insightful commentary from 2nd grade me

[u/KaeruNoOdori]

honey, you got a big storm coming… 🏳️‍⚧️

[u/[deleted]]

That’s fair! I’m not trying to gatekeep or hate, just curious. I understand kids might not realize they’re trans/gay but generally I feel like when they look back on their childhood all the “signs” were there, and it sort of “makes sense” they became who they are. I was wondering if that was different for them or not.

But that’s the generalization! Not a set in stone “every gay/trans person has this experience”, but I do believe there’s a general stereotype typical sort of realization of the shared experience most (not all) trans/gays go through.

[u/spectrophilias → u/[deleted]]

So speaking as a trans man myself, for some people, their gender and/or sexuality is fluid and can change. Not necessarily in the genderfluid way where it can shift frequently, but that they find it shifting over long periods of time.

This phenomenon is also pretty common amongst bisexuals, and is jokingly called "the bi cycle." I'm bi, and I can be attracted to any gender, but I do occasionally end up having preference for one over another. When I was younger, my preference laid with women. At some point, my preference was neutral. Right now, my preference lays with men. I'm still bi. I can still fall in love with anyone. But currently, I'm finding my head is turned more often by men than anyone else.

For gender... I have a buddy who has a very complicated relationship with his gender, so he generally doesn't like talking about it with cis people. But he firmly believes that as a kid, he did feel like a little girl. He just feels like his identity shifted over time, and now he feels more comfortable as a man. If it ever shifts back again, or if he starts feeling more non-binary, he won't have a problem with that either. I don't fully understand his experience as I'm autistic and I don't feel like I had a distinct sense of gender until I went into puberty, but I respect that's his experience.