But isn't a trans man someone who transitioned into manhood?
Yes, but everyone has their own experience for what that entails exactly.
For me, technically medically, im afab so ive transitioned into a man. But for me , I never felt like I was a girl, Ive always felt like I was just me, and that me is a boy, now a man. If people say I was a girl as a child, it feels wrong and incorrect. People seeing me as a girl just appalled me. My deadname was and is someone else, completely disconnected from me.
I dont have a connection to girlhood, the closest thing is that I always liked dolls and animals lol
I had a mostly genderless upbringing, but anything that was gendered felt like I was an outsider getting a peek in, for years bc of the disconnect I felt I was a ghost operating a girl puppet
I was always a boy, now Im a man, and for me hrt is medical intervention, to fix what estrogen did to me.
Some trans men feel like they were girls, some trans men feel like they were boys that were seen as girls, some trans men felt genderless, some were always boys etc etc
Its up to each person to decide what is more accurate to their life
I say im a trans man, cuz I had the experience of ppl seeing me differently and not having my body fit me, and taking measures to mend that. Ive transitioned in the eyes of other people, not mine
and bears repeating: this is what my experience as a trans man has been, everyone has a different one, even if similar. Everyones exp is valid, this is just what its like for me