What comes first: gender issues or body dysphoria?

1) Despite all the health issues and being transgender I do not feel like I am in the wrong body. I just feel like I still haven't gonna through puberty, or that I need to go through a second puberty.

2) As far as I know I do not have phantom limbs. I do feel as though my chest is flat even though it isn't.

3) The dysphoria started before I started questioning. I haven't suffered from crippling dysphoria since I was a teenager. Since coming to terms with being trans my dysphoria comes and goes though still no where as bad as when I was a teenager.

4)its possible to hate a body part that you didn't before. Kinda like you have that one person in your friend group who you don't mind at first, you don't like him but you don't hate him, you're just indifferent. Buy as to.e passée little things about that person begin to nag at you. You can ignore it for a while, but eventually you can feel it. As more times passes a slight dislike turns into a hate.
Its the same with a body part. You could of been indifferent, ignoring any small signs that you dislike a body part or that it bothers you. But eventually you become aware of it.

I also think its common to want things that men and women have.

 

1. probably
2. never
3. it started before
4. it's hard to say because i'm part like another ec member (nerdbrain) who's married and thinks he's gay but today i feel pretty girly, am wearing women's clothes (androgynously) and think i'm probably genderfluid and pansexual but in a str8 marriage.

 

Do you think you were born in the wrong body?

Not exactly... for me it's more about the barriers I would always run into trying to follow my natural instincts and simply be myself in life. My body is not that masculine and it always passed as female if I presented the way I wanted to present. I do think it would have made more sense for me to be born female though.

What feels more wrong for me is all the expectations and assumptions and different treatment/socialization that were forced on me purely because of my genitals.

Do you experience 'phantom body parts'?

Nope

Did your body dysphoria start before questioning your gender or after you came to the conclusion that you are trans?

Hard to say, I hated my body before but it was more because of my eating disorders and obsession about my weight. My dysphoria did get worse once I fully accepted I was going to transition.. but 99% of my trans related body dysphoria is fear of other people noticing my flaws/thinking I am ugly/rejecting me over my body etc. I don't personally feel that I have some "inborn internal map" of what my body is supposed to look like. I think my body image is internalized from my culture's idea of what a female should ideally look like.

What is your opinion on this subject?

I don't really relate to most people's view of body dysphoria. It's not the most major thing for me, at least, it's not the basis of my identity. I don't feel like body dysphoria is always a sign that you should change your body either. For example, would we validate that an anorexic teenager really needs to be 80 lbs? I don't think it should be all about bodies. I think body dysphoria is definitely part of it just, for me it's not the only or the biggest part of it.

 

Do you think you were born in the wrong body?

I've made my body fairly masculine through exercise, so for now, I usually do feel like my body is mine. However, I used to be overweight, and therefore had wide hips, a curvy figure, and a bigger chest than I have now (but still fairly small) and then I absolutely felt like I was born in the wrong body. Now I feel like I have the wrong parts in some places, but overall, no.

Do you experience 'phantom body parts'?

Yeah

Did your body dysphoria start before questioning your gender or after you came to the conclusion that you are trans?
I had body dysphoria before I started questioning. I actually thought that I was a dysphoric cis person for a while because I didn't know what it meant like to "feel like a man". In my opinion, if someone doesn't feel dysphoria until they start questioning they're more likely to not be experiencing dysphoria, but rather being a hypochondriac.

What is your opinion on this subject?

Dysphoria can increase as soon as you pinpoint that you have it, but it shouldn't come into existence (unless you were just really suppressing it before). In your case, it's probably a body image issue or a latent gender role issue.

 

Do you think you were born in the wrong body?

Most of the time I feel disconnected from my body and feel like I am in the wrong one. In the future im hoping after I go through transitioning it will start feeling more like mine.

Do you experience 'phantom body parts'?

Well I do feel like I have a flat chest most of the time. I am not sure about bottom phantom parts though.

Did your body dysphoria start before questioning your gender or after you came to the conclusion that you are trans?

I have always felt like something wasn't right with my body and I have hated it for as long as I can remember. However my dysphoria got a lot worse once I accepted myself as trans. My dysphoria most of the time is pretty mild compared to others but it can get pretty bad.

What is your opinion on this subject?

Sorry I am not really sure what to add hmm.