trans!????

Question

TRANSGENDER?
how did you know? how did it feel, like how did you realise was it difficult to make that decision, do people accept you?

what is the difference between transsexual and transvestite? if i have spelt that right,
just your experience in genral would be useful, thanks, and if this does not apply to you how do these people, how do you feel bout someone who this question might apply to
thanks

Answer 1

Not being 'transgender', I can't answer the first part of your question, but I can help you with the definitions.

Transsexual; a person, male or female, born with Benjamin's syndrome, a congenital neurological intersex condition. Transsexual people are born with an innate gender identity that is at odds with their physical sexual characteristics, and invariably seek medical help (including hormone therapy and genital surgery) to correct this. 'Transsexual' is NOT the same as 'transgender'.

Transvestite; a person, usually (but not invariably) male, who adopts the clothes and accessories of the opposite gender, for sexual or emotional fulfilment. Transvestism is not a medical condition, and transvestites do neet seek, or need, medical help. 'Transvestite' is a subgroup of 'transgender'.

I would post links to further information, but most of those I would recommend to you have already been posted.

Answer 2

How did I know, I just did. Being Transsexual is not something you decide to be. I personally knew when I was 5 years old that something was "different" about me. I knew I was supposed to be a girl. I also knew that it was something I could not talk to anyone about. That was 1963. I'm so thankful that children now can talk about there gender issues. I am thankful that there parents are open enough to accept there children's gender issues.

For the most part I have been accepted. There will be times for everyone going threw transition where they won't be. As hurt full as that can be you still have to move on. I am not accepted by some family, but I have been by most.

Transsexual - Me and thousands of others who have or will go threw a complete gender transition and hopefully life out there lives as they should have been from birth.

Transvestite - A person that dresses in and sometimes lives part time in the opposite gender role from there birth. Usually considered more of a fetish.

Answer 3

I don't know about the other stuff, about being trans-gender, because I'm not. I don't diminish how difficult it would be though. I think a transsexual person identifies with the opposite gender, a transvestite just likes to play dress up. Have you seen much of Eddie Izzard? He identifies as a transvestite and likes to dress up as a woman but identifies as a man and is also attracted to women.

Oh, and if you're worried about your spelling, there is a spell check feature. I use it all the time. Saves a lot of face for me.

Answer 4

Transgender and transsexual mean the same thing: a woman in a man's body or a man in a woman's body. A transvestite means somebody who dresses up like the opposite sex. Think of "vest" as a piece of clothing, so they like the clothing of the opposite sex.

I did a lot of thinking about it when I was a kid, b/c everything I saw on TV or read about gay people made it seem like all gay men wanted to be women and all gay women wanted to be men. I knew I didn't want to be a woman, but I still liked men, so I had to figure it out for myself. (I'm from the sticks of SW Louisiana.)

I have known some transgendered people, though. They really felt like inside they were a different sex from what their outsides showed. Some got operations to change sexes, some didn't.

Some just seemed like they kind of gave up on ever becoming the "right" sex and just lived their lives as transvestites most of the time.

Answer 5

A transsexual wants to live their life and be known as a member of the other gender. A transvestite is a kinda out of date term that refers to someone who gets sexually excited by dressing up as a member of the other gender.

Answer 6

Sorry to correct the inaccurate answers of the above responses:

The term Transgender was coined by a transvestite called Victoria Prince to describe those people who wish to EXPRESS themselves in a different Gender. It was never intended for this term to be used to include transsexual people since they have a permanent need to have a Gender IDENTITY to the sex they were born with.

So, the umbrella term, Transgender covers drag queens, drag kings, genderqeers, transvestites, cross dressers - all of whom go back to their birth genders to variable extents. It is now accepted in many knowledgeable circles that it should not apply to transsexual people but the general media know very little about all these conditions other than it sells newspapers and ruins people's lives as a result of their prurient exposés of all trans people, but transsexual people in particular.

Transsexual people transition to the physical appearance congruent with their mind which is predetermined in their mother's womb 6-8 weeks after conception - so the brain's gender is set in stone. All transxexual people do is change their sexual characteristics to match their brain gender. They haven't "transed their gender at all - it has always been female for a M2F ts woman and always male for a F2M transman.


This link might help to explain how a transsexual person feels and experiences their condition.

http://www.gires.org.uk/Web_Page_Assets/Supporting_Families.htm

There isd no doubt that transgender people deserve respect and should be free from victimisation and bigotry and that is something they share with transsexual people. Though whereas a trannie puts his female clothes away in a suitcase at the end of his night out with "the girls" and heads home in his male clothes and male outlook, the ts woman is always just herself - she abhors the even idea of ever being identified as a man - it upsets her greatly so much so that some women cannot cope with the unpleasantness and commit suicide. Others spend tens of thousands of dollars on facial surgery to ensure that their pasts are invisible to the outside world (living in stealth).

Most trans people, trangenders and transsexual have a tendency to know they have some gender issue at odds with their birth gender from about the age of 6. There are substantially more self identifying transgendered people than transsexual people, laregrly because western societies are highly gender-aware and still discriminate against ts folk born with this condition. It is all to do with ignorance and fear and at times being linked, as it is in this section, quite often it is linked to the gay community.

Transgender and transsexual people can be straight, gay, lesbian or asexual like anyone else in the world but have found that owing to some shared pasts in terms of discrimination, the gay community is on the whole a safe and supportive environment to grow in.

Someone who has never questioned their gender cannot even imagine how one feels and only if you have been through it yourself can you describe it, and even then it is different for everyone.

For those outsiders wanting to understand more please read this link:

http://www.kaffeine.freeuk.com/korner/faq.htm

N
PS: Not every transvestite uses female clothing as a paraphilia - many TVs get just comfort and calm from expressing themselves as a woman.

Answer 7

I knew because that's the way I felt. I still haven't come out to everyone, but the people I did come out to accept me. The difference between a transexual, transvestite, and transgender is that a transvestite is just a guy that likes to wear womens clothes and does not feel like a girl. Transgender means that you feel that you would be the opposite sex. Transexual means that you have become the gender you are by surgical means, such as SRS, most transexuals were transgender, the only ones that weren't are shemales.

Answer 8

Wwell i Was sleeping and then I woke up and started as if I was hit with a Tonne of feathers. my god I'm a crossdresser...

YES!!!!!

Was it difficult to accept that I was who I was.. yes because society has such restraints on individuals it's hard to go against the grain. However, I am content with who I am and with the exception of children in the family and work.. i have no problem telling people about who I am.

A transgender is someone who crosses the gender barrier.. they are a man trapped ina female's body or the other way.. a female trapped in a male's body.

A transvestite is someone who crosses the gender CLOTHING barrier. a man wearing female clothing or a female wearing male clothing.

Gosh but isn't there a lot of female transvestites out there!

Answer 9

Sorry if this repeats a point that has already been made, but there are people who identify as trans and who see themselves and wish to be seen by others as neither male nor female. Part of the idea here, I believe, is to recognize that gender dualities are socially constructed and to subvert them.

Answer 10

If ur gay, dont change ur sex. a straight woman who looks like a man is worse than a gay man.