I’m cis. I don’t experience the intermittent extra labia awareness specifically, but the entire outer area…is often on my mind, reminding me of my gender.

I love having a vagina…it makes me feel like myself. I’ve always been strongly aware of it. I like reminders of it…because it reminds me that I’m a woman and I’m very happy being a woman.

Sounds pretty much like the same feels I get. A physical sense of validation as female. I get how a trans woman would experience that. It’s nice knowing that cisgender women might feel that too.

And I am very, very happy being a woman. As you might imagine. :-D

It may not be the prettiest vagina by societal standards…

Please see this response to another reader comment.

I’ve just reached that most holy of milestones; my cronage… I’ve been looking forward to my crone years for so long and they’re finally here. Hallelujah!

Ouf, Boo, I’m just not there yet. I need to get OK with it, but I’m having a lot of difficulty with aging-out of (hetero-normative) attractive womanhood. I’m really messed-up about it, TBH.

I think of how it must be for men… It makes me shudder… I just wouldn’t like a male body on me. But I think I might be able to survive it if it weren’t for everything else that came with being male… I don’t know. The inner dissonance and the outer pressure. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately.

And you’ve just done a pretty good job of describing the pre-transition transfeminine experience. I’ve often said that I don’t think it’s possible for a cisgender person to understand gender dysphoria. But it sounds like you might be getting close.

As always, Boo, thanks so much for writing!

❤ Allison