Male Versus Female Interests and Culture for MtF TS, How Much Have You Changed?

[Beth-Lock]

(posted in another thread )

Maybe there should be a forum for happy in-betweeners.

I have very stereotypically male interests. I play guitar, I love hockey (not just the games, but the news, trades–everything about it). I do electronics, etc., but I am still a woman.

The surest way to be a member of the female world is to become a female (no penis). The physical binary is just fine with me and with almost everyone who transitions all the way. Maybe it is us who need a special forum (males who have become females or are on they way to doing it).


Some of us have adapted to our transition, more in some ways than others. Some are never going to be sensitive to the finer elements of culture and the changes many choose to make in their new lives as women, along with those they don't, betray this shallowness.

What about you?

[Jorja]

I do as I want to do. If I feel like doing needle point, I do it. If I feel like doing crochet, I do it. If I feel like building a Harley, I do it. It just doesn't matter. Do the things that make you happy and to hell with everyone else.

[Kathryn Martin]

What you said Jorja. You are really such a wonderful voice of reason and experience here.


I do as I want to do. If I feel like doing needle point, I do it. If I feel like doing crochet, I do it. If I feel like building a Harley, I do it. It just doesn't matter. Do the things that make you happy and to hell with everyone else.

[Pexetta]

[edited because it doesn't make sense out of context]

[EnglishRose]

My interests have not changed but, rather, "come out" in the same way I did. I have less of a problem admitting I'm a fan of certain shows, prints, colors, music etc. That said, I still love online shooter games and someone is gonna have to prise the mouse out of my cold, dead hand. :p

[STACY B]

Just do what ya always did !! If you like it you like it ,,, Nothing more sexy to me than Tits in Camo clothes ,,,LOL,,, Or girl fishing in swim suits ,,, So if you enjoyed it before you should still enjoy it . Don't do it becuz you have to ,,Becuz you want to ,,MEN & Woman can do the same things ,, No different ,,Just the Plumbing !!

[Persephone]

Hi Beth!

I think that everyone, regardless of gender, is the sum total of their experiences. And sometimes our experiences are stereotypes as well as reality.

I know men who knit and crochet (Rosy Greer comes to mind), and women who are Olympic level shooters with so many trophies that they have sent them to the NRA Museum because they overflow the house.

Don't get me wrong, I love pink! As did Audrey Hepburn.

Worst, of course, is to assume that your values and beliefs have to change. There are women (and men) on both sides of every issue.

Oh, and just for the record, my spouse is a mathemetician turned engineer and, prior to retirement, was a high-level rocket scientist. I was a business person, but I was also a homemaker for 15 years.

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Bree-asaurus]

I do as I want to do. If I feel like doing needle point, I do it. If I feel like doing crochet, I do it. If I feel like building a Harley, I do it. It just doesn't matter. Do the things that make you happy and to hell with everyone else.

Yup. I did what I wanted before and I do what I want now. I don't do more womany things now just because I've accepted I'm a woman. I mean... aside from cloths and saying "oh that's cute" outloud instead of in my head :P I now admit to liking girly things. I did them before and just wouldn't admit it... Like running to turn off the TV when my dad came home in the middle of me watching The O.C.

[STACY B]

Yup. I did what I wanted before and I do what I want now. I don't do more womany things now just because I've accepted I'm a woman. I mean... aside from cloths and saying "oh that's cute" outloud instead of in my head :P I now admit to liking girly things. I did them before and just wouldn't admit it... Like running to turn off the TV when my dad came home in the middle of me watching The O.C.



Lady ,,,You betta get yo But in that Kitchen an fix my supper !!! LOL,,,,,,

[Badtranny]

What you said Jorja. You are really such a wonderful voice of reason and experience here.

That's true, ...but ya gotta admit that anybody following THAT post would look like Solomon in comparison.

[sandra-leigh]

I can't think of any sports or hobby tastes of mine that have changed.

I have, though, become more comfortable with GLBT people and people with "alternative lifestyles". I was comfortable with them before "in theory", but not so much in their presence. Too worried about how to act, how to react, about how they would act. For example, I was not comfortable going into the gay bar that is the "community center" for gays and lesbians because I was worried in part about getting hit on and feeling uncomfortable about it. Now I have been there enough that I worry more about them going broke -- or about whether they'll have hot chocolate in stock.

[Bree-asaurus]

Lady ,,,You betta get yo But in that Kitchen an fix my supper !!! LOL,,,,,,

I cooked before and I still do :P

[Persephone]

Lady ,,,You betta get yo But in that Kitchen an fix my supper !!! LOL,,,,,,

Something tells me that nobody tells the Bree-asaurus what to do!

Hugs,
Persephone.

[Billiebluenose1878 GG]

I dont think that there is any reason that if you transition, your interests should change ... you like what you like ... plenty of hobbies etc can be enjoyed by both genders ... xxxx

[STACY B]

I cooked before and I still do :P




Knew I would get a rise out of ya ,,, I cook to an LOVE IT ! An I might say Pretty Darn Good !!!

[Billiebluenose1878 GG]

Knew I would get a rise out of ya ,,, I cook to an LOVE IT ! An I might say Pretty Darn Good !!!

Now now girls lol ;) . What are you like .... xxxx

[LeaP]

I can't see my interests changing. After all, things like petanque, ancient history, primitive loom construction, and steam train valve gear variations (among a hundred other obscure things) are fascinating. :daydreaming:

What I AM finding, however, is my participation dropping off. I simply don't feel so compelled to escape into my interests any longer, where they once consumed me and my time. Escapism.

[melissaK]

Well hmmm. Really I'm as eclectic as ever, but I've never really "decorated" my life in a natal male gender stereotypical way, nor gone out of my way to be stereotypically feminine. But that TG part of me has always shown through.

A devotee of pop culture, I'm the one who got my wife hooked on Gilmore Girls years ago . . . in return she has me hooked on chick lit (I'm as excited as anyone for another Stephanie Plum book). But I also read James Bradley books like Flags of Our Fathers and I read every Alister MacLean action adventure he wrote. I have more Wonder Woman prints on the wall than Captain America. I have a poster of Padme as Princess (in a to die for gown) and I also have the Spike TV poster of Darth that says "A guy can only be called Annie so many times before he snaps."

I started college as a declared art major, and though my profession changed, I can still coordinate colors and paint my walls and buy furniture in ways that match. I also have a 7.0 second drag car in the garage - (though I admit few enjoy the "drag" car double entendre as much as I do.)

In the movie Grand Torino "old man" Walt teaches Thao to be a man - how to say "man things" culminating with a great barber shop scene (the barber shop being a den of maledom). I've never been able to engage in that "man" talk, and I still don't. Rather, I wore my hair rock star long through my 20's, and when I go it styled it was at places like "Truvys" in Steel Magnolia. And as for fashion, I can dress well when i want. I mean I sooo got "The Devil Wears Prada." I mean who doesn't want to be "Andrea" for a day with free designer clothes.

Hanging from my desk work light is a beautiful delicate stained glass hummingbird, made by my wife's uncle for her Dad. In another room hanging from a ceiling is a P52 Mustang in DDay invasion stripe colors. My eclecticism is bit indulged, and I've often thought my home is tipping toward Maude's street car house from the movie "Harold & Maude."

Hugs,
'lissa

[Laurie Ann]

My interests have not changed I love sports and am a diehard NY Giant football fan as well as loving the Tarheels. The JFK name heels really appeals to me. I love to read books by Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum but I also love wearing lingerie , heels and make up. I also enjoy reading Cosmo the only difference in my life is the clothes I wear and having real boobs.

[Rianna Humble]

I find that most of my tastes are still the same but there are one or two things that have mellowed.

He used to be a fan of Jack Higgins, Robert Ludlum and Colin Forbes, whilst I am more Barbara Taylor Bradford, Jilly Cooper & so on.

I am still very involved in politics, but now don't have to pretend to do it like a man - and some people have said that that makes me a nicer person to know. OTOH, my strengths in the political arena are still recognised by both genders.

[Jorja]

OTOH, my strengths in the political arena are still recognised by both genders.

When you got it, you got it.

[abigailf]

A person's interests are mutually exclusive to their gender identity.

To call an interest typically male or female is just a social stigma.

Do your passion, be your passion.

[rachael.davis]

A lot of my interests have stayed the same, but
I have participated in very traditional asian martial arts, and have been heavily involved in a couple of European martial arts groups (broadsword, poleaxe, that sort of thing)
I figured out a few years ago that I was using these groups to displace pain, some girls cut their bodies because they hate them, I got mine bruised to shit routinely because I loathed mine.
I'm a lot less muscular than I was, and the new layer of body fat bruises spectacularly