I'm a trans woman, so I don't know that I can explain the intricacies of trans men's experiences. So just keep that in mind.
For me, dysphoria is most often what I described, about not being seen as our gender, usually mixed with imposter syndrome. But there's one type of dysphoria called Existential Dysphoria that has to do with all the life experiences we missed because of when we came out. Like "even if I transition right now and pass immediately, I'll never get to experience having a sleepover with my girl friends" or whatever- this is why a lot of adult trans people hold proms and such.
So my instinct is that that might be part of what your friend is experiencing? Like, even though quite a lot of men go bald, they usually had the experience of being a man with a full head of hair for at least some time. Idk I don't want to put words in his mouth
Idk, I am somewhat skeptical of not analyzing a lot of stuff cis people do through the lens of gender dsyphoria. Maybe I'm projecting my own experiences onto cis people though.
different example in the same vein - I'm pretty sure that a lot of the men in bodybuilding communities who supplement androgens are experiencing some form of gender dysphoria. they're cis men but they experience a kind of a lack in their deviance from hypermasculinity that I've really only seen replicated in circles of trans people.
I'm a trans woman, so I don't know that I can explain the intricacies of trans men's experiences. So just keep that in mind.
For me, dysphoria is most often what I described, about not being seen as our gender, usually mixed with imposter syndrome. But there's one type of dysphoria called Existential Dysphoria that has to do with all the life experiences we missed because of when we came out. Like "even if I transition right now and pass immediately, I'll never get to experience having a sleepover with my girl friends" or whatever- this is why a lot of adult trans people hold proms and such.
So my instinct is that that might be part of what your friend is experiencing? Like, even though quite a lot of men go bald, they usually had the experience of being a man with a full head of hair for at least some time. Idk I don't want to put words in his mouth
That could be it.
Idk, I am somewhat skeptical of not analyzing a lot of stuff cis people do through the lens of gender dsyphoria. Maybe I'm projecting my own experiences onto cis people though.
different example in the same vein - I'm pretty sure that a lot of the men in bodybuilding communities who supplement androgens are experiencing some form of gender dysphoria. they're cis men but they experience a kind of a lack in their deviance from hypermasculinity that I've really only seen replicated in circles of trans people.
This is a pretty good example yeah.