Trans… Labels


© Li Sam Writing. All rights reserved.

If we continue investigating these lifestyle banners more toward the margins of society, we enter the territory of something called “trans-,” a label established by the LGB“T” movement not long ago. It’s the “transgender community” that claims the right to the “T.” When and even whether these very diverse organizations of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and the transgender community work together or against each other is hard to say. Nevertheless, they all assign and claim labels, and you can’t always be sure of their intentions or which labels serve what purposes. For this exercise of sorting labels I won’t address those issues, but I will more basic ones.

First, what does trans mean? Well, it means: crossing, across, toward the other side of something, and here this trans-something has to do with gender, crossing over to the opposite gender.

According to this definition of transgender (and it’s a definition I agree with), the association of T with LGB is contradictory. Why is changing gender related with one’s sexual orientation? According to my earlier, basic discussion, lesbians, gays, and bisexuals label themselves according to their sexual partners, but attraction to others is not the focus for transgender people, not as the trans- label implies anyway, not that I’m aware of. So, what’s the connection? Is there a connection?

Associated with this trans-banner are lots of various labels involving crossing or mixing gender in one way or the other, and the first question here is: Are all those labels about lifestyle?

We need to compare only two of those labels to answer the question. Transvestites are men who cross dress, sometimes presenting themselves as the opposite gender. Transsexuals are men and women who dress and present themselves as the gender they internally feel they are. The difference lies in who a person perceives him or herself to be in the first place, unlabeled.

A MtF transsexual woman (Male to Female, a man perceiving herself as a woman) may look like a transvestite in other people’s eyes (she does appear to be a man dressed in women’s clothes), but she doesn’t perceive herself as dressing up as the opposite gender in any way, regardless of her male body and face. However, transvestites are men who dress as women but still perceive themselves as men, just men who pretend to be women for entertainment or work, among a variety of reasons. In that respect, cross dressing is about lifestyle and for some, fun. Transsexuals appear to be dressing as the opposite gender, but actually they are dressing to make their outer appearances match their inner self images.

In many ways, transsexuals are just like everyone else. Everyone wants to wear clothes we feel comfortable and attractive in. And many people are aware of our looks, spending time and money to improve our appearances as much as possible because it makes us feel good. Any woman who is embarrassed by having a little too much facial hair or is outright mistaken for a man can feel traumatized, and I don’t think any man would like to have something looking like boobs sticking out from his chest, not even when they’re hairy.

This brings us back to my point about confusing labels. It’s true that some homosexual people and some transvestites change gender, and some heterosexual people do, too. How does changing gender affect their lifestyles and label assignments? Do they change, too?

Consider:

How does this trans label fit in with homosexuality?

How does this trans label fit into the transgender community, with one or several organizations?

Should transvestites and transsexuals be sorted apart and differently, or are they even related?