Cogiati test

[Christy_M]

Here is an example I have had to deal with. All red heads have a fiery temper.

How dare you say I have a fiery temper...

Redheaded women however, are just plain hot!

Aww, now I am embarassed...

[Karinsamatha]

I took it for fun. Yay, I'm "possibly a transsexual".

Your COGIATI result value is: 155 Which means that you fall within the following category:
COGIATI classification FOUR, PROBABLE TRANSSEXUAL

I just took the test and scored a 250 classification 4 probable transsexual !

[Pythos]

Umm Christy.

I'M REDHEADED!!!!

I like black hair, but I am naturally red headed. and did indeed get snot beaten out of me for it. LOL. That is why is is one that I have dealt with in my life.

[Christy_M]

I figured as much..just playin'

I used to get all kinds of crap for it myself when I lived in Texas, apparently they "never seen nuthin like that their whole lives"

Red on the head like a dick on a dog...girl, I could talk volumes...how funny was it when SouthPark had the "Kick a Ginger Day?"

[Shananigans]

Shananigans, I am with you completely on this one. There are many women who are excellent at orienting themselves in an unknown environment, get cars zipped in backwards and around the corner etc. What I find most interesting about the test is actually the attempt to create an inventory that would allow some from of determination early on. Since I first took the test I have learned that my need to determine if I am a transgendered or transsexual person has no easy answer. The creation of typologies such as the test does is really quite dangerous in my view. Blanchard, the guy who created the hypothesis on autogynephilia, which is now in danger of finding it's way into the DSM 5 in it's revised form (his disciple Zucker was made head of the working group that will determine transgenderism) types us all as deviants and paraphiliacs. He says that all transgendered people, unless they are attracted to their birth gender, are sexually aroused by and romatically involved with their inner image of themselves as females, hence auto-gyne-philiacs. His paper "the Concept of Autogynephilia and the Typology of Male Gender Dysphoria" states: ...that nonhomosexual type of gender identity disorder is characterized by an abnormal tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought of being a woman". Those of the test subjects that reported evidence that did not fit into the expected outcome of the study were simply called liars: [these] were consciously motivated by the desire for sex reassignment to deny all sexual behavior, whether or not this was accurate". While clearly on a different level, this study, like the cogiati test attempts to occasion a result through the framing of the questions which then lead to an anticipated result. They are in a word pseudo- or bogus science.

I am of the view that the only way to fathom the phenomenon of transgenderism is in fact to develop a phenomenology of gender, which in my view would yield an understanding that gender is not a dichotomy and deviation from the assigned gender roles not an illness; but rather that gender is a continuum and the location of the individual on this continuum describes their gender without resorting to typing, or the misunderstood dichotomy we consider the norm in our society.

I am glad you said what you said, thank you

Kathryn

I have a few things in response to your statement. However, let me be frank...I am in no way a psychologist or therapist. I'm a scientist of a different nature...and, working in a genetics lab for 2 years kind of kept me in a bubble. Yet, I did enjoy taking a human sexuality course that was very focused on gender issues in college. I took the course when my SO opened up to me about CD. (Typical of me, I didn't understand it...so, I started reading). Anyway, my professor was pretty well published on many gender issues...and, he surprisingly had a lot to bring to the table in terms of how gender identity is being research today. There are certain roles and certain behaviors that are pushed onto us as children that are somewhat assigned as either male or female roles. For example: Washing dishes=Female, Mowing lawn=Male, Playing with Barbie dolls=Female, Playing with GI Joe=Male. These roles alone have nothing to do with gender; however, we have assigned them as gender specific for centuries. (Well, maybe not Barbie dolls and GI Joes, but you catch my drift). There is, however, a movement in which assigned gender roles are beginning to dissolve. It is now more socially acceptable for men to express their emotions. However, what I feel is wrong with this particular test (as with many other things), it is settling back into these assigned gender roles. It is making a backwards step, if you will. Women enjoy as many "masculine" tasks as men do, and vice versa. You cannot slap someone with a diagnosis of transsexual or transvestite based on whether they can back into a parking space properly. Perhaps the person has some handicap where he/she cannot back into the space. This would skew the results. This is because the f*cking parking space has nothing to do with gender issues to begin with. I agree that maybe there needs to be some test. Maybe. However, I feel that at the end of the day, with these tests it is inevitably up to the individual. Say you do get the result that you are waaaaaay far down the transsexual spectrum. Yeah? So, what? You probably knew that to begin with. Did I know that I had a mix of male and female traits and thus I got the result of "androgynous"? Well, sure. I'll bet 90% of people get that response, because it is actually the most believable response. Normal people have a fair amount of "male" traits and "female" traits. (If you want to assign them that way). For those that are are lumped to an extreme on either side of the spectrum...well...the scientist in me is very skeptical. That seems to me like someone really wants the outcome to go a certain way, as you noted. At the end of the day, psychologist are trying desperately to pinpoint what exactly a crossdresser is. My professor hammered it to the ground every day that the psychological definition of a transvestite was someone who is sexually aroused by wearing clothing of the opposite gender. If that person was doing it for other reasons, that person was transgendered. And, he further hammered it home that a person is transsexual ONLY when that person experiences a sense of gender dysphoria...to the extreme that they were born in the wrong body. He did, however, believe in the spectrum. He also believed that most normal people fall in a middle somewhere. (As in most healthy individuals identify with both male and female characteristics). But, at the same time...he believed that there would be no crossdressers (by his definition: men aroused by wearing women's clothes) if society did not shun men from wearing women's clothing. He felt that most crossdressers are aroused by it due to the taboo nature. He was a big proponent for HRT and gender reassignment surgery only given in extreme cases. We had to watch so many documentaries on people that were convinced they were transsexual...that they were born in the wrong sex...then, they go through with HRT and the surgery...and, then they regret it. So, to add to that...I think that a person's position on the "spectrum" is not static. I think that you can move either way depending on your stage in life. Older crossdressers obviously become less sexually aroused by the actual dressing act...maybe because they have a lower libido...maybe because they are used to it. They also tend to wear less "skanky" clothes. Does this mean that they are more transsexual now? I don't think so. I think that they may have moved on he spectrum from it being a purely sexual thing to something more as a comfort and an expression. However, at the same time I still feel that these spectrums are very dangerous. It perpetuates the idea that crossdressing is a stepping stone to transsexualism when, in fact, they are two different things all together. Maybe two spectrums is needed? Yet, I still side with my professor in that a person who is truly transsexual knows it on a very deep level. This person would not see themselves as their born gender at all. Everything about their sense of identity is in the gender that they were not born into. Then again, I am not transsexual...but, it was the best that I could understand it from the other TS and the professor. In my roundabout way, I am saying that a spectrum is a good idea...it might help a person in their identity journey. But, at the end of the day, no psychologist is telling you anything that you don't already know. Especially if you are TS. And, putting TS on one end and CD somewhere on the other end perpetuates this stepping stone process that is not always the case with the very complex individuals that this pertains to.

[RachelPortugal]

... I have no idea what/who Cogati might be or if this test is valid.

The original COGIATI test was invented by one Jennifer Diane Reitz. See her website http://www.transsexual.org/index.html for more details of the history behind the test and answers to critics etc. You can also do the test there online in various languages.

[JainaCarpaccio]

I came out at -20 which is an androgyne. Kind of fun, but not something I'd rely on. The biases are especially apparent if you look at the written version which has the scoring on it.

[Rachel2000]

I remember taking that test several years ago and really didn't put much faith in it then because there were too many questions that I could have answered differently and still have been completely honest with my answers. I really don't think you need to take a test like that to know if you are androgynous or not. I think that deep down we all know what we are, how far we are willing to take it and really don't need a test to confirm it.

[Kathryn Martin]

... putting TS on one end and CD somewhere on the other end perpetuates this stepping stone process that is not always the case with the very complex individuals that this pertains to.

I really appreciate your comprehensive response. I think these things are worthy of debate. I just wanted to clarify one point, in that I don't see the spectrum with CD at one end and Transsexual at the other. I see the spectrum as a full gender spectrum, that is the human gender is a continuum that encompasses all female to all male. It is obvious when you observe human beings, that their gender expresses itself in a myriad of different ways and there is no break in the continuum between what we consider male or female. Looked at it this way I don't believe that there is danger in the continuum concept. I actually happen to believe that the stepping stone theory is nonsense. While I agree with you that there is a constant and ongoing adjustment of ones location on the continuum, the travel is never in one direction only, and so the stepping stone hypothesis is in my view nonsense. Gender is also not just two dimensional. There is a multitude of levels on which gender plays itself out.

The problem with the tests is that they are an enormous simplification of something far more complex. Because of the simplification they are so easily manipulated it makes you laugh. In Blanchards paper, the study results are obtained by questions all of which are prefaced by "have ever become sexually aroused while........ " and the followed with such statements as : " picturing yourself as a woman". If then, like he does, you conclude that if you score in any manner on this test you are a sexual deviant and therefore not transgendered, and that makes it into the authoritative text on mental illnesses, then you immediately silence the entire community of transsexuals and transgendered by calling them crazy. I, for instance would be called a liar, because I have never over my lifetime had this connection of sexual arousal and dressing as a woman.

This is interesting

Kathryn

[Janet Bern]

Just finished My COGIATI result value is: -165 Which means that you fall within the following category:
COGIATI classification TWO, FEMININE MALE,,
I figured thats where I would be

[Pythos]

Shananigans,

I so wish there were more professors like that in the psychological area.

Heck, I just wish more people thought like this.

I do find it funny how he thinks the same as I do when it comes to SRS and some forms of crossdressing. It would be a lot less if there was no social stigma, and people were just able to look and dress how they wished, with no social drama.

I think much of the SRS that has happened would not have had it not been for the limitations placed up people based upon their genders. Doubt me? Look in the history around the time long before the 1930s, you will see story upon story of women dressing as men to serve their country, or to do other "men only" things. How many women do you see passing off as men to be in the armed forces these days? I think the ratio is MUCH lower than it was back then.

[Shananigans]

I really appreciate your comprehensive response. I think these things are worthy of debate. I just wanted to clarify one point, in that I don't see the spectrum with CD at one end and Transsexual at the other. I see the spectrum as a full gender spectrum, that is the human gender is a continuum that encompasses all female to all male. It is obvious when you observe human beings, that their gender expresses itself in a myriad of different ways and there is no break in the continuum between what we consider male or female. Looked at it this way I don't believe that there is danger in the continuum concept. I actually happen to believe that the stepping stone theory is nonsense. While I agree with you that there is a constant and ongoing adjustment of ones location on the continuum, the travel is never in one direction only, and so the stepping stone hypothesis is in my view nonsense. Gender is also not just two dimensional. There is a multitude of levels on which gender plays itself out.

The problem with the tests is that they are an enormous simplification of something far more complex. Because of the simplification they are so easily manipulated it makes you laugh. In Blanchards paper, the study results are obtained by questions all of which are prefaced by "have ever become sexually aroused while........ " and the followed with such statements as : " picturing yourself as a woman". If then, like he does, you conclude that if you score in any manner on this test you are a sexual deviant and therefore not transgendered, and that makes it into the authoritative text on mental illnesses, then you immediately silence the entire community of transsexuals and transgendered by calling them crazy. I, for instance would be called a liar, because I have never over my lifetime had this connection of sexual arousal and dressing as a woman.

This is interesting

Kathryn

I think we are in agreement. I mentioned the TS at one end at CD at some other end because that is what it seems like from this particular assessment. Furthermore, I think that some old-fashioned may characterize you as a "sexual deviant", even though CDing in your experience has no sexual aspect...however, I think that there is tons of progress being made that trumps this type of thinking. Likewise, I think that there is a lot of progress being made that trumps the viewpoint that those CDs that are sexually aroused by dressing are deviants. It's technically still listed as a paraphilia, as far as I am aware...however, ANY gender therapist would disagree that this is all that CDing amounts to. (ie, just a paraphilia or just sexual in nature).

For comparison, homosexuality was once a paraphilia and they were considered mentally ill...sexual deviants. Only the truly idiotic still think this way.

I think much of the SRS that has happened would not have had it not been for the limitations placed up people based upon their genders. Doubt me? Look in the history around the time long before the 1930s, you will see story upon story of women dressing as men to serve their country, or to do other "men only" things. How many women do you see passing off as men to be in the armed forces these days? I think the ratio is MUCH lower than it was back then.

I think that what my professor was saying is that the crossdresser that is sexually aroused by wearing women's clothing would not exist if the social taboo did not exist. He wasn't saying that there aren't transsexuals...just that the TS and the CD shouldn't be grouped together as often as they are. He just felt that someone who is truly TS knows it on a very deep level and they are 100% mentally that other gender (the one that they weren't born into). But, he felt that by just growing up in the gender that you do...you still identify with it most of the time. So, some TS make the mistake of HRT or SRS...and, after the surgery, they still don't feel "right." I'm not sure how this would be affected if men were allowed to dress feminine. I almost feel like it's a separate issue, as well. Who knows?

[lisa_vin]

I took the test just for fun and got a 220 - class 4 transsexual! Honestly, I'm prettly happy as a male and changing sexes has never been a priority or serious thought for me. Now, if I could magically transform myself back and forth whenever I wanted to, like that green female chameleon character in X-men, that would be awesome but my overall choice would be to remain male.

[SusieK]

-160 Feminine male
Sounds about right if you accept traditional stereotypes.

I agree that I could have answered many of the questions differently while still being honest, but I didn't - I answered them how I did. However, there is a disclaimer that it is entirely unscientific and as such I think it is as valuable as you make it, while being a bit of fun.

Possibly the main value is in confirming or denying what you already really know. You take the test and get the judgement, and you can think 'Yep, knew that!' or 'Hmm, yeah maybe, that's interesting' or 'Whoah!, come on, NO WAY is that me'. It's kind of like tossing a coin or using a magic eight ball to make a decision. It comes up with an answer, and you then KNOW whether it was really the right answer or not (or whether you need to play best of three...) - even if you thought you didn't know before.

Susie

[Andrea Reynolds]

After reading this, I had to take the test. I scored 155, classification 4, probable transexual. Andrea

[Tess]

-10...I tried to honest but I scored a little further up the scale than I thought I would.

[Sara74]

So I took it and I got an 85...guess that means I have some more thinking to do? Yes, I will do that while I paint my toes tonight. Think think think....

[TGMarla]

The test is a total joke. It's been bouncing around the internet for many years, and one can pretty much get the score one desires. Even if you try hard to be unbiased about your answers, it's nearly impossible not to interpret exactly what answers will gain you a more feminine score. Therefore it cannot be used as any kind of true assessment of one's transgendered nature.

Total joke.

Here's a better assessment. I love wearing feminine clothing, and I find the thought of having female genetalia and breasts very appealing. I often wish I had been born female. I love having long hair, I like doing my nails, shaving my legs, wearing high heels and hosiery, skirts and dresses, yet I'm attracted to women sexually, and I still like all the guy stuff.

I'm a male with transexual tendencies and I'm opting to not have SRS.

There. Self assessment done.

[Kelly Blaine]

Started to take the test but it is too long. I got to do my nails yet tonight.

[Kathryn Martin]

Only the truly idiotic still think this way.

We are entirely and completely on the same page

Homosexuality came off the DSM in 1972.

My therapist who has a PhD in philosophy says that "the boys" (Blanchard and Zucker) are idiots. And I agree with her.

Kathryn

[Annaliese2010]

I took that test & was thoughtful & reflective before answering. Wow! It totally described me!!!

"Your COGIATI result value is -80 which means you fall within the following category: COGIATI classification THREE, ANDROGYNE. This means your internal gender identity is essentially androgynous, both male and female at the same time. In some cultures in history, you would be considered a third sex, independent of the polarities of masculine or feminine. Your gender issues are intrinsic to your construction and you will most likely find your happiness playing with expressing both genders as you feel like it."

I mean yyyeah! That's what I feel like, how I play it and what I do. Yippie now I know what I am - Androgyne! Even sounds cool huh?

[charlotte_sp]

I saw the first question, "Describe your relationship with mathematics," and closed the window.

[Rachel2000]

started to take the test but it is too long. I got to do my nails yet tonight.

lmao !!!

[Tammy V]

I took it recently and scored a 140, probable transexual. Even though I am a part time cd and mostly closeted, I do have a very fem persona and consider myself tg. However, I do not think I am a transexual and never want to be full time or get SRS.

[Rianna Humble]

I saw the first question, "Describe your relationship with mathematics," and closed the window.

Quite right too, it's none of their business who you have a relationship with