Brianne wrote:The fact that your even seriously asking shows that you have a real underlying desire to explore your femininity. You should do it! The worst thing you can do is tell yourself to ignore it and just be a man. You may end up getting married to a women who knows nothing of your desires. You may think that marriage will make your desires go away. What will really happen is that after your married they will come back creating a lot of stress and confusion in your marriage. While you have the freedom to do so follow your heart. I don't mean hormones or anything serious, just explore and see where it takes you. Having broad shoulders is not going to change who you really are inside. There are female fashions that can hide a large frame. Life is just too short to try and conform for someone else. Trust me on this.
Or you could discover that what you are feeling is merely how some other desire is being expressed, understand what this aspect is, and accept it as simply part of who you are without needing to go into anything too drastic or life changing. The impulse does not matter, but instead how strong it is, and what specific things it is driving. The problem with the mentality of it being something that should be embraced in all cases, or that not embracing it to its fullest will only lead to more problems is that it still ends up trapping some people in a cycle of being at odds between the person they're being told that they should be, and who they really feel that they are. During highschool and college I had a friend who was transgender, or atleast thought themself to be. As part of trying to support him, and show that I was still a friend, I had joined him in going to one of those group sessions where they discuss how their feelings are all natural, and were something that was always part of them, and all that. Even though I am quite comfortable living as a man, and have grown to like some aspects of my manliness, most of their initial impression of me was as someone who was lying to themself, and making excuses, who really had felt that they were born in the wrong body, instead of simply wanting to support my friend in his transition. In the few years that followed my friend continued going through various ups and downs in the process, often calling me in the middle of the night in tears of frustration. Went though a few attempts to purge their wardrobe, was even suicidal for awhile. Eventually s/he moved out west, and we've lost contact over the years, so don't really know what ever happened. Last I heard, they were living with some friends they made there, and were contemplating a name change.
Just because someone goes part way in something out of curiosity, and isn't immediately freaked out by it, or totally disgusted by the idea doesn't necessarily mean that it is something that they should change their whole life to fit around. You should try to differentiate words of support from words of direction or encouragement. And really decide for yourself what you think is best. Some thoughts of wanting to be a girl, or feeling not like a boy, are actually quite common once children start developing concepts of gender differences, and try to identify which one they are. The same things may continue to happen throughout a person's life. That may not mean that they are living a lie, or are in denial of some part of themselves, but may merely be some confusion between who they want to be and who others are telling them to be.
I guess the real center of the issue is what you want to believe about the self. Is it something static, which is decided by birth, and which we are forever at odds with in trying to project those innate aspects into our life, or is it something mutable, which changes as we grow, reflecting those various aspects which we are most exposed, or have a greater affinity with? Are we born as a certain gender, or do we gain that identity as we age? Likewise, is gender something absolute and innate, or is it something more flexible and primarily just a social construct to divide the sexes? How one answers these questions affects how they define a person as being merely confused, metro-sexual, feminine, transvestite, gay, transgender, and so on.
Regardless, the point is that the concept of "living a lie" works both ways. In both cases it is some group of people trying to tell you how you should be so that it fits within their ideals of what is right or wrong, instead of letting you define it yourself. Yes, you could dive right in, and be rather happy, you could also let those minor aspects come forth as part of who you are, instead of making them define who you are, and still be mostly happy. You could even come to the realization that these feelings are just a bit of confusion, sort through them, and never have any of this come up again, while leading a life which is no more conflicted than otherwise. Or you could be miserable, confused, and inadequate no matter what you do.
No disrespect to anyone who may think otherwise. This is merely what I believe after being exposed to what I have over the years. Going through such a life changing process takes a great deal of personal strength, courage, and commitment. I'm not trying to suggest that anything you did was wrong, only that there may be other solutions to be considered before going down that road.