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[quote title=Wendy C wrote on Wed, 24 October 2007 19:31]I would say from around age three, I can remember the potty chair and not wanting to learn to stand up to pee, because I was like my mother and she always sat down. At age four the neighbor girl wanted to compare genitals and I didnt think we looked any different, and after all we played with the same dolls and such too.

At age five, I had the most wondrous dream in which I these women removed that thing, dressed me in the prettiest red dress and gave me a doll to play with. At age 7 I racked my self on a bike and had to wear a miserable sling type affair. I told my Mother that I hated being a boy and wished I could be a girl. She told me at that time that she had hoped for a girl when I was born and that my name would have been Catherine. She hugged me and told me she loved me and that it didn't matter what I was.
I knew from then on that I was Catherine.

In my early thirty's, I sought SRS, was denied due to the SOC and
one of the two Psychiatrist I had seen. After that I spent the next thirty years burying myself believing that I would never be allowed to change. As has been said already...wrong, wrong, wrong!!

Never deny your dream and your instincts or you will be haunted til the day you die.

Hugs

Wendy Catherine

[/quote]

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Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 24 October 2007 19:31

Wendy C

I would say from around age three, I can remember the potty chair and not wanting to learn to stand up to pee, because I was like my mother and she always sat down. At age four the neighbor girl wanted to compare genitals and I didnt think we looked any different, and after all we played with the same dolls and such too.

At age five, I had the most wondrous dream in which I these women removed that thing, dressed me in the prettiest red dress and gave me a doll to play with. At age 7 I racked my self on a bike and had to wear a miserable sling type affair. I told my Mother that I hated being a boy and wished I could be a girl. She told me at that time that she had hoped for a girl when I was born and that my name would have been Catherine. She hugged me and told me she loved me and that it didn't matter what I was.
I knew from then on that I was Catherine.

In my early thirty's, I sought SRS, was denied due to the SOC and
one of the two Psychiatrist I had seen. After that I spent the next thirty years burying myself believing that I would never be allowed to change. As has been said already...wrong, wrong, wrong!!

Never deny your dream and your instincts or you will be haunted til the day you die.

Hugs

Wendy Catherine

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 24 October 2007 21:05

Katie

Wendy C wrote on Wed, 24 October 2007 19:31

*Katie looks at Catherine, long and hard.*

Come here, you ...

*Katie Hugs Catherine, VERY tight!*

I ...I'm so very glad you've made it here!

*More hugging ...*

And ... and -- please -- never hurt yourself again ...

*Trying hard not to cry, hugging tighter ...*

Katie

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 24 October 2007 21:44

Heli H

I voted 5 because I had some symptoms as early as that age but I was 9 years old when this came into an issue for me. I saw an interview of Jan Morris in Finnish television and was fascinated about her change. I remember how my mother exclaimed how big hands and feet Jan had in that interview. So I decided not to tell her about my feelings. Instead I visited her closet regularly. I tried on her skirts and walked with her shoes when there was nobody at home.

Heli

Re: When did YOU know?

Thu, 25 October 2007 05:48

Saraiso

I voted early teens, because for me I didn't realize something was wrong till I was 10 or 11 or so. My parents were very careful to never label anything us children did with gender labels, and my family moved around constantly so I was never exposed to the outside world until I was in 7th grade. Then I went to a real school (not home-schooled like before) for the first time, and suddenly I was bombarded with people telling me I was a boy Shocked

.

I think until that point I just assumed that I was the same as my sister, who was the only one I ever played with. Maybe if I had been among normal children my age I would have realized there was something wrong earlier, but who knows.

Re: When did YOU know?

Thu, 25 October 2007 06:35

Anonymous

I didn't vote but it would be earliest memory. I have always known that I had certain bits and pieces that jes' didn't belong. When I started school, I got along much better with the gals than I did with the guys.

Puberty sucked and it jes got worser frum there on

I was spotted as being different and my entire school daze was one long string of hazing, bullying and harassment. Anyway, I's gettin the problem fixed, best I can. I am a woman and if you don't believe me, I'll spike your instep with my high heels to show ya!

Re: When did YOU know?

Fri, 26 October 2007 12:21

Dagny

By age 5-8 I'd say...but I was sneaking into girls stuff from as long as I remember. Oh yeah..I got caught at aged 8 and sent to see the child psyche.

13 years of psychiatry later..some bright spark said I had GID. Surprisingly little info could be gleaned into the subject in rural scandinavia.

Re: When did YOU know?

Sat, 27 October 2007 01:09

Katica

No Message Body

[Updated on: Mon, 17 December 2007 23:19]

Re: When did YOU know?

Mon, 29 October 2007 05:42

Anonymous

10 years old.

I raided Mom's storage closet and put on her clothes.

I had no idea why that I was doing that.

I do now.

Re: When did YOU know?

Mon, 29 October 2007 16:12

Hermiena

Earliest memory.

I was 6 when my sister was born. I and my two younger brothers were watching my mother changing her nappies, and one of us mentioned that she did not have a pee-pee. My mother explained that little girls were different because they had a little slit.

A big Oh moment for me, I did not know there was a difference, and that I was supposed to be a boy...

I remember all kinds of anomalies right through my youth. Girlie ways of doing things. Being called a sissy for many things. Inspecting my genitals and seeing the fuseline there, I was convinced that I was supposed to be a girl, but that I had closed up for some reason. I remember tucking my genitals away when I was in bath. I remember... - all kinds of things, which told me that I was never just a normal boy. I remember always feeling uncomfortable in my own body.

Yet, I had suppressed all of those memories for a long time, as if my mind wanted to disregard those "signs" as irrelevant.

I never really clicked. Not fully. I did not KNOW until I was in my middle thirties, and even then I battled for a long time before I realized and accepted finally, that I was indeed actually a woman in a male body.

Which is why I selected 7. Thirty to Forty.

Hermiena

Re: When did YOU know?

Mon, 29 October 2007 16:52

N1637R

Anonymous wrote on Mon, 29 October 2007 08:42

10 years old.

I raided Mom's storage closet and put on her clothes.

I had no idea why that I was doing that.

I do now.

And I kept it a very well kept secret; nobody knew nor even suspected.

Nobody knew about many other things which transpired in my intensely private world, either.

Deep, dark and sordid secrets.

Joann

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 30 October 2007 13:58

jenchris

I knew there was something wrong - but I didn't reallyknow what it was until I was about 9 or ten

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 30 October 2007 17:42

OttawaALF

N1637R wrote on Mon, 29 October 2007 19:52

Joann:

I am curious, do you still consider your current state as being one of those "deep, dark and sordid secrets"?

Amanda

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 31 October 2007 14:42

GinaG

From early memory, I began to dress in secret at 4-5. Was caught by both my peers at first attempt, really got no harsh reaction though.
They thought I was 'playing' Rolling Eyes

Was angry at my mom when she gave away my sisters clothes to my neighbour girlfriend (who I used to play a lot with at the time), which was also noticed by her. She told me when I came out to her, she then knew why.

Voted 2, at 5.

[Updated on: Wed, 31 October 2007 15:20]

Re: When did YOU know?

Sun, 04 November 2007 10:01

mikayla.marie

I was caught in the bathroom trying on my mothers blue liquid eyeshadow when I was 4. She came to the door and forced her way in and caught me. She told me that boys don't wear makeup and I told her that I wasn't a boy. She looked at me confused and let it go from then on.

At age 8 I went out for Halloween as Dorthy from the Wizard of OZ, ruby slippers and all. I pretended to protest the costume as it was the only one my Mom could find that would fit me. Strange enough the vampire and Hobo costumes disappeared a day or two before Halloween.. giggle.

Back to the dress. When we got home from trick or treating, I refused to take off the dress an insisted on sleeping in it. After fighting with my Mom for a few minutes she gave in and I was able to sleep in it. What a wonderful sleep it was, so restful and peaceful dreams.

When I woke up that morning, I went out for breakfast in the dress and my Dad blew his lid. He got so angry that he ripped the dress off of me revealing my sisters panties underneath (I could not be expected to wear boys underwear under a dress could I?). My older brothers made sure the rest of the day and pretty much the rest of my childhood to call me sissy and Fag. That didn't end till I got married at 22 and had my daughter at 23.

At age 10 I asked my mom when I would be old enough to wear makeup and date boys like my older sister. She skirted the question and never gave me an answer. All of this was confusing for me because I thought I was a girl and why wouldn't she answer me.

I am sure I echo what most of your experiences were including the horror of realizing that my penis would not fall off and my breasts would not grow like my sisters.

I have not told my parents yet that I am TS however i am sure my mother will not be completely surprised, after all I was a mommas boy that loved to go shopping and watch her soaps.. giggle.

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 06 November 2007 18:18

stephb

I said "from earliest memory". That was when I "knew", but I didn't really "KNOW" until I was in my mid-fifties. For years, I struggled with trying to understand what I was. I convinced myself I was just TV for a long time and thought it would get better as I got older. We all know the story there.

In my mid-fifties, I finally realized that it was much more and it wasn't going away. I suspected, but tried to convince myself otherwise. Eventually, I saw a therapist who confirmed it.

Now I'm left with what to do about it ... something I am still working on. The answers aren't easy.

Steph

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 06 November 2007 20:35

Katie

stephb wrote on Tue, 06 November 2007 18:18

*Sneak sneak sneak ... Katie grabs Steph and hugs her tight!!!*

Hug{{{{{Steph}}}}}ging

*Then Katie runs away!*

*Giggle*

Re: When did YOU know?

Thu, 08 November 2007 18:31

stephb

Katie,

Thanks for the warm hug. It meant a lot to me, and I appreciate your caring.

Steph

Re: When did YOU know?

Fri, 09 November 2007 21:30

Jennywocky

I honestly cannot tell you when I began dealing with this. Some people claim to have such an early instant of "knowing" that they can still recall.

I don't. I do not actually remember much of my childhood.. just snippets of memories that are like snapshots.

Then, around age 6, I can start to remember sequences of memories, like little video cartridge snippets. I cannot remember "feelings," though; I just remember the events.

I do know I started dressing in my mom's clothes by third grade, when no one was home. And by sixth grade, I was agonizing because I wanted to be one of the girls in my class and was so envious of them, and was very lonely because I couldn't be included in their circle the way I wanted to be.

And I remember by sixth grade also seeing a copy of Conundrum (Jan Morris) in the local library, and kept sneaking peaks... so I suppose by then I knew what a transsexual was.

Re: When did YOU know?

Thu, 24 April 2008 15:59

Faerieheart

I have a very early memory of standing in the bathroom with a pair of scissors and wanting to cut my penis off. It's one on my earliest memories actually. If my memory is accurate, my sole reason for not doing it was fear of getting in trouble. I guess I've been scared ever since, cause I overcompensated a lot, to the point of still not fitting in. I pretended to like boy things to the extreme in school, like guns and explosions, and farts and stuff like that, and continued with girl phobia for longer than I should have. I still overcompensate some when doing the act... I feel real embarrassed after words when I realize what I did.

I'm sure something traumatic happened when I went to preschool, because before then from what I hear, my only friends were girls and I played with dolls and stuff.

After words I played with action figures (but when alone there was more story less action)

Eventually I started playing D&D and roleplaying, I started being a dungeon master, and most of my games ended up turning into what can best be described as playing house with magic and monsters.

It was in a self game run by a gamer friend that I found out. I got turned into a girl temporarily (though that was unknown) and when the effect wore off and I turned back into a guy, I went nuts in the game trying to become a girl again.

That said, I still lived with it for six years using every excuse in the book to avoid my feelings, until recently as it's become too much to bare.

So depending on how you look at it the answer is either as a toddler or in my late teens.

Re: When did YOU know?

Thu, 24 April 2008 19:10

Aylwen

I put "from age 5" because although I didn't understand it then, I can clearly remember some things that were, on hindsight, obviously fallout from gender confusion.

On the other hand, I have about 3 memories from when I was 5 and basically nothing before that, and my whole single-digit years are like swiss cheese. Laughing

So perhaps "from earliest memory" would've been more accurate...

On the third hand (.... Shocked

?) I didn't realize I was anything but a weirdo until about a year ago. So if the question is "when did you realize you were TS" ... very recently.

Re: When did YOU know?

Fri, 25 April 2008 18:06

debbiejh

for me, the catalyst was going to kindergarten. an only child of a single mom whose siblings had no kids, i had no real notion of boys, girls and what the big differences were. i mean, i related very closely to my mom -- still do -- but it really took extended exposure to girls my age to make me see how i felt.

Re: When did YOU know?

Sat, 03 May 2008 05:25

beate_r

Mhmm, for me there was a development, first weak signs in the early childhood, the earliest weakest one just being a discussion started by my little sister on the difference between girls and boy. I must have been 3 or perhaps 4, and i just remember the scene and the explanation leaving a question mark for me. Using my mother's cloths, her lipstick, her curlers ( Smile

) almost as long as i can remember, to some degree tolerated by my parents. But unfortunately less and less as i grew older.

With 10 knowing my name, with 12 when i was as large as my mother i enjoyed an intense cross dressing phase which has been stopped by my father, in my early Youth between 11 and 15 several attempts to find out something on "sex change" in the public libraries, with 22 a first coming out as a crossdresser to my (meanwhile and still) wife, in my 20s the awareness, that there would happen much more with my transness if there wasn't the relationship, also moderate feelings that a female body was more approprate for me, in my mid 30s sadness about having missed a chance to transition and considerations of counseling because of that need.
But it was still too early, i managed to suppress it for several other years, even believed that i finally had managed to establish as a man.
Then, with 47, the decision to "permit whatever was in me, even if that would lead me through a transition", and finally with 48 after some months of crossdressing and self reflection getting more and more intense i KNEW and permitted being transsexual during a some weeks where i could go full time to test myself. This was also the beginning of my transition.

Despite of that there was a development in the picture of myself. With 48, i defined myself being type IV applying Benjamin's criteria, looking back on that time now i start smiling because i see a clear expression of type V.

So i might as well have written "with 5", in my youth, my thirties or later. I decided to chose after 40 because that was the time i *knew*. My father was probably much more aware about my GID than i was.

Have a nice day

Beate

[Updated on: Sat, 03 May 2008 05:28]

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 21 May 2008 13:10

Kimberley

First of all. Hello to everyone here and thanks to Radargrrl for putting me on to this site. It looks to be a good place to be.

When did I know. I voted earliest memories because i knew something was wrong, that things didnt mesh. So in that sense I knew but to actually put it into a gender/sex context I think I was probably around 5 when I could say I wasnt a boy; that I was a girl. Of course in the mid fifties that was unacceptable. So the rest of going in the closet and all is pretty much textbook.

Huggs
Kimberley

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 22 July 2008 14:18

Anonymous

(((((SMILE))))))

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 22 July 2008 15:23

Anonymous

I wish I could change my vote from 30's-40's to 10 years, I actually didn't see all the text below the poll itself and just made a choice thinking that I was being asked when I knew I was transsexual. I can remember looking at Mom's boots and sandals in her closet, and her makeup in the bathroom when I was very young, and just thinking about how pretty all that stuff was. I also remember thinking that *somehow* I wasn't like everyone else, and that I was a lot more emotional than everyone else around me.

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 22 July 2008 16:58

Derrie

aeron wrote on Tue, 22 July 2008 17:23

That's OK, hon. After your surgery you get to vote again!!!!

Re: When did YOU know?

Fri, 02 January 2009 09:26

leemcg

By age five I knew I was wrong (1986)
By age ten I fantastyed about being a girl (1991)
By age seventeen I was so Neive I found out I wasnt alone (1997) via the internet
By age twenty four I started expernmenting with HRT (2004)
By age Twenty five I started to come out (2005)
By age Twnety sixI was binge drinking (2006)
By age Twenty I found recovery and quit binge drinking and did time in County Jail (2007)
By age twenty seven I moved to California and went legaly full time (2008) with name and marker change
By age twenty eight in a few weeks 1-18-2009 I will be wenttime, have lived my twentys as a gender queer, trans, detransitoned once, left the mormon church, served as a civilian military contractor, and been out the closet off and on from 2005, and going through the happyist time of my life.

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 07 January 2009 15:45

Elizabeth K

I don't see any earlier postings from me on this topic - but if this is a duplication, sorry.

I told my therapist age six, and then told the 'story.' Later I realized the 'story' happened at least two years before I went into school.

The story? I was just a person, the first born in the family in 35 years, a darlin' to all the relatives. But I had no siblings or cousins. Most of my relatives were adult females, and there was my dad who was a very quiet man. So When I finally understood the words boy and girl, I asked my mom,"what is the difference?" She said boys grow up to be handsome, girls grow up to be pretty.

Okay - hummmm... a little later, "mommy," will I grow up to be like you?" She replied, "no, you will grow up to be like your daddy." Well that was terribly wrong! I wanted to grow up to be exactly like my mother, my aunts, and my beloved grandmother.

I argued but it didn't help. I resigned myself to grow up as I was told, but I would be a girl in a male body. BUT that would take forever (children live in a different sense of time.)

But it went faster that I ever wanted. I kept seeing me slip-slip-slipping into something I never wanted to be. I wanted to go the other way. Didn't happen. Never happened. Couldn't happen.

That's the story.

Knew then - one of my earliest memories.

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 14 January 2009 02:46

Nachos99

I said early teens cause I just figured out what is wrong with me and I'm 14.

[Updated on: Wed, 14 January 2009 09:04]

Re: When did YOU know?

Fri, 23 January 2009 13:43

Cathy

I honestly can't remember much when I was very young except when I was 5 or 6 I recall overhearing my mother tell my father that I should have been born a girl. I don't know what I was doing to make her say that but it always made me feel different in a bad sort of way. I guess I felt shame that I wasn't a good enough boy because I know that remark stayed with me for a long time and it bothered me greatly.

Anyway I put down early teens because I was prepuberty (about 12 years old or so) when I started tieing my penis back between my legs. I just knew that thing shouldn't be there and from that time on I have lived with this complusion to have it removed.
However like so many others I lived in denial of my true self and suppressed those strong feelings I should be a woman for many decades before I finally hit the wall and was forced to face reality that I have been a woman all my life and the man I was living as was not the real me.

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 25 February 2009 16:46

dolce_vita

NorthernJane wrote on Wed, 24 October 2007 05:51

At age 14 a boy I had a serious crush on kissed me (a real passionate kiss!). What I felt in that moment reaffirmed that I was, in fact, a normal girl with an abnormal body.

Yeah i'm still waiting on that first kiss LoL Crying

Re: When did YOU know?

Fri, 06 March 2009 23:09

sherri-ann

my first memory was on a family driving trip out west when i was 7. my father caught me in the bathroom of the motel room we had in one of my mom's evening dresses. i'll never forget because my father said "what the hell are you doing? now take that off..." and i mumbled feebly, "oh i was just going to scare my sister." i didn't know what else to say. he thought the dress was it, but i was wearing a bra and undies too. the funny thing is, i've always tried to remember why it was that moment-- you know, why not at home a few months earlier, or later? i don't know why but i know it was spontaneous, and i didn't understand the feelings right away.

Re: When did YOU know?

Mon, 07 September 2009 07:12

Anonymous

i found out when i was 12 (2 days ago from 8th of spetember 2009)
i always wondered why i felt different to the others in small ways and when i saw the tv programme 2 days ago it became clear

this site is great and its helped me alot whoever made it a a great person.

Re: When did YOU know?

Tue, 08 September 2009 18:25

alliebnorth

One of my first memories, maybe about 7 or 8 yo.

But I have cured myself 10's of times haven't I?

Allie B

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 09 September 2009 03:13

JoannaM

While I might have suspected at various times in my life, I don't thing things really came clear until this year. Then it was a like a thief in the night since it was a dream that partially opened the door to me thinking about it.

Re: When did YOU know?

Sat, 12 September 2009 20:54

pumpkin

"From earliest memory", really. Not that I had it all figured out until much later though. Most of the time I just lived with the sinking feeling that I was utter damaged goods.

Whew... feels nice not being there anymore.

p.

Re: When did YOU know?

Sun, 13 September 2009 03:58

Hilary

My earliest memory is coming down stairs at the age of 4, I guess, and wondering why the other girls in the street were wearing skirts and I wasn't.

<Devil's advocate]
I wonder how reliable these 'earliest' memories are? Are they implanted later, by a desire to justify a 'lifelong' desire?

Did that incident really take place?
[/Devil's advocate]

However due to various reasons (school, religion, family etc) I didn't know about transgenderism until much later. About 40 years later!

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 30 September 2009 05:46

Cynthialee

At age 7 my world crashed to an abrupt end. I had some weird ideas on what a man and woman were. I thought we could choose genders at puberty. (I don't know where I got that idea, but I was sure of it.)
Well my mom had just delivered my baby sister and was having me help her change the diaper.
When I got a look at my sisters vagina it all came to me like a trainwreck.
I knew at that moment what my mom had been trying to tell me about 'birth canals' and pregnancy. No matter what I was going to become a man, I would never be pregnant or have a baby. It was a bitch slap from reality.

Never going to be pregnant is probably the worst part of this. I can look like the lady I am and even love as a woman. But a child is out of the question.
I gave up on re-asignment in my 20's after a really bad psychiatrist f*cked my mellon up. Now I am in my 40's. Better late than never I always say.

hugs

Re: When did YOU know?

Wed, 30 September 2009 20:11

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote on Mon, 07 September 2009 10:12

wow.good luck sweetie.

Re: When did YOU know?

Thu, 01 October 2009 06:26

pumpkin

Anonymous wrote on Mon, 07 September 2009 10:12

We are here for you if you need to talk. All of us are aware how confusing this all is so we'll be happy to clear it up for you. You can never have too many big sisters and surrogate moms anyway Wink

Good luck and give us some updates k? Smile

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