There are a lot of different terms out there to describe people, types of people, or lifestyles etc. Many of them get misconstrued or misunderstood by the general public due to plain ignorance of the truth, mininformation by news and other media, stereotypes, religious belief, upbringing, and so on. It's not that the information isn't OUT THERE and readily available, but it does require that a person actively seek the information on their own in most cases. Many people, however, don't want to educate themselves because they are afraid that understanding equals acceptance, and they refuse to accept certain things for various reasons. Usually there is a good amount of fear and prejudice in the way of true understanding and enlightenment. And what would the neighbors thnk?! I kid, but not really.
I've done a ton of research and reading and thinking on these subjects because I truly want to know and understand this world and the people that inhabit it. The following list of terms and their meanings are by no means to be seen as the absolute truth about any of it, but at least I think it can be a means to helping others who might not be aware to at least begin to understand. A lot of people use words and terms without really knowing their meaning, and that is unfortunate because many of those people just don't care what the difference is. People like ME care what the difference is, because those words and phrases are often misused when referring to people like me and can negatively impact our lives in ways big or small.
Transgender- Many might disagree with me because this term has a lot of different meanings attached to it, but from what I have learned and what I personally believe, this is what transgender(ed) means. The word is an "umbrella" term that encompasses anyone who lives outside(either full time or part time) the socially constructed and generally accepted gender norms based on physical sex at birth. This includes, but is not limited to, cross-dressers, drag king/queens, gays lesbians and bisexuals, pansexuals, transvestites, androgynes, intersex, and transsexuals. With so many different terms encompassed by the same umbrella term it's easy to see how some could get confused about which is what. Some will argue "I'm transgender, not transsexual" and that is acceptable, although I personally think it's not completely accurate. Some might simply like to use "softer" sounding words that don't bring disturbing thoughts or images to mind either for themselves or the person they might share that information with. Others might simply be confused or unaware of the actual or accepted definition of a term.
Cross-dresser- From what I've learned, statistically a cross-dresser is generally a heterosexual male who enjoys occasionally or frequently stepping out of their rigid male gender role and into the rold of female. Many are even family men with well-paying jobs. They may simply enjoy being catered to for a night. Have someone buy THEM a drink for once, compliment them, treat them like a lady. There are, of course, cross-dressing females as well. These people generally don't believe themselves to BE the opposite gender, they just like playing the role. Some do it in private and never share it with anyone, others go out to a cross-dresser friendly club or bar once a week, etc. The main thing is however, they don't LIVE every day as the gender opposite the one they were assigned at birth. Sometimes cross-dressing is a stepping stone to other things, but I don't want to confuse the issue with cross-definitions.
Drag King/Queen- This one should be more straight-forward. A drag performer is just that; a performer. Drag performers, whether King or Queen, are playing a role, usually in an outrageous and stereotypical fashion. There are plenty of people who down drag performers or say they don't belong under the umbrella of Transgender, or say they give the Transgender community a bad name, etc. I disagree. They are performers, it's like a job to them that they enjoy, and they quite often are decent people. They don't try to fool or trick anyone into believing they ARE the gender they are presenting, and they understand that they are performers playing a role. This too can be a stepping stone to other things.
Transvestite- This word can be very confusing and misleading to people because it is often the first thing people think of when they hear most of the other words/terms listed herein. It is also one of the terms mostly attributed to the stereotyping of other people. Here's the short and quick definition: A transvestite is a person, usually a man, who adopts the dress, demeanor and role of the opposite sex usually for emotional or sexual gratification. There are different degrees or types of Transvestite, some being very fetishistic, including bondage and discipline, sadomasochism etc. In short these people don't generally believe themselves to actually be the opposite gender, it's a role they play for emotional/sexual gratification.
Transsexual- This term can also be confusing and misleading to people because it is often mistaken for the above entry. A transsexual is NOT a transvestite. They are NOT a drag performer, or a cross-dresser. A lot of transsexuals refuse to use this word to describe themselves because they say "my gender has nothing to do with my sexuality", which is true, but that is not what the word transsexual means. The word sexual in the term does not refer to who a person is attracted to. The way I think of it is this: My gender has always been female. As long as I can remember I have felt this, so I am not changing my gender; I am however changing my physical sex so it more or less aligns with my gender. So I am TRANScending my SEX, not my GENDER. For an MtF Transsexual, like me, I was born with the physical reproductive system of a male, while my gender (the behavioral, cultural or psychological traits typically associated with one sex) was and is female.
When a person cannot fit the socially-constructed and gender-normalized role they are assigned according to their physical sex at birth, there comes a time when they must find some happy medium that they can live with. They might find happiness as a cross-dresser, a drag king or queen, a transvestite, an androgyne, or a transsexual. A person does not decide to become a transsexual, but they DO decide whether or not to do something about it. Some transition, and some unfortunately end up taking their own lives. Some try to bury it and ignore it. Some find a happy medium where they can explore the "other side" without having to fully transition. I'm not saying that all cross-dressers, drag performers etc. are actually transsexuals, but I'm sure many are. They might simply have decided it wasn't worth the potential losses to transition fully and found a way to be content with themselves.
The main reason I wrote this was to (hopefully) give some clarification of some of the terms that are often confused with others. When someone says the word Transsexual, many people will conjure up all sorts of stereotypes that generally comprise a mixture of the different terms I have tried to define above. So does understanding equal acceptance? Maybe... but would that really be such a terrible thing?
No comments:
Post a Comment