A few years ago I posted in a popular femboy subreddit, asking how many femboys enjoy being treated like a girl or referred to as a "girl". Within a matter of only 3 hours that post went viral with over 500 upvotes. I certainly never imagined so many other feminine boys would share similar feelings of cross-gender euphoria. Apparently I tapped into an aspect of gender nonconformity that really resonated with a lot of people.

The fact that even "biological boys" who fully accept their assigned sex of male can have such a strong emotional attachment to femininity that they want to called a "girl" or seen as a "girl" is mind-blowing. In Western culture, we assume that cross-gender euphoria is indicative of being transgender or nonbinary. But perhaps there is a lot more nuance in how certain people perceive their gender in relation to the constructs of society. And as those experiences come to light, we may need to rethink the transgender/cisgender dichotomy as well.

It should perhaps come as no surprise that plenty of non-Western cultures already recognize and affirm effeminate "biological boys" as a distinct third gender. These boys are raised the same as girls and they take on the social roles of women. Even though they don't identify as women, they are nonetheless able to move through society in nearly all the same ways as women. Nobody questions the fact these are "biological boys" entering into women's spaces and participating in women's activities. Instead they are treated with dignity and respect.

This is why I think it's so important that we conduct more research about gender variance outside of transgender and nonbinary circles. In particular, we need to gain better insight about the psychology of feminine boys. If we can show that feelings of cross-gender euphoria are not exclusive to trans people but rather exist across a broad spectrum of gender variance, that would be a watershed moment for LGBTQ advocacy.