My dad was a real man's man, and so were my brothers, in a small town where hockey is king. It's a masculine culture. It made me really attentive to what it meant to be a guy.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My grandfather was raising me, and in many respects, I was trying to understand what it meant to be a man. He was my role model.
I grew up in a very masculine environment. So I was around a lot of men, my brothers and their friends. There was just a lot of guys around.
When I was born, there was a very isolated idea of what it meant to be a man or a woman, and you belonged to one gender or the other.
I came from a big family - two brothers and two sisters. So, there were always a ton of boys around and a ton of girls around. So, I grew up comfortable with both sexes.
My dad was very much a John Wayne kind of guy, but he was also a great guy, great sense of humor, a real dedicated dad. I don't think he ever missed a hockey game I was in.
I always knew I was a man, always felt that I was a man, always wanted to be a man.
The hockey I was raised on, the hockey I understand, the hockey that my dad taught me about when I was a boy was intrinsically connected with fighting. I grew up in a house where we revered tough guys.
In Canada, for boys, your identity is built on hockey. It's your social position; it's everything. And I was the worst hockey player of Canada.
I grew up with brothers. I love men. Of course it's hard to be a woman in a man's world.
I was always just so feminine. I don't think anyone who ever met me would describe me as a man.
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