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I was seeing my therapist today and she asked me this interesting question.
"Is there something that you would be able to do if you was a woman, that you can not do now as a man?"
One thing I would love to do is go to the playground with my little son and spend time with the other mums there. I can do that as a man as well but it wouldn't be the same i think.
Another thing would be looking at my self in the mirror and like what I see.
So now I'm curious to hear Your answers to that.
I can buy XS women's clothes that fit me perfectly. I'd have to be a lot bigger as a women to do that with men's clothes.
I have no idea whether I'd have the sewing skills as a woman to resew shirt sleeves. I'd expect them to be too long and need to be shortened.
Marion
This thread is not exclusively transsexual in nature so the cross dressing section is a better fit.
Christine,
I found myself making excuses for things I could do as a man but not as a woman , I've gradually proved myself wrong , if you're capable as a man then you should be as capable as a woman .
Sorry I've turned the question round so what can I now do as a female that I couldn't do as male ? Of course the obvious one is getting far more enjoyment out of the choices in clothing styles and colours and how they feel and look . I'm finding people relate to me better as a woman , men do tend to have a barrier with some relationships .
It's quite a tough question as it suggest we're talking about two different people within the same body .
It might be interesting to read the answers from F/M TGs , if the question is reversed .
Honestly bearing children is the only thing that I can think of that I can't do as a man that I could do as a woman.
Sure I can make up all kinds of other scinarios where being a woman would be beneficial, but it's not like I "can't" do those things as a man.
Oh I guess things like join Women only clubs, teams, and organizations.
As Roberta has said the only thing a woman can do that a man cannot do is give birth and nurse a baby. Other than that a woman is capable of doing anything a man can do. I think one of the reasons some men get so upset about women is the male bastions are being destroyed. As a sidebar one of my wife's female cousins has a birth daughter who is intending to surgically transition to a man, but is now pregnant. My wife's cousin is ecstatic.
Have your personal grooming items taxed?
Although not a woman (I am an enby)... I am shapeshifting through medicine to look more like a woman.
In the role of a woman in society I’ll get to be reduced to a sexualized object but I wasn’t when a man.
I’ll get to do things like be be talked over in conversations and mansplained subjects I have already mastered.
Ooooh... and here’s a good one that I’ve had happen a couple of times. As a woman I get to experience predatory posturing and language when riding my bike or walking across the street. Never got tondo that as a man.
Touche, Wren. I started thinking along the same lines, all the "experiences" that women put up with because we're not men.
All I could come up with is stopping to ask directions.😃
Not so much things I could not do but things that people do for me! Hold the door, slam on the brakes and let me cross the road, help me put my coat on. What I really like is that women will strike up conversations with me, sometimes about really personal things (in their lives) and I can listen and empathise and share some sororal support. I had a great natter with a woman on the beach tonight, she opened up about her problems (just to vent) and I nodded and made the appropriate noises and also shared my [hopefully] sage wisdom. That would never have happened if I was wearing my boy clothes.
As a woman you can go out in public and engage in conversation without being perceived as a threat.
As a woman I could express my emotions, I could talk with my hands without being accused of being gay, and I could dress in any fashion I felt comfortable in.
Angela,
That's possibly one thing I didn't expect but it's lovely now I do .
I find I'm missing the little things but it's more to do with Covid 19 , like the little chats and comments in the changing rooms when trying on clothes . Men would never comment on your figure or tell you how nice something fits or give the encouragement when you think something is too short or possibly a little tarty .
I also agree emotions are easier to show .
I think Angela said it best as a women you get soooo much more personal than any man.Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelaYVR
Years ago when I was just starting on my journey I was getting a makeover. The makeup artist made an interesting point. She said "watch the way women interact with one another. They will pass each other on the street, in the mall etc.; and even if they don't know each other they will often smile at one another. That would never happen with men". Women are much more outgoing and can more easily share their feelings, generally speaking. That and the feminine mannerisms, which I inadvertently fall into as a male are, I think, some of the distinguishing characteristics.
I suspect that when it really comes down to it, the things that women can now do in comparison to a man are becoming fewer and fewer. Naturally there are some things that are different such physical strength and the like, but even those things are becoming marginal as many younger women are body building and gaining a great deal of physical strength without looking like the Incredible Hulk.
So personally, I don't think there are a lot of differences between males and females in the potential ability to do certain tasks. That said, culture and custom does produce differences that are really not very rational. Tradition dies hard. I think Angela makes some excellent points. When it comes to connecting with other people and showing sympathy, empathy, and compassion GG's are the Masters and those physically male people who accurately present as women in both looks and behavior due to identity differences have a big edge over garden variety males when it comes to relationships. Humility is a powerful tool. Women can express powerful and very complex ideas just as well as men and they can understand such things just as well as men. But when it comes to emotional connections the men don't shine very bright, but women are brilliant.
My surgical transitions will occur in the next six months or so. Things I have experienced during my last two years of living full-time as a woman, which did not happen, or happened far less often, when I was perceived as a man, include:
* I get far more complements on my clothing, as well as on how pretty / beautiful / or cute I am, often from complete strangers who have no reason to butter me up, than ever happened while I was a man.
* I am accepted in women-only activities, like sleepovers, and camping trips, and retreats that are intended solely for women.
* I can freely shop for nice, feminine clothing, without embarrassing incidents, while engaging in polite conversation with other female customers, as well as sales associates.
* I can complement another woman’s clothes or appearance, and sincerely strike up a conversation about clothes, makeup, or even feminine intimate apparel, without being perceived as hitting on the woman, or being a predatory threat.
* I can make friends much more easily among the lesbian community, which I identify as being part of.
* Men hold doors open for me, and often allow me to take a place in line ahead of them, such as when paying for my purchases, or going into a movie or restaurant.
* I can dance with strangers much more freely, again without being perceived as a threat.
Some things I anticipate enjoying once my top and bottom surgeries are complete:
* Being able to use the public women’s showers and locker rooms at a gym, swimming pool, or campground, without fear of bad reactions from other women. (I already can freely use the women’s restrooms, even engaging other women in conversation while there, but the surgeries will allow My disrobing fully to shower or change clothes, without exposing male differences.)
* Being able to wear any blouse or bra or bikini top or dress that I choose, including clothes with low necklines or skimpy bikini tops, without worrying about my breast forms showing.
* Being able to walk, jog, dance, or participate in other physically active endeavors, without breast forms getting hot, sweaty, and threatening to slip out of position.
* Being able to date a wider range of lesbian women, or possibly men, without the unexpected differences in my genitals being a roadblock or disqualifying complication. Several of my lesbian friends will be more likely to date me, post-op.
As for the negative changes, I still behave as a confident, self-assured person, and not as a meek victim, so I get little of the predatory or threatening behavior directed at me. And I present well enough as a sincerely authentic female that even hard core dyke lesbians accept me as female. I have had some hate directed my way when perceived as queer by homophobes, but nothing I can’t deal with.
The one thing that a woman can do that a man definitely cannot do? It's obvious.
Find my glasses and phone.
We must consider Christine posed this question after comments from her therapist in the TS section so she was possbly looking for relevant answers as a TS .
Get hit on by straight men. (Happen to me when I go out to costume events at Halloween!):battingeyelashes:
Dancing alone on club dance floors.
Going to a bar and never having to buy your own drinks!:thumbsup:
Seems like the definition of "can't do as a man" actually means "Are afraid to do as a man" to many people. :p
Accept for a couple of the things Ceera said
I think that many here got the therapist's question in the wrong sense and are talking about equality but even with that in mind there're things that just women can do and men can't, no time to think in all of them and read all the comments her so some of you already mentioned but come to my mind these few:
To use the women's restroom, it's been a couple years I'm just me, so no men's restroom but reveling with wife some weeks ago we got in a place and women's restroom was out of service so the clerk apologize and told us just clean the men's restroom so we both got into and wife said, this is horrible, the guy just cleaned but still looking and smelling like sh@&*t! Lol.
The feeling of calling men's attention is delicious 😋.
Women have infinite alternative to dress, colors, etc.
For a man will impossible to stop being in the middle of swx and dress and just go home, for a woman swx is emotional not just physical as for men so we change mood, stop, dress and can watch tv or go home...lol
You can keep the list for the things a woman can do and men can't is infinite...
Devi
What she said.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceera
To me, these are the things that women can do that men can't. Or stated better, joyful things that women can experience that men can't.
Oh, this is easy. Cry. Sure, we can do it, but pretty much nobody can deal with it; men simply still aren't supposed to cry (unless a wife or child dies, or something equally horrific). Women usually won't admit that it makes them uncomfortable, because that's not politically correct, but I've seen numerous women on TV talk shows that admit that they don't like it; the best quote, was, 'When a man cries, there's no good place to look, and you just sit there, wishing he'd stop'; I can't remember which celebrity said it, but the others on the panel all agreed with her.
Yes Lexi, crying in public is pretty much taboo for a man. When I was much younger I would go somewhere in private before balling my eyes out! I've become more stoic with age.
what would capture it?? What does "just not a male thing to do" mean to you? Just wondering.Quote:
Originally Posted by Natasha T
Why is it not a male thing to do?
Afraid of giving up masculinity is my best guess..
that fear drives alot of male behaviour in my opinion.
Women can show off more of their body in everyday situations. Whether it is more leg, more shoulder, or even tighter cloths. Unless I?m a swimming situation men don?t get to show off as much.
More clothing options as a woman, Women clothing has many more variations than men
Go shopping with a friend.