Growing up in South Africa, anything other than being straight and of CIS gender was seen as wrong. If you fell into the ‘other’ category, you had to hide and protect yourself from being bullied or worse.
I grew up in a military household where everything was regimented. Gender Dysphoria wasn’t something that could be discussed or even raised, otherwise it would result in a beating. So I did what anyone else would do: I hid it. I did this by pretending to be someone I was not in order avoid the inevitable backlash. It’s worth noting that back then, there was not a lot of support out there for someone like me.
