A question to our openly female racketboy members?

[Flake]

I think the whole "girl gamers plight" thing is a bit silly. Everyone is a victim to idiots while playing online games, regardless of your gender. I get death threats and have my sexually questioned while playing Street Fighter IV online somewhat regularly. I don't think getting some stupid messages from horny 14 year old boys online qualifies as anything to get upset over.

www.fatuglyorslutty.com

[irixith]

I grew up in a time where women never played games at all (8 and 16-bit generations), so it's still a big deal whenever I come across one.

We were playing games then -- it was just one of those things we weren't allowed to talk about because it wasn't "feminine" enough. Not to mention that when you're talking very young boys and very young girls, that's probably the one point in life where the genders are the farthest apart, and unable to properly communicate about anything. After all, half of us probably still believed in cooties and Santa. :p

A lot of the barriers between femininity and masculinity have broken down at this point, so it's no longer a sort of "social suicide" to be a girl who likes games. (...or more importantly, a girl who likes things like first person shooters and the like, and not just cutesy platformers.)

[ChuChu Flamingo]

I just hate the white knights and the attention whore female "gamers".

don't hit on me silly boys

[lisalover1]

This is probably a good of a time as any to admit that I am actually Transgendered. Go figure. I don't like playing as a guy in games. I always play as a girl whenever possible. Chun-Li, Felicia, Blaze, Gum, Collete Brunel, etc. I have played them all. In fact, the only time when I do not play as a girl in a game is when there is a noticeable disadvantage to the female character. Yet, I'm not a pervert or a liar in doing this; I have a perfectly legitimate reason for playing as a girl.

[Inazuma]

This is probably a good of a time as any to admit that I am actually Transgendered. Go figure. I don't like playing as a guy in games. I always play as a girl whenever possible. Chun-Li, Felicia, Blaze, Gum, Collete Brunel, etc. I have played them all. In fact, the only time when I do not play as a girl in a game is when there is a noticeable disadvantage to the female character. Yet, I'm not a pervert or a liar in doing this; I have a perfectly legitimate reason for playing as a girl.

Transgendered, meaning you changed sex from male to female, or vice versa? I have absolutely no problem with that, and actually find it fascinating.

If you could give us more detail and tell us your story, I would love to hear it. I think the public needs to learn to be more open minded with gender related issues such as transgendered people. Just because it's unusual doesn't make it automatically bad.

[J T]

This is probably a good of a time as any to admit that I am actually Transgendered. Go figure. I don't like playing as a guy in games. I always play as a girl whenever possible. Chun-Li, Felicia, Blaze, Gum, Collete Brunel, etc. I have played them all. In fact, the only time when I do not play as a girl in a game is when there is a noticeable disadvantage to the female character. Yet, I'm not a pervert or a liar in doing this; I have a perfectly legitimate reason for playing as a girl.

Well, with you're username and avatar, I've always found your online persona to be gender ambiguous, so this isn't too much of a surprise

If you could give us more detail and tell us your story, I would love to hear it. I think the public needs to learn to be more open minded with gender related issues such as transgendered people. Just because it's unusual doesn't make it automatically bad.

I will second that. I'm open minded about this kind of thing, but I haven't really known many transgendered people. You always hear about LGBT issues lumped together, but I've mostly just know the LGBs.

[Jrecee]

You guys know I'm a girl, right?

[lisalover1]

This is probably a good of a time as any to admit that I am actually Transgendered. Go figure. I don't like playing as a guy in games. I always play as a girl whenever possible. Chun-Li, Felicia, Blaze, Gum, Collete Brunel, etc. I have played them all. In fact, the only time when I do not play as a girl in a game is when there is a noticeable disadvantage to the female character. Yet, I'm not a pervert or a liar in doing this; I have a perfectly legitimate reason for playing as a girl.

Transgendered, meaning you changed sex from male to female, or vice versa? I have absolutely no problem with that, and actually find it fascinating.

If you could give us more detail and tell us your story, I would love to hear it. I think the public needs to learn to be more open minded with gender related issues such as transgendered people. Just because it's unusual doesn't make it automatically bad.

Not exactly; Transgendered simply means that there is a dissonance between one's gender and one's physical sex. Transsexual means that you are/have/are planning to transition. It's all very complicated. Anyway, basically, for a very long time, I have not felt right in my male body. Until recently, I had not understood what these feelings meant. I just assumed it was a fetish or something. But, in the past year or so, these feelings have become very strong, enough to cause concern and even pain. I am now quite sure that I hate my masculinity, and I don't want anything to do with it. I don't think I have enough courage to transition just yet, and probably not for a while. I am still in the relatively early stages of this; I have only come out to my mother and everyone here at Racketboy so far. That is about as much of my story as I feel comfortable talking about here; there is a lot more to it, but it gets kind of personal after this.

[AmishSamurai]

You guys know I'm a girl, right?

I didn't. Now I do.

@lisalover- I don't think people who exclusively play female characters or specialize in one are creepy. People just have personal tastes, or it ends up that they're good with a female character.

[aaron]

This is probably a good of a time as any to admit that I am actually Transgendered. Go figure. I don't like playing as a guy in games. I always play as a girl whenever possible. Chun-Li, Felicia, Blaze, Gum, Collete Brunel, etc. I have played them all. In fact, the only time when I do not play as a girl in a game is when there is a noticeable disadvantage to the female character. Yet, I'm not a pervert or a liar in doing this; I have a perfectly legitimate reason for playing as a girl.

Transgendered, meaning you changed sex from male to female, or vice versa? I have absolutely no problem with that, and actually find it fascinating.

If you could give us more detail and tell us your story, I would love to hear it. I think the public needs to learn to be more open minded with gender related issues such as transgendered people. Just because it's unusual doesn't make it automatically bad.

Not exactly; Transgendered simply means that there is a dissonance between one's gender and one's physical sex. Transsexual means that you are/have/are planning to transition. It's all very complicated. Anyway, basically, for a very long time, I have not felt right in my male body. Until recently, I had not understood what these feelings meant. I just assumed it was a fetish or something. But, in the past year or so, these feelings have become very strong, enough to cause concern and even pain. I am now quite sure that I hate my masculinity, and I don't want anything to do with it. I don't think I have enough courage to transition just yet, and probably not for a while. I am still in the relatively early stages of this; I have only come out to my mother and everyone here at Racketboy so far. That is about as much of my story as I feel comfortable talking about here; there is a lot more to it, but it gets kind of personal after this.

my cousin is a lesbian currently in a relationship with a transgendered female. the secondhand stories that i heard about the abuse, prejudice, and outright hatred that her partner went through for the majority of their life was unreal and very saddening. it was something that i really hadn't thought much about until she told me their story. hats off to you for doing what you feel is right for you and i wish you well. the one phrase my cousin said her partner used to always go back to was "confidence is key." however you interpret that, i hope it'll help you if you ever need it.

i never thought we'd ever get on the topic of gender issues on this board, but, hey, here we are.