What makes them who they are?
- Thread starter aepirk2
- Start date
DarkBee
Metal machine
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2006
- Posts
- 3,317
A transvestite is someone who only dresses up as the opposite gender (usually extremely exaggerated) but has no desire to actually become the other gender (also known as dragqueen/king).
Transsexuals are people who feel as though they're born in the wrong body and take hormones and surgery to become the other gender.
Transgenders are people who feel as though they're not the gender they are, which encompasses a very wide spectrum of gender associations, but don't always undergo the procedures to really become the gender they feel they are.
Shemale is a derogative term for transsexuals in porn.
Transsexuals are people who feel as though they're born in the wrong body and take hormones and surgery to become the other gender.
Transgenders are people who feel as though they're not the gender they are, which encompasses a very wide spectrum of gender associations, but don't always undergo the procedures to really become the gender they feel they are.
Shemale is a derogative term for transsexuals in porn.
bluesky496
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2011
- Posts
- 3,429
broadly speaking you have the answer here but it can go deeper than that .
nooneinohio
Experienced
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2009
- Posts
- 92
^^^^^^
What they said. ..LoL
What they said. ..LoL
stickygirl
All the witches
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2012
- Posts
- 21,200
bluesky496
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2011
- Posts
- 3,429
dont go looking for labels ,there are too many and every country seems to have their own , i have been given so many labels over the years even by health care professionals that i find it easier to disregard them and just be me .
haurni
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2010
- Posts
- 978
I believe that 'cross-dresser' (CD) is the more polite term for 'transvestite' (TV) nowadays as the latter term is associated with a psychiatric diagnosis (transvestic fetishism) and therefore with an implicit assumption of psychopathology.
A cross-dresser may or may not be transgender (TG). Someone who eventually identifies as trans may cross-dress early on during the process of self-discovery (Julia Serano used to identify as a CD but now is a trans woman), but if you are trans then you are (or should be) considered to be the gender with which you identify - technically, then, you would be 'cross-dressing' only when you wear clothing associated with the gender you were originally assigned. I suppose that if someone identifies as neither male or female (or as both) then they probably can't be said to be cross-dressers because all clothing is equally appropriate for them. Of course, what the wider society thinks is 'proper' garb for someone who is in some way gender-variant is a different matter...
I also think most people make a distinction between the 'performance' aspect of drag and an actual desire (sexual or otherwise) to wear the clothes of the opposite sex, so drag and CD are not quite the same things (though they might superficially appear to be).
I'm not clear on the use of the term transsexual (TS) but I think that's another one that's on the way out (in favour of TG). My understanding is that anyone who identifies as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth is TG whether or not they've had gender confirmation surgery (aka SRS) as it's irrelevant (or should be) what their bits are.
http://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender
(EDIT: I am not trans [though I do consider myself somewhat gender variant] and do not speak for or on behalf of any who are. They know better than I do and I am happy to be educated if I am mistaken. In general, if you want a label for someone, you should use the one that they themselves prefer
)
A cross-dresser may or may not be transgender (TG). Someone who eventually identifies as trans may cross-dress early on during the process of self-discovery (Julia Serano used to identify as a CD but now is a trans woman), but if you are trans then you are (or should be) considered to be the gender with which you identify - technically, then, you would be 'cross-dressing' only when you wear clothing associated with the gender you were originally assigned. I suppose that if someone identifies as neither male or female (or as both) then they probably can't be said to be cross-dressers because all clothing is equally appropriate for them. Of course, what the wider society thinks is 'proper' garb for someone who is in some way gender-variant is a different matter...
I also think most people make a distinction between the 'performance' aspect of drag and an actual desire (sexual or otherwise) to wear the clothes of the opposite sex, so drag and CD are not quite the same things (though they might superficially appear to be).
I'm not clear on the use of the term transsexual (TS) but I think that's another one that's on the way out (in favour of TG). My understanding is that anyone who identifies as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth is TG whether or not they've had gender confirmation surgery (aka SRS) as it's irrelevant (or should be) what their bits are.
http://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender
(EDIT: I am not trans [though I do consider myself somewhat gender variant] and do not speak for or on behalf of any who are. They know better than I do and I am happy to be educated if I am mistaken. In general, if you want a label for someone, you should use the one that they themselves prefer
)
Last edited:
