Gender Identity Disorder and Asperger's Syndrnome.

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Because some people just want that body for its own sake, not for reproductive reasons.

I had a hard time accepting I was female. Aside from my mother, I was the only female in the house. My mom used to force me to ear butt ugly dresses to Sunday School and I envied the boys who wore blue jeans and Lion King shirts. I asked my mom why I couldn't wear pants too and she said because girls HAVE to wear skirts or dresses to church. I never understood why and remember wanting to be a boy so I could dress comfortably. I never fit in with other girls (I never really fit in with the boys either) and liked to play in the dirt (which the other girls found digusting). Maybe it was having femine sterotypes shoved in my face all the time. Once I grew older and was free of being everyone else's puppet, I accepted being a female and was okay with it. Species Idenity Disorder was more real for me. I always felt I was born the wrong species and that I should have been born a cat instead of a human.

I definitely have an easier time relating to cats than humans!

People have done that...Michael Jackson and Uncle Toms show that....

Yup. Started out wanting to be a boy, went through a time where it took a couple of reality checks every morning to realize I actually had a female body (plus hating on it thanks to hormonal issues) to a frail acceptance.
I still think my mind and personality are mostly 'ungendered' though I'm giving my best to learn to act 'female' - in the end I decided it would be worse to be a man without having grown up one than a woman.

This seems to big a very big issue for us. They really should look into this more then they have so far since I only know of maybe 5 or 6 studies and papers about ASD/AS and GID, or even just issues with gender. I know there are those people who are considered to be a Lesbian in a Male Body(LiaMB)/ Or a Gay Man in a Female Body(GMiaFB), but in my case I wouldn't call myself a LiaMB. I might've been happier had I been born Female but I'm not unhappy being Male. I just would say I probably have sections of my personality that are 100% Female which are especially strong in how my emotional and romantic attachment/attraction forms. But for now as I was saying I really think they need to study and research this much more.

For me, going off of androgens made me a lot calmer. My libido went down too, obviously.

It's probably not hormonal, but I've found since I transitioned my social skills have improved a little. I suspect it comes of conciously analysing cisgendered women's behavior so that I don't get misgendered so often. Coming across as Aspie generally makes people assume you're masculine, especially if your appearance is borderline. I've found most women have far more fluctuation in vocal tone, which can be very hard for me to emulate.

I'd be interested in hearing other trans AS people's experiences on this.

I don't subscribe to either gender very heavily, but I suppose I'm more male than female. So I guess no Gender Identity Disorder.

One could certainly try to change their race or ethnicity, but this is a rarity. I expect that in developed, well-to-do nations, it is of little consequence in social situations. In lesser-developed nations with tension between races, that sort of "transition" would be more difficult.

However, I disagree with your statement that transgendered people only "socially" change their gender. Men and women undergo surgeries and hormone use in order to become what they think they are inside. FTMs become almost entirely physically male in some cases, and through silicone injections and genital reconstruction, MTFs can become female.

I myself am a 'budding' FTM--I had not made the connection with Aspergers until I discusses it with my parents, who'd done some research on their own. I cannot say that I have always wanted to be male, but I do like being masculine, and have all my life. As a little kid I ran around without a shirt on, and only stopped when I reached puberty and was told by my mother it was 'inappropriate'. I've struggled with body image issues as my breasts developed and I began menstruating. I think that my body is beautiful, but I don't feel it's entirely mine. I prefer to wear masculine fashion and aspire to a more masculine body shape. I love the female form, though don't feel comfortable in it. I feel stronger and more myself when I'm male.

i never saw it any more of my identity then any other part of me

Did somebody say my name? I identify more, with men, than I do with women. You only need to look at my rank title, to figure that out.

I don't even know what I think on this, more recently. I think I might be happier if I'd been born female, but then I might feel the opposite way if it had been so. Maybe I'm androgynous, or maybe I'm female, or maybe I just need to stop caring about it, and things will fall into place. I don't really know. .__.

sorry if i'm repeating. i didn't read all the posts. i am clear that i am the gender i should be, but i have never related to other women and feel i am quite outside of the gender role box.

i do get along better with men (and when women, lesbians / tomboys and etc) and i think this is for a few very obvious reasons: 1. they do not typically expect as much social interaction or reciprocity; 2. they are more apt to spend time with others doing things (playing video games, etc) than talk about their feelings or similar; 3. they often think more systematically, as i do.

i wonder if being on the spectrum makes someone less likely to relate to others of their gender, simply because the identification with socialized gender roles isn't as strong, since it is so much more difficult to grasp what is expected of you. this isn't a bad thing. it's better to be yourself than be what society wants you to be. a bit of androgyny is probably more genuine.

also i find it fascinating that Tony Attwood talks about some boys on the spectrum who desperately wish they were female, and how in some of these cases it is because they observe girls interacting with others more easily, and so logically attribute their problems socializing to their gender. but if these boys grow up to have gender reassignment, it doesn't solve the problem. to be clear, i certainly don't mean to imply that everyone who feels they are the wrong gender is misinterpreting, and i don't think that's what he meant either. he was just observing some cases of AS in males where the real issue was somewhat obscured. but i do think it's interesting that early awareness that you are different than others can lead you some strange places for explanation.

i certainly hope i do not offend anyone by bringing this up. i hope i have expressed it clearly.

Nah, you make a lot of sense to me there. I'm right there with you. I think the reason I seem to note Aspie girls and guys leaning more to the opposite end of that spectrum is kind of a bit of backlash from having the normal expectations put on them, or possibly as you mentioned Tony saying, noting the opposite gender is doing better than you. And I do think that this applies to birth-females too. Of course, that isn't to say that it's not legitimate, or that the person in question isn't sometimes really better off as that gender, when it comes down to it. It just varies.

To whatever bigoted f**k said this:

So you want to force people to stay in a body that clashes viscerally with who they are psychologically and neurologically, and gives them no peace of mind?

You can do more than SOCIALLY change your gender. Ya know, all that hormones and surgery? But even if you couldn't, I see nothing wrong with altering your social identity to fit someone of the opposite sex.

Just to address your point, you can also socially change your race or ethnicity to some extent. If you're German but you live in Ireland for a long time you'll be a kind of honorary Irish person to some extent, because you'll form networks with people, learn to behave according to their customs, get close to them, etc.

I'm female but felt I was male as young as three. I wonder if I truely had some excess testrone in my body but having more male influnces than female ones or if it was just because I didn't like people shoving female sterotypes in my face. I remember wishing I was a boy just so my mother wouldn't force me to wear ugly, confortable dresses to church. We stoped going to church for a few years and after that I didn't mind being female. My real idenity issue was feeling as if I was born the wrong species.