Help with understanding Transgender community?

Question

I'm currently doing a research on Transgender people, and I was wondering if any of you knew where I can find abundant professional information about the transgender community. Like the physcological challenges they have to go through. Or more precisely related to cultures. Like is it more accepted in certain cultures to be transgender? In what country is it easier to be transgender? We all know that from discrimiation transgenders are forced to be prostitutes, know anybody that has a good job within society being transgender? Anybody care to relate or know websites that I can find stories on challenges that people faced while making this change? Any info will help.

a transgender/transexual is a person who goes through surgery to change the sex they were born to. male to female or female to male.

thanks for the info Levi, There's a bunch of good info. Would you have any suggestions of any sort that you think would be important about my research on Transgender? something you think other researchers don't touch much on that you would like to hear more about? or something important that you think I should mention?

Answer 1

hey hmmm so much to say so little space to say it.... First off for those who dont know a transsexual is some one who is identified as one gender at birth but is unable to identify with the assigned gender.. there are male to female trans folks.. those born male who transition to female and female to male trans folks who are born female and transition to male There are many different variations of gender identification.. Majority of doctors will not asist a trans person in transition without certain guidelines being met... These guidelines are known as " the harry benjamin standard of care " I have the harry benjamin standard of care posted on my person site which i will link to in this post or you can do a search and pull up more. Also to clarify.. Many trans folks either are unable to have surgery or hormone therapy or they opt not to for variour reason... Just because one is unable or unwilling to do certain aspects of treatment.. doesnt mean they are not trans...

Im not exactly sure where all there is info related to your questions, but i will post links to the sites i personally use..Also I will give you my own experience..
Im 28 year old female to male trans. the psychological changes/experiences before during and after are worlds apart... pre transition we generally are very unhappy, confused and isolated.. dont really feel like we fit in anywhere... even though for many of us we cant figure out why we dont fit in at first... upon discovery of our true selves many like myself spend some time in denial.. some may never come out of the denial but many move on to accept it and take action .. next question you asked about is acceptance within different cultures..
I think it may be easier to live being trans in some cultures then others however I dont believe it is easy anywhere.. Im not sure which country might be the easiest to live in... you look at the USA and the discrimination bills in most states dont even cover trans folks... then you look at hate crime bills...and most of them also do not cover trans folks.. so this gives you a tiny idea of what alot of folks face. As far as your comment " We all know that from discrimiation transgenders are forced to be prostitutes "
That is mostly true for male to female trans folks... Male to female transsexuals tend to have a much harder time becoming completely passable as their true gender and often are easily identified and discriminated against... The majority of female to male transsexuals are able to achieve the passable appearance. Discrimination still exists within the female to male trans community also but its not near as devistating as it is within the male to female community. So to answer your question I know of many transsexuals who have good jobs...both female to male and male to female trans folks... where there is a will, there is a way.. now i will list a few links for you to check out... The first link is a link to my personal website...that gives alot of details about my own experiences with being trans and has pictures of both before during and after. maybe this helps... It is always good to be able to have the oppurtunity to educate someone.. after all it tends to be those who are uneducated about who we are that are most threatened by us or threatening to us..

there is a major lack of research done on behalf of the trans community within the medical field... relating to why one is transsexual, long term affects of hormone replacement , life expectancy for someone on hormone replacement ect

although prolly not much you can do in this area...depending on who is supporting/funding your research

I know one thing you could do that wouldnt require tons of medical testing or a mass amount of time..
and thats looking at the patterns of trans folks health issues...
example... question many trans asking basic questions about stuff like medical conditions they have, things related to their moms pregnancy and the birth ( mom have a miscarriage prior to conception of the trans child, premature birth, late birth ect )
I know that many trans folks are intrested in this type of thing but no research has been done

good luck with it...

Answer 2

I'll be honest, most of my information comes from a friend who has a more vested interest. I can't really point to too many resources, except that Jenny Boylan wrote a memoir ("She's Not There") about being a transgender college professor. SOME of it is about the workplace anyway. She's been on Oprah, and might be worth checking into.

If you're looking more for cultural issues than psychological, (and this is really weird coming from a psych major) I'd probably stay away from purely psychological studies. "Transgender" is a MUCH broader term that includes but is not limited to Gender Identity Disorder (which very many people in the transgender community feel should not be a "disorder" at all; in much the same way that homosexuality used to be classified as a disorder). Good luck.

Answer 3

The best experience to see what a transgender person goes through is by meeting a few and become friends with a few. Look for transgender support groups in your area (you can do this by searching "transgender support group [name of your state]" in your search engine). If often works for me.

Of course if that is not possible look for various shows on Discovery Health Channel. They are more focused to the public and not for those who are of the TG community but often give real life stories of those transitioning (stories both happy and sad).

Answer 4

First of all, a transgendered person is not one who has had gender reassignment - that is a transexual. Transgendered people run the spectrum from cross dressers to transexuals.

There is plenty of information out there; just goggle it. You can also find the information in the library.

I am transgendered - you can e-mail me as long as you're polite, respectful and non-judgemental.

Answer 5

First of all, transgender is most often a generic term for all trans-gendered people; transsexuals, cross-dressers (transvestites), androgynes, gender queers, etc. So transsexual and transgender are generally not the same thing.

Secondly, your impression that many 'transgenders' are forced to be prostitutes (from discrimination) is not accurate. I encourage you to do more research on this... Many transsexuals are quite successfull in the business world (including friends of mine); executives with tech. companies, financial companies, etc.; and transsexuals may be found in many different professions. Certainly, when you extend the term 'transgender' to crossdressers, there are many who don't face discrimination in their jobs because people don't know they crossdress; so they have very good jobs.

Some areas to research:

1. The Web. In particular:
- http://www.IFGE.org The International Foundation for Gender Education. This is one of the main gender-related sites; lots of good links, etc
- http://www.Gender.Org (GEA/Aegis)
- Anne Lawrence's Info for TS Women (www.annelawrence.com) Anne is an MD who runs one of the most medically complete resources for TS women that I know of...
- TransGender Information on Yahoo! http://dir.yahoo.com/society_and_culture/cultures_and_groups/lesbian__gay__bisexual__and_transgendered/transgendered/

2. Books. In particular, books I like or others that I know and trust like:
- My Husband Betty (for more information for you, particularly in the beginning chapters, impacts on your spouse, etc.) There's also a website associated w/the book.
- She's Not There (Jenny B's book, mentioned in another answer here).

Answer 6

Isn't transgendered someone that has both sexes or a man that wants to be a woman and vice versa?

Answer 7

google it! There are plenty of sites out there.

Answer 8

http://www.gender.org/

http://www.susans.org/

start with these.... they should help