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Often TG fiction features characters who go to great lengths to establish that they are transsexual. They go through a huge amount of angst to prove, or at least to assert, that they are NOT GAY, and/or NOT A TRANSVESTITE.
Can anyone tell me why that is such a frequent theme?
We used a term in Catholic school to describe zealots. That was “holier than thou”. It seems sometimes that some authors want to express a “trannier than thou” attitude.
I’m trans. Being trans as I am has caused havoc within my life. I’ve paid hefty dues to be the way I am. I totally reject any notion that anyone is trannier than I am.
If you're looking down on people who aren't as trans as you are, or who happen to be gay, you're being icky. I understand fiction. I don't understand homophobia within the trans community. I don't understand a hierarchy of trans lifestyle.
Jill
Comments
it could be because
a lot of use thought we were that for a time as we grew to accept who we really were, or for OTHERS to accept who we are. i know i did, thinking being a cross dresser would be easier to accept, gauge their reactions then go further if it seems ok etc.
also a gay man or transvestite are NOT women, so its a distinction, small for some, big for others. when someone who is NOT conversant with the difference (one of the reasons i dont like using trans as a generic term for all transgender persons, the mundane folk are easily confused unless they take the time to learn more on their own or from one of us. then you have the fact that some equate the terms differently, etc)
thats a possible reason, one that would fit for me at least.
Teresa
Teresa L.
That Makes Sense
The attitude reflects a journey.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
The sword cuts both ways
The sword cuts both ways. There are members of the gay community who are highly transphobic. Prejudice seems to be intrinsic to the human condition, regardless of identity or orientation.
Agreed
We are all prejudice. Some Christians, for example, are horribly homophobic, even though Christ lived a life of compassion and acceptance to be an example that all Christians are meant to follow. And then came Paul.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I don't see myself as trans anything
I have crossed completely into the other camp, so to speak, so see myself as female, but with a different route to womanhood. It's also my legal status. I don't have a downer on those who call themselves trans or CD or whatever, I just see myself as different. If that's seen as transphobic it's unfortunate but it's entirely in the eye of the beholder and doesn't come from me.
Angharad
You Provide Good Leadership
Thanks.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I am T, I Am Gay, I am not a Tranny.
Alot of it comes from things we see in our own lives "Oh, you aren't a girl, you are just gay" Well, yes, I am gay, but I'm also a girl. I say I'm gay because I'm marrying Amy (CapturedByThePast) who views me as I am, a woman, so we feel our relationship is a lesbian relationship, no matter how my plumbing is wired at the moment.
Also, I know other people don't view it this way, but to me, the word "Tranny" is just as bad as someone using the words Dyke, Queer, etc and are slang terms that are meant to offend. I am "T" or Transgender, but I am not a "Tranny". I won't be part of the "we are taking it back" moment, sorry. I think that term just needs to be buried alive and left to rot.
-Piper
Tranny
Agreed. The word Tranny sounds like fingernails on a blackboard. (For the whiteboard generation, fingernails on a blackboard is a sound like when you get audio feedback in your earbuds.)
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I spent years
I spent years saying, "I'm just a cross-dresser" and accepting second class citizenship in the trans community. All though, to me, that was better than being transsexual. Mostly because, at the time, I was only indulging my feminine nature on a part time basis. I referred to it as a "hobby."
The reason I thought being a cross-dresser was better than being a transsexual was because as a cross-dresser I felt I had control and I'd never go to the “extreme” measures of corrective surgery. I didn't have that "transition or die" compulsion that transsexuals so often talked about. (I still don’t.) That and so long as I was part time, my wife didn't need to fear that I'd leave her and the kids to live full time as woman.
Then there was the "gay question." Somehow, that's the first question someone has when they find out about cross-dressers or trans person. All the mundane seem to think it's all about sex. Unfortunately, the medical profession has contributed that misconception. Personally, I'm heterosexual according to my plumbing, and I have no desire to change the plumbing. Gay individuals have their own baggage to deal with; I really wish there wasn't a connection to gay, as in including T with GBL. That too perpetuates the myth that trans has to do with sex. I wish this not because I'm homophobic, but because as a trans person I too have baggage to deal with and so long as the mundane connect trans with the gay/bi/lesbian world, I will always have to dissuade whomever finds out or to whom I come out that I'm gay and it's all about sex. Just extra baggage I’d rather not deal with.
By my definition, I'm still not a transsexual, though I no long say "I'm just a cross-dresser." I'm transgender. I'm just as trans and any other trans-whatever person. I've come to accept that my strongest personality traits are feminine. While I have trained and perfected my masculine traits, my feminine side is paramount. While I have progressed to a point where I could easily and happily live full time as a woman, I'm still married (50 years, come August) and I have two grown daughters and two grandchildren. So now (I'm retired) I still have a part time gender presentation only this time, it's part time masculine and it's even more part time than my feminine was when I first reached an agreement with my wife allowing me to indulge me "hobby" amounting to one half day a week on most weeks; Sunday morning as we go to church. Other times when around family member and friends who aren't in the know also intrude on my feminine. Though I never go without wearing women's clothes, during those times they are really butch. However only just enough that people who expect to see me as male can do so.
I’m not sure just how things will progress from here, but I can, with certainty, say I’ll never seek corrective surgery. If for no other reason, the cost is prohibitive. At this point in my life, I’m content to live 99% of my life in the gender expression that matched my inner being.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Our Lifestyles
Our lifestyles are quite similar.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I don't see a big problem
I don't see a big problem here. Or maybe the problem isn't here. In our society transvestite and tranny equal pervert while trangender is rather a condition. So I guess many authors say not-tranny 'cause it's more than a background for masturbation. Other say they aren't gay when asked 'cause they aren't.
Let Me Put It This Way
"Society" has a horrible track record.
In our society, when I was growing up, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, was a very controversial movie.
In our society, not that many years ago. Ellen came out on national TV and created a mega-stir.
Our society needs to change it's attitude MORE about trans and cross-dressing.
That's the "big problem" here.
If in our society transgender is a condition, as you state, that's great because not many years anyone who was transgender was considered to be a pervert. It was classified on the same level as child-molester.
***
Cross-dressing isn't always a background for masturbation.
I've never been tested for what you term "trans". Perhaps I am. I've always thought of myself as a cross dresser as I have no desire to to go through sexual reassignment. I cross dress every single day of the week. I masturbate less frequently than the average male my age, maybe twice a month. I don't become sexually aroused any more frequently when I'm cross dressed than when I'm not. When I was much younger there was a significant tie, but then there was a significant tie to a lot of things. I was a part of the sixties -- pre-AIDs. I slept with many, many different women.
Are you suggesting that transsexuals don't masturbate? Pity!
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Just don't add a thing above
Just don't add a thing above the said. It's not about diminution of anything trans.