Transgenderism 101 |
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Transgender is a useful term for people who do not fit the medical diagnosis of transsexualism. The phrase 'the opposite sex' is an intrinsic part of the definition of being transsexual. However, there are people who seek treatment even though they sense themselves to be 'another' or a 'different' gender, outside of the strict gender binary of male and female. Transgender people find it more comfortable to abandon the pre-determined gender categories and live according to their own core sense of gender, which cross the gender binary or are outside it. Hence the term trans-gender. Transgender is an experience where a person's gender expression is contrary to their assigned legal-sex. Many transgender people use a variety of medical and social measures in order to more fully realise their gender expression and relieve their discomfort between their gender and assigned legal-sex. Transgender people experience gender in terms of a variety of genders or a gender fluidity and embrace a gender continuum. They understand that while some people have the one gender their whole life, others change genders over time, and/or can identify as having multiple genders at the same time. The majority of transgender people are men and women who cross-dress either in public, taking on a cross-gender persona as part of their employment in the entertainment industry - i.e., drag-queens (male) or drag-kings (female), as part of a social group or alone in private, those engaging in gender expressionism and others whose experience of gender is neither male or female. Many transgender people express their gender in a fluid way, avoiding permanent changes. Some transgender people are naturally androgynous and find themselves able to live comfortably without any medical intervention at all. "Unlike the majority of transsexuals that 'feel they were born that way' many of those identifying themselves as transgendered or gender-bending or gender-blending persons are attracted to the concept of a constructed gender and see themselves and their lives as evidence of it… Identity or medical condition?
To put it simply, one is medical condition and the other is an identity. Sometimes, some men and women with transsexualism use the word transgender to describe themselves. Some people feel transsexualism puts an unwanted focus on the word sex, sexuality or transvestism. While the word transsexualism might not be the ideal term, it is a medical term understood by healthcare practitioners and a useful description of the experience of a clinically identifiable group of people. History of transgenderThe term transgender, was first coined by
Prince actively excluded people with transsexualism from
his cohort of cross-dressers because he rightly understood
the considerable difference they represented. In fact,
Prince believed a person could not 'change' sex but could
only change gender. It's an argument that appealed to many
people particularly Around the same time Holly Boswell described the following exchange in the influential article, The Transgender Alternative: When a transsexual sister of mine observed "So many of us simply stall out and fail to achieve our goal of sex reassignment surgery," my response seemed to be triggered instinctively: "Maybe a lot of these people who apparently stall out have found a more comfortable and appropriate middle ground." (Boswell, 1991) For the first time, the notion was spoken aloud - people could live authentic lives within their own personal construction of gender without surgery. Today, transgender people have an extensive palette of options from which to select alternatives to achieve their own sense of personal self-congruency. Unfortunately, the term 'transgender' has crept into usage as an 'umbrella term' to encompass many diverse conditions and identities, including transsexualism and other recognised intersex conditions, as well as behaviours which explore gender such as cross dressing and 'drag' performance. The primary reason for the rise of this 'umbrella term' is that numerically small groups of people found themselves being discriminated against and, unable to access the civil rights that the rest of society takes for granted, found it useful to band together for lobbying purposes. The ATSN does not support the use of transgender as an umbrella term to include its members. In SummaryTransgender people see gender as a fluid concept - the idea of 'correcting' or 'affirming' one's physical and legal sex is both foreign and restrictive. Many transgender people know there is an option for medical intervention but the large majority do not pursue this irreversible process. They are more likely to speak about 'changing sex' or gender or 'swapping' sex or genders. Transgender people who seek medical intervention have a number of diagnostic categories available in order for medical practitioners to provide them with clinically appropriate treatment. Transgender individuals find it very difficult to restrict themselves to two genders matching two sexes. Undoubtedly living at a time when only two legal-sexes are recognised, it is understandable transgender people feel a degree of anxiety when it comes to being legally recognised as either male or female. Men and women who go through a process of affirming their true sex are not transgender or transvestities. Sex affirmation (transition) is not transgenderism or crossdressing.
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