I think the fact that we are discussing it is proof that when a man or a woman says that they are 'trapped' in the other gender's body.... it's not crazy...it's true.

While I don't ever feel like I'm a man, I am not girlie at all. So I'm proof that, just because I may act tom-boyish or like a man, I'm still attracted to men and don't feel like I'm the 'wrong' gender. I just happen to be a female who loves sports and outdoors and doesn't wear makeup or dresses very often.

I read a book in high school about a boy whose parents took him to be circumcised. During the procedure something went wrong and (I don't remember exactly how) but he ended up losing his entire penis. So the parents decided to raise him as a girl and had him go through surgery very young so he didn't remember it and raised him in dresses with dolls etc.... As a teenager he started saying that he felt like he just wasn't right....he felt like a boy. So even though his parents and society were telling this boy he was a girl, deep down he felt different.

That's where the whole nature vs. nurture comes into play. No matter what society or your family does or says, you can't change who you are deep down. I could pretend to be a girlie girl but that's not true to myself.

I agree that it is on a gradient. You have everything from the princesses of girls to the manliest of men and everything in between. Good thread!!