What is the difference between a transgender and a transsexual?
Question by lumberjackchild: What is the difference between a transgender and a transsexual?
My friend told me he’s a transgender. i have read about it, and transgender and transsexual are purportedly completely different. but, then i added him on a website and he says he’s transsexual on there…? so really, what is the difference between the two? i know that being transgender is just having a brain/body mismatch, and that he’s not a “girl”. but is he transgender or transsexual or both??
Best answer:
Answer by Radgal
The problem is many transsexual people will say they are transgender. Why? Shame issue mainly. They think there is too much stigma associated with the word and instead of educate people they hide behind the call “transgender”. They think “transgender” is a safer, more acceptable term.Transgender populate don’t get surgery, transsexual people do. That’s the main difference. You can learn lots more here:http://www.LynnConway.comYou can read about the biology of transsexualism here:http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TS.html#anchor107763People born transsexual have (or had) a brain-body mismatch. They transition to fix that. Transition is the long, expensive process of changing the body to match their gender identity AND assuming the gender role in society that matches their gender identity as well.We’re just ordinary populating who are dealing with an extraordinary situation.
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They aren’t completely different. Transsexual is a type of transgendered. It means a person who desires to be the gender opposite their biological sex or what they were assigned at birth. Transgender is an umbrella term for people who don’t fit the typical gender roles. It includes transsexuals, crossdressers, drag queens and gender queer people. For the record, a gender queer person is a person who considers him or herself either both male and female or neither male or female, and sometimes all of the above. Some people include intersex (people who biologically are in the middle of male and female, such as guys with XXY and women born without ovaries) into the definition of transgendered.
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LikeDislikeThe term transgender was coined to differentiate between transsexuals and other people who do not conform to the gender binary. It was coined by a transvestite who did not like transsexuals and even went so far as to say that we did not exist. He wanted a new term so that people would NOT think that he and his kind were transsesxuals. Many people use the term TG as an umbrella term to encompass, erroneously all gender related people. Some Transsexuals use this term to help in giving support to others and to make it more easy for transsexuals to find others for support. In this manner the term does have its good uses. Unfortunately it has negative aspects as well. Transsexuals who are people who are responsibly dealing with a known and accepted congenital birth defect are hence lumped in with drag queens and homosexual males who are into cross gender activities. This therefore gives way to further negative stereotyping by bigots and religious hate agenda churches.
Sharon
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LikeDislikeThe following is a definition on what transgendered is……….
DEFINITIONS
Gender Identity refers to a person’s actual or perceived sex, and includes a person’s identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s sex at birth. People who are transgendered (TG or Trans) are people whose anatomies and/or appearances do not conform to those considered appropriate for culturally predominant gender roles. They have physical and/or behavioral characteristics that readily identify them as having a non-conforming gender identity. In other words, TG people, to varying degrees, “transgress” cultural norms as to what a man or a woman “should be.”
Of course, not all people who transgress cultural norms in regards to gender are, or should be, considered TG as we are discussing here. In that case, that would include a woman who works as a pipe fitter or a male nurse. However, when transgender is used in the case of a “sexual minority”, we are generally referring to one of the following five categories:
Transsexuals were born into one gender but identify psychologically and emotionally as the other. Transsexuals are generally thought to have a condition called gender dysphoria (also called Gender Identity Disorder). Those who are born physically male but are emotionally and psychologically female are called Male to Female or MTF’s. Those who are born female but are emotionally and psychologically male are called Female to Male or FTM’s. There is some disagreement as to whether gender dysphoria is a physical condition, a psychological condition or both. Some scientists believe that gender dysphoria occurs when the developing fetus is in the womb and that a chemical imbalance occurs their development, that affects sexual difference.
The primary way transsexuals differ from other TG people is that in almost all cases, they seek to modify their bodies through hormones, SRS (Sexual Reassignment Surgery) or both. This process (which may take several months or many years) is called Transition, where transsexuals will make major life changes in order to bring their physical appearance in line with their gender identity. Some of those changes include changing their name and gender designation on legal documents such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses and social security records. However it is achieved, the ultimate goal of transition is to enable the transsexual to live completely as the gender with which they identify.
It is extremely important to remember that male to female transsexuals are women, just as female to male transsexuals are men and should be referred to and treated as such.
Intersexed people were born exhibiting some combination of both male and female genitalia (usually determined by the doctor to be either a clitoris that is “too large” or a penis that is “too small.”) As one can imagine, such a diagnosis is entirely subjective. At birth, the attending physician or parents or both “choose” which gender to raise the child, necessitating surgery and/or hormonal treatment that must be continued throughout the child’s life. Many intersexed people, now adults, are advocating for an end to the way intersexed children are seen as “damaged goods” needing to be fixed.
Crossdressers (previously known as transvestites) identify as, and are completely comfortable with, their physical gender at birth, but will occasionally dress and take on the mannerisms of the opposite gender. Of course, cross-dressing is more onerous on men, since our culture accepts the idea of a woman wearing pants, but not a man wearing a skirt. Most cross-dressers are heterosexual men. The term transvestite is now considered offensive and should not be used because it is associated with negative images of sexual fetishism.
Drag Performers include people like Ru Paul, or Elvis Herselvis (a well known lesbian Elvis impersonator). Drag performers are precisely that – performers. They dress and act like the “opposite” sex for the entertainment of an audience. For them, drag is a job – not an identity. Some are gay – some are not. Some identify as transgendered – most do not. It is important to be aware of the fact that some people, including many drag performers themselves, do not consider drag performers to be members of the transgendered community.
Gender blenders, bi-gendered, androgynes and others – Not all transgendered people fit neatly into the above categories. For some, such characterizations of gender and gender identity are more constraining than liberating. Gender blenders may or may not identify as one or the other in a binary gender system (i.e. either/or, male/female) and many times will assume a mixture of male and female dress and characteristics, combining elements of both.
Now that you have an understanding on what transgendered is, let me say that some transsexuals will say they are transgendered some won’t
Woman Born Transsexual Not Transgendered (post op)
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LikeDislikeI don’t care for either term. Transsexualism is the recognized medical term for the most common form of gender identity disorder, but the word itself connotes that sexuality is the prevailing component in the disorder, when it is not. Sexuality refers to a person’s preference for sexual partners, or the attributes associated with a persons sexual interests. Changing ones body to match the gender of ones mind has very little to do with sex (aside from the obvious changing of the genitals) and everything to do with gender.
Transgender is actually a more accurate term if you want to describe a person whose mental identity does not match their body, and genital reassignment surgery is a more accurate way to describe the operation that makes ones body congruent with ones mind. The problem is that once terminology gets embraced by a society, it is very difficult to get people to change. Think about the big stink all the women in Hollywood made about wanting to be called “actors” instead of “actresses” – as though actress was a derogatory word. Actress more accurately describes a female who acts, just as waitress more accurately describes a female who waits tables. Do waitresses want to be called waiters? No. There comes a point where feminist political correctness becomes absurd. I don’t want to call my mother my “female caregiver”, I want to call her mom.
If I had to propose terminology to best describe transsexuals, I would say they are suffering from a body-mind incongruity related to gender identity – but try getting people to use BMIRGI to describe transsexuals.
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