Transsexual/Transvestite/Transgender

But if a transgender person has no intention of having surgery why do they need to be legally recognised as the opposite sex? Can't they just live as their current sex and express themselves as they see fit? No one forces men and women to dress a certain way anymore, there are no barriers to the work they can do, who they can have relationships with etc. Am I missing something?

So you'd think so wouldn't you.

But there's quite a lot to unpick here.

For a start you need to know about AGP (autogynephilia) psychological typology of gender dysphoria, transsexualism, and fetishistic transvestism, created by Ray Blanchard through the 1980s and 1990s,

Autogynephilia (derived from Greek for 'love of oneself as a woman') is the term Blanchard coined for "a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female", intending for the term to refer to "the full gamut of erotically arousing cross-gender behaviors and fantasies".

Part of the presentation is a desire to be perceived by others as their desired sex.

The other thing to think about for people who are not AGP but suffering from gender dysphoria is the impact of surgery.

There's as common Misconception that the technology exists to enable you to change sex.

Yes, there are surgeries that can do a reasonable job of approximating a woman for example - breast implants, facial feminisation and in the reverse case a mastectomy.

However when is comes to "bottom" surgery the risks and complications are significant and there is no surgery that can recreate a fully functional vagina or penis.

The creation of a "vagina" either by inverting the penis or using tissue from the colon effective creates a "closed" tube that can neither self lubricate or clean. It needs constant dilation to keep it open.

Complications can include hair growing inside, serious infections, risk of tearing etc.

Phalloplasty - the creation of a penis is also extremely invasive and involves taking huge amounts of tissue from a donor location (usually the forearm). The scars are horrific and there is a risk of function loss at the donor site.

The end result even if successful will still need some mechanical means to produce an erection.

In both cases there is a real risk of loss of sexual function wrt stimulation and the ability to orgasm.

This is why so many trans people don't have genital surgery yet children are being sold a myth you can change sex and they believe the technology exists to do this "properly" when that simply isn't the case.

Yes, Eo91 is one of those posters that confounds trans activists of all types. They are a transgender person who is under no illusion about what their personal choices have been an dwhy they were taken, or that those choices left their body genetically as it was at birth!

There are a few others still posting. Just as their are parents of trans kids, parents of kids who thought they were trans, and a whole heap of other people who just don't want to be what society says they look like - or don't ;ook like, depending!

Here is the stonewall definition

www.stonewall.org.uk/what-does-trans-mean

I think that makes us all trans 😆

But if a transgender person has no intention of having surgery why do they need to be legally recognised as the opposite sex?

This (and people saying you don't need gender dysphoria to be trans) is why I have problems with my own community, but they call me 'truscum,' 'transmedacalist' and 'gatekeeper' for not following the party line :/ aka - I'm not allowed to have an opinion.

I can only guess but...i suppose it's like if you were really, really overweight and couldn't lose it. Other people probably wouldn't notice or care but of course it's always going to be on your mind. And bring with it all these inner personal struggles.

If other people kept treating you like you were skinny and you knew otherwise it might feel like they were dismissive of reality. Or at least,of your reality and of your inner struggles.

Like you can see something that is driving you nuts. But the whole world is going on around you as if nothing is wrong.

But if a transgender person has no intention of having surgery why do they need to be legally recognised as the opposite sex? Can't they just live as their current sex and express themselves as they see fit? No one forces men and women to dress a certain way anymore, there are no barriers to the work they can do, who they can have relationships with etc. Am I missing something?

This confused me also

Fact: The 2016 Rocky Horror Picture Show remake had Laverne Cox singing "I'm just a sweet transgender from transgendual transgendania."

(NB Not a 'true' fact.)

The term "transvestite" has been largely replaced with "crossdresser".

I think the term "transsexual" was associated with the assumption that those affected would undergo surgery - hence people used to refer to "pre-op" and "post-op" transsexuals... whereas the modern transgender movement emphasises that people may regard themselves as transgender without necessarily any intention of having surgery.

No transgender only applies to transgender.

Transvestite is totally different

I think transsexual used to be used INSTEAD of transgender. But not sure its 'politically correct' anymore.

The trans lobby have decided that male transvestites are actually women now and must be allowed into women only spaces. Transsexuals who feel discomfort about their body are referred to as truscum as the vast majority of TRAs love their penis and have no wish to take any medical treatment so to suggest a dislike for it is bad. Unless we're talking about children in which case any slight digression from boys like blue and girls like pink needs to be fast tracked to a life of sterilisation and medication.

Transgender is the only acceptable term as that muddies the waters nicely and makes people think that it means transsexuals as opposed to those with a sexual fetish. Making a new name and sneakily adding fetishists to the genuine people means you can trick people into supporting what most people would find unacceptable if they were open and honest.

Actially I suppose I should use 'sex' in the second paragraph, not gender.

Sex being what you are born and gender being the social construction of various socially accepted norms and qualities often associated more with one sex than the other.

I'll take a stab. So transgender people feel they were born in the wrong body but some still opt against surgery because of the risks.

Where as transvestites are perfectly happy being the gender they are, they just like to dress as the opposite gender.

The former may have deep anxieties, depression and body resenting thoughts and feelings due to the way their body betrays their sex (not gender). The later, dont. But they may steal your sparkly heels for a night out.

-sexual and -vestite have been expunged from the language. If they are in your head you must tip it to the side and bash your uppermost ear until those two suffixes have fallen out.