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Difference between transgender and transsexual

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by oncetherewasa, May 26, 2015.

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  1. oncetherewasa

    oncetherewasa
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    I've been thinking about this lately as they're supposed to be similar but separate things.

    My understanding is that transgender solely means that you feel like the other gender and want to be seen as such. You can be transgender and never change your body at all or even feel any dysphoria related to your body and live comfortably just socially transitioning. This isn't common but it's possible.

    Transsexual, on the other hand, means you feel like the opposite sex and want your body to reflect that. You can be transsexual without feeling like another gender or a certain kind of gender and can physically/medically transition without changing names/pronouns, etc living comfortably with a more feminine/masculine/androgynous body. This isn't common but it's possible.

    Transgender and Transsexual are usually assumed to be synonymous and appear together in most trans people. I don't how I feel about this because it's just so much to wrap my head around.

    And thinking about how it applies to me...:bang: a lot to consider and it's all so similar. And people will see what they want anyway.
     
    #1 oncetherewasa, May 26, 2015
  2. Leah Telamon

    Leah Telamon
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    It's not quite my experience. I think I am a woman and want to be perceived as a woman, and obviously physical appearance goes a long way towards that. At the same time I prefer my skin to be softer, smoother, and hairless, and wish I had larger breasts (I have and always have had some little moobs). On the other hand I don't feel a tremendous need to have my genitals surgically altered. I think that might be because the pleasure I feel in sex outweighs any dysphoria directed down there, but I also don't think you have to have female parts to be a woman anymore than you need male parts to be a man. But does that make me transgender but not transsexual? I'm not sure, as there are definitely elements of biological female sex I want to adopt, just not every single thing.

    I think traditionally the two terms have been used interchangeably, with transsexual being the older term but transgender supplanting it as our understanding of gender and its relation to sex has evolved. I'd tend to think that the term transsexual is a bit outdated and old-fashioned, and transgender is more inclusive. But maybe that is just me.
     
    #2 Leah Telamon, May 26, 2015
  3. oncetherewasa

    oncetherewasa
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    I can relate to that. The majority of the time I would like to be perceived as a man but in some situations I don't really care either way (mainly with friends and family). That might have to do with them already having known me as female for 20 years and me not expecting much from them. I mean, I wouldn't be able to wholely forget that someone I'd known since they were born used to be a different gender either.

    I want facial hair, an Adams apple, deeper voice, thinner hips, a flat chest and a hairline that's further back. but I don't plan on having any bottom surgery. I'd love to be able to pee standing up but since I don't have much of a sex drive I guess it doesn't bother me too much that I don't have male genitalia. I agree; having certain parts doesn't make anyone a man or a woman. That actually makes sense to me, like how all intersex people used to be called hermaphrodites until they learned more about it and all the various conditions. The term Transsexual usually makes people think of sexual orientation as well.
     
    #3 oncetherewasa, May 26, 2015
  4. Acm

    Acm Guest

    I've seen some people say that transgender=anyone that has a different gender from their biological sex, and transssexual=people that medically transition. I've also seen people say that transsexual is just an outdated term for transgender. I don't know which is right, they can also be used interchangeably :confused:

    I guess both would apply to me, I want to be seen as male and I also want to be physically male.
     
    #4 Acm, May 26, 2015
  5. Tasmin58

    Tasmin58
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    The advice given to me in LGBT support was to refer to all inbetween as trans and not try to fit a particular category as their are a million flavours of none binary (neither 100% male or female) and just be yourself, find your definition of you, not the other way round. A lot of the medical terminology is dated and presumptious that you need to be fixed, well I ain't broke so don't fix me!
     
    #5 Tasmin58, May 27, 2015
  6. Entrian

    Entrian
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    The general consensus is relatively similar to what Acm said:

    Transgender- Cross gender- Someone having a different gender than assigned to them
    Transsexual- Cross sex - Someone having a different sex than assigned to them

    Transsexual does usually refer to someone who takes medical steps to become culturally "closer" to their perceived sex. However, this does not mean transgender people can't do that, or that all transsexual people do.

    Transgender people can be perfectly happy with their sex, because sex and gender do not have to be related. A male-gendered person can exist in a designated-female-sex body and be OK without any transitioning because gender is separate than sex.

    Likewise, Transsexuals can be totally happy with their gender matching the sex they were assigned (although this is fairly less common). For instance, a DMAB individual can have a perceived sex of female (believing or perceiving they should have been born with "female anatomy") but still identify as male-gendered. Because their gender matches their actual anatomy, no transitioning is needed (by this specific person).

    Basically it just depends on the person, and transgender is the usual go-to term. But like Tasmin said, trans usually works.
     
    #6 Entrian, May 27, 2015
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