[aucisson_masque]

Can’t you just be a man that loves spending time with women instead of a woman ‘trapped’ in the body of a man ?

I have known several men, non gay, that just behaved more like women than men. that was fine, and as far as I know they didn’t swapped gender.

Like you can be a duck, happy when around dogs but still be a duck.

[RebeccaTheDev]

You can do whatever you like. Many do, and are totally happy about that.

Note, again, I am talking about one specific "type" of gender dysphoria, social dysphoria. There are usually far more facets that come into play as well.

And that's also a way you know you're trans, and not just a man that loves spending time with women. Because the relationships dynamics and social expectations are totally different regardless, we feel out of place. And not being seen in the correct way causes ... pretty deep negative feelings.

[foxmoder]

Will share my personal experience here--honestly, I thought about this a long time personally for my own case, for years before and after my own transition.

To be honest? I ultimately arrived at the fact that I just feel happier when I present femme-ish. Usually still jeans and a t-shirt though--I'm not particularly hyperfeminine, as that's just not who I am.

I've decided that it works better for me, and that's enough for me.

Is it silly to "swap gender"? Absolutely. All notion of gender is silly, in my experience. We're told to perform certain appearances and actions and ideas, to socialize and be around people in a certain way. People treat you wildly differently (trust me, sigh) when they look at you and bin you as a woman versus a man--you wouldn't believe how stark of a difference it was even with old friends the minute they started physically perceiving me as a woman.

All of us are just trying to get through a wildly gendered world in a way that makes us happy--the least we can do is allow people their choice of the role they play in this grand performance, as all of us everywhere are acting.

'Transition' for me was just finally deciding that I got to pick how I socialize, how I act around people, how I dress, and so on. Someone could call me a man, perhaps--I wouldn't particularly be fond of it, and it would probably come across as unusual to others given my appearance, but surely it's a thing that could be said to me.

[srinivgp]

Some people certainly can simply enjoy spending time with people not of their assumed cluster of traits. But that's not what's going on with trans women. They aren't doing some sort of "going overboard when you'd be perfectly happy with less" or whatever you're asking. Is it really so hard to believe trans women? Brains do _all sorts_ of things that seem weird if your own brain doesn't do it. Aphantasia, synesthesia, plurality, autism all come to mind immediately.

[aucisson_masque]

Yes it’s so hard to understand how it’s even possible.

10 years ago I was one of those who believed it to be a mental illness but with age i start to realize that being judgmental without understanding is often a recipe for disaster. Or maybe that’s my testosterone level dropping that make me soft… who knows.