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I swear I love you Dark-Hikori.
But isn't it transgender that is the brain-not-matching-body and transsexual that is the general term? Because transGENDER refers to what gender you are while transSEXUAL refers to your sexualety?

The original post was correct in that transgender is the umbrella term. In general, transgender is used for anyone whose gender does not match the one assigned to them at birth. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are transsexual. This can include transsexuals who were assigned one gender at birth but are transitioning to another, or (for one example) women that are born female who present a more masculine gender (but do not identify as male). The term transsexual is generally used for those who identify as the "opposite" gender/sex from that assigned at birth and are undergoing/will undergo/have undergone transition to that gender/sex. (Transsexual does not refer to a person's sexuality/orientation/preference.)

One way to think of the distinction is that transgender refers to anyone whose gender doesn't match with the one they were assigned at birth (and who identifies as such), while transsexual refers to someone who identifies as the "opposite" sex to the one they were assigned at birth.

Oh christ I know what you're talking about man. The first Transguy I talked to wanted to know right off the bat why I wouldn't get bottom surgery even if I could afford it. Said something about how I shouldn't be afraid to go "all the way" if I really was Trans. Fear doesn't have anything to do with it and people who are comfortable identifying as male without T or surgery shouldn't be made out to be anything other than that.

I think maybe it's that fear that it will become trivialized ya know? Like how tons of people experiment with bisexuality making it hard on the true Bisexuals to be taken seriously.

I agree with you on the whole one person or group of people can't decide what it means to be ftm. People need to just stop trying to define everyone and let it be, because it is getting pretty ridiculous. I mean on the opposite side of things it sort of frustrates me that one of my friends who is a bioguy will always be considered more male then me even though he dresses and acts like a girl while I fit the stereotype for what a guy should be (Polo shirt and all lol).

Isn't it sort of hypocritical for someone of the Trans community to want to be seen as who they feel they are then turn around and question the next guy?

I suppose I fall under the term transgender in the broader sense as an umbrella term, cause I think of myself as gender neutral and I am all for gender bending.
I enjoyed the book Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg, as the author has a very similar view on gender as I. The parts about transgenderism and gender blending in various cultures in history were interesting too.
In the past I always wanted to be a guy. But in the recent months I have been thinking about this more and also reading web sites and literature.
I concluded that I didn't agree with our culture's categorizing in two genders.
I don't identify with the female gender. Many things about the culture's concepts of the female gender are alien or downright awkward to me. But I don't fully identify with the male gender either. Neither I intend to change my body with hormones and surgery. It wouldn't make sense to try to get from one category to the other one when I don't even agree with this categorizing in the first place.
How I see gender is probably different from how most of people do - I see the border between genders as a fluid transition, not as a firm line.

I also thing it's a bad idea to use the term "pass" or "stealth" to refer to a trans person, particularly if you are not yourself trans. There are a decent amount of trans people who find the terms objectionable, because they both tend to imply the trans person is simply passing as something they're not.


Why should that piss you off? It's entirely her prerogative to identify as whatever she'd like. Besides, in a sense you can think of it as reclaiming typically offensive terminology. I'd never use the term "shemale" to refer to any trans woman, unless I knew she preferred the term, and even then it might make me a little uncomfortable. But I still don't see any reason to let an individual's label preference "piss me off."

After all, you wouldn't want someone getting pissed off at you for your gender identity, would you?


Now, now. It's not good to assume what "most of people" think. ;3 I, for one, do indeed see it as rather fluid, just as sexuality is. I just happen to lean very heavily toward the male end of the spectrum.

I'd also like to throw in my two cents about the "holier than thou" thing you seem to find among trans people. (I suppose we're speaking specifically about trans men? That's where I'd have more so-called "expertise" anyway, being male-identified.)

It is absolutely ridiculous for trans men to put down other trans men over how far along they are in their transition, or whether they choose to transition at all or not. It is not only hypocritical, they're hurting their own cause in the end. They're only undermining their own masculinity by undermining the masculinity of others. It's called karma.