As a boy I was expected to enjoy doing the things that boys do.  The trouble was that I enjoyed doing "boy things" only to a very limited degree.  If I tried to do "girl things" I was corrected.  Boys don't do those things.  I just didn't fit the neat categories of boy/girl.  I was, and am, a misfit.

I worked hard at learning to ‘fit in' so that I belonged.  It wasn't easy or comfortable.  I learned to convince myself that I enjoyed a lot of things I really didn't enjoy.  I guess you could say I learned to live a lie, or at least a partial lie.  I managed to do this quite well.  However it did take a lot of energy, and living a lie is never easy.

The time came, after many years, that computers and the Internet became part of society.  It meant that one could seek information and ask questions in relative privacy and security.  It was then that I learned that I was not alone in being a misfit.  There are many, many more who have the same experience.  I learned that I am one of that small percentage of people, men and women, who don't fit the bi-polar gender model.  Transgender became a word I could use and it meant that I am no longer a misfit.  I came to know others having the same characteristic, and similar life stories.  There are a number of people with whom I no longer need to live the lie.  Hopefully, in time, that number of people will grow to be the whole of society.  I am not a misfit, I am gender enriched!

If this story has meaning for you, do get in touch.  You will find friends wanting to get to know you; people with whom you can be 'real'.