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I have started questioning my gender identity?

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by ijustneedaname, Mar 28, 2015.

  1. ijustneedaname

    Regular Member

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    Location:
    Palermo, Italia
    I am going to apologize before I start for language errors, English is not my first language, Italian is.

    All of my life, I have been raised as a girl and I need advice. I was born female, and sometimes I agree with this. However, there are days (or times in general) when I wake up and feel somehow off when my mother or someone else refers to me as she. At first I blamed it on my really bad day I'd been having, but seeing that it's a progressive happening, I am beginning to doubt so...

    I started thinking about my gender identity in a positive way and explored the options (I am lucky enough to be a person who knows a lot about the LGBTQ community, for some reason I do not meet many of these people outside of the internet). So far, this is what I've considered and ruled out:

    - Pangender; I got rid of this one because it implies that I would be more than one gender all the time, which isn't true. There are times when I am perfectly okay with being referred to as a girl (because I feel good with that), but there are also times where it just feels extremely out of place. I think if I were pangender, I would not be having as big of an issue with this as I am having.
    - Transgender; Like I said earlier this implies that I would be one thing all of the time, which (confusingly enough) isn't true for me.
    - Cisgender; If I were very truly happy with the gender I was assigned at birth, would I be having this problem and writing in this forum? I do not think so.

    I know there are many more genders out there with names and many that do not have one and shades in between but for the life of me I could not figure it out until I remembered the term genderfluid.

    I have a basic understanding of what this is, but I am in need of a better explanation. Can someone who is genderfluid or someone that knows a lot about it explain it to me more clearly? A lot of people have said a lot of things to me about gender and labels and I do not know who to believe.

    Also, I am not unfamiliar to coming out to people. I am also bisexual and panromantic (although I like to keep the last one to myself, some people are not as familiar with romantic orientations as sexual orientations, I have noticed). I will not tell my family though; there are people in my familgia that are very good people but are also very conservative (I keep using this term, I hope it is the correct one). I fear that if word were to spread to those people in my family, I could be kicked out of the house or worse, the family even though I know they genuinely do love me very much. My uncle is gay, and I do not know much about his coming out, I do know that it wasn't met with niceness for some people in my family.

    Basically this is what I need some help on:

    - A clearer explaining of what genderfluid is
    - How to be more comfortable with this if I decide it is what I am

    Thank you very much, Grazie :kiss:

    I am also sorry for the long post, I tend to ramble in my English.

    Ciao for real this time until someone posts :kiss:
     
  2. Hela

    Regular Member

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    Location:
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    Gender:
    Female
    Gender Pronoun:
    She
    Sexual Orientation:
    Bisexual
    Out Status:
    Some people
    For one, let me just say that your English is great for not being your first language.
    I know exactly how you feel. I never used to think my dysphoria was really anything, because there were days when I was completely fine. Turns out, I'm genderfluid. Genderfluidity is switching between genders, which I'm sure you already know. Your gender can change between male, female, agender(no gender,) bigender (two genders,) and anything in between. It's not always just male and female, and it can be more than two genders. I often had days that are a combination of the two, or not really either.
    As for help with appearing genderfluid, first you have to figure out just what makes you feel dysphoria, if you do feel it. Not everyone does, and you don't have to to be genderfluid. If you can, I would suggest getting your hair cut short. There are many styles that can work for both masculine and feminine and adrogynous days. A good tip for masculine or adrogynous days is go fill in your eyebrows. Slso, let them grow out a little bit. Another thing that is entirely optional but is helpful is working out, for a more adrogynous body. If you are willing to do that, then I suggest put ting a hit of extra work into your shoulders and arms. Broad, muscled shoulders will certainly help you pass as masculine.
    I hope my advice has helped, but remember that everyone's experience will be different. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.