Exploring gender in an unfriendly environment

I live in North Carolina, and, in the part where I am, a lot of people are still hardcore conservative. I'm lucky enough to go to a school where a lot of the students are from Military families and move around the country, making them usually pretty open to just about anything.

Of course, me being Female-to-Male makes me be in a different boat as you, I still face similar problems. It's usually not that big of a deal when a girl dresses boyishly, but that has its perks and its vices. What I wear most of the time goes unnoticed and I don't usually mind that, but that also means that people still assume I'm a girl. Now I don't get angry with them or depressed that my message wasn't received as I had hoped, I'm almost glad that they go on the information they have, as opposed to listening to rumors.

But I'm still young and have to look out for myself, and I've come to general accept the fact that it will take time to be able to express myself freely. So now I'm just waiting for the right time and place, and I know that that will come for you too.

Just keep holding on and stay strong, if you ever need to talk, I'm here!

 

I was, too. I tried very hard to fit in at school and I had enough quirks to deal with and never engaged with my girly side. But now the pressure is off I feel it's coming out all over my personality. :eek: I've been able to get away with it for a bit because people know I'm not quite normal anyway but also I've approached the line without actually crossing it. Plus I'm lucky to live in a relatively liberal city. You could try wearing pink in a subtle way - there but not the main colour. I'm not an American so I don't know how far that would be pushing things where you live. Or maybe you could take up an activity which is not considered to be that manly. But you're right: letting go of gender roles is hard, even in a liberal area.