system
A chat on subreddit /r/NoStupidQuestions
human
Oh no that's not true at all, I'm so sorry they told you that.  FWIW, I'm a therapist who specializes in gender dysphoria.

**TL;DR: Please seek out a trans-affirming/gender-affirming therapist and talk to them.**

MANY trans people don't "show signs" as kids. This discomfort you describe, the in-congruence between how your body has developed and how you wish it developed, isn't a discomfort that cis people generally experience.  You can be dysphoric without wanting to be a trans woman, and body dysmorphia could also explain some of what you're feeling, but it really does sound like dysphoria.

Why did it show up in your teens?  Possibly because puberty makes dysphoria worse as hormone levels fluctuate. For many of us, it also *did* show up in childhood, but nobody recognized it at the time.

Also, I've met cis therapists who treat OCD and are convinced anyone with OCD who describes dysphoria is just obsessing about it.  That line of thinking has no evidence behind it other than it looks similar to them.
gpt
'didnt show signs'--and most parents wouldnt confirm it if asked because they're scared.

Or, a father, who saw his son liked the 'girl' character in a show (like Sky in Paw patrol) fcking LOST HIS MIND and screamed at a 3/4 year old and made that little boy afraid to say *anything* about how he liked and preferred the non-boy centered options on things.

And it's not till teens that he got some freedom, some willpower, some *size* to feel comfortable, even in his own mental space, exploring the idea...

Yeah, there mighta been signs, and might have been quickly suppressed by a parent...and a kids survival strategy was to try to shut it off mentally--but it never stays shut off forever.