I Want to be a Woman, #2

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

In this thread we are asked if we’d like to do a day as a woman if we’re male, or as a man if female.

I’d like to expand on that theme. Who’d do a year, exchange-student style?

I just don’t think I’d get a full sense of what it’s like with just a day.

Actually I’ve often wondered if it wouldn’t suit me quite well. Unlike transsexuals (AFAIK, I mean), I don’t have any problem with the body I was born with, being male is OK per se, but it’s not like I got to pick and choose and I’m not sure I would have picked “male” if it had been up to me. And it’s always annoyed and frustrated me to think that I’m never going to get to find out what the other experience is like.

Is it unusual to have that degree of interest and curiosity (and yet not be thinking “I was born in the wrong body and this needs fixing”, I mean)? Who else would try a year?

2

Maybe a month, tops. I want to know what sex is like when you have a penis, but I don’t want to spend a year as the one who has to kill bugs and shit.

I was just having this conversation with a friend, actually.

Warning: Possible TMI coming atcha

She just went back on The Pill after having given birth in February, and has been enjoying a hormonal tidal wave the past couple of days. Last night, she totally lost it and hit both of her dogs (which, if you know this person and her feelings about corporal punishment, is a BIG DEAL), and this morning she became, in her words, “a screaming freak of a banshee woman”.

After having passed out apologies all around (to the dogs last night, and her husband this morning), she had a crying episode on the way in to work.

I myself (never having been pregnant or given birth) recently switched BC pills, and enjoyed a special evening of crying for no reason (less like a constant deluge and more like a leaky faucet, but still, when you can’t figure out any logical reason to be bawling, it just sucks).

We were discussing the joys of having your emotional makeup (or breakdown, as the case may be) depend less upon the actual events taking place in your life and more upon the arbitrary whims of your hormones.

It only happens some days, mind you, but some days it REALLY HAPPENS. And we were wondering if men experience anything equivalent to this?

I’m guessing NO, since when I discuss these things with my husband, he usually expresses extreme gratitude that he is not a woman.

Are you SURE you’re up for a year’s worth of this crap, AHunter? :wink:

And here’s a serious question–if you could magically have this experience of which you speak, would you try to have a baby during that year?

I don’t plan to have kids at all, but I AM wildly curious about the experience of pregnancy and labor.

(Not curious enough to TRY it, mind you . . . )

3

If I weren’t in a relationship, I’d could almost say I definitely would be willing to switch and be a guy for a whole year. (But considering I am in a relationship, the max I’d be willing to switch would be about a week and a half, two weeks).

4

My answer from the last thread applies equally well here. :slight_smile:

5

I dunno. A day might be interesting. I’d be worried about suffering permanent physical damage in the course of a year, as I have the impression that people with male plumbing but without male mannerisms tend to get beaten up a lot. Besides, it would mean either avoiding relationships for a year, or having to deal with some VERY strange consequences – and trying to explain things to one’s family and friends would be hard as well.

I’m inclined to think it would be more trouble than it’s worth, but on the other hand there are quite a few places I’d like to see but don’t fancy going as a solo female. So I think I might do it, but only if I had enough money to spend the whole year traveling (which would take care of most of the other complications at a stroke, since I doubt my family would come to visit if I were in Syria, and everybody expects foreigners to act weird).

6

auntie em, …hmm.

Not the first year. Maybe if I come back again for a second year a few years later. I would imagine that it’s an experience out of the ordinary for most women. I would want to get a sense of what it’s like to be a woman aside from pregnancy and childbirth first.

Fretful Porpentine:

This is true (happened to me often when I was younger). On the other hand, I have the impression that people with female plumbing tend to be at risk for violence just for doing things like walking alone at night, stuff I’ve mostly never had to be concerned with. To an extent it is the prospect of learning all these things, of really seeing what it’s like, that would be the fascination. I would not expect it to be all pleasantness and fun.

7

I’d flip back and forth so often I’d look like one of those flipbooks.
:smiley:

Just don’t tell Sunspace hehehehee

8

Don’t worry. When you become a guy the “Scared of bugs” switch will fliped to the OFF position. Unfortunately, the “Remember anniversaries & birthdays” switch will also be OFF. It’s all about trade offs.

9

A year?

Probably not. A week would be cool though.

10

Nah. I live with two males, both of whom have given me special insights on what it’s like to be male. Besides, I’m enough of a “guy” (see Dave Barry’s The Complete Guide to Guys for elaboration) that all I’d be doing is changing the plumbing.

Robin

11

Hmm. Guess I’m already a guy, I just didn’t know it until now.

I suppose that kind of cuts to the heart of why I’d be cautious about switching – I think I’d find either set of traditional gender roles deeply, intensely repressive, but it’s much easier to ignore them and still have a reasonably normal-looking life if you happen to be born female.

12

Except for the spiders. YOU kill the goddamned spiders.

But bring on the crickets!

13

I agree. We gals get far more leeway to break barriers. Take clothes and shoes, for instance.

We can wear pants, dresses OR skirts. Men can only get away with wearing either of the latter two in Scotland or at costume parties.

We can wear oxfords, sandals, spike heels or platform shoes. Men can only get away with wearing either of the latter two if they are The Artist Formerly Known as Prince or at costume parties.

In short, Murphy Brown didn’t have to join any support groups because of the way she liked to dress. :wink:

14

Why do the spiders have to die? They’re not scary. Unless, you know, they’re big and hairy. But I never get any of those.

15

Big, creepy and hairy, or small and called “Larry”–it doesn’t matter. They scare me more than, well… most women.

Crickets, on the other hand, are cute and able to belt out truly great Disney songs.

“When you wish upon a can of Raid…”

16

Women scare you, eh? :dubious:

Gee, I’d never have known, based on your rampant willingness to touch them . . . :wink:

17

A year? No way.
2 Days tops - and if I have my period those 2 days I’m gonna be PISSED!

18

Umm… is it too insensitive to ask about the, erm, phenotypical properties of the member of the opposite sex we shall embody?

With the world being as it is, when I’ve got to be ugly, I’d rather be a guy.

19

Me and my girlfriend have a “bug-squishing clause” in our relationship contract. I’m not obligated to squish the bugs just because I’m male, and it says so right there in the contract. I hate roaches just as much as she does. ::shudders::

auntie em:

Naaah, I don’t have to be female just to break a few rules. You can keep the spike heels. I would not wear those things if I were female and I certainly don’t want to wear them while male. But I have put on a skirt (denim, wraparound) and

• walked across town along Main Street

• driven to the town dump / recycling center to get a recycling pail

• ridden the Long Island Rail dressed that way

• walked across campus (Stony Brook)

• stood in line at the bank teller’s to deposit a paycheck and tripped over the damn rope-thingie when I tried to step over it rather than walk up and back and up and back and up and back because the line was short. NOTE TO SELF: skirts are cool in summer and look good but they aren’t good for stepping over things in

20

The only way to conquer your fears is to confront them. Repeatedly. :wink: