I can't help but feel that the idea of "gender identity" may have made life easier for AGP (autogynephilic) trans, but has made is SO much more confusing for what I would term AAP (autoandrophobic) trans.

For a quick explanation as to how I am using these terms:

AGP: Characterized by attraction to the idea/image of oneself as a woman.

AAP: Characterized by a repulsion towards ones male anatomy and being a man.

The problem as I see it that causes this divergence in whether gender identity ideology makes life harder or easier to figure out for these two types, is that it comes with this idea that there is some gender out there that is a "perfect fit" for you, something always comfortable

I think most people alive can relate on some level to being uncomfortable with their gender. Even if it's just one tiny thing, gender in society comes with SO many restrictions and demands on how one must be.

It is inherently uncomfortable for almost everyone.

AGP get a benefit in figuring their identity out under this framework. As @KaylaWaring4 describes it, having an artifact in their mind as to what they "should" be.

This ideology makes figuring out gender simpler when not confronted by reality, as you just ARE the artifact. How you see yourself as wanting to be, just IS who you are.

The gender identity comes "baked" in with that type of trans.

So it can be far more simple of an issue to navigate for people like that. The ideology removes any need to question their own identity.

However, the inverse happens for people who I would categorize as AAP.

While AGP transition to move towards their self-image and what they are attracted to, AAP transition away from what they absolutely cannot stand to be.

Without gender ideology, it's quite simple to figure out what you need to be. There's only two choices, and one is impossible.

Even if what you are transitioning towards is also uncomfortable, as long as it is less uncomfortable, you'll just have to learn to fit in as best you can, pass, and get on with it as best you can.

It might not be perfect, but it's something you learn to work with.

Without gender ideology, transition become a simple binary choice.

The problem comes up when you have gender ideology telling you that you have to have some perfect comfortable fit that you instead become.

AAP doesn't come with a built in ideal of what you should be. Instead, it comes with just the knowledge of the one thing you absolutely cannot be.

And now you are expected to have some perfect ideal of what you should actually be instead.

This can leave the AAP stuck in a weird place, because you just don't strongly feel like you ARE something. While you may have felt that it would be less uncomfortable to be a woman, you also are more likely to recognize that that too will come with its own discomforts.

And this can throw a lot of uncertainty into the process. It makes it very hard to figure out what you "should" be.

And AAPs get stuck when trying to figure out the "should" with gender ideology. The simple binary choice gets turned into a mess with a million choices.

And I know of several people who transitioned, passed, and then ended up more recently identifying as they/them, agender, etc, because they were transitioning away from something, then were confronted with the "but what DO you identify strongly with?"

And it's a pointless load of mental fuckery! Society is binary. Everyone is only going to look at you and put you in one of two categories.

No-one will ever look at you and see your "gender identity".

It's just not realistic to expect that any such society will exist.

It's a whole load of crap thrown onto a process that is already quite difficult. Now it's not enough just to do your best to be less comfortable, now you are expected to find something unrealistic that is some fantasy "ideal fit".