How I Approach Identity

So here's how I see the matter of identity.  Before we start, I'm going to put something to rest here, what I think is NOT based upon what anybody else thinks, it's NOT based on anyone else's system, this is just me and how I approach things as, I feel, a reasonable person.

I hope that you can find that I do like to play with ideas, and that I try to allow for as much as possible while still being a reasonable individual.

Anyway, this is how I see things.

There are 3 general categories that go into this.
1. What you are physically.
2. How you identify mentally.
3. Your orientation.

These three things are SEPARATE from one another, and do not dictate each other.  They can all also change.  And yet, these are all part of your identity in general.

---------------------------------.
What You Are Physically          |
---------------------------------'
Also known as your physical gender, plus your physical makeup.  Of the three, this is the one that has the least room for argument.

Gender-wise, you are male, female, or some combination of the two, allowing for being part-male-part-female in whatever combination you like.  Unless you literally don't have any male- or female-associated parts (a penis, a vagina, or breasts) in any way, shape, or form, you have a physical gender of some shape or fashion.

Physically, you cannot say "I'm a flower" or "I'm a dog," because no you're not, you are human.  You also cannot say things like "I'm a furry" here, because no you're not, you are factually not actually an anthromorphic being that is part-not-human.  However, though those things do not fit in THIS category, they DO have their place elsewhere.  We will get to that.

Everyone is *physically* male, female, or some combination of both at birth.  Yes they are, there's no room for argument here.  You can dislike what you're born with, but the fact that you don't like it DOESN'T CHANGE WHAT YOU HAVE.  Only by physically changing can you... well, physically change.

What you are *physically* does not have to be something that you AGREE with; your mental identity can be very different.  Physically, however, if you have a penis, I don't care what you say you are mentally, you are physically male in that regard.  This does NOT mean that you're EXCLUSIVELY male.  Let's say you started on HRT and have grown a pair of breasts.  Well, now you've got some female parts as well, and now I ALSO don't argue that you are at least part FEMALE too.  So now you're physically both, and that's totally fine.  Let's say you go in for surgery again, to finish your transition.  You have your penis removed, and a vagina put in.  You are now wholly physically female.  And that's chill too.

Basically, you are in some way, shape or fashion, some combination of male and/or female as your gender, and you can distort or move on your line as you like (and of course, saying here that I allow combination and sliding means that I count "genderqueer" and "genderfluid" as perfectly permissible, as well as anything else such as traps, femboys, shemales, and all other combinations) - as long as you're still *on* that line somewhere, you're good, I don't care, and I'll call you whatever you want.  You cannot, however, float off into space gender-wise, because that's physically impossible; you can't *not* be some combination of male and/or female.

---------------------------------.
What You Are Mentally            |
---------------------------------'
I like this topic because it has a lot more room for stretching and allowance than physicality, which is... well, defined by the physical parts that you possess.

Mentally, you can be whatever you want.  It doesn't have to agree with any parts you do or do not physically possess, nor fall into any traditional conventions of how gender or orientation are defined.  You may physically be human, but if you firmly believe yourself to be a furry, a puppy, a rock, who am I to disagree?  I can't dictate your mentality.  You feel however you feel.  If you're physically male but feel female, you can totally identify as female.  If you're male today but feel female tomorrow, I accept that you're a genderfluid, we're cool.  If you don't know how you feel, then you don't know.

There's no line, and no points to attach a line to.  You're free to determine what you feel you are.

The only real rule is, you're you - you can't be someone else.  You're not Napoleon.  No you're not.  Maybe you're *channeling* Napoleon, maybe you were Napoleon in a past life, but you sure as hell aren't actually, literally Napoleon right now, nor can you be.  He died in 1814.  (Sure, I personally don't believe in reincarnation, but maybe you believe in it, and if you do, it isn't my job to tell you what to believe.  As I said, I'm trying to be reasonable here.)  "Being" another person is called role-playing, I'm sure you've heard of that.  You're not ACTUALLY another person.

So let's recap here, you can't be Miku Hatsune, but you can be a Vocaloid, okay?  I won't argue with you.  You can't be Sonic or Lilac, but you can feel that you're an anthromorphic hedgehog, fox, dragon, or echidna.  I don't feel people really have a right to judge what you feel you are, because the brain is a funny thing, and people feel all kinds of weird ways, so I don't think anyone has the ability to tell you how you feel.  Only you can truly know how you feel and to what depth.

---------------------------------.
Your Orientation                 |
---------------------------------'
Again separate from physicality, this aspect of your being is what you are attracted to, romantically and in a sexual sense.

And again, as with "Who You Are Mentally" above, there is no line, nor any points to attach it to.  The universe is an infinite list of checkboxes when it comes to this.  There are all manner of gender distinctions that can turn a person on or off, regardless of their physical gender, as well as aspects of a person's personality, looks, interests... some are turned on or off by certain objects or their possible applications.  All-inclusive here; who am I to tell you what can, can't, should, or shouldn't turn you on, or what you should be looking for in a partner?

There is no "you're a guy, so you should like girls" here.  There is no "you're transitioning to female, so you have to like guys" here.  There is only the universal checkbox list that you can check "yes" or mark "no" with Xs whenever you want.

Indeed, tastes can certainly change over time as well, and you can *discover* one day "hey, I just really realized [X thing] turns me on/off, I didn't know I felt that way before," or "I've learned that I really don't want a significant other who [Y thing], the last one helped me realize it's more annoying than I thought."

Similar to mentality, I don't feel people have any right to judge your orientation.  Moreover, you can't really help your orientation or your turnons/turnoffs anyway!  Yeah, try telling ME not to like tomboys.  I can't do it.  I couldn't do it even if I never actually saw another one again.  That's like telling me I have to stop liking vanilla ice cream.  Just... what?  Like, you can't seriously expect me to stop LIKING something.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hopefully that helps shed some light on how I look at things.