Are you Barbie or are you Ken?

Barbie and Ken photo via Flickr by by Cat Sidh

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out: If you're a man and are born in the wrong body, it would feel wrong. Every day. I completely get it. Intellectually, at least. But I also admit that I don't empathize completely (different than understanding) because I've never felt 100% identified as a woman. I did take ballet. But even when I did, I always wore all black (a requirement of the school) and more to the point, wanted to be a male ballet dancer, who wore his tights outside his leotard and got to jump and leap. I was muscular and loved it. I also was a tomboy and I also played with Barbie. I guess I was always down the middle somewhere. So when people say, imagine waking up one day and discovering you were in the wrong body and how horrifying that would be, I understand. But I can't totally relate. I think if I woke up one day and was in a man's body, I'd probably be OK with it. I'd miss being a woman. But I don't think it would feel completely wrong. For me. I think gender is like sexuality. We all fit somewhere on the spectrum of how female or how male we feel. Like the Kinsey scale.  And I respect that if you're at the far edge of male and find yourself in a woman's body, it would be pretty Kafka-esque.