I imagine this will be considered hate speech, but how am I supposed to learn about what I don't understand if I can't ask questions?

I was born with two X-chromosomes back in the 1950s.  The first thing I can recall noticing is that girls were discouraged from doing certain things.  "You can't do that; you're a girl."  Sometimes I listened, but mostly not.  It was obvious THAT the world was run by men, but I saw no reason to pretend I was less than I really was.  Let the men be stronger and outdo me.  I wasn't going to make it easy for them.

This brings me to my question: what does it feel like to be a woman?

Maybe the problem is that I've never had a male body, so I don't know how it would "feel" different.  I'm aware that there are social roles and guidelines for appropriate behavior, attire, etc.  I know there are physical differences that each sex has to deal with.  In my younger years, I worried about getting pregnant or getting cancer in one of my female-specific body parts.  Is that all there is to feeling female?

I graduated college and joined the workforce, glad that I could support myself.  Don't men feel the same way in those circumstances?  Eventually, I got married to a man who wanted to run my life.  Smart women can indeed make foolish choices.  Is it male to want to run things and female to want someone other than yourself to run things?

I rarely wanted to be pregnant.  Is such a desire a female feeling?

I never doubted that I was female, even though it was sometimes inconvenient or unpleasant.  I still don't doubt it.  I've seen old photographs of myself, looking like a boy with long hair.  I'm not a girly girl.  When I got past childhood, I sometimes tried to make myself look attractive to men.  I've never doubted I was heterosexual.  I know I find some men attractive, and I am not a man myself.

So when I hear about transgender and gender-fluid people, I am boggled.  How would one know that one feels like a sex one has never been?  What is the basis for comparison?  How does one get the knowledge base to reach such a conclusion?

If feeling female is worrying about periods and pregnancy, and wanting someone else to take care of you by restricting your choices, how limiting!  And bad news for the non-women who think they feel like women, who won't have periods or get pregnant regardless of what hormones or surgery they indulge in.  To me, this limited definition is better described as feeling weak and vulnerable.

If feeling female is wanting bubble baths, perfume, makeup, and similar fripperies, males can use all those things.  If feeling like a woman is wishing for alternative genitals, a surgeon might rig something that fools you enough to feel happy, but pay for it yourself.

Exit question: Are you really a lesbian if you feel like a woman, but your female partner feels like a man?