunt doll that my father took away, but my mother got me one on secret for Christmas. I rode Motorbikes BMX style and pretty much did wheelies like the boys too.
     
  16. An Gentleman

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    I didn't have many Legos because my father said they'd "make a mess around the house" or something like that. I had a few toy cars, but my parents are frugal (i.e., cheap) so they seldom bought those. Do plastic figurines count as "dolls"? I'd make them have adventures and it was fun. Overall, I think I was somewhat masculine, but I was a sickly kid and didn't exercise much. Our family moved a lot, and it was hard to get into much of anything before I had to move.

    ...Is this why I'm unfit?

    Tl;Dr, Not really. It's not like I realized anything until I smartened up, though.
     
  17. Hiems

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    I played female characters on video games very often.

    It's funny that you mentioned that because on the channel HBO, there was a sitcom geared toward gay men called Looking. One of the main characters is a video game designer who's gay. He picked female characters on video games often too...
     
  18. Takine

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    I weirdly fluxed from typically manly things like sports to things like dolls. I still do it, and it confuses the crap out of everyone who knows me or meets me.
     
  19. Black Swan

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    Yeah, I was a little "tomboy" when I was young. Loved tiny cars and toy soldiers, playing "rough" in football, lots of my friends were male, hated dresses or girly things like dolls, wore boyish clothes. That was about ages 7-10. Before that I was very feminine. After that, I became more balanced like I am today. As one of my dear friends pointed out, I am both boyish and quite feminine.

    I didn't know if that was related to being gay, I just thought it was a normal part of my development. I have memories of my little brother wearing dresses when he was five, and he's perfectly straight (though effeminate). I think experimenting with gender roles is a natural phase that all children of any sexual orientation go through.
     
  20. micstar615

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    Loving all of the different responses here! :slight_smile: