Diary of a Recovering Gender Dysphoric

This is not going to be a didactic post. This is going to be wholly self-indulgent as I map my feelings of the way my parents deal with my gender dysphoria. "Make sure you look feminine" is something I hear whenever I'm going to some gathering of people. It always fills me with frustration. Why do you care? It's my body and I should dress in what makes me feel good. "Just dress feminine." It's like telling an anorexic to "Just eat." Well, dang, I hadn't thought about before, Professor Obvious. The problem is that my BRAIN MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I'M FILLED WITH FREAKING INSECTS WHEN I TRY. When I visited camp last week, as I was signing in, the man greeted me, "Hey, bud. Are you excited for camp?" He talked down to me as if I were a little boy, because I'm 4'11" 3/4, I was wearing a collared button-up, and my hair was short and shaggy. I did not correct him. I found that I liked being called bud and sir and man. Everyb...