Transsexualism

From a presentation I prepared for sensitivity training where I work

Transgender/Transsexual

• Think of four scales with male on one end and female on the other:
  • Biological sex: assigned at birth, more than just polar – includes intersexed (XYY, XXY, etc)
  • Gender Identity: how a person identifies themselves
    • Cis-male/female (natal) is someone who’s gender matches their birth sex
    • A transGender is an umbrella group that includes anyone whose gender is different from their birth sex
    • A transSexual is someone who’s gender is opposite their birth sex
  • Orientation or Preference: who you would choose to be a partner with
  • Gender Expression/Presentation: how you dress, appear or act
• A person can be anywhere on these scales, not just the polar ends
• These scales are completely independent of each other (birth sex, gender identity, orientation, presentation, abilities)
  • A person who has a male birth sex but who’s gender is female (a transsexual woman) and has a sexual orientation of female would consider themselves a lesbian

What you should know

• This is not something one chooses, this is pre-natal
  • We are born with a Birth sex and a Gender.  “Gender presentation” however, is what is learned from society/environment
  • Because some of us are born with a Birth sex and Gender that do not match,  we have to deal with this our entire lives
  • We all have an internal ‘body map’
    • If someone loses an arm – they still ‘feel’ their fingers
    • A transsexual’s body map is opposite their natal sex
    • Current research points to hormone levels and timing at 6 weeks in-utero
• This is NOT a choice!
  • It is something a transsexual attempts to come to terms with
  • Most of us spent agonizing years in denial – trying everything we can to be ‘cis’ (natal)
• The ‘facade’ is the acting out of societies ideals of what is expected of our birth sex
  • But the need is to just simply ‘be ourselves’ – to be our gender and to be accepted as such

How to treat anyone in the LGBTQ community – actually anyone, period.

• Respect of course, appreciate what we have already been through in our lives
• It’s not ‘contagious’, nothing happens if you shake our hand!
• It’s not necessarily ‘you’ – do not be challenged by this, “don’t take this internally”
• We are not different – we are surprisingly ‘normal’
• Sometimes empathy and imagination is all that is needed to understand
• On the issue of pronouns (and many other issues): we are all different
  • In general, a person should at least ask – and try.
• Don’t ask personal questions that you would dare not ask anyone else!
• Respect our wishes for privacy
• Ask before telling someone else that we are LGBTQ
  • ‘Outing’ someone can be dangerous for them (violent crimes/murder)