[AnnieBL]

As early as 8 years old I wished I didn't have a penis, but at puberty that got swamped by a flood of T!

That's very interesting, Annie. There was a time when some in the psychiatric profession believed that best treatment for a male patient with GID was to administer doses of testosterone. Of course, today we know that doing so only makes the dysphoria worse. Based on your experience, maybe that's not altogether true, if I understand what happened in your youth.

Clara

No, I suspect that it caused or severely aggravated the actual dysphoria. I believe very much in what is sometimes referred to as sublimation, that is dealing with a dysphoria by adopting, consciously or otherwise some not necessarily related activity that submerges the dysphoria. For example, sublimation is an absolute necessity for pedophiles to get on in our society: those that hit the headlines are those that fail, even partially. I'm fairly certain that two of the most influential teachers I had at school were in fact both fully (so far as I know) sublimated pedophiles. One common form of sublimation for our type of dysphoria is being aggressively or excessively male in behaviour. For me I found travel to be one escape, and acquiring a ready made family and a physical relationship with my one and only was another. Sublimation may be an important benefit for many of us with enduring marriages. Even cross dressing can be considered a form of sublimation if considered a substitute for seeking some degree of actual transition (such as growing breasts?).