If I'd been born a cisboy...

[alpha12]

I would have gotten into a LOT less trouble in nursery school/kindergarten for playing with the boys.

I would not have been taught how to cook or sew.

I would have been required to learn talmud at a young age

I would have been sent away to school in the east coast in seventh or eighth grade

I would not have gotten a reputation as an oddball for insisting on dressing in black and white, wearing lace up black oxfords, and modeling my brother's black hat in the mirror.

I would not have been allowed to go to college.

Ok, so my life was weird even without the gender issues. But in some ways, my tendency to cross-dress a bit--wearing severely simple black and white clothes, and white oxford shirts--as close to Orthodox Jewish men's clothing as I was allowed to get--was met with approval because it was "modest". I didn't push the envelope in quite the same ways as my classmates (all female, strict gender segregation), and so I didn't get the same level of constant harping about modesty and such. I was a young prig with a seriously overdeveloped sense of propriety. If I had been born a cisboy, that probably would have earned me a spot in an elite yeshiva at a young age.

Boy, was I lucky to have been born female. Ironically, despite the oppression of a strictly patriarchal community and marriage model enforced by the community, women before marriage in that community have a lot more freedom with regard to education, and education is the key to getting out.

After a year of attempted brainwashing in Jerusalem I went to college and I even got my first pair of jeans. At the age of 22.

When I say I'm ambivalent about my sex, boy do I mean it! I doubt I would have survived long enough to escape if I had been raised a boy.

[sandra-leigh]

I can't seem to help it... every time I read the title of this thread, I mentally set it to music:

"If I was a cis-boy
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum
All day long I'd ..."

[Andy66]

I can't seem to help it... every time I read the title of this thread, I mentally set it to music:

"If I was a cis-boy
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum
All day long I'd ..."

"TRADITION!"
I'm so confused, it's funny in a not funny sort of way!

[Adam]

I was given the ok to do whatever i wanted to do regardless of gender while growing up! yes in school sports i had to do what the girls did but this is the only time my gender came into things growing up.

And once i reached 11 because i told my folks i dident want to change in the girls changeing rooms and do girl sports the wrote me a letter to the school to say im not to do sport if i dident want so after 11 i never did sports at school.

At home once i passed age about 5 (before that my folks did try to push me into the female gender role) after this they noticed it made me unhappy and gave me the choice of boy stuff to wear and do

i guess if i was born male though i would have gotten a gf by now and at least been on a date of two its only ME and my discomfort with my body that has stopped me!

I am one of the lucky few becasue my folks are happy me being my own person and as long as im happy and not hurting anyone else there happy for me to do what i like.

i had 4 brothers and one sister growing up i always did the same things as my brothers had tonn's of fun made go karts, a tree house (and its still standing even though we no longer live there we moved years ago).
None of my family are into sport so that never got played anyways.

[Leo Lane]

I'm one of those lucky ones who grew up doing much the same things he'd have done as a cisboy. But I wouldn't have had to wear a skirt in choir; I wouldn't have done my head in for years wondering how I could possibly feel like a gay guy; I'd have been able to serve at the altar and seriously consider the priesthood. The last one is the only one I feel bitter about.

[Lex]

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about those skirts and dresses I had to wear at school. If I'd been a csiboy, I would have worn pants to school. I would not have spent windy days clutching at my schooldress to hold it down. And on those rare days that I didn't, if I had been a csiboy, no one would have seen my underwear. Seriously, cotton dresses are LAME when you mix them with even a gentle breeze.

[AnonyMouse]

It occurred to me once that I've actually benefited a lot from being born female, and I stick with that assessment. See, if I'd been born a boy:

I would still have been raised almost entirely by females.

I wouldn't have gotten so frustrated when people treated me differently because I was a girl; because of that, I never would have become the feminist I am today.

I would have had to struggle between my fundamentalist Christian faith, and a male sex drive and homosexuality.

I probably wouldn't have given transsexualism more than a passing thought. Because of this, I wouldn't understand why gender expression was so important and how much trans people struggle to be acknowledged - and I wouldn't be able to apply that understanding to other subjects, such as racism.

I would never have dared to wear a dress on Halloween (the one time of year when I sometimes like to do so).

I probably wouldn't have developed the sense of empathy I have today.

I definitely would never have been able to fully appreciate my male-ness and what it means to me.

I would have gotten to wear more of the awesome boys' clothes, shoes, and accessories that I so dearly wanted.

Other than that, I'd probably have done the same things I did as a girl.

[NiCo]

If I had been born normal I reckon I’d be an utter pr*ck and I’d probably be really vain [more so than I am now], screwing females or males about, taking advantage and up to no good all the time.

It’s the life I’ve lived so far who has made me as I am today, hopefully I can be seen as open minded [I try my best to accept everyone’s situation and not judge] and I think I have a lot more life experience and more mature than I would be if I was born without my problems now.