Being trans is a matter of respecting deep inner feelings.
It is less a matter of what you do as a result of respecting the feelings, or of from where the feelings derive.
Respecting the feelings is not the same as making a scientific or political claim about them.
Oh, there is so such intellectual confusion and political diviseness, getting in the way of deep self-acceptance.
Intellectual uncertainty can blend with defensiveness. Of course we are tempted to belittle or just discard these feelings that present many difficulties.
Thrusting the issue of transitioning at trans people can make them even more defensive.
All my t-feelings scream 'female, female, female'. Not bigender, androgynous, gender fluid, but female.
The force of desire for male identification is not negligable. It might even be equal in strength, but it is not comparable in quality. It comes from a completely different place, not an internal feeling seemingly from nowhere, seemingly counter-rational. It is resistance rather than pull. I accept my outer maleness. It's a fact, like the other personal facts declared on my passport. Of course my gender categorisation has influenced my upbringing which has influenced who I am. I am not disowning this influence. But increasingly it feels like an outer layer of inner self, less fundamental than the voices screaming 'female'.
Trans feelings are intense and deep yet sensitive and subtle. They are very vulnerable to internalised cultural condemnation. I don't think it is helpful to subject them to harsh debate within the trans community.
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