What do you think when you hear the word "transexual?"

[Terminal Blue]

I despise the term.

To me, "transexual" implies a medical disorder. It implies someone who feels they were physically "born in the wrong body" and who needs to be totally reassigned in order to have any hope of happiness.

Transgender is a better term, it can encompass a much wider range of people and bodies.

I have some good trans friends, but it bugs me when people try to pull the "I'm not weird, I'm just a normal man/woman" card, because it implies that anyone who doesn't want to embody masculinity or femininity in exactly the same way is weird, and I don't buy that. I prefer the idea that everyone is free to choose how they represent themselves.

 

[Drave]

Porn, but then I watch a lot of transexual porn so can you really blame me? also 4chan, and then giant ass holes.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

snip

I don't know how to say it but I was watching a mature show on HBO which featured different people's opinions on the subject of sex, and then all of a sudden it went from showing heterosexual couples and what they like, to a scene where...I think one person was a guy and another was a f2m and their were pretty graphic. The part that made me go wtf was that the f2m clearly had the operation and looked like a man...except they still apparently had female gentiles. So I my only reaction was...

 

[HardRockSamurai]

What do I think of when I hear the word "transexual?"

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

The image that comes to mind are large hairy black men in prostitute clothing and comically deep voices and Asian boys that look like girls.

 

[toolateforsundown]

Usually I think about transgender people I've known (as someone else said, I do prefer transgender above transsexual for various reasons I won't be getting in to). I don't see why someone's gender identity, whether transgendered or cisgendered, should really have any influence on what I think of them as a person, or that it should even be my business. I guess I just don't care.

 

[x-machina]

First thing that comes to mind? I actually had to read your post to find out what it was. This is going to sound icredibly ignorant and maybe offensive, but it's just in this messy pile with other sexualities. In my head there is straight and "gay" (which includes bi-sexuals, homo-sexuals, trans-sexuals and what-ever else.)

I have never met anyone who had to deal with that(or at least they did not deal with it openly), and have never dealt with that myself. So without any personal experience, all of those alternative lifestyles have kind of melded into together.

 

[Insanum]

I just see a person. Granted I have a difficulty saying the correct 'he or she' with transgender people, and I dont understand it personally.

That being said, I never discriminate based on people's gender, regardless of what it is.

 

[isometry]

When I hear "transsexual" I think of someone who lives as the opposite gender from the one they were born as, usually with the assistance of hormones and surgery. Depending on the context it can include people in the process of transitioning, or it can mean people who have completed a full transition including SRS.

Visually, of course there is a whole range, but I keep in mind that some MtFs are quite passable and fit into society as normal women:

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TSsuccesses/TSgallery1.html
(images safe for work, fully clothed, nothing graphic)

I believe sexuality is a spectrum, and that's just as true for TS people as for non-TS people. I understand many TS people would prefer to leave their birth gender behind completely, and some effectively do, but others retain a mix of both genders; just like some non-TS people do. I think that's a good thing, because it diversifies the human experience.

I learned most of this in a philosophy course on "normality and abnormality", we had a guest speaker who was a MtF transsexual and she totally shattered whatever stereotypes I had seen in TV and movies. She explained that we rarely see examples of successful, normal, TS people, because they prefer not to out themselves once they transition, which makes sense from their point of view and explains why the stereotypes persist.

 

[enzilewulf]

A girl with the whole package. I.E boobs, and a penis.

Or Megan Fox since my friends always joke about her having a dick.

 

[Twilight_guy]

The various groups on campus who support LGBTQ issues, then wondering what it means as despite all the highly vocal arguments top respect them I don't know who they are, then I go back tot he notion that I should respect everyone anyways so it doesn't really matter, then I think about something else.

 

[redmoretrout]

I think a lot of these people are giving a more politically correct answer, than honest one. I really doubt their first thought is the dictionary definition, or some sexuality spectrum. (I'm not doubting if there is truth to that, just doubting it's your very first thought.)

My first thought is the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 

[OtherSideofSky]

The first thing I thought of was the transexual post-apocalyptic bike-gang second in command that Violence Jack killed for trying to rape someone (or possibly for being in Jack's way, it's unclear whether or not he actually cares about other people sometimes). Sorry, but I've never met a transexual and that was the most memorable one I've seen in the media.

The second thing I think of is probably some kind of train, and then I remember a few snippets of medical papers I've read parts of and completely failed to understand.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

First thing that comes to mind... let's see.

I think there's an 's' missing.

Transsexual. There. Fixed it.

Beyond that? Good for you. Whatever tingles your fancy, whatever works for you. I just think it's mostly easier to change the world outside your head by making babies, since they can be made in a simple session of in'n'out. Adoption comes with plenty of paperwork and, more often than not, the nicest people don't always have what it takes to fight windmills.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

I think a lot of these people are giving a more politically correct answer, than honest one. I really doubt their first thought is the dictionary definition, or some sexuality spectrum. (I'm not doubting if there is truth to that, just doubting it's your very first thought.)

My first thought is the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Hah. Frank N. Furter? He's a Transvestite. Bloke that wears garterbelts, high-heels and whatnot, but bisexually humps anything like Macho Man in drag.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Someone who changed sex... For what ever reason, but mostly due to being sexually confused... That's what it makes me think anyway!

 

[ace_of_something]

So now I wonder; what is the first thing (or couple things) that come to mind when you think of transexual people?


I don't want this to turn into a flame war, nor do I want to get people banned- I want discussion without the vitriol of the internet. If you want to speak your mind fully and fear it may get mod wrath, then feel free to PM me your thoughts rather than post.

Well, I am a police officer. My instant thought is, and please don't get mad at me folks, prostitutes and fistfights.

95% of the transsexual and transgendered people I meet, and I suspect I meet a lot more then the average person, are either a drug-addled prostitute or engaged in a fistfight. So those are the two things I think of. To be fair in a lot of the fistfights they are on the defense.
My impression is that even those of them that are doing well still lead very difficult lives.

 

[Chalacachaca]

Lately this Also Lou Reed.

 

[Batou667]

It's not a sexual thing, it's an identity thing. Not all transsexuals M2F are interested in men. Some identify as female, but still like females. Some don't. So you can't just say they're all 'gay men'. And gay men don't automatically identify as female either.

It's two totally different phenomena.

And it seems very rude to dismiss somebody dealing with a very, very large social and mental situation by insinuating they only care about it because they're too entitled or lazy to deal with 'real' problems.

The OP asked for honest responses and I gave mine. I wasn't expecing it to be a popular opinion.

Demand for sex-change operations does seem to be a self-reinforcing system though - the fact that it exists seems to generate more demand for it. Again, I don't agree with it. It strikes me as the product of a very egocentric and entitled viewpoint - "It's my body, it's my choice, I've decided that I want to be a pretty little girl called Jasmin, and you can't deny me my rights". It seems like a drastic external (physical) solution to an internal (mental) problem.

Here in the West we indoctrinate kids with the idea that anybody can achieve anything, and to say otherwise is racist or sexist. The idea of telling people "no" or "tough, life isn't fair" is anathema to modern values.

Transexuality is human wide, not limited to class, wealth, geographical location, etc. Hardly a first world problem. Off the bandwagon you go.

Maybe, but I can't remember the last time I heard about Ethiopians campaigning for trans awareness, or an Eskimo in drag, or the Native American Trans community.

Outside of the Western/white world the only other trans issues I've heard of are the trans community in India and Pakistan - which seems to be almost a spiritual thing - and of course Thai ladyboys, which is an overtly sexual subculture.