Hello Reader,
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and a lot has really happened during this time. I’ll get into that some other time. But I recently came across a Reddit post which asked a great question, and is getting some fantastic answers.
For those unfamiliar with Reddit, it is a social media site where “Redditors” can post things to any of a large number of subreddits (think of them as groups). The whole system is anonymous (unless you share too much personally identifiable information, but that’s your choice), but has some controls in place to help keep from descending into anarchy and chaos. First, subreddits have admins who can monitor and moderate conversations and posts. Next, Reddit uses a voting system which helps ensure that pertinent and useful posts and comments are more visible, and bad ones are weeded out (this is called upvoting, for good posts and comments, and downvoting, for bad ones). One of the subreddits is called asktransgender, and is a place for both trans and cis people (and anyone who is questioning their gender) can come and ask genuine, well-meaning questions.
Recently, redditor MageMasterMoon asked the question:
Hopefully, this has been eye-opening for you. While I’m transgender, I learned a lot from the responses I saw to this question. Every trans person is different, and our journeys are different, too, so while I have experienced many of these misconceptions myself, I had a few misconceptions about some other trans people that have been cleared up by their answers.
Until next time,
ME
Gender World 
Wow! There are a lot of misconceptions about what being trans is like, about how it feels, why people are transgender, and so many other things! I’m sharing below some of the replies that other redditors have provided, and will include my commentary and explanations occasionally.
This is very true. Dysphoria doesn’t mean I feel like I’m the wrong gender. My gender is my gender. My body doesn’t match my gender. I can’t change my gender, but I can change my body. And you can feel dysphoria without understanding what it is. I did for most of my life!
*Please know that the term “special snowflake” is used as a slur against transgender people (along with many other groups), and should be used very carefully, if ever.
So true. Being trans is hard, and at times miserable and lonely. I don’t know anyone who is trans who wants to be trans.
I’ll be writing about transphobia in a future post.
This is true. For instance, while Genital Confirming Surgery for MTF people is fairly advanced (and can produce results which gynecologists have difficulty recognizing as anything different than someone born with a vagina), surgery for FTM is still pretty poor and has results which wouldn’t be noticeably different in appearance from someone who was born with a penis. And media coverage of trans topics tends to focus on MTF transgender people – the Caitlyn Jenners, the Chelsea Mannings. One trans man mentioned to me that before he came out and started to get involved in transgender groups, he thought that only MTF transgender people existed. The numbers of MTF and FTM transgender people are a lot closer to even, and when you look at the trans spectrum, a therapist once told me that it breaks down to around roughly 30% FTM, 30% MTF, and 40% non-binary/genderqueer/etc.