Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Clothes Does Not Make A Transsexual

You can dress 24/7 in clothes from the opposite gender and that doesn’t make you a transsexual, it goes a lot deeper than what clothes you wear.

Slate has an article about a butch lesbian who wears men’s clothes all the time.
Why I’m Still a Butch Lesbian
By Vanessa Vitiello Urquhart

I first began wearing men's clothing a few years ago, because I thought that looking like a lesbian might help me get girls. Once I'd started, I realized almost immediately that I was feeling far more comfortable and confident and that I liked the way I looked in the mirror for the first time in my life. Other people who knew me said I looked more natural, more like my clothing fit my personality. It felt a bit like I'd been wearing an uncomfortable, ill-fitting costume all my life.
For me I also “liked the way I looked in the mirror for the first time in my life” but for her it just how she liked the looks and for me it went much deeper than the clothes. It went to my identity, it went to who I felt inside, and I also think it went to how society sees you and treats you. I am more comfortable as a woman, I am more relaxed as a woman.

She sees herself as female and I see myself as female.

2 comments:

  1. Trystan Greist7/30/14, 3:00 PM

    I think someone is trans if they say they are, and if cross-dressing is as far as they can go, in terms of changing their gender presentation, for whatever reasons, medical, financial, or whatever, that doesn't change the fact that they're trans. I'm one of those folks that think "transsexual" means something different from "transgender." I believe the former best describes folks who have engaged in medical treatment for the purposes of changing their bodies. This includes gender therapy, hormones and/or surgeries. Some transsexuals say GRS must happen, while others say HRT is enough to warrant the "transsexual" designation. Shrug. I am FTM, and all I can afford, currently, is T. I'm working with insurance and my providers to try to make chest surgery happen. From what I've read, most transsexuals cannot access GRS, MTF or FTM. I agree that "transsexual" goes beyond clothes. It's about an internal awareness of gender variance, or gender dysphoria that is unshakeable. Of course the butch lesbian quoted is not a transsexual. She's not claiming that identity. She's establishing a different female presentation for herself, that of a masculine woman. But although being trans goes beyond clothing, that doesn't mean that clothing doesn't matter. It does. A lot of us begin our transition journey by cross-dressing. I think what matters is our intention, and how we experience our own selves. I'm trans if I say I am. I will transition as best I can, based on all the resources I am able to access. In the world of trans, we are not all created equal. We all do the best we can, with what we have.

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  2. Hey Diana,

    All due respect, but it's a bit more complicated than that. While I've never seriously considered transitioning from female to male, the differences between someone like me and many of those who consider themselves neither male nor female are, I believe, negligible to nonexistent. This is particularly true of many who use the word "butch" to describe their gender without adding "woman" after it.

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