"Im so tired of needing to always be a man"

[devida]

Well, I do understand what you're saying. I too am sick to death of being a man, in terms of the ideas that I labored under for most of my life believing were necessary to being masculine. In fact I never did act much like the stereotype of manliness that I thought I had to maintain. I was always pretty queer and, really, nobody treated me like I was some masculine hunk. What I discovered was that this was really entirely up to me. Nobody actually had the ability to force me to be masculine. I gave them that power. It was never theirs. My gender identity was always mine. I did not have to do what I, in my confused view, thought was masculine. Nobody was telling me I had to be this or that. I was telling myself what manliness was, based on cues from my childhood and the general society. All I had to do was recognize that and understand I really could do whatever I wanted. Of course there are consequences to all of our actions, non-conforming or not, but they're rarely as bad as what we imagine. In fact, these days, society in the West is so much more tolerant of gender deviance that it's historically unprecedented. If you don't want to be what you think is masculine, don't be. Find out who you want to be, and try to be that, rather than what you think other people want you to be. They actually probably don't care as much as you think they do. Life, especially for someone trying to discover their true identity, gender, or otherwise, is an adventure of self-discovery. Don't freeze yourself in place with fear and anxiety. Enjoy the adventure!

Oops, I should have read your signature. I assumed you were a man complaining about gender expectations, not a GG/ So to a CD, so you'll have to take my comments as if I was talking to the man who was making these complaints. Sorry!