you are welcome here!

Thanks for your affirming words. 💖

I do think my vagina could "pass as cis" in many contexts (which brings me immense relief as headlines increase about women being targeted and harassed in bathrooms, and about new TSA policies that prohibit women officers from doing pat-downs for trans women), but I think a gynecologist would probably be able to tell my vagina is not natal (from the lack of inner labia, and the location / placement of my urethra and vaginal opening - which are a bit lower than they "should" be for a natal vagina).

That said, you're right that at some point my dysphoria becomes sort of closer to the nit-picking and insecurity that cis women express ... it's confusing, though, because there is research on this difference - clinically speaking, trans women like me do actually see benefits from cosmetic surgeries that feminize the face or labiaplasties to make a neo-vagina more typical of a natal vagina, etc. whereas cis women who are insecure about their face or labia almost never see clinical benefits from the same cosmetic surgeries. Body dysmorphia can't be fixed with surgeries, but gender dysphoria can.

So, I assume while it may look the same, probably it isn't the same. My sensitivities are just higher and I see and live with all the ways I fall short of the woman I feel I should be (and in ways surgery will never fix - like the size and shape of my shoulders, my forearms, my hands, etc.).

Thank you for being so kind and considerate, and for bringing up such affirming and supportive points 🫶