Sounds like my childhood, yup. My mother usually didn't try to force me to do feminine things - she always felt like cross-gender behavior in kids was a normal thing, and didn't detract from who they were gender-wise. (Bless my mum's dear old heart for that!) But once Christianity came into it, she put her foot down. I HAD to wear my hair long (which I disliked because of practicality, not gender). I HAD to wear dresses to church. Yadda yadda yadda.
Still, it wasn't a gender issue, at least in my 3-16-year-old brain. Just personal taste.
Yup. I credit this for the fact that I never really questioned my own gender identity.
Oh, lord, the Fundamentalist Lifestyle. That stuff messed me up, seriously. (For instance: I'd lie awake at night worrying that I was going to die in my sleep, because I was convinced that God's mercy was the only thing keeping me awake. I was also chronically self-flagellating because I couldn't bring myself to obey the principle tenets.)
I am SO glad that my sister got me out of that BEFORE I could get married, get pregnant, and not figure this stuff out until I was 45 with children.
I'm inclined to agree with this. I seem to be something of a special case here: I actually wanted to get pregnant when I was a kid. Not for the "miracle of life growing inside you" and all that stuff. Just because I really wanted to have kids. I figured putting up with an interior invader and the havoc it would wreak on my body would be worth it to have children.
Now, though? No, thanks. I've seen pregnant woman. The way they clutch their stomachs like they're going to fall off. Then there's the involuntary weight gain and the "waddling" and other stuff that I find repulsive not because I'm a guy, but because I have serious fat-terror issues (thank my mother for that, too). I do not want rounder breasts, fuller hips, or a rounder face (ESPECIALLY NOT THAT!) I don't care what it would do for my skin, either - I don't want that much estrogen in my system.
Still, I applaud Thomas Beatie for having the 'nads to do that. And I hope that maybe he's inspired a few people to broaden their definition of what a man is. I know that I did after I read about him the first time.
Anyway, back to the original question... Even though I'm conventionally straight (female body, attracted mainly to males), my sexuality was the first thing that I really questioned. Partially because I'd started to notice (though insistently deny) that I had a thing for certain sets of boobs. Also because of my high testosterone levels, and my persistent inability to act feminine (without trying really, really hard). I could not figure out for the life of me WHY I wasn't a lesbian. I finally decided - and this is a sentiment I still agree with - that I'd just gotten lucky. (Of course gender identity and sexual orientation are different things, but it is statistically more likely that a trans man will be attracted to women.)