How Do You Know You Are Transgender

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While there may exist biological differences in the brains of transgender and cisgender people, there however isn't any unproblematic examination to take to say if the gender you were assigned at birth is correct. Even so, with some soul-searching and a piffling aid from the experts, y'all can find the identity that suits you best. If you lot are seriously questioning your gender identity, arrive touch with your feelings and encompass your uncertainty. Talk to a counselor who specialized in gender identity so that you lot have someone to support you through the process. Call up that in that location are many means to identify, and the about of import matter is to figure out what you want.^[1]

1. 1

   Acknowledge that you are curious. If you are seriously wondering whether or non you lot might be transgender, you're probably not fully gender conforming. This doesn't necessarily mean that you are transgender, but it could. It may also mean that you are gender variant in another mode.^[2]

   • Ask yourself why you are curious. If information technology's persistent discomfort with your assigned gender, or attraction to the image of yourself as a different gender, y'all may be transgender.
   • Consider the possibility that your gender is nonbinary: if you don't experience like you are exactly a man or a woman, you lot could be something else.
   • If you feel comfy with your assigned gender only you lot notice yourself interim out of footstep with other cisgender people, that doesn't necessarily mean you're transgender. You could just be a feminine homo, or a masculine woman.
   • Continue in mind that being transgender is not the same as being transsexual. Transsexual is an older term used to draw people who have taken medical steps to permanently alter their physical sex. Some transgender people may employ hormones and even have surgery, but not all do.^[3]

2. two

   Think nearly your childhood desires. Many transgender people showed strong signs of gender dissatisfaction every bit children. Persistent desires lasting more than vi months are oft understood as a sign of gender dysphoria. Signs include:^[4]

   • Insisting y'all are non the gender your parents say you are.
   • Thinking you lot will grow up to be a gender other than your assigned one.
   • Casting yourself every bit some other gender during imagination games.
   • Dressing upwardly, or wanting to dress, in clothing associated with this gender.
   • Preference for friends of this gender.
   • Strong desire to participate in grouping activities, games, and pastimes typical of this gender.
   • Rejection of gendered toys that represent with your assigned gender.
   • Dislike of your own anatomy and/or genitalia.
   • Feeling sadness, fear, confusion, embarrassment, anger, or other emotions.

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3. 3

   Enquire yourself if you identify with your social role. Many transgender people feel alienated from the function they are asked to play in society. Ask yourself if you experience alienated from the things you are asked to do with other people of your gender. When y'all are asked to do something stereotypical of your assigned gender, do yous feel similar you are existence put in the wrong box?^[5]

   • Observe how yous feel when you are with a group of people of your assigned gender. If you experience different, or similar yous are passing for ane of them merely are not really one of them, yous may exist experiencing dysphoria.

4. 4

   Notice how your given name and pronouns make you lot feel. Think near the fashion you feel when you hear yourself referred to by your given pronoun. If yous experience misidentified, it may be that yous are due for a change of pronoun.^[6]

   • If you dread being addressed every bit "sir" or "ma'am," it may be that that term does not adjust you.
   • Run into how you experience when yous are in a group and someone refers to you every bit "ladies" or "gentlemen."
   • Notice if your name feels like the wrong ane. If it does feel right, question whether you remember of it every bit a "girls" name or a "boys" name.
   • How do y'all feel when someone accidentally calls you by the pronoun of the and so-called opposite gender? If information technology feels comfortable or gratifying, y'all may be transgender.

5. v

   Recognize trunk dysphoria. A mutual experience amongst transgender people is the sense of their body beingness incorrect in some mode. Some transgender people study feeling "trapped" inside their bodies. If you lot have a persistent desire to change your sexual characteristics, you may exist experiencing dysphoria.^[7]

   • If the experience of puberty came as a stupor or a trauma, this may be dysphoria. Attempt to call up if you were upset past the acquisition of secondary sexual activity characteristics (deepened voice, breast development, broadened shoulders, facial hair, the onset of catamenia)?
   • If you avoid mirrors, getting your moving picture taken, or hide your body in layers of clothing, and then this may besides indicate that you have some body dysphoria.

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1. 1

   Find a proficient gender therapist. There are many psychologists, counselors, and social workers who specialize in gender variance. These experts can help you inquire and respond your big questions.

   • Look for counselors who specialize in gender identity, gender dysphoria, or LGBT concerns.
   • If there is a transgender wellness clinic in your expanse, contact them to see if they accept whatsoever available therapists.
   • If you live in the USA, you can use the American Psychologist Association locator to find a psychologist who specializes in questions of gender identity: http://locator.apa.org/
   • In the UK, consider contacting the Beaumont Society for a reference: http://www.beaumontsociety.org.great britain/
   • Y'all can too ask your doctor for a recommendation, or visit a advisor at your schoolhouse if yous are in high school or college.

2. 2

   Talk to gender variant and questioning people. Go far touch with people who take transitioned, or people who are questioning their gender. Some places you might await include LGBTQ meet up groups, customs centers, and events. If you are in school, consider visiting whatsoever student groups such as an LGBTQ group or a Gay Straight Alliance. You don't have to come out right away; just say you are an ally, or explain that you are questioning only you aren't comfy talking about it just still.

   • Not everyone you meet volition want to talk about their gender! Some people may feel exposed if yous ask them personal questions. You can mention your own questions, and if they ask you lot questions yous tin ask in return.
   • If you're not sure, write them or find a private moment to ask. Y'all might say, "I've been thinking a lot nearly my own gender identity, and you are someone who might know about some of the questions I am having. If you ever accept the time and energy, I would love to talk to y'all well-nigh this. Please feel free to say no."

3. 3

   Explore online forums. A great way to connect with other gender variant and questioning people is to look online. Consider joining a group on social media, or an anonymous forum. When you interact with people online, brand sure to conceal your personal information.

   • Cheque out a general LGBTQ forum similar: http://emptyclosets.com/forum/
   • If you are 13-24 years old, you tin bring together TrevorSpace for a safe, monitored forum: https://world wide web.trevorspace.org/login
   • Yous can besides wait into organizations like PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and GLAAD to find resource and support for yourself and your family.^{[8] [ix]}

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1. one

   Give yourself the selection of identifying as a binary trans person. If you recollect you may be a trans man or a trans woman, give it a try to run into how you experience. Consider setting aside a weekend in which you think of yourself every bit that gender. If you are sharing these questions with a friend, a therapist, or a family member, tell them your plans and ask for their support.^[10]

   • Try out other pronouns. Run into how you experience when you refer to yourself with pronouns other than those you were assigned. If yous think you lot might exist a trans woman, call yourself "she" and "her," and ask a confidant to do the same.

2. 2

   Consider gender variety. At that place are and then many ways of expressing a gender beyond "man" and "woman." You may exist gender variant, agender, bigender, or something else entirely. There's no need to squeeze yourself into a box if that box doesn't fit y'all.^[eleven]

   • Try using "they/them" pronouns. If you don't feel like a "he" or a "she," or if you lot are looking for a way to communicate your gender variance to others, attempt gender neutral pronouns.
   • Go on in mind that you lot can take your time to make this decision, or you may determine that you do not want to make a selection at all. Don't let other people pressure y'all about choosing.

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   Alex Keller

   Customs Skilful

   Alex Keller is a transgender man. He has worked extensively on wikiHow'southward LGBT+ topics and articles.

   

   Alex Keller
   Community Expert

   It's OK to take your time. Alex Keller tells us: "Initially, I idea maybe I was genderfluid, because I felt pretty feminine for a guy. Then afterwards a while, I realized I wasn't having days where I switched genders. There were just some days where I felt a little more feminine than others. Turns out I'm just a feminine guy."

3. iii

   Dress to express yourself. Experiment with habiliment until you lot find a style of dressing that feels right to you lot. If you are strongly drawn to certain clothing, wear it. For instance, if y'all were assigned male but you lot always wanted to wear dresses, go for it. You'll learn a lot from how it feels to wear whatever you desire.^[12]

   • If you feel genderqueer, experiment with an androgynous look, or mix and match gendered clothing.

4. 4

   Consider other ways to affirm your gender. Whatever gender you place with, there isn't whatsoever one style to assert it. Enquire yourself what you desire: what would brand you feel the most yourself? Get over these questions with a counselor if you lot are feeling confused.

   • Consider changing your proper name.
   • Think about asking others to call you by unlike pronouns, such equally she/her, he/him, or they/them.
   • Come out to people in your life if you feel safe doing so. Yous tin can come up out equally transgender or tell people y'all are questioning your gender.
   • Think about your torso. Would you lot like information technology to exist more than feminine or masculine? You might cutting or grow your hair, take hormones, go top or bottom surgery, or modify nothing at all.

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• Question

  At what age do yous know you're transgender?

  

  Alex Keller
  Community Expert

  Alex Keller is a transgender homo. He has worked extensively on wikiHow's LGBT+ topics and articles.

  

  Community Expert

  Proficient Answer

  It can vary person-to-person. I really came to sympathise when I was in center schoolhouse. I was constantly unhappy and I had no idea why. I realize at present a lot of it was due to the fact that I was starting puberty. My trunk was releasing hormones, and when I started getting a figure, I didn't desire to wait at myself. In eighth course, I tried to button myself into existence kind of girly, but eventually came beyond this web log for transgender and nonbinary teens. Information technology was the general idea of, 'If I don't feel like a girl, I don't have to phone call myself a girl.' That clicked pretty much immediately.

• Question

  How do I know if I have gender dysphoria?

  

  Alex Keller
  Customs Proficient

  Alex Keller is a transgender man. He has worked extensively on wikiHow'southward LGBT+ topics and manufactures.

  

  Customs Expert

  Skilful Respond

  Y'all may notice problems in how you view yourself after you start puberty. Going through the wrong puberty tin can exist really tough. I remember in 6th course, I got my first period, and anybody was talking about how great of an consequence information technology was — how I was turning into this cute immature woman — but when I realized I had gotten it, I nearly fainted and cried. When you go through the incorrect puberty, everything is very traumatic. You want to hide information technology and pretend it'south not happening, but you can't.

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• Make certain to have good care of yourself. Existence transgender tin can be extremely stressful, and so it is important to make plenty of time for yourself. Do things that you lot enjoy and spend fourth dimension just relaxing however y'all like to, such as past taking a bubble bath, getting a massage, going for long walks, or meditating.

• If you're AFAB - assigned female person at birth - and you're having trouble with the oil-and-h2o mix of your hips and men's jeans, attempt this: next fourth dimension you tin can't practice up a wing, zip it upward every bit far as yous can and hook the button at the top with a pilus rubberband. You lot can likewise take a safe pin and put it through the hole on the fly's zipper tab, then attach information technology to the elastic. So long equally your shirt falls downwards over your fly area, you're good to go!

• If you call up you are transgender, so act like it and practice your best to explain. If yous sometimes feel you are a girl and sometimes yous experience like a male child, human action like any you experience like at the moment.

• Call up to take your time. Figuring out your gender is a process that can take a while, so don't stress to figure everything out really rapidly.

• You may non have had dysphoria since yous were a child. This is fine and you tin can notwithstanding be trans. Many transgender people repress or don't recognize dysphoria every bit a child.

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Article Summary X

If you want to know if you're transgender, think nearly how your given name and pronouns brand you feel. For example, see if you feel like your proper name is wrong considering it's also much similar a "daughter" or "male child" proper noun. You can also detect whether you hate beingness addressed as "sir" or "ma'am." Since body dysphoria, or the sense of your trunk being incorrect in some fashion, is a common experience for transgender people, consider if you experience "trapped" in your torso. You lot tin also reflect on whether your sex activity characteristics like your deep voice, breasts, facial hair, or menstruation upset y'all. If y'all need more than support while figuring out your gender identity, check out LGBTQ groups at your school or in your community. For more advice from our co-author on understanding torso dysphoria, read on!

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