Transsexual or Crossdresser or What

A recent post at T-Central by Alice, of Alice in Genderland fame and an exchange of comments with other bloggers there led me to start thinking again about the makeup of the trans community and my place in it.0595315623.qxd

My first step was to drop in on Alice’s website and gather more info.  There she answers the question posed in the title to this post, basically, “What’s the difference between a transsexual and a crossdresser?”

If I may bottom-line her multi-paragraph answer, it is: “Not much.”

Her point of view tends to infuriate some (many? most? all?) transsexuals, who see nothing at all in common between themselves and crossdressers.  As one blogger put it:

I don’t see a link between the two. The former loves clothing and other accoutrements that are generally considered to be for women. The latter has a profound brain-body disconnect that requires treatment by hormone therapy and surgery. Crossdressers emulate women. Transsexuals change anatomical sex. How are those related?

I think both sides make some interesting points but frankly I have neither the experience nor the expertise to be able to know which is right, political correctness notwithstanding.  But I will say that part of the gap in viewpoints comes from differing ideas of what a crossdresser is.

As an example, I am a crossdresser by Alice’s definition but not according to the blogger quoted, who considers me “bi-gendered.”  It seems to me, Alice would consider everyone from crossdresser to transsexual to be bi-gendered.

I have some trust in Alice’s explanation of things, in large part because, to me, as one whose transgender path seems nearly identical to hers, her bracingly honest explanation of her own experience resonates as truth.  (Please read her post before jumping to conclusions.)

Understanding the Experience of Others

And yet, I am not sure I’m prepared to discount the experiences of the gender dysphoric who profess to be (and very much seem to be) profoundly different from me, tormented by the duality of their gender and wanting one of them gone.

Nor am I altogether satisfied that I have that much in common with men who dress as women for a purely sexual and fetishistic thrill, and who I expect don’t consider themselves female for even a moment.

Interestingly, the way I see it, these two groups from opposite ends of the TG spectrum share one thing in common:  single-gender-mindedness.

That leaves a group in the middle of people, like me and like Alice, who feel themselves to be both male and female.

Is There A Choice?

Alice makes the point that, under different life circumstances, she might have chosen to transition, but that she doesn’t do so because she can’t see how that would make her happier.  That leads her to compare herself to a transsexual as follows:

Two people living with the same intersex condition, blessed with the same bigendered brain, separated perhaps by degree only.

I accept that there have been more than a few members of our middle group who have transitioned, but I have also seen cases of major regret at that decision. (More on that another time.)

I don’t get how someone with a bi-gendered brain would want to take drastic, expensive and dangerous action to annihilate one of their genders.  That’s why I say transsexuals are single-gender-minded.

Alice’s treatment of transitioning as a choice is a bi-gendered point of view, I think.  She can choose.  I can choose.  But if you know yourself to be female only and you’ve got male parts, where’s the choice?

My Present Conception

So, for the time being, I’m going with the paradigm of three broad groups: men who wear women’s clothes, bi-gendered folks, and women (presently or previously) in men’s bodies.  [Query whether a woman in a man’s body who has fully transitioned is trans, or now simply a woman or does it matter?  Any thoughts?]

I know this is a hot-button topic, and I hope there will be some constructive points of view expressed by comment.