I don't mean to offend anyone with this question, I'm just really curious.
I understand that when a person's gender identity is different then their sexual identity they feel like they in the wrong body or the wrong sex.. right? Do all transsexuals begin a transition at a young age or do some never change at all? How do you go about transitioning? Do you just have to buy new clothes and change your hair or is it a lot more complicated than that? When you meet a transgendered person and they are a woman, does that mean they have already transitioned from a man to a woman? I really don't understand the whole concept of it because I've never really been exposed to it or had much thought about it. Can anyone shed some light on my questions or provide me a website that would explain it?
Thank you:)
I don't understand transsexualism... ?
You're correct gender identity and sexual orientation are two separate things.
To know a persons sexuality you must know how they identify gender-wise first.
If a person identifies as female, no matter their surgical status, and they attracted to men, they are straight.
If a person identifies as female, no matter their surgical status, and are attracted to women, they are lesbian.
If a person identifies as male, no matter their surgical status, and are attracted to women, they are straight.
If a person identifies as male, no matter their surgical status, and are attracted to men, they are gay.
Transition is a long, expensive process. My transition took 4.5 years and about $80,000. The first step for most people is seeing a GENDER therapist.
People transition when they are ready. Some always knew and had supportive parents that allow them to transition young. That is very rare. To be frank most parents freak out or go into denial. And that's a shame because transitioning early can minimize a lot of problems later. The vast majority of folks either gone into denial about their true selves or just take longer to figure themselves out. As a result most folks transition as adults.
What's involved? Well that's had a hard question to answer fully except to say almost everything in my life has changed. While that would be impossible for non-transsexual people to comprehend, for us it's not as difficult as you think. The difficulties involved are usually financial, familial and physical. Because we have the brain of our identified gender assuming that role is natural for us.
Much, much more information can be found here:
http://www.LynnConway.com
You said: %26quot;So it does not matter what you're biologically born as, but what your gender identity is attracted to determines your sexual orientation, right?%26quot;
Hmm the wording there is a little sloppy. Gender identity trumps body parts. After all it's your BRAIN that is the seat of your consciousness. Everyone has a gender identity, even you. The thing is for 98.5% of people their gender identity and body match. For those born transsexual they don't. So we transition to make the body match our gender. To repeat: We do NOT change our gender, we change the body to match our gender.
Gender identity is how you perceive yourself.
Sexual orientation is who you are attracted to.
Hope this helps.
I don't understand transsexualism... ?
To switch gender if they are either MTF or FTM then they are going to have to go through therapy %26amp; then get on HRT (hormone replacement therapy) then they will take a choice of weather or not they are going to go through SRS (sexual reasighnment surgery) or not to physically change there gender, %26amp; also there sexual orientation (IE what sex they are attracted to) has absolutly nothing to do w/ them being transgendered ot not.
EDIT: You gender has absolutly nothing to do w/ your sexual orientation I stated that quite clearly, I wish that people would get that through there heads.
Transsexual and Transgender people believe their gender identity does not match their biological sex. Many realize this from a very young age (personally my earliest memory was age 5). Some transition young, some transition much later in life, and some choose to not transition at all. It's variable, each person is as individual as their situation is.
Transitioning starts as simple as seeing a gender therapist, receiving hormones, and adapting your appearance to suit your gender identity. In my case, it means binding my breasts flat, keeping my hair very short, and wearing men's clothing. It can progress further to surgery, whether it's chest surgery (to remove breasts on transmen, or to augment breasts on transwomen), or still further to full genital reassignment.
Not everyone goes through full reassignment. Again, each person is an individual, and transition means different things to different people. Many people are simply satisfied to be seen as their true gender identity. Others aren't happy until their body has been fully transformed. Each person does what's right for them.
TS/TG persons have to undergo a certain percentage of transition in order to change their birth certificate and drivers licenses, and require a letter from their doctors proving such.
As far as sexual orientation, it's an issue completely separate from gender identity. Orientation starts from a persons true gender identity, for example, a man who transitions to a woman is a woman, and if attracted to other women, is a lesbian. This is regardless of her surgical status! Pre-op, post-op, non-op is all irrelevant. She is a woman - regardless of surgical status, and is a lesbian.
I hope this was at least semi-helpful to you. I've placed some links below for further reading. Good luck.
since everything else has already been adequately answered i'll try to say something about the age part ^^
ok i dont really know how to say it generally so i'll write a little about myself...
the first signs usually show very early (i think the first time i wore a dress i was 6... but i never told anyone about it until recently... well i was doing that with a friend at that time but we never mentioned it after that)... but some kids are afraid to tell anyone, thinking its wrong that they're different... well i think i was even a little ashamed... just because i thoughts its not the %26quot;right%26quot; thing to do... my parents are very liberal its just that i grew up in a small town and i dont know... i didnt want to be different from other kids because i saw what they did to kids who were ... that didnt really change much so i never came out to anyone... later, when i became a teen and the differences became more apparent i always wished i could be a girl, even if it was just for a short while... well that wasnt possible and i definitely wouldnt tell anyone because they surely would have thought i was freak and i had a hard time finding friends anyways... besides, i though it was just a phase, that it was just somehow a projection of how much i wanted a girlfriend... um right, that didnt help either (although i did forget about it for a while but love does that... ) ... but hey, who'd know? i'm a guy, i like girls, completely normal... and who wouldnt sometimes like to be the other gender?
and i really didnt know about the whole hormones and other things that are part of a full transition... it just never occurred to me that a %26quot;sex change%26quot; could be more than just a few surgeries after which you'd still very much look like what you used to be... yeah, i know, i wish i would have told someone (possibly someone with more knowledge), i wish i would have done some research, but there was never any indicator for the possibility that i could be a %26quot;real%26quot; girl... and i never wanted to compromise about that... not sure i want that now, but its a risk i'm ready to take...
well that was pretty much the story of my life :P it's an example of how it can be... so my point is, you can lie pretty well about it to yourself, you can try to live a %26quot;normal%26quot; life because of your family or your social surroundings...
so yeah, there are many (although its getting a lot less due to better access to information and more information to access to) transsexual people who dont transition at a young age... and some, maybe because theyre happily married or they just accepted how they were born, never live the live that was %26quot;meant for them%26quot;...
