Labels and Myths: Part 2

Continuing on from my last column, where I looked at some of the (many) labels often attached to people from within our community, let’s now look at some of the key myths we are plagued with.

Coupling labels and myths together, it’s no wonder that we are grossly misunderstood by the public at large — and even sometimes by ourselves. Possibly, some of the misunderstanding being largely as a result of the fact that T people have long been in a ‘’marriage of convenience” with the remaining “letters” in the LGBT acronym. 

Arguably, in the ongoing fight for basic rights, it’s been easier for us to have aligned with our more visible, vociferous Lesbian and Gay colleagues rather than try and go it alone.  

Yet, as much as this has been a help at times with advancing the ‘’cause,” it’s also been a “double-edged sword” and a number of myths continue to abound, such as:

It’s to do with sexual orientation: “Hmm, but sorry, no, it’s not!” From those T’s I have met (and I have met quite a few!), most male to female (M to F) T’s like women, and still tend to like them post-transition. A number of female to male (F to M) T’s prefer men and also still do post-transition. Of course, there are many exceptions and, clearly, there are “gay” M to F and F to M (phew!). In addition, I have read about cases of some male to female T’s changing their sexual orientation after undergoing the necessary doses of female hormones.

It’s a lifestyle choice: err… no it’s not! T people definitely don’t go through all the pain of the numerous operations, or all the discrimination and prejudices we suffer, or the constant fear of being attacked (sadly, it still regularly happens!) simply to be able to live as their rightful gender.

Nor is it a mental illness (which, until fairly recently, many first world (and other) governments and military establishments classified it as) or a psychological disorder.

In my view, being T is as much inbuilt into a person as being gay; T’s are born not created. The overdone cliché of being “born in the wrong body” rings absolutely true.

Drag queens are T people: those actors or actresses who parody, often in quite excessively exaggerated ways, persons of the opposite gender for entertainment purposes are almost certainly not T people. Sure, it’s not possible to know for certain but I’d guess 80+% are not — a large % are certainly gay, but an equally large % simply treat their role-play as just a profession

To be T you have to have completed all “necessary” surgeries: whilst many T’s wish to have full corrective surgery — commonly known as “top” and/or “bottom” surgeries (breast implants for M to F, breast removal for F to M, plus genital reassignment — removal of a penis or creation of one, respectively) — almost equally as many T’s only do one or the other,  or none at all. Generally, in the mind of the T in question, as long as the person’s overall physical appearance matches the brain gender then sometimes, not having any surgery is preferred. In fact I’ve come across many apparent female or male T’s who are very effective at portraying their preferred gender without any surgery!

With human diversity being as colourful as the rainbow flag which represents the LGBT minorities, no “one size fits all” when describing T people, yet we do seem to be the subject of more myths than most others sheltering under the same flag!

Let’s just keep repelling these myths, after all, the tide turns eventual. : )

Available from Club Lighthouse Publishing

Tags: crossdressing, featured, Identity, opinion, Transgender, Transsexual

Category: Transgender Opinion