To those of you that do not know Rosie and Jim is a childrens TV program here in the UK. This is not about that though. Being transgendered is very confusing from a young age and can cause many problems. The umbrella that the word transgender covers is many groups of individuals as we all know. So how do you figure out who you are? You can look up the definition in a dictionary but you still need to know which you are as early as possible as it could impact your whole life. So how do you figure out if you are Rosie or Jim? To be honest you should not have to because your own mind should tell you which gender you are. If you have gender dysphoria you do know you are not in the right body , there is no rocket science involved you should know at a very young age. I can only base this on my life or others I have met or read about. I will base this on myself though as we all vary.

From as far back as I can recall I knew I was female in my mind. My home life was a nightmare and so was my school life. Pre pubic was very hard to deal with but at least I was in the same place as a pre pubic female apart from the obvious body parts. Being transexual is not just about the clothes you wear it is your mind that needs to sort it out. Yes I only really felt comfortable in female clothes but it goes far beyond that. Society and parents tell you you are something that you know you are not when you know you are. You know everyone else is wrong and you are right. Your body tells you you are a boy and your mind tells you you are a girl , it is a never ending fight at a young age. I went to many extremes to get what I needed to be myself , they were wrong but it was my only way.

Back in lets say about 1969 or may be ten years old I needed female clothing , if I saw something I wanted in a shop window I got it even though I had no money back then. I did not shop lift clothes I found another way where I could not be caught to get items I wanted from shops. There were no alarms back then or CCTV and not much in the way of street lighting. I only needed one tool and that was my brothers fishing rod with an end of a coat hanger taped to the end of it. I would go into a shop just before they closed and hang items I wanted as near to the door as could. I would stay awake untill all in my house were asleep and creep out armed with my brothers fishing rod, it was time to go late night shopping "Yes I invented 24 hour shopping". Shop letter boxes were big back then with no mesh metal guards as they were for letters not fishing rods. So the fishing rod went in and brought me back the items I had selected earlier before the shop closed , it is called stealing but I am no thief , I needed those things more than anyone else in my eyes. I found many ways of making money back then to save me going late night fishing. Just one was to block up the coin return slot on phone boxes , if I done five in a day I could go back in the evening and unblock them and the jackpot came out and make around £5 a day , that was more than an adult earned for a hard days work but I will not go on about my antics on how I got money as a child/teenager but I needed money to buy the things I needed.

So back on topic , having the money was not enough! My body was still wrong. Puberty hits hard though, the voice breaks and hairs start to grow where you don't want them. What you see in the mirror becomes even more wrong , nature is taking its course and Rosie is turning into Jim. In my case nothing in the male gender role interested me. As I grew older I did buy (not steal) my first motor bike though and back then they were not girl things.

I needed that motor bike for my escape , living in a rural county with endless fields I could escape to nature and just be myself. To cut this short , by the time you hit your very early teens or before , you do know your true gender , if you have not figured it out you are most likely not suffering from gender dysphoria. You really and truly do know who you are because there is no escape. To anyone reading this who has not made the mistakes yet. Never get married , never father any children. Sort your life out first and "Always" Be honest to any partner/s. To those supportive partners here I hope you get the appreciation you deserve. To those that are supported be very gratefull. To those that just do not care about hurting the ones you love , if things go wrong then it is your problem because you created it but do not hurt the ones who love you just because you are transgendered , it will not help you.

Take care all , Julia xx