Personal Narrative: My Gender Identity

One can liken my transgender journey to being on a seldom used bumpy old state highway with very few service stations along the way. I was scared to take the route, to begin with, and it took three-quarters of my lifetime to choose to make the trip, having enjoyed nicely paved modern highways for all of it, so why would I? One good reason is that the better highways with their smoothly rolled asphalt and all the convenient well-lit rest areas didn’t take me to any destinations I wanted to reach. So at age 62, I packed all my undeniable inclinations, my dreams, hopes, and desires and chose a ribbon of bad pavement, that went on and on into the horizon for as far as the eye can see and only two lanes, to boot. For sure, my side of the road seemed to go on forever, but the other lane just as frightening. It took me

There are many ways One’s identity can be defined. Only you can truly define who you are. You control what your experiences and influences make of you. When asked who am I, there could be millions of different answers depending on what you base your identity off of. To me, the question who am I, can only truly be answered in one way. So, who am I? For me, it’s an easy question. I’ve always known that I was the quiet girl In the back of the classroom by herself.

I am not a repressed housewife. I am not a sweet dormouse that fears making waves. I am a millennial, and I am loud. I am a person who believes in America, and its policy of justice for all. Feminism is a huge aspect of our society. It's hard to scroll through social media without seeing a post about infringement on women's rights. I've never considered myself to be a feminist, and I still don't. However, one incident changed the way that I looked at the world, and how safe I felt within it. This incident showed me who I want to be in the world. My mom and I had just stopped at a Hardee's not too far from my small hometown. We were returning from a college tour downstate, and were starving by the time we reached Manistique. We could smell

Identity is what I believe the thing that makes up all human beings. Everybody has an identity, some just aren't as brisk to comprehend what it is or what it means. Identity is generally what someone's traits make up and in my case, I believe I am benevolent, venturesome, and optimistic. Some of the qualities I consider myself to have are not what I would have considered myself to be last year. I believe life lessons that someone undergoes can change their identity and the way they come off drastically.

My Identity connects to my culture because it describes the way I look and the point of view I have on certain topics. My culture is the Native American tribe, Wampanoag and I am also Mexican. I have some facial features and body structures from both sides of the family like: most of my family has brown or black hair, we are taller than the average human, and our faces have an oval shape. Some topics that my family has taught me from both sides of the family is, family always sticks together and always comes first, and If you see bad things going on in the world, always try to help and do whats right. From my Dad’s side of the family, I learned tons about survival skills and on my Mom’s side I learned a lot about traditions. An example from

I lived far away from my hometown. At beginning, I concealed my sexual identity. I was living at bottom of society and struggle for survive. I had done a lot of odd jobs. I met some friends at work. In my naivety, I thought I would be accepted by friend as a homosexual. I told one of the co-workers who I believed he was my friend about my being a gay. Somehow all others knew my sexuality. Some co-workers force me to get drunk, then they sexual assaulted me. Every time I tried to protect myself by law, they would tell the police that I had mental disease and they asked policemen take me to the mental hospital. These happened several times, each time I was hurt and was fired. At the end it was miserable, nobody would

“Before I knew I was transsexual, I went through years of pain... It’s only now that I’m living as a woman that I finally feel comfortable with myself” (“Real Lives - Three Transsexuals”). This quote, from a male-to-female transsexual individual who was living as a woman while waiting to qualify for gender re-assignment surgery (GReS), shows the pain that those who struggle with gender identity disorders (GIDS) undergoi while “trapped” in the physical and social constraints of living as their original gender, as well as the relief that comes with living as a member of their “true” gender. Some may argue that use of surgery for purposes of treating gender identity disorders is morally unacceptable since trans sexuality does not belong

By the time I was in 9th grade, I had let go of the faith that had oppressed me for so long. I came out to my mom, and life was good. I began to become more open minded, which is how I realized that I wasn’t just gay. I’m also nonbinary (basically, I don’t fit feel either male nor female). The night I realized that, all my teachings as a child hit me like a semi-truck yet again. It’s okay for others, but not me! I still liked dresses, so why was I so sure I wasn’t a girl? It was hard to get past. But I took on my first changed name, Dawn, once I hit 10th grade. It was still feminine, perhaps even more so than my given name, but I just wanted something different. I told my grandmother, and she disowned me for quite a bit (she has came to accept me again). I spent a lot of my 10th grade searching for the right word for my gender, but I realize now that gender is a mess and I don’t have a word for how I feel, only transgender. And I love that aspect of myself, even if my own family

I became accustomed to hearing words like 'faggot', and 'tranny' from other children in the classroom, sitting isolated at the lunch table, and being the subject of hushed whispers from not only my peers, but the adults whom I had trusted. It didn't occur to me that I was such an anomaly for wanting to be male until high school, when my family members made the executive decision to enroll me in a home school program. It was during this period that I would discover the word transgender in a news article about same-sex marriage. As soon as I delved into researching what being transgender entailed and the concept of gender dysphoria, I knew that I was not just confused, nor alone in my identity. There were other people like me, and that let me feel complete for once. In the months when I was grasping the concept of my identity and who I was, I began to realize what I had to

From the moment I was born me and my twin sister were always seen as a pair. We did everything together; we had the same friends, we ate the same food, we drove the same car, we were on the same athletic teams. We did everything together for fifteen years. However, one day I decided that I wanted to create my own identity. After playing soccer for ten years on the same team with my twin, I finally decided I was going to do something by myself. I decided to switch over and conquer the game of golf without my sister by my side.

My upbringing, up until college had a large impact on how I viewed gender. I believed strongly in the two gender binary, however, I was raised to be respectful and kind to people, so that lead to me being indifferent about people who strayed from the gender binary. However, after being enlightened through USEMs and WGS classes, I realized ‘indifferentness’ is not positive ways to view something different. The feeling of being indifferent can translate to ignoring or not addressing and that translates to oppression. The good person I am does not want to make others feel oppressed or make anyone feel anything but love. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to find out more about gender, sexuality and other issues. I believe I am at a good place

There has been a strong sense of gender roles in our society where behavioral norms are set for each gender. As a Korean, I grew up with Confucian ideas which explain specific gender roles. In my family, my father showed what men should be like, and my mother was the person who did all the house works. I had a strong notion of women do the house work and that men should work for livings. Men should not cry, men should be responsible for what one has said, and men have to be strong. These ideas of gender norms influenced how I behaved in my entire life.

Well, society encouraged me to act in “gender-appropriate” ways from the moment my parents found out they were having a little girl so my room when I grew up was all decked out in pink and purple, while my brother got a room with blues and greens. From the moment parents find out what the sex of their child is they automatically assign their child to the color that fits their gender like pinks and purples for girls and blue and green for boys. I always grew up surrounded by flowers and things that are deemed as girly and I found nothing wrong with it because it felt normal to me. Well an example of a socialization I experienced as a child was that I always thought everyone had a stay-at-home mom like I did and a father who worked all day to

I knew Christmas was coming up, and I knew my wife was going to go all out to get me something special! With only $2.00 I went into the city to try and find something that I knew she would like. First I went into the women shoe dept. Store, I looked all over for some shoes but I did not find anything. Next I went into the women clothing store. I thought about buying Della a nice outfit. BUT I did not have enough money for a nice outfit and I knew the man would not negotiate with me. After 2 hours of looking and thinking, I am now starting to panic it is getting late and I do not have a clue, nor a thought about what I should get my wife! As I was walking, out of luck, I walked past a beauty supply store and I saw this BEAUTIFUL comb! My wife had long beautiful hair and I knew she would love this comb.

For most of my life, I was never comfortable with who I am. Grappling with my sexuality, I was ashamed with my identity. I always felt that no matter what I did, no matter what I accomplished, I would always be a disappointment to my family and friends. There were many moments where I wished I was normal, where I did not have feelings for people of the same sex. There was always the need to hide who I am from the people I love because as I grew up, it was reinforced that being gay was unacceptable.