[quote/] Gender is not actually just someone's sex in the context of biology. Gender more often not, especially to a trans-person, will is often used to encapsulate identity. It's hard for a CIS-Gendered person, or someone who more, or less fully identifies as the sex they were born as, to understand what it's like to legitimately not identify with your birth sex. When in cases of varying severity your mind does not identify with who you are physically, and there is a separation. What you said there is like equating sexual preference to gender identity, which is again something that's incorrect, as sexual preference isn't entirely biological, there are many mental components to it.
The problem with your statement on this is two fold. One you're assuming that you're right on standing from a point of totally not understanding what's going on. Firstly you're classifying transgendered individuals as just the transsexual component, the ones who go for the operation. The problems with that are in the case of transsexuals specifically, they're alienated with their physical equipment to an extent that it's deeply damaging to deal with it on a daily basis. Secondly not everyone who falls in to the Transgender categories are at all interested. On top of that you're speaking from a position of the authority of a professional. Such professionals would tell you the exact opposite of what you said.
I'll give you an example of myself. According to some I classify as Transgenderist, as in I'm transitioning but will never have the "bottom surgery" under any circumstances. I don't mind what equipment I've got, but it's not my genitals that define me. To project who I am I do seek other treatments such as hormones and minor cosmetic alterations. Why? Because I want to present the same way I identify, which is far more female than male. Now it might be hard for you to understand, but I want to present an image that matches my inner identity. What is so bad about that?
There are all sorts who count under the transgender umbrella. There are those who do want the bottom operation, and that's their prerogative. You can't even fathom what it must be like to be so alienated by your own genitals that death actually seems like an option, neither can I for that matter, but on some levels I at least understand that it is indeed a nightmare. Then there are cross-dressers/transvestites, bi-gender people who identify as both genders, people who identify with neither gender, and various shades of greys within the circle of these people who also qualify as transgender. Sadly there are a lot of trans people who actually don't understand this either.
Where you did start to see the light is saying it's about identity, because it is about identity. Like I already stated. Some people identify with the opposite gender of their birth, some identify as both, or neither, and to varying degrees. For the people seeking a full transition including the operation it's so deep that their physical gender(sex) actually revolts them to the point where they NEED to change it surgically. That last part is one of the largest contributing factors to suicide in the transgender community, and you should never diminish how people who feel that must feel on a daily basis. These people aren't pigeonholing themselves, they actually feel unnatural in their own body, and if it can't fixed, then death is a viable option. Of course there some psychologists and psychiatrists who push for full transition, which is irreversible, and sometimes push people who don't need it to it, which tragically contributes to suicides too. The all, or nothing approach and not understanding the variables can actually be dramatically unhealthy for transgendered individuals. So if you don't know, don't try to tell a trans person who they are or what they should be.[/quote]
No no no, I didn't mean to come across as a professional, or speaking on their behalf by ANY means. Only that that's what I'd imagine they'd have said. I especially don't mean to equate gender identity to sexual preference, nor do I mean to make it synonymous with being transsexual, and I actually don't intend to bring transsexualism in to the equation at all, as it's obviously a separate, and only marginally connected topic. I feel like either I messed up somewhere, or you're missing the point of what I'm trying to say. I also understand that identity is the point, but the part that I don't understand is why it matters so much in the first place. I've always felt like the fact that it matters shows a more underlying problem, for everyone, not even just the transgender person. What I don't understand is why their gender identity is such a problem in the first place. Why does it matter what your gender is when your gender is just biology, anything beyond that is just a social construct. I don't get why it has to be one or the other, or something in between. I don't get why in the world people "feel" like anything other than a person because, aside from biology, people are just people. It seems like a lot of pain and confusion or something so trivial it's just confusing to me. Isn't the fact that people feel like they are or need to be any preset at all the problem in the first place?
