>>6580
Valid questions...okay.
The feeling is stronger than "not liking what you see in the mirror". Funny, I have the body of a fucking super model. I have nothing to complain about in terms of that. I can rock this sexy body if I felt like it (and I get LOADS of attention from the people at the clothing optional parties I attend). I've learned to be female, but it feels wrong.

You mentioned seeing things in the mirror you don't like either. I've had that. I always wanted to have black hair and blue eyes. I can dye my hair, sure, but my vision is so bad that I can't afford colored contact lenses. I don't like it, but I can live with brown eyes. I hate seeing my brown eyes in the mirror, but ce la vie.
I've also been severely underweight most of my life. Not from any eating disorder (believe me, my mother made me go through that and the center I went to ran all these tests, put me through a therapist, and concluded I did not have an eating disorder), but I've been insulted for my weight my several people including my auto insurance agent who compared me to an auschwitz survivor (I do not look like an aushwitz survivor, I'm just lanky). I can't gain weight to save my life. It's just how my body is and doctors have confirmed it. At 5'6" the most I can expect to ever weight is 107 because that seems to be where my body likes to sit, and I hate that. I wish I could be 120 lbs like I should be, but it just hasn't happened yet and I've tried EVERYTHING. Metabolism is what it is I guess.

But my gender dysphoria?

That is a different animal altogether. Even after all the shit I had to go through for being "underweight" and trying to conform my body to what society thinks I should be...no, the gender dysphoria is still so, so much worse.

That's why I illustrated the difficulty of "the choice".

Since trying to sort myself out I have met enough trans people to fill an elementary school classroom.
half have been fired from their jobs and had to settle with lower-paying jobs.
Half have been violently assaulted at least once in their lives (often times more than once).
At least a third have been raped.
At least two of them have killed themselves. (I have a friend in Canada I haven't heard from that I'm 99% certain has killed herself, but I can't confirm it so...I still hold hope).
One was killed.
One is currently homeless because she lost her job and her entire family ditched her.
Two just pulled themselves out of homelessness because they had lost their jobs and their entire families ditched them.

Despite knowing this, and despite the staggering odds against us, we still pursue being the gender we feel we are. Too many of us kill ourselves because we can't stand what we are. That is how powerful gender dysphoria can be. It is very very far beyond "not liking what you see in the mirror".

The ones that get raped and violated are the ones that cannot pass. They generally cannot pass because they cannot afford the medication and procedures to help them pass.
We want desperately to pass.
I don't want someone to look at me and see a "Trans guy". And one day, because I'm one of the lucky ones who can afford transition, I will. But between point A and B I could lose so much. I'm also lucky to live in a state where I have legal protections, so I don't have to worry as much as a lot of others do in other states/countries.

Also, I feel like the media makes us out like we're prancing around "Look at me I'm trans, accept me!!!!!!!" That is so very very wrong. We don't want to be a label, but the public seems to need labels. the public loooooves labels. Right now, we just don't want to be hurt and thrown to the streets.

Though admittedly, I do get very fed up with the stupid amounts of political correctness and the vast, impossible numbers of "labels" that have sprung up lately.
I had one woman say, "No! I'm not gender fluid, I'm femme-butch-queer" or something like that.
It is NOT helping and I HATE IT.

So how is it different from wanting to be a horse or a helicopter?

Like I stated earlier, there does seem to be a strong medical correlation between the development of the fetus and being transgender. As you develop in the womb you are flooded with estrogen and testosterone at key points in your development. All fetuses begin development with a base, female form. Even men. Then hormones dictate how the body develops and how the brain develops. If the hormones misfire and flood at the wrong stage, the brain will develop as the wrong gender. It is impossible to tell however if all transgender people go through this, though my wife most certainly did (there are physical signs that the hormones misfired and she carries the tell-tale signs of it on her body).

There is no mix of estrogen or testosterone to make you feel like a horse or a helicopter. I know there are people out there that may feel they are a horse or a helicopter, but the reasons for them feeling that way have a different origin. It is a different problem altogether. I wish them well and hope they find inner peace.

There have been many therapists that have attempted to help trans people by offering them therapy to help them accept their born body. Many of these attempts have ended poorly or resulted in the patient's suicide.

So, the trans community has been dealing with violence and prejudice since before we came out into the open. Now, we just want to be protected from that violence and prejudice.