doing things/ wanting to be of the oposite gender when young

Post Reply New Topic

hey everyone! Here this video about Ryland, a transgender child, is getting really popular and then I started to do research on the theme and I wanted to ask some questions

anyone here had gender dysphoria (wanting to be of the opposite gender) when a child? I read some research that around 3% of people had it to some degree and experimentation on this age is common. Then for those that had it in a higher degree, it is more associated to being homosexual than transgender, for instance, a boy that likes to wear dresses is more likely to grow up to be a gay men happy with his body than a transgender.

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?
2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc)
3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?
4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril.
5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible.
6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?
7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?
8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?

I think kids can wear any clothes they want, but I think it is too early to change pronouns and names. At the same time the earlier the better because society is so prejudiced! It is better to grow up in the gender you identify with than change it suddenly when you are a teenager or adult and everyone already know you are a transgender and you have body characteristics of your biological sex... I don't know.

In my case I identified with boy stuff until 13 yo or so and I grew up to be a happy female! my sister was even more of a tomboy, she wore boys clothes and had short hair and acted like a boy. And she also grew up to be happy female. I don't know, I think it had more to do with gender roles, because boys did all the cool stuff (in movies, games and such) and girls were just portrayed as dumb and futile. We wanted to do the cool stuff of course, climb trees, be detectives and heroes, save the world, make scientific discoveries etc. when we grew out of adolescence we realized that being a women was not being passive etc and we got happy about being who we are. If instead they had allowed my sister to change gender (that is not her case but I imagine it in a higher degree) then she would have been a very confused person. Of course this is only a case, there are children that have depression over gender issues, try genital mutilation etc
please share your opinions and experiences!

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?
Growing up was a nightmare. I was born female, but I wanted a sex change in the worse way. I felt that way since I was 4. I've felt that my body was wrong. I felt that there was something missing. I was convinced that I was born with a penis, but it fell off somehow. I hated every reminder of my gender. I hated being told that men are stronger than women and I know it at the age of nine. My mum bitched about me playing with cars all the time. She said to my sister and I, "I'm sick of you playing with cars all the time. Why don't you play with your dolls and the toys that you got for Christmas! YOU'RE A GIRL!" It felt as though she stabbed me in the heart and twisted the knife.

I started my period when I was 10. That was a complete nightmare. I went through a period of depression that lasted 6 months because of it. I still wasn't too happy about it after I got out of that depression. 'Do You Wish To Be A Man?' by The Kinks, sung by Dave Davies became my favourite song a year after that horrible day that I like to call "The worst day of my life."

At the age of 12, I was really starting to hate my body. I hated my gender even more. I made a promise to myself that I will never have stick arms like those "Soap Opera Women". After I got into bed each night, I flexed my arm muscles and kept them that way until I drifted off to sleep. After a while, I started to switch nights flexing my arms and saying my special prayer. That prayer was, "Dear Lord, I pray that I grow up to look like my favourite member of my favourite band." I thought I was a Beatles Fan, but the Lord up above knew me better than I knew myself in the Rock n Roll department. My wish came true.

I don't even want to talk about Juniour High and High School.

2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc)
It was not only a phase. I'm transgendered. I'm very masculine despite the fact that I haven't had the operation. It drives me insane when people call me a lady. There have been times that I've told people that I was never really a lady to begin with. I've never plucked an eyebrow hair or put my hair in an up to the minute hairdo. I'd rather walk around my city looking like a very young Mick Avory of The Kinks.


3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?
I feel that if children feel very strongly about the issue, they should be able to use the names, clothes, pronouns of their preferred gender. I don't feel that they're too young to decide at all. Think of all the kids that will be happy if their parents would let them do those things.

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril.
I feel that if children feel very strongly about their wish to be their preferred genders, they should start the process before the onset of puberty if possible. If the child has started puberty, it should still be done. It would have helped me out a lot.

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible.
I can't really answer that.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?
In my case, I was expose to high testosterone levels when I was in my mum's womb. I can't answer for the rest of the trans people here on WP.

I am watching documentaries about that now and I think transgenders are very brave! I can't even begin to imagine what they go through, specially if their own parents don't support who they are!
I watched about a girl named Josie who was born a boy. Tyra asked her: "when did you discovered you are a girl?" she answered: "I have always been a girl!" she is soo cute. it is so sad though that she has to suffer so much. she calls her penis a "birth deffect" and tried to cut it off.
Interesting is what her mother told us. She said first time Josie went to school using a skirt (she still looked like Joe) all the kids were accepting. But then they told their parents Joe was using a skirt and the parents complained about it and started petitions to exclude her! They started to put things in their kids minds and the kids started bullying her and taking her skirts off and throwing it away!

The answer to the last question is that trans people know who they are at a very early age, so the likelihood of that happening would be very slim.

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?
I wasn´t gender dysphoric untill I discovered, that boys was considered to be somewhat superior, more individualistic and such. My experience with gender was, that there were differences in these respects. I was pissed over those differences, but became gender dysphoric from age 14. I began looking at myself and saw somebody, who ought to have been a boy (disappointed with my looks) and felt discomfort with my female body having periods, sore breasts and lack of musclestrength as compared to the boys. I still feel that way.
2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc) . I am still gender dysphoric and feel as I did then, like something in between, and I would still have wanted to be male.
3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?
If children want to make themselves an identity as being the opposite gender, they should be allowed to. If the wish persists through adolescense, theyre probably right.
4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril. Not until laye adolescence or early adulthood. It is too drastic and hardly healthy for a growing organism.
5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible. It is sad, and that´s why desicions like that has to be made in a more mature age.
6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?Haven´t a clue.
7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?I have never experienced sexual attraction to anyone/anything. I don´t think, there is any connection between the two.
8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it? I don´t know. I can only point at my own "motifs".

You said to correct your mistakes with English in your automatic signature, so I did. =)

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?
Growing up, it was never really a direct thought of "I'm really a girl inside" until I was 15 or so. I was definitely confused about my gender early - on my first day of kindergarten, I didn't know whether to classify myself as a boy or a girl, and when the teaches asked everyone to share information about their family, I didn't know whether I was the one called the "sister".

Later, I figured out that boys are not supposed to do feminine things, so I avoided them, even unnaturally so. I would refuse to do things with hints of girliness even if male classmates would participate. This led to an outer attitude of misogyny, where I would say mean things about the way my sister and mom acted or spoke.

During school recesses and lunches. I kept to myself and just daydreamed. I imagined fantastical worlds and video games, and crossovers among them. I often would concoct storylines in which a fantasy world or video game world would merge with the real world, or suck me and maybe my friends into it. We'd become characters from that world. I would always come up with a story in which I would become one of the female characters. That is the meaning of my profile picture on Wrong Planet - the most common character I imagined myself becoming was Nina from the video game Breath of Fire 2.

When sex education class came around, I refused to go and ran out to the hallway and cried. My teacher, quite surprised and worried by my reaction, came to talk to me, asking why. I answered simply, "I don't want to change", referring to puberty. I didn't fully understand things until much later.

It wasn't until my late teens that I concretely understood that I wanted to be female. I decided to try to transition around 17, impatiently waiting for a chance. When later around 23 I realized that even with hormones and probably even with facial feminization surgery that I would probably never pass, the true gender dysphoria began, and hasn't let up.

2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay, etc.)
No. I'm definitely transgender, and severely gender dysphoric. I cry alone a lot from the pain and having no way to fix it. I wish I were dead or that I were never born a lot of the time. I doubt that I will still be alive in five years; I think my suicidal feelings will eventually get to me by then.

3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not surgery but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?
Yes; if the children know that early and are that insistent, they're usually right.

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also, it makes children sterile.
Yes, they should be allowed to. The only way my life could have been saved is if I had taken puberty-blocking hormones before age 10. I reached my full male height at age 13.

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex surgery later? it is irreversible.
Such cases are sad, but thankfully they're also rare. There are so many hoops to jump through before you're allowed to have the surgery that most of the people who shouldn't get the surgery are eliminated as candidates beforehand.

It seems like most of the time, when this happens, it's because the person either wasn't completely honest with themselves or had other mental issues. But this is a layman's opinion, so don't take it too seriously.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think that this is so?
There are various possibilities, and it's also possible that more than one is true, causing this anomaly. My personal favorite is that the same bad situation during a particular part of gestation results in improper brain development for those two areas. To clarify, I mean that, at a certain point of gestational brain development, there is a vulnerable window in which a certain type of stress can cause structural defects to occur in two parts of the brain that happen to be growing at that time, one related to gender identity and the other relating to...well, whatever is broken in us autistic spectrum sufferers.

7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?
I don't fully know. Starting with my male puberty I've always been attracted to women, but the estrogen has made my sexuality more cloudy. I feel like I would love to be held and caressed by a man, too. However, my gender dysphoria trumps all my sexual attraction - I don't want anyone to touch me while I have this horrible body and this...thing. I'm still a virgin, have never been on a date, and am in my 30s now, to give an idea about how bad it is.

8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?
Children identify as the gender of their instincts, plain and simple. They will do that naturally when there are no adults who punish them for deviance. In an environment where the parents are harsh with those outside gender norms, children will copy this and bully the outliers. But in the inverse situation, children will often just accept what they're told - "Uncle Omar is now Aunt Tanya...?...... ok. Will she play tea party with me?"

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?
My gender dysphoria was driven by the adults in my life. When I was little, between ages 3 and 11, I constantly heard anti-boy and pro-girl statements. Examples like these:
"Let her have it; she's a girl!" (for me to give up a candy, toy, etc. I had) [implied: who cares what you want, only other people matter]
"Give up your seat, and let her sit down; she's a girl!" [implied: you sitting down first means nothing to the world]
"Let her go in front of you; it's ladies first." [implied: you will never be a leader because you're a boy]
"Boys aren't supposed to cry." [implied: girls can cry as much as they want, and can get away with it]
"That's not for boys." (colorful toy, stuffed animal, etc.) [implied: your wishes don't matter because you're a boy]
"You're a boy; you're supposed to compromise not to upset a girl." [implied: your feelings don't matter at all]
"You're a boy, so you're supposed to work harder." [implied: but girls get to be lazy if they wish]
On top of that, my teacher who I had in grades 1 thru 3 (in a private school) was openly biased against boys. She'd let girls get away with practically murder, while punishing boys for every little infraction. (I still hope she's a lonely, forgotten crazy cat lady now.) So no wonder I wished to become a girl when I was little. It seemed like girls had easy-breezy lives, while boys' lives were drudgery and endless work. The songs "what are little boys made of" and "what are little girls made of" didn't exactly help.

2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc)
I'm a straight male; always was. I pretty much outgrew the "I wish to be a girl" phase by the time I turned 12. Reason being 90's-era talk shows like Sally, Jenny Jones, and the still-popular Jerry Springer. When I started watching those shows, I saw transsexuals being lambasted and verbally abused to no end. Seeing it pretty much scared me straight (no pun intended). That, and I found out how much work and time a sex change surgery takes, let alone looking like a odd man/woman hybrid until my surgery is complete. Having said that, I still have low-level gender jealousy, since women have a much easier time in the dating world, plus, even straight women can "enjoy each other" if they so desire. Straight men don't have that option, and aren't even psychologically able to do so.

3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not surgery but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?
In a perfect world, yes. In this world, no freaking way! Their peers will know that a "girl" is really a boy, and a "boy" is really a girl. This will cause them ostracism in the best case, and physical beat-downs in the worst case. And boys transitioning to girls will get a much harsher reaction than vice versa. So for their own safety, physical and otherwise, I'm going to say no. Let them change their gender after they become adults, when people attitudes become more "live and let live", rather than "destroy the one who's different!".

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children sterile.
Becoming a girl was my childhood fantasy, so again, in a perfect world, as soon as a child can express their wish. But in the real world, with legal restrictions and ignorant social attitudes, it's the same as #3. A sex change doesn't happen overnight, or even over the weekend. It takes time. During that time, a boy/girl will look like a hybrid of the two, rather than their original or target sex. That will not get them good treatment from their peers.

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex surgery later? it is irreversible.
I don't have enough information to comment.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?
I don't know. It might be a matter of being treated poorly by people in their lives. So an autistic person, at least someone higher-functioning, will start wondering if their life would be better if they were the opposite sex. Since autism is more common in boys---and boys are also more likely to overtly bully someone---I'd say it's also more common for an autistic boy to wish to be a girl.

7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?
I'm a straight male, and never questioned it, other than wishing to be a girl as a kid. And even that was driven by the statements I heard, rather than by my own calling. If people told me good things about being a boy, this wouldn't be an issue. So I can't comment. It seems like NT boys can filter out the messages they hear (see #1), and become successful in dating as teens and adults. Buy aspie/autistic boys take the messages to heart, which causes them to fail miserably in dating.

8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?
NT children pick this up intuitively and follow their peers' lead. Aspie and autistic children will follow what's taught to them, and also draw conclusions from how they're treated by people in their lives.

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?

I never had this but I did desire to be a boy when I was five only because I thought penises were cool and I envied what they could do when they pee. I was also a tomboy growing up because I played with trucks and cars and played in the dirt and climbed trees and played with action figures and Mighty Max and watched shows like Spider Man and played the game and played Street Fighter and X Men and Racing games. I also liked Power Rangers. I also played with my dolls too and Polly Pockets and wore girl clothes. My mom never did the gender crap like "Why are you playing with trucks? You're a girl." She let us play with whatever we wanted. My brothers played with my dolls.


2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc)

Cis woman and straight and yes it was a phase what I went through as a child. I still like video games and who cares what they are for. I just outgrew playing with toys petty much and watching lot of TV.

3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?

Not at a young age because it could be a phase and you never know. Then in puberty age, they are given hormone to delay their puberty and then they get to decide to transition so they start taking hormones. But I would let them dress the opposite gender and have what they prefer.

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril.

See above

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible.

I never heard of it so I can't answer.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?

I never heard of it either. I have seen lot of this in the AB/DL community as well.

7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?

I have been attracted to both. I thought I was bi but the thought of having sex with another woman and making out with her disgusts me so that is how I know I am straight. And I have read and heard it's normal for females to be attracted to other females but it doesn't make them a lesbian or bi. I am not sure why it's different for males. Why does it make one gay if he is attracted to other men and finding them cute but yet it doesn't make women a lesbian if they are that way for other women. But I do like women in diapers and wouldn't mind changing one on her or her changing me and having a play mate that is female.

8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?

I have no idea. I never thought about my own gender. I knew I was a girl because that was what I was taught. Then when I was in puberty, I was so glad to be a girl because I didn't have to have body hair or have my voice change or get an Adam's apple. Then as an adult I felt so glad to be a woman because things are so much easier for us and what is expected of us and what is more socially acceptable for us but isn't for men. I also thought having a penis may be uncomfortable because those things hang and must hurt if you sit on them when you sit down.

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?

I wasn't dysphoric at all. I was actually quite obsessed with looking feminine. I went through a phase where I had extremely long hair and only wore dresses and skirts. I also remember being embarrassed about liking math and computers because people considered that boyish. Fortunately I've gotten over that obsession.

2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc) .

Ironically I ended up gay. No idea why because I was never butch. All I remember was being scared of appearing butch.

3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?

I think they should be allowed.

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril.

I think blockers should start when puberty starts and hormones should start when they're 15-17.

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible.

I think most people who regret surgery actually transitioned late. Most people who regret surgery regret it because it was a fetish or they don't pass. This stuff isn't a problem for people who transition young.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so? Maybe it's related to the fact that autistic people are more honest.

7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?

I'm attracted to girls, but I never thought I was a boy.

8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?
I don't know.

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?
When I was about 5, I realized I liked girls. I was told girls didn't like girls, which made me believe I was a boy in a girl's body. I had no idea about gender or sexuality in the grand scheme of things, just that I didn't have the penis I needed to get the girl I liked.

It was awful. I spent years hating myself, repressing feelings, and I was very depressed and very suicidal when I was younger. Thankfully, dressing like a boy got me called a tomboy for the most part and I was generally accepted (apart from bullies).

When I started getting breasts, I cried. It was proof, to me, that my penis wasn't just missing. I was actually in a girl's body. Same with me period. I had nobody to explain gender identity with, nor sexuality because I was ashamed of everything I could be and didn't understand it.

2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc)
A very long phase, in which I still kind of struggle with it every once in a while. I identify as lesbian, but I'm not out to most people. I feel uncomfortable dressing up most times, and I don't wear makeup or skirts or anything - though every once in a while I wish I did feel comfortable like that.

3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?

I think a child should be accepted as they are. If they don't feel like their genetic gender, they should be allowed to express themselves. Life isn't about colouring in the lines, people are messy. If they grow out of it, good. If not, good. At least they wouldn't have spent their childhood feeling ashamed of who they felt they were.

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril.
I think it should be case by case, because everyone is different. I would say no younger than 16, but I really can't say. Personally, I wouldn't have had hormone therapy, but I wasn't sure of who I was. Some people are, some people feel the need to have the treatment. Psych evaluations or similar things should be in place to make sure the person is sure and comfortable with the treatment and it's effects.

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible.
I really can't say much on surgery as I am not transgender. When I thought I was, I was okay with not having a penis. I just had to asure myself that I was who I was, no matter what was on the outside. In most aspects, I was identical to a boy my age. Didn't make a difference. But to a lot of people, it does. You have to live with any choice you make on anything.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?
I think people on the autistic spectrum have a different coding on what sexuality and gender mean. Because our brains are structured differently, the signals that give male/female traits could be confused since general human/personality traits are often in conflict anyway. So the struggle to find self is often there to begin with. It makes sense that the gender identification could be raised.

7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?
I am attracted to women. However, although I don't identify as pan/omnisexual, I am open to the thought of being attracted to anyone. I've liked guys before, but a lot of times I confused close friendship with wanting to be with them sexually (in that I had no real sexual attraction to them, but thought they were good friends). As for other genders/transgender, I've had some attraction there as well, but I still consider myself a lesbian.

8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?
I can say, personally, that all kids are different. Genetics, instincts, parents, society, media - every little thing influences it. If I hadn't been told girls didn't like girls, would I have spent my child and part adolescence thinking I was wrong? If I had known about homosexuality and told it was okay, would I have suffered? All humans are different, no matter their gender. Similarities are found, but, growing up thinking I was a boy proved that (even internally) those similarities can be imposed. Had I identified as a girl, maybe I would be different.

That being said, it is a confusing topic. If you dress a boy in dresses with dolls and every female stereotype known to man, will he still identify as a boy? Will he play with the dolls as intended? In my experience, most boys who wear dresses (play time, mostly), their first instinct is to expose themselves. While girls don't normally do that. But most people will adapt to what they're given and how they feel, so norms really are just cookie cutters looking for the next batch.

1- what were your experiences with gender dysphoria?

I was sure I wasn't supposed to be "a girl", but didn't really understand what that meant. I kept wishing that I would find out about some intersex condition or that I was a boy who experienced a tragic genital injury or something, and would find myself wondering for years what "being a girl" was supposed to mean.
My mom always told me that "girls can do/be anything" and tried to make sure I had a ton of strong female role models, but I didn't get why I was supposed to relate to them. Obviously I had as much in common with the men, right?
The very concept of "gender identity" was lost on me until my late teens, when I made friends with a trans woman and realized that yes, a lot of people do have strong gender identities.

It took until my early twenties for me to realize that, being perceived as female, I've experienced discrimination and misogyny just as much as my more obviously cisgender peers did. I was either oblivious to it, or didn't feel like it applied to me because the offender was missing most of the picture. I was pretty angry about that - and still am. That there's little I can do to change people's perceptions of me, that everyone sees me as a "girl" despite that being wrong...

2- was it only a phase? how would you describe yourself now? (trans, gay etc)

Definitely not a phase. I identify as agender/genderqueer, and queer, and have been experiencing growing dysphoria for quite some time. I'm looking into transition options, though it's difficult (not impossible!) when transitioning to something non-binary.

3- do you think children should be allowed to transition to the opposite gender (not cirgury but pronouns, names, clothes and such) or are they too young to decide?

I think transitioning when young is best, if you have the options and a supportive community and family. "Transitioning" to agender wouldn't have worked for me. Not only because non-binary transition is complicated and still not socially accepted, but because of how... binaristic my mother is.

4- what about blockers and hormones? in what conditions should this treatment begin? at what age? also it makes children steril.

Blockers and hormones do not equal sterility in all cases.
Blockers at the start of puberty, and hormones if someone still insists around the age of 14... that's best, to me. I could have benefited from blockers, but that would have started at age 10 and I wasn't capable of sufficiently expressing my issues at that point.

5- what about the cases of people that regret sex cirgury later? it is irreversible.

Very rare. Sad when it happens, though regretting surgery is more common in trans people who had unpleasant or "unsuccessful" experiences with their surgeries, than it is with people who actually turn out to be cisgender.

6- I read gender dysphoria is 8 times more common in autistics. why do you think this is so?

Maybe whatever is "off" in the brains of autistic people is similar to whatever is "off" in the brains of trans people. Maybe, because of already being uncomfortable and outcast, people are more likely to question and identify other areas in which they're uncomfortable and outcast, too.

7- what sex/gender/anything else are you attracted to? what do you think is the relation of identifying with the opposite gender and being gay?

I'm queer as folk, myself. I'm attracted most to gender-non-conforming or trans individuals of any sex or gender combination. Men and women can sure be pretty, but I find it difficult to relate to strictly binary people, so I gravitate toward individuals outside the "norm".
I'm kinky, very open about sexuality, and very "creative", if that's related?

Knowing a shedload of queer, lesbian, gay, pansexual, etc. trans people (as well as the research on the subject) makes me believe there's little correlation between gender identity and gender or sexual preferences. There is probably some social correlation, since trans women are often viewed as just extra-super-gay men (and vice versa), but that's the issue of culture and individuals not properly viewing gender in a complex way.

8- how do you think children identify with gender? what do you think influenciates it?

I legitimately have no freaking idea how children identify with, or otherwise interact with, gender. It was such an alien concept to me from the start (and children are strange and difficult for me anyway) that any understanding is going to be nigh-impossible.
I know marketing, though, and social demands.
I know that there's been an oddly stronger delineation between "boys toys" and "girls toys" since when I was growing up (in the early 90s).
I know parents are often pressured to maintain some semblance of cis-hetero-normative structure in their children's lives, including choices of color for the walls of the baby's room.
I know there was a kerfuffle about a "boy's" Easy Bake Oven, when the one I owned as a child was mostly just black and white. There's so much, and such stronger, attempts to separate the genders/assigned sexes and it's utterly baffling.