Early this week, we had a What’s Brewing post here on Instant Tea that included information about what was at the time a pending ruling from state District Judge Randy Clapp in Wharton on a lawsuit challenging Nikki Araguz’s right to the pension of her husband, a Wharton firefighter who had been killed in the line of duty.
In that first post, we used the term “transgender” to refer to Araguz, which is the general umbrella term that we use here at the Voice. We based that on conversations with advocates in the trans community who told us that “transgender” is an umbrella term that includes all those who are gender variant, while “transsexual” specifically refers to those who have fully transitioned or are in the process of transitioning.
So I was surprised to see comments to that first blog about Nikki Araguz taking us to task for describing her as “transgender” instead of using the term “transsexual,” and pointing out that Araguz had, in her personal blog, asked that the media refer to her as transsexual instead of transgender.
And then, Michi Eyre sent me an email explaining to me why my rationalization was offensive to her. We began an email conversation then that was quite enlightening for me, bringing home — once again and quite forcefully — the point that words have great power, and that all of us, in every situation, should choose our words most carefully.
Some people might see this as an unnecessary argument: Transgender, transsexual — isn’t just six of one, half dozen of another anyway? Well, no, it isn’t. Because we are talking about words that are more than words. These are words that encompass and describe and express individuals’ identities. Everyone has the right to identify themselves, instead of having someone else tell them who they are. So shouldn’t it follow then, that each of us should also have the right to choose how to express our identity, and how we want others to acknowledge that identity?
So, in hopes of maybe broadening some horizons — including mine, of course — and maybe even opening some minds by helping start and perpetuate and open, honest, respectful and productive dialog, I am, with her permission, reprinting here Michi Eyre’s explanation to me of the difference between “transgender” and “transsexual” and why it matters which one we use.
Please read her statements and please comment. Add to this discussion. But keep it respectful and productive, otherwise this is just another grand argument and nobody learns anything.
From Michi Eyre:
I am a transsexual, and I am pre-op. A transsexual is someone who IDENTIFIES as the gender that is different than their gender assigned at birth and is currently going through medical processes, not necessarily surgical, to live their life in their identified gender.
Someone who is transgender may or may not identify as their birth gender but may contain some kind of gender variant aspect to them. This includes crossdressers, transvestites, drag performers, femme boys, butch women and gender queers.
As a writer, the general rule I use to identify someone as transsexual is:
• The person has stated they have obtained gender reassignment surgery, or
• The person has stated they are on a hormone replacement therapy, or
• The person has obtained a legal name change to a name congruent with their gender, or
• The person has changed the gender marker on their state identification or passport card.
With the recent struggles that transsexual/intersex and transgender people have faced in Maryland, Connecticut, Maine, Nevada and Massachusetts when it comes to securing anti-discrimination rights, the major hang up has been over the term “gender expression” and the vagueness of legislation that properly defines gender identity and gender expression where it can be verified through a third party and not “self determination.”
As a result, there is a small but growing movement of people, including myself, who feel that gender identity and gender expression are two different things and they need to be treated differently.
Gender identity relates to a medical issue that involves a diagnosis, mainly gender identity disorder (GID) and results in the patient starting a hormone replacement therapy and going through a minimum of one year of “real life experience” (RLE) until they are eligible to be reviewed as a candidate for gender reassignment surgery (GRS or SRS).
Not all patients who are on HRT continue through with SRS due to financial or health reasons. But since they are considered the gender that they were not born as, they can obtain paperwork from their physician to have their gender changed on their U.S. passport and if their state allows it, on their driver’s license or state identification card. Patients will also obtain a legal name change to a name that is congruent with their identified gender. These changes are regardless of whether the patient has had SRS. (Note: Some states, I believe including Texas, requires SRS to change a driver’s license/ID card.)
Now when you look at that situation, you would think that it is cut and dried what gender identity is. You have a third party verification of the condition and you even have a government recognition of the corrected gender (passport and driver’s license change process) and changed name.
Now bring in “gender expression.” The key word here is “expression,” the ability to express one’s self. Gender expression can fall in a wide variety of categories, from those who cross dress because they enjoy wearing one or more articles of clothing of the opposite gender to drag performers who dress fully in the opposite gender as a part of their character. Cross dressers will also take on the mannerisms of the other gender and take on an “alias” when they are “en femme” (in the case of male to female).
Those who fall in this category are not seeking therapy and/or medical supervision and therefore are not following the WPATH standards of care. They continue to identify with their birth gender, their identity matches their birth gender and name. If they take hormones, it’s usually without medical supervision and some, especially drag performers, may obtain breast augmentation surgery, which does not necessarily require “sign-off” from a therapist like getting SRS does.
Also falling under this category are those who identify with their gender, either straight, gay or bi, but wear an article of clothing that some may not feel matches the gender stereotype — for example, men who wear masculine skirts, similar to the recent fashion trend in Japan.
Most of the objection we hear from legislators and from employers to trans protections laws is around the “gender expression” section, especially where it comes to access to sex-segregated public accommodations (public restrooms and locker rooms) as well as transitioning on the job and the impact such a transition can have on the workplace. One of the biggest objections from employers are employees who decide to change their gender of dress and mannerism back and forth (or “flip flopping” as I call it).
Many in the transsexual community will accept a requirement of medical diagnosis in order to be protected in “private spaces.” Just recently in Connecticut, a Republican amendment was submitted that would require a medical diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder as defined in the DSM-IV in order to be considered protected under “gender identity.” I would support this type of an amendment only where it comes to access to private spaces. This amendment was shot down by the Democrats.
The problem is that those in the “equality” community feel that all of the “transgender” community should fit under a “one-size-fits-all” level of equality. But I feel they miss the mark when it comes to the issue of private spaces. For example, by using the definition of “gender identity and expression” that the equality federation organizations — HRC, GLAAD, the NCTE, etc. — are promoting would mean that someone who identifies themselves as male with a male sex drive would be permitted into the women’s restroom if they happen to be dressed in women’s clothing. This is where people are having a hang-up.
The equality community is too afraid to tell legislators and the public what kind of a sex drive a transsexual person has. I can speak from experience and I would put it at the point of chemical castration.
I do reach out on occasion to GLBT media because of misunderstandings of anyone who falls under trans (and to me, saying just “trans” when you are not sure is perfectly OK). I feel that while GLBT media does a great job reporting on gay/lesbian issues, many publications miss the mark on trans issues, and I usually attribute it to less knowledge of trans people (both transsexual/intersex and transgender). Perhaps, these publications need more trans people on their staff.
I do agree that things related to preferred language do change and there are regional language preferences. It was sad to hear the term “transvestite” in reference to transsexuals with medical diagnoses being used by the Connecticut House Republicans and even some Democrats. This shows a lack of education that we need to correct.
GLBT media needs to set the standard that mainstream media should follow and therefore needs to be ahead of the curve. It’s sad that some GLBT media sources take stories directly from a wire story without editing.
I will digress and agree that compared to other expressions that can be used by the mainstream media, transgender can be seen, even by some who are transsexuals to be more acceptable — especially than say, “tranny,” “shim,” “freak,” etc. This is reflected even in the GLAAD Media Guide, 8th edition. I do not agree with GLAAD that “transsexual” is an “outdated” term but they are correct that it is used in the medical and psychological communities. Those of us who are truly transitioning are doing it for medical reasons and not social reasons. I was myself born with a hormone imbalance. It’s easier for me to say “transsexual” than to say something like “chemically intersexed.” I only do not identify as intersex as I do not have any physical features that are ambiguous.
I think as we go along, we will be seeing more of this separatist movement where transsexuals and intersex persons will be declaring their independence from the “transgender” umbrella due to our medical condition that continues to be clouded by the social issues associated with crossdressing and drag performances.
Let’s continue this dialogue. This is good discussion. Some will agree with me, many will disagree. But that’s why we are all individuals.
Thanks for the clarification!
Regarding straight crossdressers and restrooms, the implication of considering sex drive in who should go to which restroom presents several problems. If this is the standard, which restroom should lesbians use? Or gay men? Or a bi person? Dallas has an ordinance for folks to use the restroom matching the gender presentation of the individual, and it seems to work just fine. Lewd behavior is inappropriate no matter what the gender or presentation, or location.
I think the ubquitous labeling of someone as a transgender or transsexual man/woman only serves to rob them of their actual identity, i.e. a man or a woman. This is because it is a widely prevalent bias to see a trans person as not really a man or woman, just someone who “lives as” one. For example, that prior Instant Tea blurb had a comment about how it is a same sex relationship after all, but Nikki sure looked fierce in that dress! Really? It reminds me of the Calpernia response to the old trope “I consider you a woman”. No you don’t you would never say that to your mother or sister or anyone else born female. Another example, I took an employmer survey recently with a demographic gender question that made you choose male, female, or transgender. so if you want to identify as trans, you couldn’t identify as male or female. Cisgender priviledge is everywhere.
Daniel Williams shared this post on FB, and Ranma Kuma posted the following statement on the FB thread. However, when she tried to post it to the comments here, it was rejected as spam. So I am posting it for her so it will be part of the conversation here:
“Trangender = transcending gender. Going beyond what your culture or society says are the ‘norms’ for how you should look, act, dress, behave, etc. for the gender asso…ciated with the sex you were labeled at birth.
Some ‘transsexual’-identified people choose not to identify with the term ‘transgender’ because of it’s past history. But, in the same way that ‘queer’ is now an all encompassing term for any form of non-hetero sexuality, asexuality, polyamory, and gender variance; and ‘bisexual’ is now a sexuality and now longer is the term for ‘intersex’… language and terms are constantly evolving. YOU choose who YOU say you are, in the end these are all just labels we decide to put on ourselves to explain to some people ‘who’ or ‘what’ we are.
First and foremost, I’m HUMAN.
I am also a transgender-identified person who also happens to have an intersex body. My gender identity and expression are often explained as genderqueer or genderfluid. I have experiences that relate to both FTM’s and MTF’s. I am active in my TG community, an advocate, and activist, and an educator. ;D”
and the one before was to someone who claimed that transsexuals are NOT transgender and never are… my response:
“MTFTM – Male to Female to masculine:
Someone born male bodied who identifies as female who dresses, acts, behaves in a masculine manner. (think butch/masculine woman)
Gender identity is Female
Gender expression is Masculine.
FTMTF – Female to Male to Femme
Someone born female bodied who identifies as male who dresses, acts, behaves in a feminine manner. (think effeminate man)
Gender identity is Male
Gender expression is Feminine
While we know that gender is not binary (and neither is physical sex), gender and sexuality aren’t necessarily connected, and gender identity and gender expression aren’t either. However they can all influence each other. (Example: Our gender identity can influence how we choose to label our sexuality, regarding terms like gay, lesbian, straight, etc.)
Because gender is not binary, there is no right and wrong in how anyone identifies. For myself, I don’t see where there is a need for a ‘transgender umbrella’, because I see the rain itself as individual variations of gender and sexes and sexualities and identities. However, until the rest of the world realizes that… I’ll accept the TG umbrella but may occasionally decide to be/not be under it so I can dance around in the rain.”See More
I am more than happy to identify any individual in the manner they desire, but i think there is something truly insidious about Eyre’s suggestion that the broader LGBT community cease fighting for protections for Gender expression. The basic argument is that if the community ignores the rights of cross dressers we can more quickly pass desperately needed protections for people who live in a single gender full-time. This kind of thinking, putting political expedience ahead of doing the right thing, is exactly what led major LGB activist organizations to push for legislation that was not inclusive of the trans community throughout the 80’s, 90’s and today. It’s the kind of thinking that led labor organizations to drop gay/lesbian issues during the middle of the last century, it’s the kind of thinking that led women’s rights groups to stop fighting for protections for lesbians during the 60’s and 70’s. In any political movement it is the people who are the hardest to fight for that most need to the fighting.
I will continue to work hard to insure that the LGB(T) groups I belong to continue to include the transgender community in their efforts. I ask that Eyre and other people of transexual history work equally hard to insure that cross dressers, gender queer and other gender variant people who do not meet the narrow confines of transexuality are included in the efforts of trans organizations.
The one and only reason that I identified Nikki Araguz as “transgender” initially is that I was under the impression that that is how she identified. It had nothing whatsoever to do with “style” or the fact that I lack “education” on trans issues. I have never spoken to Nikki, and she has never requested that I identify her as transsexual. If she had, I would have done so. When I received a press release from Nikki later that evening announcing the ruling, it said “transsexual,” so I changed it. I’m all for allowing people to choose how they want to identify, within reason.
I will note that not all transsexual women are able to afford medical supervision for hormones, or to be under the care of a therapist, yet are transitioning, nonetheless.
Perhaps some of the confusion about how she identifies is that she herself isn’t familiar with what “transgender,” “transsexual,” or even “intersex/DSD” means.
Nikki Araguz’s path is unusual, and she is not transgender or transsexual in the ‘usual way.’ Because of having an intersex condition she didn’t need medical intervention except for the surgery. IOW, no need for hormones at puberty meant no need for a doctor, which meant no need for WPATH, which meant no need to have any contact with a gender therapist or TG/TS groups. So she may be very unfamiliar with the subject.
It goes much further than Michi Eyre states it also boils down to who is the LGBT to claim me? With the way transgender has been used it drags a ton of straight people into the LGBT against their will and I believes causes damage to them. The simple fact that WPATH adopted a gay community word for part of their new name and recommends that all people with GID form alliances with the gay community is unethical and should be questioned. So should all the supposed Academics where are their ethics in promoting this word? There have been a lot of people engaging in unethical behavior with this word and they should be held accountable. Furthermore all it takes is a brief exploration of the words history from beginning till Leslie Feinberg recoined it an LGBT umbrella word to understand why the word transgender should have been the pig never allowed to fly. If you’d like to learn why its hugely objectionable and unethical just on historical grounds send me an email and you’ll get a history lesson in why I think the LGBT can be legally held liable for its tactics and adoption of the word. I’m actually thinking about suing over it if they don’t back off its use.
I am post-transsexual. Like many other post-SRS women I do not consider myself Transgender and feel insulted when people claim I am.
The arguments over terminology are noble, but become arcane when compared to the greater problems of a binary gender world and a hetero world oppressing those of us who are different. The GLBT umbrella provides a place where we can all get together and fight for each others’ rights with a real chance of being effective. “If we don’t hang together we shall surely hang separately!” In an ideal world, everyone, regardless of orientation, gender identity, or gender presentation would be treated equally, but that just isn’t so- it takes a very long time to change culture (generations or decades). The question then becomes how best to be the change we seek in the world? Straights rarely understand anything about the ‘T’ folk in LGBT- mostly they think we’re all just gay men in dresses, when they think of us at all. If we can engage them in conversation nicely, openly, we have a chance at saying who we are (and each of us has a different story, from what I’ve seen in being increasingly out over the last 3 years). If we become embroiled in debates among ourselves we have begun to lose effectiveness in being the change we want in the world.
With respect, this is over analysing and pathologising what isn’t necessary.
Some women feel uncomfortable wearing a dress. The solution is to wear trousers. There is no issue, no need for analysis, no need for a label. Equally, for the man who wants to appear like John Wayne and adopt attitudes that he identifes with that, the solution is to do it. No issues at all.
People who seek to identify with any aspect of the opposite gender, whether it is just wearing something a bit girly, to seeking SRS, the solution is for them to do this. They don’t need labels. Once their needs are fulfilled, they are more comfortable with themselves and the world. They can participate in society and contribute.
The problem is when people are prevented from expressing themselves, not when they do.
I cannot see any reason to include and define numerous sub categories for what is benign and completely harmless. I am increasingly frustrated and annoyed at those who seek to play games with the press and public over terminologies. If a transgender person applies for a job, the issue is, can they do the job.
I feel the need to clear up a few misconceptions here. This will be posted in several parts, if possible, because the comment system is balking at me. If I cannot post it here, you will find it at https://gemmaseymour.tumblr.com/post/5931213445/response-to-the-dallas-voice
There is no “vagueness” in the legislation that has been passed in this country the guarantees the equal protection of the rights of gender variant people. The general form that such anti-discrimination legislation has taken is to prevent discrimination on the basis of a PERCEIVED gender identity/expression/appearance/behavior. whether or not traditionally associated with that of the sex a person was assigned at birth.
No where in any of this legislation is there a mandate that any self-determined gendered characteristics be legally defined as a person’s legal sex or gender.
There is a divide within the trans community, created by certain trans people who wish to distance themselves from those they regard as “deviant”, “perverted”, or not “truly” transsexual, a distinction which is regards by many others in this community as being highly counter-productive and indeed, damaging, to the cause of ensuring the equal protection of the rights of all people, regardless of sex, gender, or status as a trans person or cis person.
Michi’s insistence that the only “proper” path for a trans person to follow is to submit to that sector of the medical establishment which subscribes to the methods that have been historically utilized for the purposes of transition related healthcare (such as following the WPATH guidelines) are outdated, were developed without any significant input from trans people themselves, and impose a diagnosis of “disorder” that is entirely at odds with current research into sex and gender. A consensus has grown within the medical community that is dedicated to the compassionate and humane provision of healthcare to the LGBT community that it is long past time for society to stop viewing gender variance as a medical and/or psychiatric pathology.
The leading thinkers in the medical and psychiatric communities are increasingly moving toward an informed-consent basis for the provision of transition-related healthcare, and are calling for the complete depathologization of gender variance and the removal of GID (or whatever it comes to be called in the future) from the psychiatric diagnostic manuals of each country (France has led the way here), and a consequential re-classification of transition-related healthcare as a medical, rather than psychiatric, problem within the WHO’s ICD diagnostic manual so that people who require such treatment may continue to access healthcare financing. Even the American Medical Association has officially called for the healthcare industry to remove the barriers to care access for gender variant people.
If you go looking for people who believe that there is no difference between a cross-dresser and a transsexual, you will not find any such person, despite the fact that the separatists within our community so stridently assert that this is the dominant view the community has accepted. We all agree that there are significant differences between the categories that fall underneath the modern “transgender” umbrella, but when it comes to legal battles, the correct path has already been determined in 14 (is it 15 now, with Nevada?) states and over 100 municipalities around this country over the past 36 years since the first such legislation was passed in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The legal tide is turning is this country, and despite the efforts of the “women born transsexual”, “Harry Benjamin Syndrome”, “true transsexual” contingent, as they are various identified, to sabotage the effort to secure equality for all, the writing is on the wall.
In my own State of New Jersey, I enjoy the protections of some of the most comprehensive anti-discrimination statutes in this world, and have legally and properly changed the gender marker on that most important of identity documents, my New Jersey Driver’s License. As a Citizen of the United States of America, I am now protected by anti-hate crime legislation on the federal level and can obtain a Passport which reflects my true gender without having first obtained reassignment surgery. As a native born daughter of New York City, should Joann Prinzivalli’s lawsuit win the day in court, I will even be able to change my birth certificate. The fight is on to extend the guarantee of our rights into more federal agencies (HUD, Medicare, and SSA are being worked on right now), and hopefully we will soon see progress on a truly trans-inclusive ENDA. The debacle over HB235 in Maryland ought, in a decent and just world, to serve as evidence that throwing trans people under the bus is a poor strategy.
Yet, unlike what the separatists in the trans community would have you believe, none of this takes place by me walking into the DMV, the Passport agency, or the Bureau of Vital Statistics and simply demanding that they make the changes I desire. In order to access these rights, I have submitted to a legally binding process that is corroborated by a medical professional of the veracity of my claim of my gender identity, and that my gender identity can be reasonably expected to continue as such for the foreseeable future. I am so thankful that we have at our disposal legal thinkers who have structured the legislation in a manner which displays such uncommon foresight. There is, and there cannot be, any fraud involved, as those who advantage themselves of similar legal processes are legally bound to the truth.
I have never been to see a psychiatric professional for reasons relating to my gender identity. I have never been diagnosed with “Gender Identity Disorder”. I have never been required to have such a diagnosis in order to obtain a prescription from a qualified practitioner for the transition-related hormone therapy with which I am currently being treated. I have paid for all my transition-related expenses out of pocket. I will, at some future point, hopefully be able to afford to pay for Sexual Reassignment Surgery, but that day may never come unless I am first able to obtain economic security, and I may never live to see that day if I continue to live in such danger of discrimination due to the mistaken perceptions of others.
I am a woman. I was born a female, of a woman, and like every other woman in History, I have had to learn to be a woman, myself. I am also a trans woman. I was born into a body which has the outward and inward appearance that society has traditionally associated with the designation “male”. Because I was unable to understand both my need and my ability to transition until a later stage in my life, it is likely that I will never, as they say, “pass”, and because of this, I require much the same protection that we ought to be offering to those people who are comfortable with their assigned sex and gender, but simply wish to occasionally dress in clothing that society has traditionally associated with another sex and/or gender.
In no way, despite whatever prayers any of us may offer to whatever powers to which we may adhere, will Reality ever suddenly cease to operate in the usual manner and make any of us cissexual or cisgender people. Any person who has ever grokked “teh trans” will always and ever be trans, no matter how much medical, psychiatric, or surgical treatment they receive, despite what some might like to believe. This is sometimes a burden to bear, but who among us, since the time of Siddartha Gautama, can claim to be free of all burdens?
Make no mistake, all of these issues hinge upon the idea that those forces opposed to Freedom and Liberty in this country and elsewhere will use as a bludgeon against trans people, the idea that we are deviant, disordered, dangerous predators who are out to rape women and girls at our leisure, and deceive the righteous into our beds, and their favorite illustration of this is the “penises in women’s showers” issue. The solution to this issue is not to police the bodies and behavior of women, but to provide secure facilities for those persons who desire or require privacy in their hygienic functions. Not, you understand, special facilities for trans people, but separate facilities for all those who cannot live in Peace with and Respect for their fellow human beings. The precedence for such has already been set in the Americans With Disabilities Act.
I will leave you with this final point:
Assault and other criminal behavior has always been a crime in this country, and no amount of accommodation of the needs of gender variant people is ever going to change that fact. In over 35 years of the history of utterly unambiguous legislation guaranteeing the right of gender variant people to be free from discrimination, never has a single incident of improper behavior on the part of a trans woman such as is feared ever surface. Not once.
Sincerely,
Gemma Catherine Seymour
Special sounds like the idiot President of WPATH who is pushing queer theory not reality or science I have a message for him ethics complaint.
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=165082160221442
If that don’t explain to you why I don’t like the word Transgender nothing will
Butch women do not necessarily identify as transgender, and if you are all for respecting people’s self-identification, please take care to respect that.
@ Gemma – beware, your strategy may have an additional you haven’t considered. For liability purposes, more and more GRS surgeons are REQUIRING people follow the SOC before they will do their surgery.
It is really simple. Not everyone identifies as transgender, and not everyone appreciates having this term imposed on us. Please do not use this term unless you know someone identifies that way. If their history is not pertinent to the story, it should not even be mentioned.
And there is no such thing as “gender reassignment surgery,” It is sex reassignment surgery, or genital reconstruction surgery. Nothing can change gender. If it could, we would need no surgery.
@Spacial & @Amym440 – I feel like Spacial’s comment was a breath of fresh air in a semantic flame war. It is this kind of in-fighting and pointless bickering over trivial nonsense that prevents people from getting together and being politically effective. What we should be concentrating on are our human rights, those things that everyone should expect and receive. Harping about terminology and privilege of this label and that label just causes hurt feelings and dissension in the ranks of people who should really have a common cause.
God this is making my head explode. Why don’t I just call you by your name 🙂
@VB Yes, the thought had crossed my mind. Affording surgery is not likely to happen for me in the near future. By the time I am financially able to contemplate that, it is my hope that the standards may have be relaxed, or that I will have sufficient time to pursue a more traditional method. As it stands, I am a healthy person who neither desires, nor requires, external diagnosis or validation of my transsexual status. With this I am content, for the moment, and in the meanwhile, proper medical treatment, and proper legal treatment (name change, DL, Passport, and hopefully soon, BC and SSA changes) will go a long way toward allowing me to live a dignified life. Neither a penis, nor a vagina, will ever make make any of usa man or a woman. Only the respect of ourpeers and respect for ourselves will do that.
Tisha McDaniel for it to be in fighting I would have to be in your group. I am telling all of you that you don’t have a right to pull me into the lgbt or mislabel me for your political gain. Please stop feeling it is your right to do this. Its real simple just stop with the nonsense and stop with trying to force it on me. If this continues any support I have for the gay community will come to an end and I will seek legal remedy.
My apologies Tisha I meant for the comment to be directed to Jessica. Also Jessica what you and Spacial are both missing is the right for people to choose their own beliefs and political affiliations. In no way shape or form should it be considered either ethical or legal for one group of lpeople to seek to control the message of or to force an association based solely on a medical diagnosis with a group such as the LGB on all people with that condition.
@Amym440 How did my — let’s get together and agree to stop bickering and work together on our common cause — become in your mind — we should deny the right for people to choose their own beliefs and political affiliations? There is a basic disconnect between what I write and what you read.
We can get into the weeds about how to define transgender, transsexual, HBS/WBT, etc. Personally, I’m post-op, and where I need to be. But I recognise that the majority of the cisgendered public (straight AND gay/lesbian,) are a lot more comfortable with the term ‘transgender’. My need is not to be seen as a distinct label; it’s to be seen as having a difference that ultimately makes no difference, and to be a full and equal member of society despite that perceived difference. For me, adopting ‘transgender’ will further my goal.
@ Jessica if you want to talk about Transsexual rights outside the word transgender and outside the LGBT I’d be happy to talk with you but for some reason that’s not what I think you have in mind.
I’m WAS a transexual and now I’m female. My transitioned was a long one with many therapists and some surgery. I no longer consider myself as trans anything. All my ID is female. My doctor says I’m female and so does my gynocologist. I believe that you have a gender identity and that is who you are. Your gender expression is how you present yourself to society. Two different explanations. I’m not a Drag Queen nor am I a transvestite. I am female, period.
I’m so so unhappy that I just spent 20 minutes writing a thoughtful reply, which I did not copy before posting, only to have it called “spammy” and disappeared. you could at least. warn the commenter that’s a possibility. also, given that there was nothing remotely spammy in the content, I’m going to suggest you need better filters.
Now I’ll save this one first, because my guess is it won’t post either.
Great. the useless post stands and the thoughtful one is gone forever. I’ll have to try again later.
@Sheila Pleased to meet you Ms Coats. I have zero problem with people who transition from one gender to another. It didn’t happen that way for me. I disavowed my birth gender and failed to want to become some other gender either. I am happy being myself. I do have a problem with post-ops who make sanctimonious comments about my going through a phase and that it’s only a matter of time until I make the same choices they did. People are different. one size does not fit all. Everybody has to make their own best guess as to what it right for them. It is up to us to respect their choices.
Sigh. Don’t we, as a community, have enough issues without tearing each other down over this? I don’t see how name-calling accomplishes anything.
Gwen, for many of us, insisting that we accept the title of transgender, or that we see ourselves as part of a “community” we want no part of, IS name calling.
The rampant elitism I see within the gender variant community (and I use that term loosely) sickens me.
It seems there a huge need for education. Gender identity is hardwired into our brains as is our internal body map and there is credible scientific research to back those statements. The next statement is not supported by research but passes the common sense test. Gender identity is not a binary, but more of a bimodal distribution, with most people identifying strongly as either male or female but with others who identify as neither or both or something else altogether.
Gender roles are societally constructed. How a person fits into these social mores has nothing to do with their gender identity, only with how they express themselves. Behaviors may be associated more with men or with women, may be seen as masculine or feminine, but not conforming to society’s vision of male and female does not negate a person’s maleness or femaleness or neither or both.
I haven’t discussed sex or sexuality. I won’t as it isn’t relevant to this discussion.
I’m not thrilled with being under the “transgendered umbrella” because of some of the stereotypes associated with it but that doesn’t mean I don’t belong under it. I’m an athlete, and I’m not always thrilled with being placed under the “jock/jockette” umbrella because of some of the stereotypes associated with it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up being an athlete to escape it. The difference between the two situations is that I chose to be an athlete but I didn’t choose to be trans.
Personally, I like the adjective trans to describe myself. It isn’t my gender that is an issue. My transition had nothing to do with sex. My transition was all about aligning my body and my brain and since modern medicine can’t fix the brain, and my brain wasn’t broken to begin with, I’ve changed certain things about my body. What I’ve changed and what I haven’t is nobody’s business but mine and unless someone were to see me naked they’d have no idea what’s in my undies or under my shirt. Those things don‘t define me or anyone else for that matter. They don’t make a person male or female or both or neither.
Finally, I haven’t said if I’m a man or a woman or neither. This article and the comments afterwards have focused far too heavily on trans women while basically ignoring the existence of trans men and only lightly touching on the subject of those who identify outside the binary. I know what I am. In the context of this discussion that should be enough and my comments should carry the same amount of weight no matter what I am.
I have rejected all terms involving the semantic unit, “trans”. I speak of my chrysalis, I speak of my metamorphosis, otherwise the only gender self reference I use is this: I am a woman. Yes, I am envious of little girls and their sisters or friends, I am envious of the rites of passage of natally born women, but my contemporary experience is just that of a woman, eccentric, geeky, and skinny, embedded in a small village. Not everyone knows of the prior history of this body I wear, but some do. And I have not even started the hormone treatments yet. It will likely get better from here.
Yes im so glad someone is speacking out for the oppressed trans genders out there ,)