We live in a world that is becoming increasingly tolerant of gender fluidity, but it’s still often disconcerting to feel like the gender you were physically born doesn’t match up with who you are.

And if you’re cisgender (someone whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex), what must it be like to feel born into the wrong gender?

People are now sharing their memories of when they first realised they were transgender, and their stories are powerful, moving and insightful.

Many who were born female admitted to wishing they would get breast cancer and need a mastectomy.

“This is super f***ed up in hindsight, but once I hit puberty, I used to look in the mirror as I was stripping for the shower and think ‘as long as all they'd have to do is remove my boobs, I’d be okay with having cancer,’” one person wrote in the Reddit discussion.

He wasn’t alone either, with one person revealing they still feel that way:

“I’d LOVE a reason to get rid of these horrible things. The last exam I had was eight years ago when my son was born and I kinda always hope something bad will happen to remove it all. It's kinda sad.”

But whether you find yourself longing for a reason to have your body parts removed or not, many people simply wanted it to be out of their control, as if they had no choice but to change their gender.

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fantasised about my penis and testicles being destroyed or removed for whatever freak accident reasons,” one person wrote. “It’s so f***ed up, I know.

“But in the back of my mind I keep thinking, ‘then no one will blame me for not being a man anymore, the pressure would be gone. I could slide into the other side so much more easily.’”

LGBT in Istanbul Show all 8 1 /8 LGBT in Istanbul LGBT in Istanbul Hakan, 20, is a student of medicine at the university, and after discovering cross-dressing he's currently in a transition process to define his sexual identity, seeing himself either as a gay man or gender queer. His special place is Macka Park, in the central part of Istanbul (Turkey), where he used to have encounters during the night, after the parties around the area of Istiklal Road and Taksim Square. The park is still one of the few locations in the city where straight and homosexual couples meet up during the night for some outdoor sex, in this side of the city. LGBT in Istanbul Celik, 41, is an activist, member of Beyoglu City Council and a Sisli municipality worker at the department of social equality. He chose to be portrayed in Gezi Park, in the heart of Istanbul, where heavy protests happened in the spring of 2013. It was at that time, when he was still a manager for an international company in the retail sector, that he realised it was time for a change: he decided to leave his job and get involved in politics and human rights. Nowadays, Celik is working with lgbti+ refugees, and on lgbti+ rights, in collaboration with the Republican People's Party, the main opposition party in Turkey. LGBT in Istanbul Remi (fake name), 22, was recently exempted from the army conscription service because he is gay and HIV positive, and got the so-called "Pink Paper" (a document certifying the discharge for reasons concerning homosexuality). He decided to hide his face for security reasons. Remi choose Mis Sokak (Mis Street) as his special place: 'It's a famous road full of bars, near Taksim square, and most of them are or were gay friendly.' LGBT in Istanbul Seyhan, 37, theatre actress and performance artist. As a transgender woman both her private and professional life have been complicated by a widespread trans-phobia. Being an artist, though, helped her in many different ways, and years of hard work on stage taught her confidence in herself. Instead of having her picture taken in a place related to a memory, she chose to portrayed in a random street of Istanbul, because to her any public space is important: being visible, being able to walk every single street of the city in total freedom, without any trouble, is the key to every other right. LGBT in Istanbul Avdil, 20, originally from Diyarbakır is a student of Arabic language and culture, activist at HEVI LGBT, an NGO based in Istanbul that supports especially Kurdish LGBT individuals. His special place in the city is the garden of this cafe near Taksim Square, where he met his first love a year ago. When his family discovered he was gay there were big fights between them, but things gradually improved and when Avdil love story finished, after a few months, he could even speak with his mother about his feelings and the problems he had with his former boyfriend. Avdil and his first love remained good friends, though, and are still in touch with each other. LGBT in Istanbul Emre, 35, is an interior designer. He decided to have his portrait taken in Gezi Park, looking on the buildings on Taksim Square because of its symbolic importance. For him and many others, Gezi Protests were a key moment in the history of the LGBTQ movement in the city of Istanbul, when the different souls of the liberal society and the LGBTQ community came together and found in each other the energy to organize, protest and advocate for their rights. LGBT in Istanbul Gokhan, 34, is a video editor for a media company in Istanbul. His special place here is a strip of rocks near the harbor of Kadikoy, on the Asian side of the city, that terminates with a small unmanned radar tower. A few years ago Gokhan was chatting with a possible date on an app, and they decided to meet, all of a sudden and in the in the middle of the night, here. It eventually didn't work between them, in the long run, but the view from this place and the memories of that night stuck with him through the years. Gokhan still goes there, from time to time, sitting on the rocks and thinking about that night, while watching the sun setting behind the golden horn. LGBT in Istanbul Cagla, 27, is the daughter of Zuleyha, a LGBT rights activist. Her special place in Istanbul is this sea walk in the area of Bakirkoy, near where she lives. She decided to have her portrait taken ere, together with her mother, because time ago they had an important discussion in this place: Zuleyha had to get some help because of a momentary nervous breakdown, as At that time she couldn't accept Cagla being a transgender woman. After an afternoon at the hospital, on their way home they stopped in this area, and Zuleyha told Cagla that even if it was going to be difficult, even it it was going to take time, she was not going to give up, because they were family. now Zuleyha is part of LISTAG, a peer support group that helps parents to understand their LGBT kids.

For some people, thoughts like this came long before puberty, even aged as young as five, as one person explained:

“One of my very first memories that I still remember is realising how much I wanted to be a girl. I was around five or six.”

She wrote that she used to be jealous of her schoolmates wearing dresses to school whilst she had to wear shorts and a polo shirt, but the “real epiphany” came in a dream: “I was a girl and I was wearing the female uniform and went to school like a normal girl.

“I just remember a sense of ecstasy throughout the entire dream, as if it was the first time I ever felt happy, despite being five or six years old at the time.

“When I woke up from that dream I was overcome with a huge, huge sense of overwhelming disappointment.” And the dreams kept coming until she transitioned.

If you don’t know about the existence of transgender people, having these thoughts and dreams as a child can be very confusing.

One transgender woman explained that aged around eight, she used to go to bed wishing she’d wake up as a girl and everything before had been a dream, or she’d be abducted by aliens who’d turn her into a girl.

For some, hitting puberty and realising you simply don’t want the body parts you’re developing can be when things hit home, as one trans man explained:

“The hysterical sobbing and attempting to wear three too-tight sports bras at a time when my breasts started coming in.