alice in genderland

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.

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?