Transgender Q & A

[Psykoma]

I know that the language around this is a bit convoluted and really tricky to remember, but I do believe you're referring to a certain type of transgender person referred to as a "transvestis", who doesn't go for all of the operations for whatever reason. I'm pretty sure that the popular definitions are as follows:

-Transgender: Usually used as an umbrella term, covers almost everything related

-Transsexual: Transgender person who takes up various surgeries and therapies to transition to become a member of the other sex

-Transvestis: A transgender person who is pre-op or non-op that keeps their original equipment by choice, for whatever reason

-Transvestite: Someone who cross-dresses, usually for sexual pleasure, usually non-transgender

Now I don't really know why someone would stop halfway through. maybe it's because of the crudeness of some of the older operations that leave some anxiety, sometimes it's just what you said: a strange and unique sexual pleasure. I think it's different with each person.

The definitions are really annoying
Almost everyone I've talked to from a different region has heard different definitions.

The ones I had been told by my therapists:
- Transgender: Umbrella term for Crossdresser, Drag Queen, Transvestite and Transsexual.
- Crossdresser: A cisgender person who dressed in clothes that are generally considered to 'belong' to the opposite sex for everyday wear, no particular purpose.
- Drag queen: A cisgender person who dressed in clothes that are generally considered to 'belong' to the opposite sex for purpose of entertainment or performance.
- Transvestite - A cisgender person who dressed in clothes that are generally considered to 'belong' to the opposite sex for sexual purposes.
- Transsexual - The only people in the "Transgender" umbrella to have a gender identity which did not match their physical sex. The subcategories in Transsexual were Pre-op, Non-op and Post op.

I had never even heard of "transvestis" before.

Then there are other people who differentiate between "Harry Benjamin Transsexuals" and "WPATH Transsexuals". >.>

It's all so ugh.

 

[an annoyed writer]

The definitions are really annoying
Almost everyone I've talked to from a different region has heard different definitions.

The ones I had been told by my therapists:
- Transgender: Umbrella term for Crossdresser, Drag Queen, Transvestite and Transsexual.
- Crossdresser: A cisgender person who dressed in clothes that are generally considered to 'belong' to the opposite sex for everyday wear, no particular purpose.
- Drag queen: A cisgender person who dressed in clothes that are generally considered to 'belong' to the opposite sex for purpose of entertainment or performance.
- Transvestite - A cisgender person who dressed in clothes that are generally considered to 'belong' to the opposite sex for sexual purposes.
- Transsexual - The only people in the "Transgender" umbrella to have a gender identity which did not match their physical sex. The subcategories in Transsexual were Pre-op, Non-op and Post op.

I had never even heard of "transvestis" before.

Then there are other people who differentiate between "Harry Benjamin Transsexuals" and "WPATH Transsexuals". >.>

It's all so ugh.

Ugh indeed. I can't help but find it very confusing and annoying. There's a ton of different words and people can't seem to agree with one-another on the definitions. How the fuck are people supposed to understand with this clusterfuck of an etymological system?

 

[Eggsnham]

I do have a question, and I apologize in advance if I offend you or anybody else, but:

If there were a medical procedure or a form of psychological therapy which made your mind feel in tune with your body without major surgery or long term hormone treatment, would you go through with it?

 

[Psykoma]

I do have a question, and I apologize in advance if I offend you or anybody else, but:

If there were a medical procedure or a form of psychological therapy which made your mind feel in tune with your body without major surgery or long term hormone treatment, would you go through with it?

Yes.
Or at least, I would have.

 

[hooglese]

This is one I'm not going to go sifting through the 11 pages of questions to find, but: What gender do you choose (if possible) in video games?

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

If there were a medical procedure or a form of psychological therapy which made your mind feel in tune with your body without major surgery or long term hormone treatment, would you go through with it?

Nope..I know what I was meant to be... and I must be that.

This is one I'm not going to go sifting through the 11 pages of questions to find, but: What gender do you choose (if possible) in video games?

Female, always female

 

[an annoyed writer]

This is one I'm not going to go sifting through the 11 pages of questions to find, but: What gender do you choose (if possible) in video games?

If there's a choice, Female. I relate better that way.

 

[Superlative]

I have a question if someone would be kind enough to answer: If a person is unable to determine the gender of someone else based on physical appearance, is it rude to flat out ask which pronoun should be used?

 

[an annoyed writer]

I do have a question, and I apologize in advance if I offend you or anybody else, but:

If there were a medical procedure or a form of psychological therapy which made your mind feel in tune with your body without major surgery or long term hormone treatment, would you go through with it?

I'm of two minds on the issue. On one hand, being able to feel at home in the original body would be nice, since there's no risk of surgical fuck-ups and the like. On the other hand, you're literally talking about altering the brain chemistry and how one thinks, and the question "Is that really me?" comes into play. I know it would make my thought processes function completely differently, and I've really got to inquire if it was really worth it. Yeah, there would be feeling at home, but at what cost? What traits would I lose? What would I gain? There's much more at stake in changing the mind than the body. I've thought of this before, and will do so some more. Back to the Chamber of Understanding!

 

[an annoyed writer]

I have a question if someone would be kind enough to answer: If a person is unable to determine the gender of someone else based on physical appearance, is it rude to flat out ask which pronoun should be used?

Not at all. It's much more rude just to assume and get it wrong, since then we might assume hostile intent.

 

[PhiMed]

I don't want to start a flame war here, but the examples of a "chemical wash" that you gave have really only been proven as it relates to the differentiation of external genitalia. Any assertions as to the effects on the brain are, at best, strictly theoretical, and at worst, grasping conjecture to fill the knowledge hole. Because of our poor understanding of neurophysiology and neurological biochemistry, nevermind the actual physiological nature of complex abstract constructs like gender, there's really no way to demonstrate this phenomenon at this point, even in animal models. Even if there was a viable animal model, international laws on human experimentation would likely prevent it from being extended to a human model.

... and that would be the crux of the matter. Any animal with a sufficiently complex neural system to support abstract concepts in a way we could test would come under similar ethical constraints, especially if the phenomena you wish to study is untestable in other animals, thereby making preliminary study series (how you get to work up to testing on progressively more complex/useful test subjects, for them what don't know) problematic at best.

Not to mention that the ethics guidelines for psychology research, which would cover a part of such a study (you try keeping psych researchers out anthing like this), are just as rigid. In fact several of the most famous/important studies on human behaviour (Milgram, Zimbardo, etc) would have been rejected at the proposal stage today.

So... we don't have an idea. Some people just have just put forth a plausible hypothesis. An unproven, possibly untestable hypothesis.

That's not to say you're wrong. We don't know. It's just that there's absolutely no evidence to support it.

To support "Chem Wash Theory" for gender? No but it's important for people to remember that regardless of the current lack of a testable hypothesis the phenomenon still exists.

Um. So, you admit that there's no proof that this phenomenon exists, but we need to remember that it does? I don't think that's reasonable.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that you think that's what happens, but we don't know. If someone contradicts your assertion (again... I'm not. I'm only saying that it's unsupported), the only appropriate response is, "Well, we don't know whether it's true or not, but a lot of smart people think this is the best explanation."

 

[piinyouri]

I have a question if someone would be kind enough to answer: If a person is unable to determine the gender of someone else based on physical appearance, is it rude to flat out ask which pronoun should be used?

Not at all. It's much more rude just to assume and get it wrong, since then we might assume hostile intent.

I agree there.
I don't want people to be afraid to talk to me, so please, ask.
So long as you are polite, I will respond favorably.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Um. So, you admit that there's no proof that this phenomenon exists, but we need to remember that it does? I don't think that's reasonable.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to say that you think that's what happens, but we don't know. If someone contradicts your assertion (again... I'm not. I'm only saying that it's unsupported), the only appropriate response is, "Well, we don't know whether it's true or not, but a lot of smart people think this is the best explanation."

I don't think I explained myself clearly. Trying again for clarity...

The phenomenon of the neural image mapping for transpeople aligning with the neural maps typical of the sex they identify as rather than those of their birth sex (or is that gender? *shrugs*) exists.

The Chem Wash hypothesis as a cause for such phenomenon is what is unsupported and possibly untestable.

The thing some people need to keep in mind is that even though the mechanism(s) and cause(s) for the map alignments are unknown doesn't mean the map alignments don't exist.


There, now at least if you want to disagree at least we'll be on the same page.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

There's a ton of different words and people can't seem to agree with one-another on the definitions. How the fuck are people supposed to understand with this clusterfuck of an etymological system?

Settle the etymological differences the traditional way: Steel cage match.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I'm of two minds on the issue.

That's because at the heart of the it there's one very important philosophical issue - what is more important, the body or the mind? ... and before you attempt to answer that you have to answer the question 'what is the mind?' and then you might as well have a crack at 'what is Self?'

And all that's before you get to the ethical shitfight.

 

[tarantula]

I'm of two minds on the issue.

That's because at the heart of the it there's one very important philosophical issue - what is more important, the body or the mind? ... and before you attempt to answer that you have to answer the question 'what is the mind?' and then you might as well have a crack at 'what is Self?'

And all that's before you get to the ethical shitfight.

There's probably a rule, but you two deserve lots of upvotes, for great answers, for good data, for reaching to the crux of issues, and sometimes just for conversations that make me laugh out loud.

After wandering through "Which is more important, Body or Mind?" and "What is Self?", we arrive at "Where does Self Live?", and then the Buddha walks up the road, hits us with the stick, and the koan loops through again.

Questions and theories of self-consciousness and identity just don't overlap much with the ethical-experiment space. I'm really very fond of the theories of Julian Jaynes on consciousness, whose seminal book has one of the finest titles ever: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_Consciousness_in_the_Breakdown_of_the_Bicameral_Mind

Evidential references here: http://www.julianjaynes.org/summary-of-evidence-for-julian-jaynes-theory.php

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

There's probably a rule, but you two deserve lots of upvotes

Upvotes give me performance anxiety.

 

[an annoyed writer]

There's probably a rule, but you two deserve lots of upvotes, for great answers, for good data, for reaching to the crux of issues, and sometimes just for conversations that make me laugh out loud.

Glad you appreciate it. I keep in mind that I'm writing for others, so if I'm not at least intriguing you I'm not doing my job right. Besides, this is a community worth staying with, since there's a lot of good people. Hope you stick around.

 

[DataSnake]

It was actually three guys, two with knives, and one with a blunt object, but who's counting?

Appreciate the sentiment

I actually meant her fiance threatening you with a firearm. She called you crazy when you told her about the gang rape too? Instead of, you know, trying to comfort you like a normal person with a conscience would have?

Spoiler: This seems appropriate

 

[Maevine]

Wow, 12 pages now ._.;; I'm a little late...

This isn't exactly about transgender people, but I was wondering how you believed the rate of transsexuality would be affected if our culture were more gender-fluid and stopped enforcing the gender-binary. Do you think more or less people would become transsexual, or would the rate be substantially affected at all?

Secondly (and actually about transgender people this time), I've come across quite a few transgender and transsexual individuals who felt uncomfortable identifying with feminism because they didn't feel like they were being included by the community. So, how can one be a good trans* ally, and what can we cisgender people do to make our spaces more friendly and inclusive to transgender and transsexual people?

I'll totally understand if you don't have an answer for or just don't want to answer either one of these questions. Just in case, though, I thought I should ask .w. This thread is seriously an awesome idea~ I'm sorry about the trolls, though D: