I think some context may be helpful for readers with less familiarity with common trans tropes:
Before online trans culture, the typical trans lesbian story was that of someone who successfully repressed any latent gender feelings and built a life as a man, often with a wife and kids. And then, late in life, ran out of distractions and could not repress the dysphoria anymore, and came across the idea of trans people and transitioning, and made a huge sacrifice in terms of financial and social capital in order to transition. Quite the opposite of the dynamic described in this post.
I’m not sure how common it is for trans lesbians to transition during adolescence, these days, versus later in adulthood. I imagine it’s become increasingly common than it was before “being trans” was widely known to be a possibility. But, for what it’s worth, as someone who fit in decently well as a “boy”, felt increasingly alienated from my body and my male peers during puberty, dissociated from my gender dysphoria well enough to build a life as a “man” with a promising career, good friends, and romantic relationships until I began consciously questioning my gender identity at the age of 29 and eventually starting estrogen at 31 despite the great cost of abandoning my “cis male” status, the vast majority of my trans friends have a story very similar to mine.
Reading this post was the first time I came across a story of someone transitioning out of an apparent desire to escape loneliness by hoping to become an adorable anime girl. While I could see this being a big factor for some people (and perhaps could even lead some hopefully tiny number of “not actually trans” people to mistakenly transition), I think it would be a mistake to generalize from this account or draw conclusions about the majority of trans people like I see some commenters doing here.
I have come across cis men who like anime and are envious of the attention and care they imagine they might get if they were cute girls or attractive women, but none of them actually want to transition as a result of it—they are quite adamant that they would not. Perhaps it’s only those with some prior degree of discontent with their maleness (like an inexplicable but undeniable genital dysphoria) who might be pushed over the edge by these social factors to attempt transitioning as a way to solve their problems. And from what I’ve seen personally, if they don’t transition in adolescence, they’ll probably find themselves considering transition later in life.
That’s not to say that every person who contemplates transition should transition. If you consider yourself a “boy” or a “man” but wish you had different genitals, while also not wanting breasts, for example, you might not be a latent trans woman. But you might not be a man, either. You could be something in between—with some sort of non-binary gender—and you may find the question worth exploring further rather than shutting down entirely. Brains are complicated, and gendered traits and identity often exist on a spectrum, as I’ve come to observe in myself and many other people.
Like @marisa said in another comment, genetic theories of transness are further along than most people realize (iykyk), and I wish I could safely talk about it, but… I would urge you to keep an open mind, with regards to the possibility of a complex but tractable genetic and biochemical basis for gender, in trans people and otherwise. The book is not closed.
And if there were such a theory, then it would certainly explain a lot about who chooses to transition and who doesn’t, and who might regret transitioning, and who might benefit greatly from transition. Much more reliably than one’s exposure to anime girls or how lonely one is during adolescence. Which is why, of course, it wouldn’t be safe to talk about in detail given the current cultural and political climate. But please, if you’re reading this, bookmark the possibility for later consideration.
I think some context may be helpful for readers with less familiarity with common trans tropes:
Before online trans culture, the typical trans lesbian story was that of someone who successfully repressed any latent gender feelings and built a life as a man, often with a wife and kids. And then, late in life, ran out of distractions and could not repress the dysphoria anymore, and came across the idea of trans people and transitioning, and made a huge sacrifice in terms of financial and social capital in order to transition. Quite the opposite of the dynamic described in this post.
I’m not sure how common it is for trans lesbians to transition during adolescence, these days, versus later in adulthood. I imagine it’s become increasingly common than it was before “being trans” was widely known to be a possibility. But, for what it’s worth, as someone who fit in decently well as a “boy”, felt increasingly alienated from my body and my male peers during puberty, dissociated from my gender dysphoria well enough to build a life as a “man” with a promising career, good friends, and romantic relationships until I began consciously questioning my gender identity at the age of 29 and eventually starting estrogen at 31 despite the great cost of abandoning my “cis male” status, the vast majority of my trans friends have a story very similar to mine.
Reading this post was the first time I came across a story of someone transitioning out of an apparent desire to escape loneliness by hoping to become an adorable anime girl. While I could see this being a big factor for some people (and perhaps could even lead some hopefully tiny number of “not actually trans” people to mistakenly transition), I think it would be a mistake to generalize from this account or draw conclusions about the majority of trans people like I see some commenters doing here.
I have come across cis men who like anime and are envious of the attention and care they imagine they might get if they were cute girls or attractive women, but none of them actually want to transition as a result of it—they are quite adamant that they would not. Perhaps it’s only those with some prior degree of discontent with their maleness (like an inexplicable but undeniable genital dysphoria) who might be pushed over the edge by these social factors to attempt transitioning as a way to solve their problems. And from what I’ve seen personally, if they don’t transition in adolescence, they’ll probably find themselves considering transition later in life.
That’s not to say that every person who contemplates transition should transition. If you consider yourself a “boy” or a “man” but wish you had different genitals, while also not wanting breasts, for example, you might not be a latent trans woman. But you might not be a man, either. You could be something in between—with some sort of non-binary gender—and you may find the question worth exploring further rather than shutting down entirely. Brains are complicated, and gendered traits and identity often exist on a spectrum, as I’ve come to observe in myself and many other people.
Like @marisa said in another comment, genetic theories of transness are further along than most people realize (iykyk), and I wish I could safely talk about it, but… I would urge you to keep an open mind, with regards to the possibility of a complex but tractable genetic and biochemical basis for gender, in trans people and otherwise. The book is not closed.
And if there were such a theory, then it would certainly explain a lot about who chooses to transition and who doesn’t, and who might regret transitioning, and who might benefit greatly from transition. Much more reliably than one’s exposure to anime girls or how lonely one is during adolescence. Which is why, of course, it wouldn’t be safe to talk about in detail given the current cultural and political climate. But please, if you’re reading this, bookmark the possibility for later consideration.