Transgender Q & A

[flying_whimsy]

This is a really interesting thread. Most of the questions I had have already been answered, so I'll ask one that's tangentially related.

Are there different levels of severity to gender dysphoria? A friend of mine is a straight male but I get the impression he sort of resents being male sometimes: I don't think he'd change what gender he identifies as, but it really makes him unhappy sometimes and I was wondering if I should mention something about it to him (as far as I know he's never heard of gender dysphoria). I couldn't help but think of him while I was reading this thread.

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

This is a really interesting thread. Most of the questions I had have already been answered, so I'll ask one that's tangentially related.

Are there different levels of severity to gender dysphoria? A friend of mine is a straight male but I get the impression he sort of resents being male sometimes: I don't think he'd change what gender he identifies as, but it really makes him unhappy sometimes and I was wondering if I should mention something about it to him (as far as I know he's never heard of gender dysphoria). I couldn't help but think of him while I was reading this thread.

Ya i think there are levels. I think SOME cross dressers have a bit of gender confusion at least (again not all). Some people go the asexual/androgynous route because they don't quite identify as either gender.

 

[flying_whimsy]

This is a really interesting thread. Most of the questions I had have already been answered, so I'll ask one that's tangentially related.

Are there different levels of severity to gender dysphoria? A friend of mine is a straight male but I get the impression he sort of resents being male sometimes: I don't think he'd change what gender he identifies as, but it really makes him unhappy sometimes and I was wondering if I should mention something about it to him (as far as I know he's never heard of gender dysphoria). I couldn't help but think of him while I was reading this thread.

Ya i think there are levels. I think SOME cross dressers have a bit of gender confusion at least (again not all). Some people go the asexual/androgynous route because they don't quite identify as either gender.

Thanks. I think I'll tactfully mention it next time he starts feeling down about being a guy, maybe he can talk to a therapist about it or something.

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

This is a really interesting thread. Most of the questions I had have already been answered, so I'll ask one that's tangentially related.

Are there different levels of severity to gender dysphoria? A friend of mine is a straight male but I get the impression he sort of resents being male sometimes: I don't think he'd change what gender he identifies as, but it really makes him unhappy sometimes and I was wondering if I should mention something about it to him (as far as I know he's never heard of gender dysphoria). I couldn't help but think of him while I was reading this thread.

Ya i think there are levels. I think SOME cross dressers have a bit of gender confusion at least (again not all). Some people go the asexual/androgynous route because they don't quite identify as either gender.

Thanks. I think I'll tactfully mention it next time he starts feeling down about being a guy, maybe he can talk to a therapist about it or something.

yep, and ya it never hurts to talk to a therapist..especially to sort shtuff out

 

[Rawne1980]

yep, and ya it never hurts to talk to a therapist..especially to sort shtuff out

Come and sit on my couch ... now tell me, how does that make you feel?

Dr Adam, psychologist extraordinaire .... i'll send my bill in the post

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

yep, and ya it never hurts to talk to a therapist..especially to sort shtuff out

Come and sit on my couch ... now tell me, how does that make you feel?

Dr Adam, psychologist extraordinaire .... i'll send my bill in the post

hehe you are on a roll today. As for how it makes me feel... who's on the couch with me?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

yep, and ya it never hurts to talk to a therapist..especially to sort shtuff out

Come and sit on my couch ... now tell me, how does that make you feel?

Dr Adam, psychologist extraordinaire .... i'll send my bill in the post

The bill comes from the other end of the duck.

 

[CorvusFerreum]

First of all I want to thank the OP for opening this interessting thread and all the folks contributing to it. I don't know anyone who is (openly) transgender or transsexual, and the answers provided in this thread help to raised my understanding of it. And I think knowledge and understanding are the only things which help to fight discrimination. (heterosexual white cis-male majority here again, btw.)

As a trans, can you have children? And if so, how does it work with the X/Y chromosomes?

Yes, but only as your birth sex. And after a while on hormones even that can sometimes become impossible (for MtF at least, I haven't researched as much about trans men).
Nitpick: Trans is an adjective, not a noun.

Beat me to the punch! But yeah, what she said, with a little addendum: As we get further along with medical science, uterine implants will be possible: there are already ciswomen that actually have Y-chromosomes, and have not in any way been affected by it, so we know it's possible to have a uterine implant coded to the patient's genetic code, and have the capability to bear children. We need to advance technologies such as stem cell research and application and organ printers before that's possible, however.

Sadly an artifical uterus alone wouldn't help much, since you still needed to provide male and female gametes to create an embryo. As such an artificial ovular would be needed, which I don't think will happen anytime soon. If you have sperm frozen and a female partner it would work on the other hand.
But I have heard there is research going on about the creation of gomates out of reembryonalized bone marrow stem cells. And this method would theoreticly be capable of creating sperms as well as ovules from anyone. This would allow any couple to have children regardless of their gender and sexuality, which would be a great thing.

The condition of women having X/Y genotype is refered to as swyer syndrom btw. It happens if the sry-gene is deleted or damaged. This gene is located on the Y-Chromosome and its expression is basicly the trigger which sets off the developement of a male body.

As for my question: It's mainly terminology wise.
I am somewhat confused with the correct use of the terms sex/gender and transsex/transgender. As far as I know being transgender is about not belonging to the gender (as in gender role) you were born in and society puts you into. Transsexuality on the other hand is more about the biological aspects of it (as in you don't belong to the sex you were born in). I get the concept behind this, but this just seems to flow into another. Is there some rule of thumb as to when to refer to someone as transgender and when as transsexual.
And on that not: As what should be the sex you were born in be refered to? A transwoman's (I hope I use the right term here. I mean someone who feels as a woman born in a man's body) gender would be female. Would it be offensive to refer to her sex as male? How is it after a possible transition? I would handle it this way:

Gender: Female
Sex (before transition): Male
Sex (after transition): Transfemale
Genotype: XY (Male)

Would that be alright?

 

[J Tyran]

Can I ask a sort of related question? I have always wondered about how Hermaphrodites fit into the Transgender issues (if they do at all). Do they ever have a desire to be one sex or the other and have the appropriate surgery or are some happy as they are? The legal side of things must be complicated too, do they have to declare one gender or the other? I ask this because I read an article about how doctors are coming around the belief that surgery shortly after birth is a mistake as they often pick the wrong gender for the baby, more Hermaphrodites are being left to grow up to see if they identify with one gender or the other.

 

[Baneat]

T's, do you consider an otherkin who truly believes to be sound of mind?

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

T's, do you consider an otherkin who truly believes to be sound of mind?

I have no idea what a otherkin is. I am a trans woman or just a woman.

 

[Angelowl]

As for my question: It's mainly terminology wise.
I am somewhat confused with the correct use of the terms sex/gender and transsex/transgender. As far as I know being transgender is about not belonging to the gender (as in gender role) you were born in and society puts you into. Transsexuality on the other hand is more about the biological aspects of it (as in you don't belong to the sex you were born in). I get the concept behind this, but this just seems to flow into another. Is there some rule of thumb as to when to refer to someone as transgender and when as transsexual.
And on that not: As what should be the sex you were born in be refered to? A transwoman's (I hope I use the right term here. I mean someone who feels as a woman born in a man's body) gender would be female. Would it be offensive to refer to her sex as male? How is it after a possible transition? I would handle it this way:

Gender: Female
Sex (before transition): Male
Sex (after transition): Transfemale
Genotype: XY (Male)

Would that be alright?

In most cases yes, it's more or less how I percieve it. Regarding terminology it's pretty simple really. I'm a girl, if I need to clarify I would call myself a transgirl or TS-girl as I see fit. Some would demand to be recognized as the right gender pre-transition or be seriously offended it you call them trans-anything. Understandable, but give the "normal" people something to work with. It is pretty complicated if you're new to the concept.


I simply have to add something I noticed. On the local TS-forum and IRL in sweden I've encountered three general archetypes of transsexuals. Those who desire to be normal, the LBGTQ-activists, and Metal-heads/goths, who are fairly kinky and tend to be bisexual. I fall into this third category myself.

 

[Baneat]

T's, do you consider an otherkin who truly believes to be sound of mind?

I have no idea what a otherkin is. I am a trans woman or just a woman.

It's kind of spammy to post what would boil down to a wikipedia cut-out on the thread

 

[Beautiful Tragedy]

T's, do you consider an otherkin who truly believes to be sound of mind?

I have no idea what a otherkin is. I am a trans woman or just a woman.

It's kind of spammy to post what would boil down to a wikipedia cut-out on the thread

Ummm ok. I guess I can't answer that then. Maybe someone else knows what it is can answer it. I can't look it up at the moment. I'm not "spammy" I thought if you wanted to know the answer you might wanna explain what it is.

 

[an annoyed writer]

As for my question: It's mainly terminology wise.
I am somewhat confused with the correct use of the terms sex/gender and transsex/transgender. As far as I know being transgender is about not belonging to the gender (as in gender role) you were born in and society puts you into. Transsexuality on the other hand is more about the biological aspects of it (as in you don't belong to the sex you were born in). I get the concept behind this, but this just seems to flow into another. Is there some rule of thumb as to when to refer to someone as transgender and when as transsexual.
And on that not: As what should be the sex you were born in be refered to? A transwoman's (I hope I use the right term here. I mean someone who feels as a woman born in a man's body) gender would be female. Would it be offensive to refer to her sex as male? How is it after a possible transition? I would handle it this way:

Gender: Female
Sex (before transition): Male
Sex (after transition): Transfemale
Genotype: XY (Male)

Would that be alright?

In most cases yes, it's more or less how I percieve it. Regarding terminology it's pretty simple really. I'm a girl, if I need to clarify I would call myself a transgirl or TS-girl as I see fit. Some would demand to be recognized as the right gender pre-transition or be seriously offended it you call them trans-anything. Understandable, but give the "normal" people something to work with. It is pretty complicated if you're new to the concept.


I simply have to add something I noticed. On the local TS-forum and IRL in sweden I've encountered three general archetypes of transsexuals. Those who desire to be normal, the LBGTQ-activists, and Metal-heads/goths, who are fairly kinky and tend to be bisexual. I fall into this third category myself.

Fucking fuck! The ninjas! They're everywhere!

Anyway, yeah, I'm in the same camp. If you call me a man after the therapies have started though, we're going to have a problem.

 

[Vhite]

Hmm, I might have one somewhat unrelated question, but transgender person would probably be best to answer it.

Do you feel inside, in your mind or soul, if you wish, like being of one sex while in body of other? Or would you say that there is no difference inside between genders but you just feel better being other gender than that you originally was?

I was just thinking about this while ago, if there is any mental difference between men and women that isn't shaped by them growing in body they have.

 

[VoEC]

Fucking fuck! The ninjas! They're everywhere!

Well, when I clicked on this thread I was hoping to answer some interesting questions. But everything has been answered already...

On the local TS-forum and IRL in sweden I've encountered three general archetypes of transsexuals. Those who desire to be normal, the LBGTQ-activists, and Metal-heads/goths, who are fairly kinky and tend to be bisexual. I fall into this third category myself.

Me too.

 

[CorvusFerreum]

snip

In most cases yes, it's more or less how I percieve it. Regarding terminology it's pretty simple really. I'm a girl, if I need to clarify I would call myself a transgirl or TS-girl as I see fit. Some would demand to be recognized as the right gender pre-transition or be seriously offended it you call them trans-anything. Understandable, but give the "normal" people something to work with. It is pretty complicated if you're new to the concept.


I simply have to add something I noticed. On the local TS-forum and IRL in sweden I've encountered three general archetypes of transsexuals. Those who desire to be normal, the LBGTQ-activists, and Metal-heads/goths, who are fairly kinky and tend to be bisexual. I fall into this third category myself.

Don't worry, I wouldn't call anyone trans-anything. I would call them by their name and refer to them as their gender (as in the gender they identify with). I was just curious how people would like to have their sex refered to from a biological standpoint. I'm sometimes just curious about the weirdest things (and also a biologist.)

Thanks for the quick answer though.

snip

snap

Fucking fuck! The ninjas! They're everywhere!

Anyway, yeah, I'm in the same camp. If you call me a man after the therapies have started though, we're going to have a problem.

as stated above, this wasn't my intent.

I'm still curious about a rule of thump on how to tell transgender and transsexual apart. THe line just seems blurry (to me at least). And this thread is an oportunity to me to learn about this before accidently offending somebody out of ignorance.

 

[Rawne1980]

I am a trans woman or just a woman.

Oh no B, no you're not just a woman....

hehe you are on a roll today. As for how it makes me feel... who's on the couch with me?

Me....

And if you have anyone else on that couch i'm sitting in the middle and spoiling your fun .... and hogging the popcorn .... unless you're watching The Village then i'm having a nap.