Chad Felix Greene, a gay Jewish conservative man, has recently (02/04/2017) written an excellent account of his own experiences finding his masculinity in the midst of boyhood gender confusion.
Please click on the full link to read his story. Here are some excerpts:
Had I been born a generation later I would have been dressed as a girl by age 9 and taking hormones or hormone blockers well into my teens. I would never have found the peace I know today because I would not only have continued struggling to create a new identity that functioned in society, I would have had an entire media industry behind me telling me I was a brave victimized minority doing so. The connections and self-awareness I am grateful for today never would have been realized.
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We never give these individuals the chance to live in their bodies and understand themselves in relation to the rest of society. We tell them that in order to celebrate who they are, they must change everything about themselves. I would argue that I am a transgender success story. The mental anguish and confusion I experienced has been resolved without surgery or hormones. My gender aligns with my sex and all anxiety and unresolved emotional needs simply gone. Once I accepted myself as I am, I found peace I didn’t know was even an option.
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Boys need male-only environments, surrounded by men who appreciate the journey and won’t interfere. Boys need to be taught, together, what being a man is like, what work is like, and what brotherhood and loyalty means. Boys need to exercise, play sports, compete, lift weights and understand what controlling and building their body feel like. Boys need to be challenged.