You don't know what it feels like to have a female body anymore than I know what it feels like to be blind

I never claimed to and I don't need to to know how I feel.

Your mind doesn't exist independently of your body

It could, in future. I could transfer my consciousness to a computer or some other substrate, my body is just a shell.

You don't know for instance, what is like worrying about periods (or a lack of them), or whether you may get pregnant, or whether you may be able to access a safe abortion if you ever need it. All that stuff is purely theoretical for you.

None of those things are universal to all women either. And when I was a kid when I thought I would grow up to be a woman naturally, I did worry about those things or the lack of those things. I don't need to have every single experience linked to being female, to be a woman, any more than you or anyone else does. Just because I was raised as a boy and I've had surgery doesn't mean I haven't had experiences in common with other women. I have!

I mean, I doubt people in your daily life saw you as "woman" before you tried to physically resemble one, so what did "make" you one back then if no one viewed you that way?

Of course not, that's why I started changing my body. Knowing I am is not enough if I can never express it. Do you need a reason to call yourself a woman? You can say it's your body, or your experiences, but if those magically changed you'd still be the same you. And then it'd be you knowing in your heart how you're supposed to be and dealing with the pain of having to inch towards that.

I'm not sure why I feel the way I do. When I was little I thought I would grow up to be a woman, I had an imaginary friend who was that imagined future self. Then it became, well maybe all boys wanted to be girls and I'm normal. Then when I found out that's not the case I used to pray to be different and to start my life over. And now I'm here, for a few years now, realizing that no one is going to get me what I need but myself.

I can't describe why any more than I can describe knowing what my favorite color is, or that I'm a nerd who loves cats. Maybe there's a reason buried deep but, it's not very important to me.