Self-Identity?

[Harmless]

I'm sure most of you are familiar with my recent posts about my sexual orientation and willingness to undergo transgender procedures for various reasons, one of them being that I would feel more comfortable physically with regards to being a female as opposed to a male. Being honest, I still prefer that to some extent, and I haven't lately been entirely opposed to that idea of just simply having the surgery done if it would make me more comfortable with myself on a physical level.

However, there has been a ton of development in my thinking over the past month about my personal self-identity, who I am, who I am comfortable being, and all that jazz with regards to what I would prefer even being referred to. For clarification, I haven't been majorly influenced by any third party source in my recent thinking development and conclusions about my orientation, nor do I suddenly look at transgender people with a different light. What I have been majorly influenced by is my own development on how I can express myself to be who I am, and what exactly my own self-identity could even be.

I've come to terms with myself by first realizing that no matter what physical body I am given and no matter how I change it, I will at heart, always be Harmless. (No pun intended.)

As far as my interest and desire for a transgender operation goes (and possibility of being referred to by female pronouns), again, I'm not entirely ''opposed' to it, as instead I figured that it's not quite as critical to happen as I have felt it to be in the past. If it comes, it comes, and I likely end up feeling a bit better about myself physically, or if it doesn't, then so be it. No matter what, I am Harmless, and nothing is taking that away or replacing it anytime soon... for better or for worse.

So, tl;dr: Refer to me as a 'he' again, as that's who I am. If it ever changes, I'll make sure to let people know, but hey. For all I know, it might not anytime soon.



But that's enough about me - What about you guys? Any thoughts on self identity and how it could relate to the physical self?

[NanTheDark]

I never stopped calling you a he really, I think you yourself told me to just call you a he once.

I might never fully comprehend exactly what goes through your head... why this dysphoria is a thing. That somehow you feel you should be the opposite sex and your body is wrong. I imagine it must be like a big itch in the back of your head, something telling you that you're not alright, you look at the mirror and you feel it's not you...

I guess I've never really thought something like... I don't know. That this is not my body. I see my body as... just my vehicle. How I interact with the world and move around and stuff. It is part of me, yes. I guess I have felt that maybe I'm not physically fit as I would like to be, or that maybe I don't look too great, or something. But not something like "this body is not my body."

I don't know for sure what you feel, but you do seem to think something similar. In that what matters is what's inside. The Harmless. Your true identity is not your body, it's your character. The way you act, the way you think, the way you see the world, the way you talk, that's Harmless. That's one ends up loving of a person in the end really. Bodies are just appearance.

But yeah. I hope you're doing great, and that you're feeling better about yourself now. Whatever it is that you decide to do with your body, I dunno. Up to you.

[Kimonio]

Self-identity and the inflection thereof is exerted externally on our appearance and mannerisms, based preemptively on how we see ourselves introspectively.

So naturally, if you don't like who you are, your body's natural defense is to try to adapt and change, which can lead to a dysphoric state of mind.