Information For and About Transgender Individuals

Hello, so in light of witnessing some lack of education on trans issues within the EC community, I decided to put my own two cents in to what I believe should be understood about transgender people. I think this would be helpful to either people questioning their gender or trans allies. Now, I'm going to say up front, this is probably going to be long so bear with me. I also apologize for probably making this much more convoluted than it needs to be. I am also sorry if this is unfairly biased towards the perspectives of MtF transsexuals, as that is what I identify as.

DISCLAIMER: I do not pretend to understand the plight of every transgender individual. Everyone'e experiences are different, and that should be respected. Likely I will say something here that someone else may disagree with, and if you feel something I said was inaccurate about your personal experience, I apologize.

Before we can talk about what it means to be transgender, I need to define some simple terms.

Sex: Your sex is determined by your physical body. It is assigned at birth by your genitals. It is often viewed as a binary with only two options (man and woman) though there are individuals born that do not fit clearly into either sex due to ambiguous genitalia. The individuals are referred to as intersex.

Gender: Gender is a socially constructed role within society. It is often thought of as men and women, with males as men, and females as women. However, with gender being by definition, a social construction, it is not in any way a binary. It should be viewed more as a spectrum, and some people don't fit easily into the man or woman box, or sometimes people like to switch back and forth. I'll get more into this later.

Gender Identity: The gender a person identifies with. It is a totally separate from their sex or sexual orientation.


So then what does it mean to be transgender? It’s actually an umbrella term that covers, basically every label that defies common gender norms. Some of these identities are:

Transsexual: An individual who is born as one sex, but feels like the gender associated with the other sex. Often when someone says transgender, these are the people that come to mind. Most transsexuals will undergo hormones therapy or surgery to change their body to match their gender, but not all do. IMPORTANT: Even if a person does not undergo hormone therapy or surgery, that does not invalidate their gender identity.

Crossdressers: Someone who enjoys wearing the other gender’s clothes, but still identifies as their birth gender.

Drag Kings/Queens: Someone who wears the clothing of the opposite gender to put on a show for the entertainment of others.

Agender: Someone who has no gender whatsoever.

Genderfluid: Someone who feels their gender is fluid and constantly capable of changing. These people may identify with male pronouns one day, and female the next.

There are many others too, and I apologize for not defining every one of them, but the truth is I don't feel I understand the unique difference between the following identities well enough to define their unique attributes. However, the following are all transgender identities of people who do not identify as either male or female; genderqueer, bigender, pangender, and androgyne. Again, I'm not trying to gloss over these people, I just don't feel qualified to talk about their experience. I will include an attachment with some definitions, but I can't vouch for their accuracy personally.


PROUNOUNS

This is such an easy thing to do, that goes such a long way. Please, use the proper pronouns for the gender identity of the person you are referring to. I can't stress how important it is. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is the to the transgender individuals. It is a sign of respect, and being called the wrong pronouns can be a very unpleasant experience for many.

Also, for people who fall outside of the gender binary, there are gender neutral pronouns that people may choose to go by. They are ze/hir/hirs. If you are unsure which pronouns you should use, just ask the person.


TRANSITION

Transition is the act of undergoing a process to present as their desired gender. For different people, this means different things. Most people undergo HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) to change their body. This involves taking drugs to make your hormonal levels match that of your desired gender. This is essentially puts the body into a “second puberty.”

Some people will choose to undergo surgeries such as SRS (sexual reassignment surgery), FFS (Facial Feminzation Surgery), breast augmentation/reduction surgery, or any other number of surgeries to match their desired sex.

Some people choose to transition and present as their desired gender without the assistance of hormones or surgeries. Some people decide not to ever transition at all. This does not mean they are not transgender. An individual’s gender identity is not a choice in the same way sexual orientation is not. Because someone never has sex, you would not argue that it is impossible for them to be heterosexual or homosexual.

CISGENDER

Cisgender is a term used to refer to anyone who is not transgender. It is not intended to be used as a negative term. It is just a way of referring to non-trans people without saying normal, because I mean, would LGBPAQ people like it if instead of the terms heterosexual and straight were referred to instead as “normal?”

HOW DOES SOMEONE KNOW THEY ARE TRANSGENDER?

Well, this is essentially a question without an answer, simply because everyone is different. Some people say they’ve always known since they were very young, I myself came to the realization I wanted to be a girl when I was 12. What is very common is experiences of gender based dysphoria and euphoria. (euphoria being a very happy, pleasurable feeling, and dysphoria being a feeling of depression or discontent)

My first realization that made me realize I wanted to be a girl, was when I was pretending to be a girl on an online chat room as a kid, this provided me with the most euphoric experience I had ever experienced. When I feel left out or treated differently for being biologically male, I experience dysphoria.

Many transgender individuals have extreme dysphoria about their genitals, others are rather ambivalent, or even prefer their genitals over that of their desired sex. This does not in any way invalidate the individual’s gender identity.

It is a common belief that there are two types of trans individuals. The way I will refer to them the same way my doctor did in a discussion with me, as top surgery transgender (TST) individuals and as bottom surgery transgender (BST). (This following part is in reference to MtF individuals, I am not really knowledgeable enough to know if this will relate to the FtM population, and in fact, this is widely based on opinion and observation.)

TST individuals are primarily focused on being viewed as their desired gender. In other words, what’s in their pants, where no one can see, is much less important than looking and being thought of as a their desired gender. These people will be more likely to prioritize surgeries such as breast augmentation or reduction surgery or Facial Feminization Surgery.

BST individuals are primarily focused on their genitals. Having the genitals of the wrong sex is the most important thing to correct for these individuals.

Of course not everyone fits into these two categories, and often people feel equally dysphoric about both of these things.


IS BEING TRANSSEXUAL A CHOICE?

Nope, there is a part of the brain that is different sizes in males and females. Autopsies have shown that this structure is consistent in size with the desired gender of transsexual individuals regardless of whether or not they ever underwent HRT. This does not prove causation, but it is extremely good evidence for a biological cause.

I can tell you from experience, that transitioning is incredibly scary. I know many other transgender people in real life. Many of which have been kicked from their homes and most have attempted suicide at some point. 43% of transgender identifying individuals attempt suicide at some point in their life. That is over 25 times the national average. If one could just choose to be happy as their birth sex, they would do it. Which brings me to why I decided to write this…


In a society where transgender individuals face so much persecution, it is important for us all to be informed. I’m sure I forgot to include some important things, and I’m sure some other trans people will say I was flat out wrong about some stuff, but I hope it was helpful to someone. I make it my business to try get an understanding of all queer issues, and to any cisgender individuals that read this long rant, I want to say this very clearly. Thank you.

Whether you learned anything useful or not, the fact that you took the time to read this and try to obtain knowledge about transgender issues and rights shows that you care, and at the end of the day, if LGBTQIAAP individuals won’t stand up for each other, who will?

 

Thank you everyone who shared your thanks with me. I haven't had internet since I posted this earlier today so I very happy to see people seem to like it. Of course if anyone would like to stick the post they are welcome to, but as I said I realize that I am not all knowing when it comes to every single thing trans, so I happily welcome the feedback of others.

This could be true? I guess I was making a bit of an assumption. Certainly when you include the entire world population, chances are most people live in environments where they don't have access to such medical treatment. I wish I was able to edit the original post to change my wording a bit =/

---------- Post added 6th Nov 2012 at 12:09 AM ----------

Also on the point of who is and is not "transgender," most statistics show 43% of transgender individuals attempt suicide, but I can't imagine that is including crossdressers and drag kings/queens, so it can be a bit confusing...