Asklemmy

I highly recommend checking out LGBT organizations in your area, some of them have hobby clubs and meetups and whatnots (if there's none in your local area try calling one anyway, maybe there are people interested in being online friends).

The question you asked screams lack of confidence and honestly the best cure would be to add some queer friends.

Of course it's okay to say "when I was a little boy". Why wouldn't it be? Did someone told you it's not okay to say that? Who was it?

Use the words that you believe will form the desired image in the listener's head. If the image you want to convey is closer to the listener's concept of little boy than any other, use those words, regardless of what an uninvolved third party might think. It is better to speak the language of the listener to the best of your ability than to try to speak every language at once or just speak your native tongue louder, if that makes sense.

As a cis guy, it feels pretty unnatural to say “when I was a boy” because the word has always meant gender more than age to me. Since the variable I’m indicating is my age, I use “kid” or “child” for it.

As to the broader question, my gut tells me to go with your gut. Whether the word “boy” or “girl” is what came to your mind, there is probably some relevant nuance to what it is you’re saying about your younger self that informed that instinct.

"when I was 8"

When it comes to choosing the labels we use for ourselves, if it's right for you, it's the right label.

A label doesn't define you or who you are, a label is an imperfect attempt to communicate who you are to yourself and to the people around you.

If the label is helping you do one or both of those things, it's the right label.

you sound like my wife and she is still like that. Its hard to explain because she will do whats expected. So like around the house whe will not wear dresses or anything but at work or parties or such she will. We are both kinda by the book like that but im more likely to do what I want if there is no specific rule where she will more likely take into account norms.

You can describe yourself any way you like. It's helpful to provide context, like you did here. Without it you may not be understood. So know who you're speaking to and provide it, especially when puzzled faces stare back at you.

If you grew up to be a man, it might make sense to describe your younger self as a boy. My understanding of gender is that often the one you end up with as an adult is the one you really have had the whole time, or at least since you started having one at all.

But my other understanding of gender is that being in gender trouble is a fake idea, so you can and should describe your younger self as whatever feels right to you, no matter what you think of yourself as now.

If that's how you want to describe your past self then you have every right to.

I want to have the bodily characteristics of an AMAB person. I want to be a boy, do the stereotypical boy things, reject makeup and dresses, I want my hair cut short like a boy and wear my dad’s clothes simply because they were “men’s clothes”.

This sure sounds like the thinking of a boy.

Definitely an unusual situation, so there’s no easy answer.

Reminds me of the scene from Predestination where the guy opens his story with “when I was a little girl.” It has transgender elements to the story but it isn’t a trans story. And that’s all I’ll say. Wild ride.

idk it's your life