I don't talk about this a lot, but reading Whipping Girl (Julia Serano) really changed my relationship with gender. I was fine with being a woman, I didn't really feel drawn to being anything else, but I never really felt it was okay to actively like being a woman until I read her work.
My version of womanhood and what it means to me is probably about as actively constructed as any trans woman's, but it never felt quite legit to want to be a woman (since I didn't start it as a conscious thing). Reading that "woman" is always constructed made it feel achievable and legitimate for me, too.
