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Gender fluid? Or just more masculine than feminine?

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by Shyv, May 23, 2013.

  1. Shyv

    Regular Member

    Joined:
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    Gender:
    Female
    Sexual Orientation:
    Bisexual
    Hi there,
    I accepted my sexual orientation of bisexual around the age 13, although I didn't tell anyone for years. Although, sometimes I don't feel that the term bisexual describes exactly how I feel.
    I knew from an early age that I was attracted to other females. I had my first crush on a boy years after all my friends (they thought it was odd but weren't mean about it). I didn't think anything of it at the time. What lead me to discover my bisexuality was that around the age when my peers started dating, I wasn't interested at first really. I did start dating a boy at age 13 and we were together until I was 15. He knew I was struggling with my sexual orientation but we didn't discuss it too much. After we broke up I was devastated. I now know that I put way too much of my own energy into that relationship. That's beside the point though. After that relationship I didn't date anyone until a year ago; I've been with my boyfriend for a little over a year now, we are going to college, have a place together, and are making future plans together. Before we started dating I was actually starting to consider that maybe I was a lesbian. I wasn't interested in anything sexual with males, but I did with females. I live in a small town and the opportunity to be with another female never came about. But I tried hooking up with males but I didn't go 'far' with them because it felt.. weird.
    I've found that I am sexually more attracted to women than men. Although, if I have an emotional connection with someone, whether they be male or female, I'm sexually attracted to them. As with my boyfriend, I'm sexually, emotionally and physically attracted to him but wasn't at all with the males I experimented with hooking up with.
    I don't really see gender as a boundary for who I may love or be attracted to, but if I were to walk into a room of strangers and pick out the one I find most attractive, it'd be a female no doubts.
    I think my description of my sexual orientation falls under being bisexual, just leaning more towards being interested in females.
    I've been confused about my gender identity on the other hand. It isn't something I let myself get overwhelmed over or anything, but having closure for myself is always nice. I was born female and I identify as female and always have. Although, I remember when I was a kid I was way more interested in boyish things like toy cars over barbies (I only played with barbies and such when my girl friends would come over to play). I was in girl scouts but really didn't like it. I wanted to be in boy scouts; I wanted to go camping, hiking, and make those cars that they race! I do like girly things though like accessories, make up, hair, and clothes. But I'm no where near being real girly, like frills and what have you. As I've gotten older I'm still this way. I love getting dirty, learning how to work on a car (I don't now much sadly, but I learned how to change my oil the other day!), or anything like that. Things that a girl might typically enjoy I often find boring.
    I did go through a phase when I was around 12-14 that I liked to wear boy's clothing more. I'm not totally sure what it was about, I just found them comfortable. The biggest thing was that I liked to wear swimming trunks over a bikini (I still would but people think it's strange). I find it a lot more comfortable, and I like that my body isn't so exposed.
    I have caught myself wishing I was a boy, but I think that's more based on my interests (like not being able to be in boy scouts because I'm a girl). I've never wanted a male body and I have no problem with having a female body. But in some way, I don't feel like a girl either. If you put me a room of strangers, I'd be much more comfortable in a male clique than female (although I tend to go towards females because it's "normal"). Hopefully this is a better example: I'm a waitress and in the restaurant the males are typically in back as cooks and females are waitresses. I'd much rather be in the back joking with the guys than trying to talk about things I'm not really interested in with the girls. I'm not sure why, but I typically don't automatically 'like' other females when I meet them. I think girls are sometimes annoying in the way the talk and gossip, just the overall way they present themselves bothers me. I've also noticed that my friends who are girls, are more masculine (they don't dress like boys, but they don't have annoying-for lack of a better word- personalities like girls).

    I've very recently found the terms gender-bender and gender fluid. I don't feel like a boy or a girl (if I picked on it'd be a girl although); I think I feel more masculine than feminine I think. Would this be considered being gender fluid? Or am I just confusing myself here?

    Thank you,
    Shyv.
     
  2. Tetraquark

    Tetraquark Guest

    Genderfluid means moving between genders. It sounds like from your description that your gender is fairly fixed, even though it may or may not be female. Also, your interests don't necessarily have anything to do with your gender. You can be female while still being interested in stereotypically male things and wanting to socialize with men.

    Gender is difficult to define, but I like the definition of it being an interaction of the self with society that communicates something about how we want to be perceived. With this in mind, how do you feel when people see you as female? Use female pronouns or titles? Refer to you in a gendered way (e.g. "a girl like you")? That seems to be a common thread in trans* and nonbinary experiences -- wanting others to see you as a gender different from the one you were assigned at birth. (There are, of course, exceptions.)

    One term that I think might be of interest to you is "demigirl." It refers to someone who is loosely female (either AFAB or AMAB) but doesn't feel a strong connection to that gender.
     
  3. rabbit1

    rabbit1 Guest

    sounds more to me like i am, being pan-gender.!!
    being that she wants to stay a girl, but sometimes prefers to wear more guy things, and do more guy things. then falls back to the frills, and still have some guy traits left.

    Sounds very pan-gender to me!
     
  4. hiddenxrainbows

    Full Member

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    Location:
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    You kinda sound like me. I don't really like girlie stuff at all. I'd rather play video games, go outside, or watch an action movie, than the "typical" girlie stuff. And I don't think I have much of a problem being a bio girl, either. The only thing I ever didn't like was my boobs. But I only dislike them and have a dysphoria-type thing of them once in a while. And I'm not sure I'd want to be in a male body anyways.

    But at the same time, I've never really felt like a chick. I'm just so different than most girls, or how a girl is "supposed" to be. I get along with a lot of people because I'm really nice apparently, and I ended up having a lot of girl friends, as opposed to guy friends. But hanging out with girls is sometimes annoying, just because they're usually a lot more girlie than me. I have no interest in talking about "girlie" stuff. But at the same time, I'm not sure I really fit in with guys either, cuz I'm not extremely masculine; I'm just more masculine than feminine. Tho my one friend did say that I seem to get offended when I'm called girlie or a girl. I never thought I really got all that offended, but I do remember that my friend usually calls me one of the "guys" which I always liked.

    I'm sorry for ranting. I just wanted to let you know that you're definitely not alone in this! Tho it's up to you to decide what to call yourself. There's lots of different labels. Pangender, bigender, genderfluid, androgyne, demigirl, multigender, third gender, agender, neutrois. You should look some up to see which seems more like you. I can understand, though. It definitely isn't easy trying to figure out your gender, once you start thinking about it. And if you want someone to talk to about it, you can pm me. I'm definitely not an expert on gender, but I can try to help. And sometimes it's nice, just talking to someone anyway.