How Can You Know Your Gender Beyond Stereotypes?
How do you know you're trans beyond gender stereotypes? Dr. Z explains why you can't—until you have experiential experiences.
A viewer asked: "I'm assigned male at birth transitioning to trans female. Someone asked how I know I'm trans female. I realized I couldn't answer beyond gender stereotypes or what it's like to be female. Now I'm questioning if I'm really trans—shouldn't I know and be able to describe identifying as trans female beyond stereotypes?"
Here's the thing: It's impossible to describe yourself beyond gender stereotypes without learned experiential experiences. You need experiences between yourself, your body, your relationship to your body and gender, and the way it's navigated through the world. Unless the world interacts with you and relates back to you as a particular gender, you may not know what it feels like. You'll have intellectual understanding based on stereotypical context—and that's okay.
You were assigned male at birth. The world interacted with you through male lens your whole life. You actually know experientially what it's like to live as a boy and man. You can draw from experiences beyond stereotypes. But you're not there yet with your authentic gender—you will be once you transition and start collecting immersive experiences.
Watch to find out why not being able to describe gender beyond stereotypes doesn't negate being transgender, why the most important thing is knowing assigned gender at birth doesn't resonate with you, and why you need to take small affirming steps to see if they line up and validate.
