Why change gender?

Taking a break from all the dark humor and trolling around. I have a serious question.

Disclaimer: I support anyone wanting to change their own gender. It ain't hurting anyone and it's their life, their decision.

With that being said... why? I'm legitimately curious and want to know. I mean, to a large extent, society has come to a general consensus that we should do away with gender roles. We're becoming more open-minded to allowing boys to play with Barbie dolls or do ballet, while allowing women to ride motorcycles, play baseball, or join the military. We're not quite all the way there in some topics, but we're headed there. So... assuming the person reading this believes we should, in fact, remove gender roles, norms, or what-have-you, why would you want to change gender?

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SarahAndSamantha · 46-50, F Best Comment

gender roles are a part of it to a degree. But it's more than that.

Roleplay with me here a bit (no, not the pervy kind :P) I'm assuming your cisgender (aka 'normal' if you must). Now, imagine tomorrow you woke up in a female body. After you finished with your three hour shower (yeah, we KNOW what you're doing in there :P) How soon would you just want to be back in that body that you're used to? The one where you actually feel right? What lengths would you go to to get back to it?

We kinda woke up like that when we were born. Before we even knew it.

does that make sense?

LookingForSomethingNew · 26-30, M

@SarahAndSamantha Maybe I'm different from other cisgender individuals, but I wouldn't care about whether or not I'm male or female. I don't really identify with my gender and I don't really see the discomfort in being in either gender's body. But that's just me. Maybe other cisgender users would be able to relate to your comment.

SarahAndSamantha · 46-50, F

@LookingForSomethingNew Maybe not. Let's take it a bit further. Imagine (assuming you have to imagine) losing a limb. Forget about the inconvenience for a moment. Imagine how 'off' you'd feel. Imagine the phantom limb sensation. Our minds (all of our minds, not just trans) have a body map. When something changes we feel it.

Some don't believe this, and not even all trans people have this going on, but in some of us, our body map is 'off'. As a personal example, i'm 'aware' of breasts that just aren't there. I've heard personal anecdotes from FTM individuals who are aware of their non-existent penis. Again, this doesn't happen to all of us, but imagine 'feeling' something on your body that wasn't there, and never was.

Some can handle it, others can't. Mine bugs the crap out of me. lol. So, part of it is just trying to get the physical body to align with the mental one.

LookingForSomethingNew · 26-30, M

@SarahAndSamantha That... makes a lot more sense to me, thank you 😃 I can definitely imagine some level of discomfort with feeling like a part of your body is missing. Good example. Thanks for sharing and teaching me something new.

SarahAndSamantha · 46-50, F

@LookingForSomethingNew thank you for BA, and also for being respectful with your curiosity. :)

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LookingForSomethingNew · 26-30, M

@silkydrawers Interesting... this particular feeling you get is hard for me to wrap my head around, as I never really cared about being either gender. The only reason I wouldn't want to be a woman now is

- The cost for surgery

- I hate the thought of people with sharp tools poking around me

That's about it. But if it was free and I could be a woman at the twirl of a wand, I don't think I'd mind being one. I'm indifferent about it, I guess. But again, that's just me. I appreciate the both of you for having shared your perspective.