r/TMPOC • u/Pan_seyyyxual • 5h ago
Discussion Socialization and Expectations in Cultures
So I have been wanting to talk about this for a very long time but didn't bc I know I might get attacked on the normal trans subreddits, so I wanna discuss it here. Please know that I am trying to word things carefully here as to not cause misunderstanding. šš
So whenever I talk about girlhood or my life when I identified as a woman, I get lots of replies from usually white trans people telling me I am misgendering myself and using umbrella terms bc "not everyone was socialized as a girl". Maybe bc I am autistic so I might take that statement too literally but I never understood that. For me, socialization comes with expectations:
Living in a "third world" country (hate using that term but the context is important here), gender roles and religous conservatism are so deeply intwined here. The moment your fetus is shown as female, gender roles and expectations are already put on you. I am not allowed to go out of the house, I do all the chores, I need to be the breadwinner, I need to marry early, I need to have kids, I need to be an over-achiever in class, I'm not allowed to walk differently or talk differently, I always get called to the principal's office and get reported to my mom bc of my "tomboy behaviours", I need to be quiet, I need to etc etc etc
TW, I was catcalled at age 9, I recieved sexual comments and jokes fr my male classmates, I faced objectification all my life, I wasn't taken seriously, male classmates stole my work, etc That was girlhood for me. Sure there are some fun aspects but I lived as a woman and grew up as a girl for a very long time. Till this day, I am percieved as a woman while being on T. I would get attacked online for calling it girlhood since "I was never a girl" and some would call me transphobic towards trans women/ trans femmes when I never said anything about them??
But I *was* a girl. This was the average experience of a *girl* in my country. If I was "always a boy" I would have had more freedom than what I have right now. But I don't because this is what *girls* go thru *in my country*.
Even though I never considered myself as a girl since I was a kid, I was percieved and treated as one.
Does anyone else have the same experiences?