sandra-leigh
12-01-2012, 12:07 AM
So I grew up male, and learned some things as a boy that most girls of the same age wouldn't have learned. And that in turn implies that there were things that girls learned that I wouldn't have, but which if I transitioned I might be expected to relate to and talk about. But what, and how to "fake it" or fudge it or answer-without-answering or say "I prefer not to talk about it" without being rude ?
The boy experiences I had as a boy were nothing special, they were just boy experiences. Playing with plastic soldiers. Toy graters and dump-trucks. Cubs (an exercise in failing at badges). Being taught to hitch-hike. Friends and I finding a Playboy in a garbage and looking at it wide-eyed. Chemistry sets. Wood-working and home repairs with my father. Flipping (tossing) baseball and hockey cards (http://www.streetplay.com/thegames/baseballcards.shtml). Red Rover, and British Bulldogs.
I never did have any "first date" or "first car" or "first 'getting to first base'" or "making out at a drive-in" kind of experiences. "First Junior Math Olympiad" doesn't have the same ring to it. I don't recall any (overnight) Youth Camps either.
I did have "crushes" along the way, on girls. Guess I have a bit of wiggle room there as I still like women and back in those days in our school, a girl was unlikely to admit to a crush on another girl.
I don't know if I could fake liking the boy bands of the era, such as The Monkeys. And I have a lousy memory of which Top 40 singles the girls of those days would have liked. Probably not "I don't like spiders and snakes", I guess.
The boy experiences I had as a boy were nothing special, they were just boy experiences. Playing with plastic soldiers. Toy graters and dump-trucks. Cubs (an exercise in failing at badges). Being taught to hitch-hike. Friends and I finding a Playboy in a garbage and looking at it wide-eyed. Chemistry sets. Wood-working and home repairs with my father. Flipping (tossing) baseball and hockey cards (http://www.streetplay.com/thegames/baseballcards.shtml). Red Rover, and British Bulldogs.
I never did have any "first date" or "first car" or "first 'getting to first base'" or "making out at a drive-in" kind of experiences. "First Junior Math Olympiad" doesn't have the same ring to it. I don't recall any (overnight) Youth Camps either.
I did have "crushes" along the way, on girls. Guess I have a bit of wiggle room there as I still like women and back in those days in our school, a girl was unlikely to admit to a crush on another girl.
I don't know if I could fake liking the boy bands of the era, such as The Monkeys. And I have a lousy memory of which Top 40 singles the girls of those days would have liked. Probably not "I don't like spiders and snakes", I guess.