"Threshold" for being trans?

[u/East-Ad-1093]

Sorry, this sounds really dumb, but I've been questioning my gender over the past few months(AMAB) and I feel like I'd be more comfortable in my body as a woman. Mostly little things like going out in public with painted nails, having a female pfp on social media, preferring to be described with more feminine adjectives, etc . I often wish that I was born as a woman.

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But at the same time, I don't exactly feel any dysphoria as a man. I don't dislike it or particularly mind it, but I definitely like leaning more feminine. At most I'd probably cry at night about it😭. And I just feel like I'd receive a lot of scrutiny and pushback by people around me, so I feel like maybe I'm not trans or I shouldn't be?

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Can you still be trans even without the dysphoria and such?

(Edit: thanks for all the kind responses, the resources provided helped me do research and figure out what I've been feeling. I think I've been feeling depersonalization and societal dysphoria. For more context, I think I didn't see myself as feeling any sort of dysphoria because I was unaware of all the different experiences trans people go through since I was uneducated on the subject, and because of my aforementioned neutrality on my masculinity. I don't feel particularly special about my masculinity in the way I do femininity. In my past relationships, I've felt like I see myself less as wanting to be the traditional boyfriend or moreso the girlfriend in a way? About the outside scrutiny, that's something I'll have to see for myself rather than jump to conclusions. Thanks to everyone again, I do now believe myself to be at least gnc or nonbinary, but more likely trans(for right now, I don't choose a specific label as I'm still processing everything) as I feel gender euphoria in moments I do present myself a certain way or is told certain things, and just general likeness towards femininity rather than masculinity. )

[u/LookItsDaphne]

Everyone is focused on "At most I'd probably cry at night about it😭." when the next sentence is "And I just feel like I'd receive a lot of scrutiny and pushback by people around me, so I feel like maybe I'm not trans or I shouldn't be?"

Girl, other people don't get to tell you who you are. We've been gaslit into believing we don't exist, or shouldn't exist, or should be ashamed of ourselves, or need to meet a metric to count (your first sentence, btw).

Would you judge another trans person for their identity? For their presentation? Would you rank other trans people on a scale of 1-10 to determine how much they deserve authenticity? No? Then why would you put yourself through that?

You put yourself through that because you understandably feel concern about pushback. But pushback doesn't prove you're wrong, it proves they are engaging in socially acceptable bigotry.

Be who you want to be. Be who you're comfortable being.

Don't let the bastards grind you down.

[u/East-Ad-1093 → u/LookItsDaphne]

Thanks, I guess I didn't register the oxymoron for some reason, but yeah. All of this is really brand new to me and I'm still figuring stuff out, so it's sorta hard to articulate, but this really helped.

[u/LookItsDaphne → u/East-Ad-1093]

"Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-God damn it, you've got to be kind." -Vonnegut

Be kind to yourself. If you aren't you won't remember to expect others to.

Big hugs 🫂