Transexual

[x2x2x2x2y2]

Ok umm firstly i really hope this doesnt offend anyone, im just curious. So how does someone know they are transexual?? Or do you even count as transexual before you have gender changing surgery?? Im just trying to understand this better.

[xCrazyInsanity]

I'm not offended. can't speak for the rest of the ts community.

How do you know: Odd question. How do you know you're gay? Same thing.
Are you ts before surgery: ... Yeah. Or i think so anyway. It's not like the entire time you're pre-op you're just a mess up of your physical sex. I've obviously not had surgery (age, parents..) but that does NOT change the fact that I identify as male.

I suppose it's odd to anyone who isn't trans, or isn't close to someone who is.
But we're all people...

any more questions?

[isabella]

my recomdation is to watch the movie A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story on the lifetime movie channel. it help describe transgender alot

[xCrazyInsanity]

You.. Do realize that mtf and ftm are two different things, right.
Just wondering, cause I've heard some really stupid crap on the topic

[Eleanor Rigby]

As far as I know, transgendered person know they are born the wrong gender. Some of them do even realize that very young in their childhood (around 3 or 4, sometimes younger).
How do they know ? I don't know, but probably the exact same way I know I'm a woman or you know you're a guy.
And yes, they are "transgendered" or more exactly, they are the other gender all the time, even before they have surgery. They are male born in a female body, or female born in a male body all the time. Their transition is just the way they try to match their body with their mind.
And transition doesn't just mean sugery. Sugery is just a part of it, and some trangender people never attend it for various reasons (from money issues to more personal reasons, including the fact some of them don't feel the need to have surgery to live as the gender they want to).

I hope it clarifies things a little (and to our transgender members, if I have I said anything you don't agree with, you're very welcome to comment and let me know).

[xCrazyInsanity]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

And transition doesn't just mean sugery. Sugery is just a part of it, and some trangender people never attend it for various reasons (from money issues to more personal reasons, including the fact some of them don't feel the need to have surgery to live as the gender they want to).

Hormones. Seriously. Me and estrogen don't sit too well together
It makes a difference. In ftms, getting on testosterone makes your period stop, facial hair can grow,it's easier to build muscle (...i'm surprisingly bothered by this minor issue), voice cracks... Oh and most guys I've talked to mention sex drive skyrockets, but I'm not sure if you wanted to know that

General masclunization.
It's also why when women bodybuilders use steroids they have issues. Steroids are artificial testosterone (no, I'm NOT in any way condoning black market hormones)


I'll leave the hrt on girls to any lady who'd like to answer that, because to be honest, I'm not 100% sure other than breast growth and it being harder to loose weight.

I've babbled. Sorry.

[GhostDog]

I'm not transgender, but a while back, I did imagine what it would be like if I'd been born male. Mostly because I wondered what that must feel like. I could date a wider variety of girls! From that perspective, it should've felt awesome, but it just didn't feel right. Picturing myself with women, as a man, didn't feel right either. It felt strange and kinda panicky to imagine myself in the wrong body.

And I guess that's the closest I'll ever come to understanding where trans people are coming from. I know I'll never know what it's like, but I found it helpful to put myself in their shoes and imagine I was born the other gender. If nothing else, it made me realize how much harder it must be to be transgender than just plain ol' gay.

I know that's not precisely what you asked, but the point of this is, I found that imagining that my physical gender didn't match up with the gender I identify as did a lot to make being transgender seem less alien to me. You may find it helps you in that regard as well if you try!

I hope this all doesn't seem too presumptuous to say, though. I know you can't really ever know what it's like to be someone else without being someone else, but hey. I thought I'd throw that out there at any rate, as a cisgender lady who used to have similar trouble understanding what being transgender means.

[Greggers]

Im not transgender, but i dont feel like a man even a tiny bit. I guess in a way that makes me transgender, but i feel more genderqueer, like a third gender to be exact.

From talking to many many people on the subject, i know that its not always easy to figure out your transsexual. And then sometimes it's clear as day and you know when your only 4 years old. Even the people who do figure it out often are too scared to act on it or tell anyone. If you think its scary telling people your gay, try telling you people your not actually the gender that you appear on the outside. Most people, like you, are very confused by transsexuals because they just dont know very much about them.

As for a FtM or MtF's gender, its whatever they say to say it simply. Some feel they are only really transitioned once they have a certain amount or surgary or hormones. Some feel they are transitioned already, without anything but changing how they look and act. The best thing to do is just ask If you are trans, you get used to answering all these questions, so dont be afraid to ask another one!

Here is a GREAT thread on the same topic started by our own FtM God of Everything, Miles.

transgender questions?!

[x2x2x2x2y2]

Thanks everyone for the input. and yeah I know mtf and ftm are different. I will admit, this is somewhat an odd subject to me, but I do agree transgender people are people too.

[Greggers]

Originally Posted by x2x2x2x2y2

Thanks everyone for the input. and yeah I know mtf and ftm are different. I will admit, this is somewhat an odd subject to me, but I do agree transgender people are people too.

O_o

Was that ever *not* true?

[xCrazyInsanity]

Yeah, it's always been true.
But, as we all know, if people differ from the 'norm', they'll get treated as less than human.

Society, when will you learn?

[x2x2x2x2y2]

Originally Posted by Greggers

O_o

Was that ever *not* true?

I only said that because xCrazyInsanity said "but we're all people..." in his first post in this thread, so I just wanted to say that I agree cuz I didn't want anyone to think I didn't.

----------

Originally Posted by xCrazyInsanity

Yeah, it's always been true.
But, as we all know, if people differ from the 'norm', they'll get treated as less than human.

Society, when will you learn?

Exactly this.

[Miles D]

Transexual ≠ transgender.
The simplified answer is that transexuals identify as the opposite (born female, identify as male or vice versa), but transgender is the umbrella term for all people who queer the gender lines. (i.e. genderqueer, transexual, crossdressers, MtF, FtM, etc)

How do you know? Well... you just... do.
Same way I know I'm queer. It's what feels right. I identify as male, and the fact that I was born female doesn't change that. When I think of myself, I think of myself as male. I wear boys clothes, look like a boy, and feel like a boy.

About surgery... some people identify as transexual, they are MtF or FtM, but they can't afford surgery, don't need it, etc. I mean, as FtM who transitions before female puberty doesn't have breasts to remove... and most don't like the penis surgeries available, myself included. For some, surgery isn't right for them. But I've been on hormones for over 5 months, my voice is deep, I'm getting facial hair, I look like a guy. So yes, pre-surgery transexuals are still transexuals.

Also, feel free to PM me with other questions!!
-Miles

[x2x2x2x2y2]

Thanks Miles!!

[ethelred]

A good short example: a transexual(person in wrong body, to be clear) child who knows and is only 4 may actually ask the question "mommy, why do I have a vagina?" in that innocent and honestly confused manner children do. It simply doesn't makes sense on a visceral level for them.

[xCrazyInsanity]

Originally Posted by ethelred

A good short example: a transexual(person in wrong body, to be clear) child who knows and is only 4 may actually ask the question "mommy, why do I have a vagina?" in that innocent and honestly confused manner children do. It simply doesn't makes sense on a visceral level for them.

However, not every kid does this.
I didn't. Actaully, all my kid pics before age 7 I'm in a dress, with long hair. Once I realized, however, that girls are allowed to wear pants, I did. Screw skirts. (sheltered, i know. I live in a very religious area. Watch, this one comes up again)

I very distinctly remember trying to pee standing, and not understanding why it didn't work and why my dad was yelling at me when he realized that's why i had peed my pants (epic fail from a five year old ). I didn't understand why I was different, but being raised rather sheltered + religious, I didn't ask why.

I kinda thought I'd grow up and be normal.

[Meii]

I'm third gender, possibly gender queer, I feel like I am both male and female, even if my body physically says female.

It's just a feeling I guess, where something at times I feel something is missing, somedays I'm happy as a female, and other times I'm just... disgusted and unhappy with it. Some people say it's me being a tomboy, but last time I checked, tomboys don't cry sometimes for being female and not male, and then wonder why they were born with such desires and feelings one minute, and then you're fine the next.

It's just a feeling, almost an instinctual feeling, a yearning, that's the best way I could explain it.

[Clockwork]

It's instinct, I think. It starts when you're young, even if you don't notice it yourself. When I was younger, I was always in baggy clothing, climbing trees, and acting like a little boy when my mother yearned for me to be a little girl in sun-dresses.

Meii is right about the crying thing. Some days I'm so happy with my large breasts and feminine body, and then other days I'm throwing things across my bedroom sobbing because it has to be this way. Being genderqueer is hard, because there's just so much discontentment.

But on the other side of all that pain, it's also very nice to be third gendered. You can escape a lot of the sterotypes of being a boy or girl, not to mention the freedom you have to be yourself. Honestly, if you're a transexual, third gender, or any other thing, you know deep down in your heart what you are.

It's just part of your life.

[Meii]

Originally Posted by Clockwork

It's instinct, I think. It starts when you're young, even if you don't notice it yourself. When I was younger, I was always in baggy clothing, climbing trees, and acting like a little boy when my mother yearned for me to be a little girl in sun-dresses.

Meii is right about the crying thing. Some days I'm so happy with my large breasts and feminine body, and then other days I'm throwing things across my bedroom sobbing because it has to be this way. Being genderqueer is hard, because there's just so much discontentment.

But on the other side of all that pain, it's also very nice to be third gendered. You can escape a lot of the sterotypes of being a boy or girl, not to mention the freedom you have to be yourself. Honestly, if you're a transexual, third gender, or any other thing, you know deep down in your heart what you are.

It's just part of your life.

EXACTLY, and the same happened to me as above. I hated barbies, and yet I loved little miss petshop, since I was growing up I had a weird somewhat boyish sense of humor and my mother would always tell me how she wanted me to be a girly girl.

Even now, I have that problem with my father, who helped me realize at a young age I was third gender, now he wonders why I'm not girly at all, and tells me I should 'wear more pink, keep my hair long, wear makeup, etc'