I had a very enlighting and interesting find this weekend (about my childhood)

[Matt2Marissa]

So, this weekend I was helping my grandmother convert all of her old video tapes to DVD's. We're actually doing that this weekend, but Saturday we were watching all of them with two of my cousins, one of their daughters, and my girlfriend (she wanted to see them). Anyway, aside from feeling old because my cousin's daughter didn't know what a VCR, VHS, or video tape was and did not understand why we had to rewind tapes. Also, it really was irritating having to rewind them now since I'm so used to DVD's.
Sorry, I digressed, anyway, in the videos where I was 3,4,5 years old I act very much like a little girl on a few occasions. Not all the time, but there are some obvious times that I was acting like a little girl. At one point, I tell my mother that I wanted to be a ballerina and at another, I told my grandmother (while roller skating in their breakfast area [I was three]) that I was Nancy Carrigan (spelling?) and was ice skating. There were several other small instance, but the most obvious moment, I was 4 in this one, and I am pretending to be Cinderella while my sister is pretending to be Snow White (I was in the dress and everything).
I don't remember any of that, but apparently it happened. I found it to be really interesting how I acted that way as a small boy.

[GMCD]

It's in us, always. I was only about 5 when I first remember dressing up, and I know that I wore my mother's heels around the house all the time and that I would get my nails painted whenever I could get my mom or my aunt to do them for me. We've got something within us and the trick is figuring out how to make peace with it.

Much love.

[Jannette H]

It's in us, always. I was only about 5 when I first remember dressing up, and I know that I wore my mother's heels around the house all the time and that I would get my nails painted whenever I could get my mom or my aunt to do them for me. We've got something within us and the trick is figuring out how to make peace with it.

Much love.

The only thing I can say. Oh Yes Me Too

[VioletJourney]

I wouldn't be surprised if most of us were like that as kids. We're fundamentally different.

Come to think of it, I had a really gender-repressed childhood. I always wanted to play with dolls and watch Disney princess movies but never asked to because I thought boys weren't "supposed" too.

[docrobbysherry]

What the H happened to me, then?
I wanted to be a cowboy. Rammed my toy trucks into our furniture. And, a few years later, was the one they dared to jump off roofs, climb to top of the tree, roll down steep hills in trash cans, and pick up snakes! And, I LOVED doing that!

Heck, I STILL DO! Lol!

[GMCD]

I loved to play cops and robbers and cowboys and indians. Toys soldiers were always a favorite, as well as toy guns. I was a Star Wars maniac and had tons of action figures as well as GI Joes and the Six Million Dollar Man. I played in mud, climbed stuff, and generally got into all the boy stuff, too. It's like my life is now, I'm a guy, I wear girl's clothes, it all fits in one big happy closet.

[Nicole Erin]

If you were 3 years old and Nancy Carrigan was a big name at the time, you cannot be THAT old
Shoot I was 18 when I remember her name being big, course I never heard of her til that Tonya Harding incident took place.

[Sophie86]

@Marissa -- That's cool! I wish I had video of me from those days. We barely have snapshots of me from that age, and they're all B&W. :/

If you were 3 years old and Nancy Carrigan was a big name at the time, you cannot be THAT old
Shoot I was 18 when I remember her name being big, course I never heard of her til that Tonya Harding incident took place.

lol. You're both children. I was grown and had been married seven years when that happened.

[t-girlxsophie]

I am pretty sure I never had any experiences like that when I was young (anyway who would I ask),but I do remember having to get out of my chair to turn the Television on, switch channels or play a Betamax Video tape

[joanne york]

That sounds lovely Marissa, I would love to have some veiws into my childhood,I was born in the mid fifties and lived in a small village, I remember going to a girls house to play and I allways had a dress and girls shoes on, we used to go out and play in the garden and I remember her mother calling me a "ladilass" she said it with a smile!. Ive been in touch with my girl friend recently through friends reunited and asked if she had any photos of when we were little,but she hasn't,I daren't ask about my dressing up because we've not seen each other for forty years, perhaps when we meet up she may tell all about our little secret.

love Joanne

[Audrey34]

As a child I loved playing Cowboys and Indians, Cops And Robbers and taking fiendish delight in tying up all the girls who participated (but that's another story). One of my older sisters told me not too long ago that I was the prissiest little boy she ever saw. She said I HATED to get dirty when I was little! LOL..
-Audrey

[PattiMichaels]

I always liked doing a lot of "traditional" boy things, and part of me liked playing the typical sports...problem is, I sucked at baseball (good field, no hit), football (hate everything about it, don't get me started...except for the girl cheerleaders, and I just wanted to be one), soccer (running up and back, up and back...), and basketball (always too short). Only pseudo-sport I was kind of good at was stickball. Loved playing cops-n-robbers, Matchbox Cars and Hotwheels, all of the other neighborhood games.

[Genivieve]

I was totally thinking of this today. I'm glad you shared. My mom would dress me like a girl as a joke when I was 4 or 5. I loved it. I'd ask to dress all the time. She's let me spend all day in tights, dress, and these mary janes. As I got older 9 or 10 she stopped my dad was ashamed. She caught me trying to dress many times and shamed me as my pop did.

Pretty messed up overall. Whether it was nature or in my case my environment. I knew I wanted to be a girl. My mom and older sister were my authority figures. My dad was always away working and never ever shared. I taught myself how to shave, change a tire, and do al other "man" things. Sh-t my mom even wanted me to sit down to pee when I was young.

I could go on and on...
I was shaped then and the identity is there at least for me. Puberty was pretty confusing since I wanted to be just like the schoolgirls in class I loved the skirts tights and shoes. I loved how they shared and interacted. The guys were so abrasive...

It's messed up I guess I just feel sad that the parents who instilled much of this condemned me permanently. We have not been close since.

[Anna B]

What the H happened to me, then?
I wanted to be a cowboy. Rammed my toy trucks into our furniture. And, a few years later, was the one they dared to jump off roofs, climb to top of the tree, roll down steep hills in trash cans, and pick up snakes! And, I LOVED doing that!

Heck, I STILL DO! Lol!

You sound like a boy to me...What happened?

[Anna B]

Nothing my mum did, but I still managed to get used to wearing mum's girdle, stockings slip and dresses. Why? Who knows? Must be in us from birth. Nobody dressed me up as a kid, wait, I have female cousins and we did have a dressup session when I was about 9 or 10...I remember it quite well, we raided Nana's suitcase (she had only just returned from a trip to Canada). We must have looked a real sight...but there you go. Maybe that was the catalyst...

Anna x

[Genivieve]

Nothing my mum did, but I still managed to get used to wearing mum's girdle, stockings slip and dresses. Why? Who knows? Must be in us from birth. Nobody dressed me up as a kid, wait, I have female cousins and we did have a dressup session when I was about 9 or 10...I remember it quite well, we raided Nana's suitcase (she had only just returned from a trip to Canada). We must have looked a real sight...but there you go. Maybe that was the catalyst...

Anna x

Yeah, I'm still unsure how much nature vs nurture was involved. The truth is I liked being "female" long before my preteens I decided thats what I wanted. I was fed a lot of fairy tales about God being able to grant anything and I'd pray for it every day. Thanks Catholic school!! Some people believe a lot of gender identity has to do with childhood psychology. I won't deny that there are external factors that shaped me.

On the other hand I'm built funny. I have man boobs no matter how skinny I get. At 5'9'' I dropped to 130 pounds in my 20's and still had a breast like chest and I will always have protruding hips. They aren't even love handles my damn hip bone sticks out...well now that I'm lazy they're love handles.

I can't wear sweaters at all. I had an Irish guy at work come up to me once and say "My gosh ye've got tits!" That has stuck in my head for years.

I'm quite mannish too though, shoulders, nose, hair, long arms and fingers. Eh, I'm screwed either way.

[Jeannie]

I sometimes think I remember things from childhood but they could be placed memories that were either told to me or I overheard. My older sister wanted to have a little sister to play with so she would dress me up as girl. I think I was probably 1 or 2 years old at the time. When I was even younger like still a baby she would dress me up as girl and wheel me around in her doll carriage, that is until I grew bigger and broke the carriage. I give her all of the credit for Jeannie and I would really like to thank her but I am not out of the closet with any of my family. Thanks sis I still love you.

[Tina B.]

Well I guess I'm the strange one on this topic, I grew up in the fifties, and when with the boys, we played cowboys, we played army, ran wild over the desert, and jumped anything in sight with our bikes, I was always the leading dare devil of the group, all my big brother had to say was, I bet your too chicken to do that, at it was done. When playing with friends that where girls, it was playing with doll houses, baby dolls, playing house, I could play rolls, of either gender, and did. My father bought be Guns and Cars And trucks for presents, mom bought me books and cooking sets and a lot of very neutral stuff that dad would not go crazy about. After all this years, I still like playing on both sides of the gender divide. I first remember trying on my sisters clothes at around 6 or so, but deep down I believe it started inside, if not on the outside, way before then.
Tina B.