I feel like this is not an uncommon sentiment, the whole “but what if i don’t pass and feel stupid making everyone call me a woman?” thing. Most people don’t make this feeling the basis for an entire philosophical edifice, though.
Also the answer to the conundrum is just like, okay, so don’t do that then! No one said you have to! It’s not really about whether you are a woman in some cosmic sense, it’s just about what makes you feel most comfortable – if you want to transition but really feel that weird about the social transition part, you can always just take estrogen for the mental/physical effects and keep calling yourself a guy. Then do the rest of the stuff if/when strangers start consistently assuming you’re a woman anyway (after all, they’re not your friends, they have no reason to “lie” to you). It’s not the 1990s anymore, there’s no rule that says you have to come out to everyone in your life as the first step.
I feel like this is not an uncommon sentiment, the whole “but what if i don’t pass and feel stupid making everyone call me a woman?” thing. Most people don’t make this feeling the basis for an entire philosophical edifice, though.
Also the answer to the conundrum is just like, okay, so don’t do that then! No one said you have to! It’s not really about whether you are a woman in some cosmic sense, it’s just about what makes you feel most comfortable – if you want to transition but really feel that weird about the social transition part, you can always just take estrogen for the mental/physical effects and keep calling yourself a guy. Then do the rest of the stuff if/when strangers start consistently assuming you’re a woman anyway (after all, they’re not your friends, they have no reason to “lie” to you). It’s not the 1990s anymore, there’s no rule that says you have to come out to everyone in your life as the first step.