This is a great question, and one that I have heard from many others as well. I’d like to take some time to walk with you through this to see if I can provide any helpful insight into what you are trying to figure out.Before we begin, I wanted to mention that I can tell you are a very insightful person, and this has played a big part in helping you come to your conclusions about your gender identity.I also can see how that insightfulness is leading you down this other path of questions, regarding what it means to have come to these realizations “later in life” than it seems like others have. So, it makes sense that you are continuing to explore the deeper layers of what is going on here.

Now, what I want to do first is look at your concern that it seems like most others “knew since they were little” that they were transgender.

A couple of months ago I did an informal survey of a wide range of self-identified transgender folks. The question was, “About how old were you when you can first remember having wonderings about your gender identity?” The question was for both binary and non-binary folks to answer.

Although the answers varied widely, especially depending on how old the respondents were as well as how they identified (binary vs. non-binary, especially), I began to notice a pattern.

Much of the timeline went something like this:

First – For as long as they could remember they have felt like they were “different.”

Next – In their younger years they would experiment (even if they didn’t know why) with behaviors and activities that would be seen as not aligning with their assigned-gender-at-birth.

Next – If anyone was aware of them doing this, it was oftentimes discouraged, which was very confusing to them.

Next – Puberty hits and social and/or physical discomfort escalates, oftentimes with a lot of intensity. It can be incredibly difficult to feel this way and not understand why, so repression of these feelings oftentimes occurs and/or trying to conform in exaggerated ways (i.e. “hyper-masculinize” or “hyper-feminize”) to the gender they were assigned.

Next – At some point they learn that there is such a thing as not being totally aligned with your assigned-gender-at-birth. They may finally feel like they are not alone and that there is hope.

Next – Depending on their situation they might act upon this new knowledge right away and make changes in their life to align with their true gender identity, or it might take a while before they are able and ready to do so.

Now, take a look at what you said in your message:

>> I always felt that something was off, especially when it came to relating to “other girls.”

Even if you didn’t have the words for it, you did indeed recognize that there was something going on with you. And, like I mentioned about the survey results, this is what was very commonly reported by others as well.

It’s possible that you have heard others saying, “I knew I was transgender since I was very young,” thinking that they actually knew what the word transgender meant, and that they were able to apply that to themselves at that young of an age.

More than likely they are applying their present-day knowledge of what it means to be transgender to the feelings their child-self was experiencing.

There’s something else I noticed in the survey that speaks to your experience as well. This process of discovering one’s true gender identity is, at least currently, a bit more complicated for those who end up identifying as non-binary. There isn’t as much information out there about what it means to be non-binary, not to mention there are fewer examples of persons you might encounter in your life who identify that way (including in the media).

Therefore non-binary identities can take longer to discover as even being something that exists, let alone finding information about it, let alone others who feel the same way.

Let’s bring this point in when looking at your next concern:

>>I experience body dysphoria, although I hadn’t before (only social and mental, in retrospect).

Everyone is different, when it comes to what layers of gender dysphoria they struggle with and at what times. As we already established, you are an insightful, self-aware person, so it would make sense that you noticed the social and mental distress before the physical.

Also keep in the mind being genderfluid means that there is a wide variety of body dysphoria that you are experiencing. You’re having to analyze every part of your physical body that, for many, have “maleness” or “femaleness” attached to it, and you’re coming up with your own personal and unique combination that isn’t necessarily dictated by gender.

It’s human nature to go through stages of realization, when it comes to self-discovery. So it’s totally normal that you would only now be recognizing body dysphoria.

It can be extremely difficult to connect with one’s body when there has been a disconnect that you haven’t known the root of. Now that you are owning your genderfluid identity, you are finally ready to be honest with how you feel about your body.

Don’t hurry it, you can take the time to continue to explore how you feel, and be able to ride through the doubts one day at a time.

I know in a lot of ways this can all sound very daunting to have to figure out. It can feel very confusing at times, especially because non-binary identities are only now beginning to get attention.

But you just being yourself is changing this world and the “old ways” in which people have been thinking about gender. There are more and more people every day discovering what it means to be non-binary, and you are one of them!

Your experience is going to help someone else down the road, so thank you for letting me answer this question on this website. Hundreds of people are going to end up reading this and saying, “Hey, that’s the same thing I was wondering about!” 🙂

Hope this has been able to help. Best of luck to you GJ!

Dara

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