I was 30 before I realised the term ‘transgender’ might apply to me. The problem wasn’t me, it was the story I’d been told
For the longest time, I was convinced I couldn’t be really transgender. I knew that living as a woman made me want to climb out of my own skin, but I also understood that my story bore little resemblance to how trans lives were supposed to play out.
This was what I’d been taught constituted trans experience: trans people are “born in the wrong body” and assert their identity from earliest childhood, refusing the trappings of their assigned gender. As they grow up, trans people doggedly fight to live as their true self, often leading to social ostracism. They desire to medically transition via hormones and surgery, and will pursue these interventions at any cost. The goal is to live as a “real” man or woman, and ultimately assimilate back into the gender binary.
