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I had this as an answer on another thread but thinking about it here I am: I think transgender people are special because being that small amount removed from "normal" ways of thinking and feeling gives us perceptions of society and culture that are expanded and more comprehensive than "normal". Maybe that's just me.
Maybe not inherently, but being different from the mainstream in some way helps people change perspectives and challenge accepted ways of thinking when they otherwise wouldn't. We are often more open and tolerant people (though sadly, not always, especially when it turns to self-loathing).Quote:
Originally Posted by Elena Ornamental
I agree with you Elena and Jessica, I sit and think similar to what you write in your posts. I think not being ordinary men and ordinary women, we performed a kind of evolution, therefore, according as we have more open mind and are more receptive and tolerant.
Well put Naomi. I tend to fully agree with you. I have become a much better person as a result. I am non-judgemental and try to see the WHOLE picture before making any judgement or decision about anyone.
I don't know... I think as a group were no more special that any other group of similar people, its the individuals that are special... And not everyone is special.... I've run into just as many A-hole TG people out there as in the general public maybe more so...
That's right. me too. :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by erickka
I've been in CD sites for years, and I have to agree with Karren, I've meet some people that seems special, and some not so much, pretty much just like the general society we all come from. I come from a some what liberal family, and there are a lot of open minded people that don't even know about cross dressing, and if you keep reading, the different attitudes you will see in here between full dress, VS partial dress, bearded VS female presentation, Closet VS out and about, not every CD is tolerant.
Tina B.
Thank you sister..for not named those of us who are A-Holes! We already know who we are!
Em
I hate it when people talk about me behind my back! On second thought I think I will just shut up and listen!Quote:
Originally Posted by Emily Ann Brown
I didn't know we had run into each other Karen. Billie Jean
Thinking outside of the "box" is pretty much "normal" for TG people.:)
As noted, not generally so special as people... Special only in being clearly TG, or, whatever as who they are and what they spend their time on.... Other than that, they seem remarkably like everyone else - good/bad/ugly/beautiful/smart/lucky/etc. - which varies from person to person. That, I think, argues very well that CD/TG/TS/etc. are as normal as anyone else - including a defining interest in baseball, drinking, woodworking, crossdressing, hunting, etc. Defining activities and interests, but no more or less than anyone else... And, like everyone else, needing to find a balance between interests AND obligations.
Well, of course we are "special"!
i don't know if i'd use the word 'special', but coming to terms with one's transgender nature definitely can be an eye opening experience on many fronts. i think in a general sense, people who have the courage to be themselves despite what society's expectations of them may be are "special", whether it's being a single mother, being the first black person to attend a historically white university, being the only guy in the ballet class, etc, etc.
transgressive is progressive IMO.
ironically, many transgender people spend all of their energy and money trying to hide what it is exactly that makes them special.
my personal experience as a transwoman who knows many other transgender men and women, is that we are simply a cross-section of society. everyone responds differently to the transition process. we come in all types of political, religious, cultural, philosophical backgrounds. those with a predilection for iconoclasm, subversion, and transgression (myself included) were most likely predisposed towards that before they even knew they were trans and definitely before they started transitioning.
edit-
statistically, those transgender people who are out of the closet and transitioning are probably more likely to be predisposed this way, since it takes a certain amount of balls to go through with such a transgressive act as changing one's gender, or inventing a new gender, or disavowing gender altogether.
for me personally the transition has proved to be almost a laboratory where i can test many of the hypotheses i had about the structure of society (and by extension, the self) well before i decided to transition.
Thanks to all who have responded so far. No one knows how transgender people compare to "normal" society; there's a subjective element involved. I value the outsider view of culture and society because I think it's more real. I did my BA thesis in college on worldview and how it influences behavior. It follows that in the general population there are more insiders than outsiders, more conformists than noncoformists. Being gender confused I think tends toward outsider thinking. Another element here is how alienated a person is; an alienated person is going to have different values (which can be good or bad depending). Transgender people tend to belong to that set of people too I think. So you all have shown me it's more than just me but that doesn't mean it's everybody. WHAT A SURPRISE. So what's next if I myself or anyone else wants to go there is to develop the definition of "special" (which I have somewhat done, I see).
Not a lot of people get to experience life from both a male and a female perspective, so in that regard, we are kind of special!