what makes a person transgender? I am wondering specifically about the definitions of the word. if you do not experience discomfort in your body are you still cisgender? I am recently discovering my gender identity (agender) and I am extremely uneducated so I apologise for the stupid question. I would also appreciate if anyone can provide reputable resources. thankyou(*hug*)
I guess the technical definition of transgender is someone that doesn't identify with their assigned gender. Personally I would say that if someone experiences no discomfort at all with their assigned gender/biological sex, then they are cisgender.
You don't have to have physical/body dysphoria in order to be transgender. You do have to have some kind of issue with identifying or presenting as your assigned gender. The level of discomfort varies from person to person.
One thing worth noting, I think, is that 'not caring' about one's gender and being agender is not necessarily the same thing. 'Not caring' seems to be about the most defining characteristic of being cis to me. Agender seems more, like, to be for people who don't experience gender at all. How liberal one is with the definition of transgender is a tricky question, I think. Like, if it's "any kind of discomfort with your assigned gender", then every single person in the world would be transgender. I can agree with the what Althidon said above though, that if you identify as something other than your assigned gender, you're trans. Like, if everyone tells you, and you have always been told, that you're a girl, but if you ask yourself then your answer will be "I am not a girl" (as in, at least not entirely), then you're trans. Otherwise, you're cis. Basically.
Not sure if this was in response to me or not, but I should clarify anyways, when I say "discomfort with assigned gender", I am referring to dysphoria, not things like fitting assigned gender roles.
I think there are also trans people who experience little to no dysphoria about their assigned gender, but experience euphoria around their chosen gender. Like if someone's amab, and okay with their body & being thought of as a dude, but being thought of as female and/or having a "female looking" body makes them feel "right", happy, and extremely excited, and they identify more as a woman.. Then they are still trans. I would define being trans as when you don't identify with your assigned gender 100% of the time (to include genderfluid people, who shift. Feeling comfortable with their assigned gender for a while, and then more comfortable with a different gender, and back and all over the spectrum). :icon_bigg
thankyou for your responses/perspectives. maybe it will help to give a personal description. I identify as agender. I feel completely neutral (not a mixture; no gender). I don't feel I was "born in the opposite body" because I don't identify with any gender. I accept my body as a shell that I live in however it's difficult for me to find clothes which fit with how I feel. it is easy for me to feel uncomfortable if I'm wearing clothing I find too feminine/masculine. I feel uncomfortable at a higher weight. it makes me feel too feminine. I don't have any preferred pronouns, I am okay being referred to as female however I prefer to be referred to as a person because it's neutral. my skin crawls if I am referred to as a "woman". I can't even describe how awful it feels. is transgender the same as non-binary? or is non-binary an umbrella term which includes trans or vice versa? I apologise again for my ignorance of particular vocabulary but I am just figuring this out myself.
Trans is an umbrella term for transmale, transfemale or non-binary. Trans is binary (so MtF or FtM) whereas non-binary is not male or female (agender, bigender, demi-gender, genderfluid, genderqueer, neurosis, two-spirit*, third gender). Might have missed some off, sorry. *Reserved for native American people Gender identity is not the same as gender expression. So you can be masculine <-> andrognous <-> feminine and still be the identity you are regardless of 'masculine' or 'feminine' others read you as. However, a person might change their expression to be seen by society as the identity they are. That's harder for non-binary as people tend to read in either ''male'' or ''female''. If it's other people's perceptions of you that causes dysphoria, perhaps try an androgynous style. Most cis people [and some trans/NB people] would like to be read as a person first, but most trans/NB people to be seen as their a/gender first as so many others have spent time invalidating this. If it's difficult for you to find clothing with how you feel, are you in a position where you could design your own clothing? If you're good at sewing you could make your own clothing by recycling old clothing or from a charity store. If not, there might be people who make clothing on your designs or word. Just to let you know, you've got ''female'' on the gender part of your ID card below your avatar. If you want to change it: ''Settings > Edit your details > Enter choice of gender here: [inset a/gender] > Save changes''.
thankyou, that clarifies a lot. what I meant about being referred to as a 'person', is that I prefer it to 'woman', when people are talking about me, because it's neutral. not because I want to be seen as a person first, but because I want them to use a gender-neutral term. the word 'woman' makes my skin crawl. I assume the word 'man' would too if people referred to me as that but I would not know as it has not happened. as for pronouns, it doesn't make me uncomfortable per se to be called she/her, but 'they' and 'them' feels better. I do make/adjust my own clothing. I tend to select clothing which is more neutral also. I don't like to feel too feminine or too masculine. I struggle with eating disorder and self-harm because of this feeling. sorry that I suck at explaining how I feel, it's really difficult to articulate in the right way, I feel I am learning a language to communicate how I felt my entire life.
Nah, I was talking more in general, not responding to any particular post. My meaning was that if one takes "discomfort with assigned gender" to the most broad extreme, that would include things like being pissed off about gender roles or somehow experience some kind of grievance because of one's assigned gender. And OP, if you feel just like a person, that's completely fine and all of course.
I think I understand this better now. I feel like I am not trans because I don't feel aligned with any binary gender, even if I do have discomfort with my assigned gender in some ways. so I guess I'm non-binary. thankyou. it was interesting to hear what you guys think.
Glad to hear it. Also remember that how you label yourself is entirely up to you, so please don't feel any pressure or anything.
thankyou for your help! it helps to have some kind of label, even preliminary, in better understanding of myself. I'm not inclined to narrowly define myself, afterall it doesn't change how I have always felt, but helps me to continue discovering what it means. I'm happy to be here.
Transgender means that in your soul you believe that you ARE a gender that is different to the one you were assigned at birth (born as). Technically you don't have to experience dysphoria.
