As a kid, I hated getting dirty or wet, and at kindergarten, I used to play with girls instead of boys and I was given the freedom to do so. My grandfather was a hard, old-school man, who believed that I needed toughening up.

As a 49-year-old transwoman, I still prefer to wear jeans or slacks to dresses or skirts, as I remember some boys at school used to like to lift or look up girls' dresses or skirts. In fact, I remember on my second day of school, a female teacher blasting a boy and saying, "Did you lift up the girls' dresses?! That's rude!"