The Archetypal FTM: Sensitive, Quirky, Artistic, Weird Girls

How Personality is Confused with Gender Identity

There’s a certain type of girl or woman who reaches for the transgender or nonbinary identity label. We’ve all seen this girl, parented this girl, and some of us like me ARE this person. This is the type of girl I refer to as The Archetypal FTM or more appropriately The Sensitive, Quirky, Artistic Weird Girl.

This is not an exhaustive list of every FTM, or a perfect encapsulation of every single person who adopts a trans or nonbinary label, but this is an archetype I have lived as, and studied from my time in the trans and detrans communities, and from speaking with parents and mentoring teenagers. This archetype is who I’ve seen most attracted to the trans and nonbinary role, and they’re all too similar in their traits for it to be a coincidence.

Note: Many of these Archetypal FTM characteristics also describe girls and women on the Autism Spectrum. It is common knowledge in clinics, research, and community, that many young FTMS are diagnosed with, or suspected to have autism. It stands to reason that much of FTM culture is actually integrated autistic culture, or general neurodivergent culture, as many psychological issues like depression, anxiety, ADHD, Bipolar, BPD, and PTSD are comorbid diagnosis in this population.

It can be tricky to find the right diagnosis or label for the presenting symptoms or traits in populations with complex divergences from social norms, which is why many of these girls and women adopt multiple, often abstract, gender identity labels, including those based in autism or mental health disorders to describe themselves.

Some, like myself, view many of these labels or diagnosis as unnecessary to understanding the human condition, which is why I prefer to encapsulate a multitude of clustering human experiences under the handy label of “archetype” and have broken down this archetype into its 4 main categories.

Note: For the purpose of this essay, “archetype” is defined as:

“A very typical example of a certain person or thing.”

I have defined the 4 main categories here from Miriam Webster as:

Sensitive:

“Quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences.”

And/or:

“(Of a person or a person's behavior) having or displaying a quick and delicate appreciation of others' feelings.”

Quirky:

“Characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits.”

(Also refer to; offbeat, eccentric, unique- in a generally positive manner of association.)

Artistic:

“Having or revealing natural creative skill.”

Weird:

“Very strange; bizarre.”

(Also refer to; unusual manifestation, in a generally negative, unhealthy, or damaging manner of association.)

Archetypal FTM Traits:

Sensitive: “Queer/Trans/Nonbinary” = Sensitive

“Quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences.”

And/or:

“(Of a person or a person's behavior) having or displaying a quick and delicate appreciation of others' feelings.”

• Intellectual Overexcitability (highly cerebral and living largely in thought and mind vs. body)

• Sensory Processing Issues (physiologically sensitive to stimulus like touch, texture, sound and can become overwhelmed)

• Idealistic (can see many interconnected threads of thought which could create a potential ideal outcome or situation)

• Empathetic and compassionate (feeling the emotions of others and being cognitively understanding to those in distress because they can relate)

• High Neuroticism (sensitivity to negative emotions-shame, sadness, anger, self-doubt)

• Internalizes (retreats into self due to absorbing too much of outside environment)

• Self-Doubt (constant overanalyzing leads to rumination around failings of self)

• Anxiety (general and social)

• Depression (nervous system shut down due to sensory overwhelm and emotional flooding and burnout)

• Learned Helplessness (may underachieve due to overwhelm of thoughts, emotions, sensations, and develop complex of being a failure)

• Resists Change (due to overwhelm of thought and feeling, resists changes and struggles to adapt; requires more patience and time to make decisions or act)

• Sexual/Sensual/Asexual (may be either hypersexual and enjoy self-stimulation/use masturbation to release energy or self-soothe (including fixations with online porn), or become overwhelmed with sexual feelings and shut down and detach from sensual feelings in body)

• Spiritual/Religious/Cult Inclinations (may be interested in alternative spiritual, religious, or lifestyle beliefs or trends that can even manifest as cults. Research indicates that intelligent and vulnerable people may be open to cult-thinking)

Note: Many of these traits describe a Highly Sensitive Person or HSP. This is a theory and researched type of person who is physiologically more sensitive to thought, feeling, and sensation, due to biological reasons. Their nervous systems are more reactive to the internal and external environments, creating both pros and cons for the individual which may manifest as developmental divergences. The theory finds that highly sensitive people in a compatible and nurturing environment to their sensitivities, will thrive and do better than the average person, but in an incompatible or harmful environment to their sensitivities, will regress and do worse than the average person, and be more suspectable to mental health conditions and developing trauma-based disorders like PTSD.

Quirky: “Queer/Trans/Nonbinary” = Quirky

“Characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits.”

(Also refer to; offbeat, eccentric, unique- in a generally positive manner of association.)

• Highly Intelligent/Gifted/Bright (intellectual giftedness can create developmental quirks of deeply developed thought but lacks in experience or deficits in other areas like emotion regulation)

• Witty and Clever (verbose and adept at forming connections verbally and in thought in a unique manner)

• Good Sense of Humor (can be a bit awkward, and offbeat with humor and mannerisms)

• Precocious (may have lopsided maturation processes such as gaining interest in abstract thought, psychology, philosophy, etc. but lack of fundamental executive functioning or social skills)

• Obsessed With Labels (labels, diagnosis, definitions, language, lists, goals, etc. are attempts to understand abstract concepts, order chaos of thoughts and feelings)

• May Be Naïve (due to overwhelm with stimulus, may self-isolate, avoid, or shelter self and become developmentally stunted, or may seek advanced experiences due to intellectual giftedness, but lack the other appropriate skills to navigate situations)

• Has Special Interests (a deep love and obsession with a particular concept, thing, or person going beyond typical levels of regard or fixation)

• Social Justice-Minded (desires radical social change for the less fortunate and possesses an open mind towards social justice ideology and action)

• Passionate (when in a good mood, tends to be enthusiastic about special interests and can become deeply involved in doing them or sharing them with others)

• Relates to Animals/Nature/Objects/Concepts More than People (more easily relates to non-sentient human creatures like animals, characters, objects, or even abstract concepts than other people due to difficulty fitting in and the ability to form unusual connections or find unique meanings. Yes, anime, Disney, and rats are a thing for FTMS…)

Artistic: “Queer/Trans/Nonbinary” = Artistic

“Having or revealing natural creative skill.”

• High Openness to Experience (this is the major personality dimension measuring creativity and divergent thought, experience, and behavior, or openness to it)

• Independent Thinkers (due to high openness to experience trait, perspective is often unique, or unique opinions are sought out and adopted from others)

• Divergent Thinking (“A thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner…”)

• Self-Expressive (frequently releases thoughts and feelings through journaling, poetry, writing, art, bogging, or through videos or other methods)

• Extraverted Self-Expression (often prioritizes expressing one’s personality through bold or unique clothing, fashion, hairstyle, piercings, tattoos, nicknames, etc. Often will be DYI or handmade, or be more open to alternative forms of aesthetic expression)

• Highly Creative (often does art or creative activities like drawing, painting, crafting, writing, singing, playing music, etc.)

• Has Rich Fantasy Life (known for having a vivid imagination and ability to get lost in thought, daydreams, grandiose plans for future, and combining unique ideas together for imagined projects in a creative way)

• Nonstable Identity (the downside to high openness to experience; having connections to many different things and creating ever-shifting personas or views of self that makes it difficult to maintain a grounded sense of self)

• Jack of All Trades, Master of None (another downside to profound creativity; trouble actually “doing” things or taking action to bring tangible work into completion due to multitude of thought threads at once, or juggling priorities. Can strongly overlap with ADHD traits)

Weird: “Queer/Trans/Nonbinary” = Weird

“Very strange; bizarre.”

(Also refer to; unusual manifestation, in a generally negative, unhealthy, or damaging manner of association.)

• Feel “Weird” In Negative Sense (views self as different in a bad way, feels lacking in something others have, may resent “normies”, feel alienated and shameful)

• Individualistic (while this may be a positive trait, this type of person may also suffer by not going along with the crowd, refusing to see other’s perspectives, have rigid thinking and be stubborn to change behavior to coexist with others, and struggle to find connection or community, worsening resilience to mental health issues)

• Can Be Lonely (often isolated from groups, feels alienated from peers, may try out different social tribes but not feel belonging to any, or may fixate on belonging with 1 particular social group or attachment figure which can be harmful to them)

• Very Online (although since the 2020 pandemic and technological shifts many more people are living online, this archetype still is more likely than average to spend time cultivating an online life due to socialization troubles, sensory overwhelm in outside or interpersonal situations, and isolation due to depression, anxiety, and other disorders. The internet use can create further social deficits and mental health struggles due to lack of proper socialization, intimacy, physical movement, exposure to the natural world, and increase sensitivity which manifests these issues cyclically. )

• Insecure Attachments (may feel insecure, anxious, or avoidant about forming close relationships with others, develop more shallow online relationships, belong to unhealthy or abusive online groups or friendship cliques, or have no close attachments to family or friends)

• Rumination (tends to circle over negative thoughts, memories of the past, or fears of the future in repeated cycles which damage rational thinking and positive regard for self and life, often exacerbating into suicidal ideation)

• Obsessional Fixations (when special interests or passions bring disappointment or fail, or there is distress in life, intellectual capacities turn into intense negative rumination over solutions or fantasies of escape. These may manifest as self-harm or destructive behavior such as magical-thinking fantasies)

• Cognitive Distortions (black and white, rigid thinking that cannot be challenged even when unhealthy or destructive, generalizations from one smaller event projected onto all other events/the entire world, catastrophizing thoughts of the worst possible scenario, difficulty maintaining rational sense of orderliness)

• Low Self-Confidence (core belief of shame and unworthiness due to being, or perceived as being, rejected by others, feeling alienated, sensitive, and highly emotional, or reactive to pain)

• Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS is an endocrine disorder which affects menstruation, fertility, emotion regulation, etc. and yes, sensitivity. Although the correlation is currently unclear, from my observation, many archetypal FTMS have PCOS, and that PCOS may contribute to high-sensitivity, body image issues, feeling more masculine and less connected to the female body, mood fluctuations, and is correlated with depression, anxiety, and shame.)

In Review of the 4 Categories

All of these traits are part of the human condition. Every person in existence falls somewhere on the spectrum of these characteristics or behaviors, and none on their own imply belonging to this archetype. However, when observably clustered together, these traits are indicative of certain types of personalities.

Many of these traits, especially the “weird” traits, are vulnerabilities to developing disorders like depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, PTSD, CPTSD, etc. They may stand alone as regular human traits, or increase in severity in the form of a disorder which can be diagnosed as interfering with common functioning. I’ve purposefully left gender out of these traits to showcase the traits in a raw configuration, but one can easily see how gender identities, sexual characteristics, sex roles, cultural roles, and contemporary phenomena can manifest within these traits, and this sort of person. This archetype is more sensitive and vulnerable to developing symptoms of gender dysphoria, or a belief in it.

Gender Identity = Personality

The most important thing to note about this archetype is that each of the 4 categories (Sensitive, Quirky, Artistic, Weird) can be synonymous with “Queer, Trans, or Nonbinary” because “Gender” = “Personality.”

It really can be that simple. Young people (especially overthinking and highly open to experience ones) often confuse personality traits and types with corresponding gender identities.

For many of these girls, substituting any of these personality descriptions, especially Quirky can describe their individuality the same or even more accurately than does whatever gender identity label they’re using. Young people might not realize it, but gender expression (how you play with femininity, masculinity, and androgyny in fashion and expression) is a form of creativity that is associated with the trait Openness to Experience. In personality psychology, the BIG 5 Personality Spectrums are Openness to Experience, Consciousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism, with each big trait divided into 7 sub traits. The archetypal girl who identifies as trans is likely to present with High Openness to Experience (creativity), low Extraversion (High Introversion), and High Neuroticism (negative emotion and views on oneself.)

Although the Big 5 is the most accurate representation of personality in psychology, other ways of showing this archetype could be in the Enneagram--Type 4 which is also based on archetypes. Type 4 is the archetype known as The Artist/The Individualist/The Romantic. Each Type has 2 “wings” on either side (other Types that correspond.) Type 4 Artists can lean towards Type 3 The Performer, or Type 5 The Investigator. One can see how either, or both of these types may arise from this archetype.

If a Type 4 Artist leans towards the wing of Type 3—The Performer, this is called The Aristocrat. We tend to see a more flamboyant and expressive, loud, attention-grabbing personality and behavior (think Madonna.) This may explain some of the histrionic and narcissistic conduct we see from queer or young people, and riled up social justice activists.

If a Type 4 Artist leans towards Type 5—The Investigator, we see a person who needs to balance out their intense emotional and creative energy, with a high dose of intellectual and psychologically reflective energy. This manifestation is called “The Bohemian” (think Bob Dylan) and can be seen in the more introverted and isolated, cerebral, and heavily online trans and nonbinary people who are not as outwardly flamboyant about their gender identity, but who on one one may still exert the same positions.

Type 4— Individualist people, are notorious for being the most sensitive, emotionally deep, and if uncontrolled, the most emotionally volatile of all personality types. They are also the most creative and artistic personalities. Enneagram Type 4 traits overlap extensively with this archetypal FTM and those in general who identify as some form of queer/trans, or nonbinary.

When these traits cluster in particular amalgamations deemed harmful, these everyday human personality aspects can arise to the level of a disorder which requires treatment. Although there is a large western cultural push towards medicalization for adverse mental health symptoms, many forms of distress can be reduced, managed, or relieved through addressing the underlying harmful manifestations of traits, by understanding the interplay or both nature, and nurture’s relationship to these traits. Simply put; treat a person holistically by having awareness of the characteristics and manifestations of the human condition, and you often do not require medications or medical interventions.

If gender identity = personality, then those with the highest traits of creativity, openness, and neuroticism, will be likely to think that they have a queer/trans/nonbinary personality.

Androgyny and fluid gender expression are also linked with creativity.

Since this archetype loves identity labels, there may also be utility in understanding these girls using the Myers-Briggs or MBTI personality inventory and the corresponding INFJ profile—the supposed rarest personality type of all. INFJ standing for Introverted-Intuitive-Feeling-Judging is known archetypally as The Advocate or The Counselor. These people can often feel like walking-contradictions due to their complex natures.

While The Enneagram and MBTI are more archetypal shorthand and not as scientifically based like The Big 5 Personality Spectrum, viewing these types of girls through alternative lenses than mental disorders, conditions, and pathologies can be a healthier and more holistic route to understanding, empathizing, and helping these girls and young women to thrive in authenticity and see their self-value.

Struggles for This Archetype

Growing up as a sensitive, quirky, artistic, weird girl is often a difficult or even traumatic experience. As kids and teens these girls tend not to flourish because they:

1. Are so sensitive (emotionally and sensorially) that the outside world is an intimidating, overwhelming and confusing place they’d rather not participate in.

2. Retreat too heavily into their inner worlds and/or online to escape from the outside chaos.

3. Are both developmentally delayed and advanced in conflicting ways which inhibit typical growth alongside peers.

4. Have social difficulties and struggle with relationships and outer-world integration.

5. Are offbeat, so it’s challenging to find others to connect with at the same wavelength.

6. May be vulnerable to intense group-think or cults once they finally find a community to relate to due prolonged isolation and attachment voids.

7. Are still learning to deal with their heavy emotions and are often depressed, anxious, and ashamed.

8. Are insecure about their place in the world because they are idealistic and want to make a big difference, but feel overwhelmed, and self-doubting.

9. Have not yet embraced their personality strengths, and only focus on perceived flaws or weaknesses (which may be irrationally heightened due to idealism and analytical comparison to others.)

10. Have confusion making decisions, choosing career paths, and activities which work for them due to divergent thought and jack of all trades behaviors.

11. Might have developed mental health issues that are distracting from, and impeding, their gifts from being recognized or grown to fruition.

12. Are too focused on specific labels and diagnosis with a fixed mindset vs. learning about, growing into, and transcending the limitations of their human personalities.

13. Are avoidantly focused on outside issues and social justice concerns, or codependency in relationships as a distraction from their inner problems or fears.

14. May be underdeveloped in resiliency, perfectionistic, and give up easily; lacking motivation and an internal locus of control to overcome fear and develop courage.

15. May lack self-competency to progress in life, and end up feeling stuck in endless loops of intense thoughts, emotions, fears, and self-destructive or suicidal behavior.

Why Personality is Confused with Gender Identity

All these concerns are uniquely human, and experienced by everyone, especially teenagers and young adults, but for this type of girl/woman, even “light” or “basic” tasks can be extra difficult due to added layers of intensity and depth of emotions, thoughts, weirdness, and identity fluidity which needs to be managed, maintained, and healthily integrated. Setting other issues like social conditioning, misogyny, sexual trauma, or politics aside for the sake of examining these raw traits, is it any wonder that masses of teen girls and young women are mentally opting out of having to exist this way?

• The question is not “why are all these girls identifying as trans/queer/nonbinary?” The question is why wouldn’t they?

Why wouldn’t a girl like this be not only exorbitantly confused about their identity and how they fit and track within the world, but also desire any pathway out of the burden of Being. The chaos and physiological rollercoaster of Being Like That. (Again, taking away the compounding variables of misogyny, media, politics, and social roles.)

Existence is toil enough, but add hyper-awareness, hyper-criticism, hyper-fixation, hyper-emotion, and being even slightly, or highly eccentric, with few tangible, and connected embodied experiences that don’t involve online interaction or prescriptive doctrines of What Truth Is from fellow disembodied, emotionally unstable, cerebral, and naïve young people, or unnuanced critiques from ignorant or immature adults in the media, and it becomes obvious why rapid adoption of gender identity labels as anything other than “girl” are happening.

Most people do not want to be the Weird Girl. It’s far more appealing to be the Queer Enby, or The Trans Boy. But look underneath these labels and see what’s there, the inner quirky, sensitive, artistic, weird girl. Being queer/trans/nonbinary seems like the perfect way to contend with every concern because socially and politically, these gender labels carry massive weight, social prestige, and meaning, that teens and young people are not mature enough to fully understand, but latch onto with fervor.

Yet being trans-identified can be a distraction from developing resiliency or a truly well-rounded personality or lifestyle that would better utilize this archetype’s gifts and skills. As young adults, they may struggle to have confidence and thrive. Years of ruminating on being different or having identity confusion can worsen insecurity and build defensiveness. They can be narcissistic or emotionally immature for the same reasons, as seen in viral Tiktok videos of teens and young women with disturbing mental health issues, and trendy rants on social justice and queer issues.

These easily-mockable neon-haired, tattooed, pierced, disruptive, punkish, flamboyant, obnoxious, volatile, irrational, and unhinged young girls, are in my estimation, perfectly fitting the archetype of the sensitive, quirky, artistic, weird girl. They are unfortunate and tragic reminders of how this archetype can manifest if not cultivated healthily.

Their capacity for empathy and idealism turns into jaded disappointment at the world and themselves. Although there also may be higher rates of abuse or trauma for this group, it can be harrowing just being a sensitive nonconformist who is beaten down routinely while going through puberty. This can be worsened if the girl has a sense of always feeling blamed by family or society for being “mentally ill”, aka falling under the shorthand of “weird.” They may defensively subvert this insecurity into aggrandizing of mental health disorders, use ironic humor to cope, or have an obsession with normalization of legitimate psychological or physical health issues like the DSD, anorexia, BPD, NPD, trans acceptance (body-modification and cosmetic surgery promotions), and fat positivity movements.

Take this example; before I called myself Funk God, I had a blog URL under “Depression Jesus”… The subversion of “bad funks into good funks” is like both, but while Depression Jesus embodies shallow nihilism and self-loathing focused on shame and self-hate, Funk God embodies embracing one’s quirks, and a full integration of the pros and cons of existing as this archetype, including all the chaos, positive, and negative. under Being Funky.

Hope for the Sensitive, Quirky, Artistic, Weird Girl

I bear some optimistic news from my years of toiling as the sensitive, quirky, artistic weird girl, and from research and observation of the archetypal population; not all big emotions or psychological struggles are mental illnesses. Mental disorders describe traits and symptoms of normal human issues which arise into disruptive levels that need treatment, but disorders are still representative of the human condition and existence we all have the capacity to experience.

The archetypal FTM would benefit from hearing this because these girls are highly intelligent, and have the makings of future independent thinkers and successful adults, if they could grow into more competent and secure young women. They could make amazing assets in any field, especially as teachers, artists, writers, and healers, once they’ve matured and became grounded. Once they start speaking out and using their own voices instead of pleasing others, or insecurely defending their differences to those who don’t understand, they will find pride in how useful and important their unique traits are.

Part of how I’ve realized this archetype, is studying not only trans and nonbinary movement culture, but also the detransiton movement. Gorwing numbers of detrans women who share their experiences often note identical traits or behaviors to the list I compiled, describing the reasons they thought they were trans or nonbinary. Every story is similar; all fall under the archetypal FTM outline, and mothers of trans-identified daughters, and women of older generations, agree that this list describes their experiences of which they all believe would have appeared as “gender dysphoria”, or manifested as a gender-identity, had they been born in today’s culture which possess the technology and nihilism to promote body-modification, and medicalization of non-conformities.

Studying detrans women’s stories gives hope to the sensitive, quirky, artistic, weird girls because many detransitioners epitomize a radical version of the archetype (often with added traumas) but show an even clearer evolution from Insecurity and Confusion to Bold Growth and Strength in oneself.

Many are writing, teaching, practicing psychology, or embracing the arts to find, and grow into, authentic versions of a higher self on this confusing planet. We can see the same trends across currently identified queer/trans and non-binary women who fit this archetype, but with the remaining ideology, black and white thinking, uncontrolled neuroticism, people-pleasing, or misguided anarchism/social justice, and general immaturity intact. That isn’t to say detransitioners can’t struggle with these behaviors, but coming out the other side of ideology, identity crisis and a mixed bag of traumas and disorders, is a humbling experience which cracks open the psyche to elevate more nuanced and critical thoughts with less cognitive dissonance.

It is no wonder, then, that detransitioners are often praised for being “articulate”, “wise” and “insightful”; we are often the same archetype of girls who were born to be this way, and are now realizing it having it had a rude awakening of the complexities of reality, of our own shortcomings, and how we took the wrong turn on the path towards transcendence and self-actualization. As an upside to all that is happening with the trans and nonbinary movements in harming people, there will at least, be a countercultural movement of quirky, sensitive, artistic, weird young women gaining courage and speaking fluently on their experiences and sharing wisdom with others to help bring awareness to the nuances of the human condition, and to those most vulnerable to be led down destructive roads.

It is at worst abusive, neglectful, and traumatic, and at best a disfavor and limitation to these sensitive, artistic, quirky, weird girls to pass off their complex and deep thoughts, feelings, and personalities with a “gender identity” and affirm them as being the opposite sex, or being untethered to a sex at all, instead of teaching and encouraging them to embrace themselves as they are so they may begin to practice acceptance and nonjudgement, and evolve into the spectacularly funky women they could become. If there’s one thing I hope to achieve through spreading the gospel of funk, it’s to let young girls and women know that it’s not only okay to be funky, but you can even become a god at it if you lean into your sensitive, quirky, artistic, weirdness ;)

To learn more about this archetype, watch this video essay I recorded as an in-depth breakdown of the Sensitive, Quirky, Artistic, Weird Girl.

If you enjoyed this content, consider supporting my writing and advocacy here. As a part time artist, and full time archetypal funk god, your support truly helps.