(14-09-2012, 04:33 AM)Melani Wrote: I believe I am transgender in the sense that I have very strong femine influence in my personality. I'm divorced with kids so with that I feel I have the obligation to remain their father. However in my own time I do go out en femme shop and date go to clubs restaurants etc so I don't fear my TG side at all. Having a mental realignment would be cool
This whole question of 'maleness' and 'femaleness' is as we all know extremely complex and IMO it is impossible and possibly even detrimental to try to categorise ourselves too tightly.
My view is that there is a continuous spectrum from one end to the other but with many harmonics as well.
I can't and don't want to argue with Abi's point of view but I would simply observe that she tends to exhibit a fairly common trait of many "full-blown transexuals" who tend to say, in one way or another, that theirs is the only way and it should be full-blown or nothing. Many, if not most, of us on here, are what we have previously described as " inbetweenies" - we simply do not want to go all the way, but we do want to develop breasts.
There is some work done in the US by Anne Vitale which suggests a possible link between the maternal androgen/oestrogen balance which can leave some male babies with a brain that is pre-programmed to expect a higher level of femaleness. This manifests itself in a need to cross-dress, etc, and can cause inner conflicts leading to depression and anger. Taking oestrogens appears to give the brain what it has been artificially seeking and this can have several knock on effects - relieving the inner tensions and giving a feeling of peace and calmness, and most surprisingly ( on the surface), many of us realise that we lose the drive to cross-dress! Ironically, the very act of developing the most obvious outward symbol of femininity removes the need for it!