Can we inspire awe and "respect" to straights rather than loathing, hatred, bigotry?

[Kimonogirl]

If we can because we are triumphants surpassed natural failure/misfortune,
If we cannot because we just hide ourselves and we cannot be true woman.
What do you think?!

[Katey888]

I think I get what you're saying, K-girl... :)

By just being ourselves normal people will see that we are not perverts or lunatics, but we are just expressing what is in us and so desperately needs to come out and should be respected by others...

I think many of us here do that, and take their expression into the normal, vanilla world - and generally most people will respect that and just let us go about our business. The problem with people who hate is that their hatred, bigotry and fear (in many cases) is not rational, is based on beliefs or just ignorance, and so those people will almost always find something to hate because they are missing compassion in their souls. The best you can do is avoid those types of people...

So I agree - it is better for most of us to find some way to express this side of us in the real world, rather than hiding and suppressing the feelings. :D

Katey x

[Marcelle]

Hi there,

For me I just exist in the Vanilla World as me (boy or girl). I let people see me interacting on a daily basis doing things anyone has to do, shopping, running errands, working and what not. I think the more people see us as just doing our own thing it will help to normalize us in society. However, there will always be haters and these people will never go away. So we have to take the good with the bad and to date, I have had mostly good experiences.

Hugs

Isha

[Yoshisaur]

I normally try to be as accepting of people as possible no matter how I present myself or how others present themselves. I just hope that me being accepting of everyone's differences can at least make someone happier.

[pamela7]

having practice complete acceptance for many years i can say most other people don't notice it, they just don't get into conflict with me, in a way it makes me invisible.

If I'm in my own power, just be me, naturally me, I am allowing others to be themselves, and I'm not causing an offense to others. However, in more sociopathic environments it's not easy to avoid causing offense, and until we deal with the underlying causes of sociopathy in society, and especially in governments, we're not likely to get respect except by becoming a bigger bully or getting a bigger bully onside.

[Barbara Black]

Sometimes I push myself to the point of exposure, just to attempt to be a representation for change, a normalization of society, within safe limits of course, both for my safety and embarrassment. Of course I have gotten caught dressing en femme accidentally as well, and it feels so good after the initial frightening by both sides of the viewed and viewer.

[pamela7]

one more thing, calling a non-LGBT person "straight" is itself a label and separating. bear in mind most of us feel to be heterosexual by preference, which is "straight"

[Jorja]

I am first and foremost a woman but for the purposes of this forum I am a TS woman. I transitioned over thirty years ago. I am educated and hold three degrees in higher education. I was a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Now run my own empire.

You all think you have it tough on the street. Today's world is a cake walk compared to life for girls like us in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, I know, I was there. I spent days under arrest for nothing more than wearing a dress while walking down the street. I have had my head cracked open by thugs during daylight hours and left to lay there in the street bleeding while nobody saw anything. I have had friends murdered simply trying to be the person they were.

While things are not perfect today, they are better today than they ever have been. We have TG men and women publishing books and reaching #1 Best Sellers. We have TG women acting in major television shows. We have TG women in office in the US Congress, Mayors, Councilwomen, Police officers, firefighters, activist, and CEOs, insurance company's are starting to cover Transcare. Most important, we have parents willing to listen to their children when they say Mommy, I am a girl or boy.

It will take time and more and more of you to take that step out of your comfort zone to fight for the advancement of our rights as Transgendered people.

Can we inspire awe and "respect" to straights rather than loathing, hatred, bigotry? Yes, I think we can.

[Sindyca]

I am first and foremost a woman but for the purposes of this forum I am a TS woman. I transitioned over thirty years ago. I am educated and hold three degrees in higher education. I was a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Now run my own empire.

You all think you have it tough on the street. Today's world is a cake walk compared to life for girls like us in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, I know, I was there. I spent days under arrest for nothing more than wearing a dress while walking down the street. I have had my head cracked open by thugs during daylight hours and left to lay there in the street bleeding while nobody saw anything. I have had friends murdered simply trying to be the person they were.

While things are not perfect today, they are better today than they ever have been. We have TG men and women publishing books and reaching #1 Best Sellers. We have TG women acting in major television shows. We have TG women in office in the US Congress, Mayors, Councilwomen, Police officers, firefighters, activist, and CEOs, insurance company's are starting to cover Transcare. Most important, we have parents willing to listen to their children when they say Mommy, I am a girl or boy.

It will take time and more and more of you to take that step out of your comfort zone to fight for the advancement of our rights as Transgendered people.

Can we inspire awe and "respect" to straights rather than loathing, hatred, bigotry? Yes, I think we can.

I live in your 60s 70s i am in Croatia! We here dont have crossdressers! What would you say how do i live ?

[Tina_gm]

In some ways, society can accept a TS person better, or easier than a CDer. I am not saying the life of a TS person is easier by any means. But society in general can grasp a person who is 180 degrees opposite of their birth gender than they can someone who is in the middle somewhere. Also, to many, they won't know the difference between a CDer who does a very good job presenting vs a TS who is or has transitioned. They may assume a well presented CDer to be a transitioned TS person and vice versa, not that they likely care either way.

For many CDers though, their life of CDing is something they may want kept private. Life circumstances, or maybe there isn't enough of their CDing in their life to merit the amount of attention attained by becoming public about it. It is a catch 22. Harder to gain acceptance of those in the middle, yet those in the middle don't want or need to the attention that barrier breakers get.

[Jorja]

I live in your 60s 70s i am in Croatia! We here dont have crossdressers! What would you say how do i live ?

Sindyca,
I am afraid I cannot give you an answer. I have never been to or even spoken to someone from Croatia. I know nothing about your country or it's government. I have no idea of LGBT rights in Croatia. I do wish you well and hope one day things will change for you as they are for most of the rest of the world.

[adrienner99]

Jorja...what a high standard you set for us! No one who hates us has any idea how brave we are....cant beliveyou were arrested...tho i come from that same eraand actually canbelieve it. And i know one cd from that time who spent time in a mental institution--just for wearing a dress...

[Jorja]

I do not set the standard for us but have helped lay the ground work. Today I see great things happening that I thought I would not see in my lifetime. Imagine what it will be like in another thirty years.

[Candice Mae]

The reason CDing is frowned upon and not taken seriously is because of the way it is portrayed in media. When you see a CD in media the character is usually made fun of or cast in a negative light, you don't see that with TSs or gay/Lesbian characters. TS and gay/lesbian characters can be portrayed in a comedic or dark way but the emphasis is put on the situation not who or what the character is.

And am I the only one that thinks the OP meant, why can't straight men see and respect him as a woman?

[pamela7]

if we are going to consider marginalised groups, and think a bigger picture for awe and respect then these are the minority/marginal groups to ally:

autistic/asperger
dyslexic/learning difficulties
the elderly
the disabled
LGBT
Immigrants
Travellers and Hippies
AND

the elite, a rejected club minority who have too much, and who could be given the ultimate gift of integration and acceptance by sharing-caring and aligning with these disadvantaged minorities.

just my thoughts

[Alice Torn]

I see, unfortunately a Balkanization happening in America, where every "group" is seeking its own, and unity as a nation is fragmenting, in spite of some positive change, and tolerance.

[Marcelle]

. . . And am I the only one that thinks the OP meant, why can't straight men see and respect him as a woman?

Umm . . . not sure where you are getting that vibe from. I had a hard time discerning what the OP was saying but it does appear she was indicating that a simple "can we inspire respect". However, what I do find interesting is that you chose a masculine pronoun when referring to the OP vice a feminine pronoun.

Isha

[Sarah Doepner]

It took over a hundred years from slavery to most of the equal rights legislation and general acceptance of Blacks in society and it still isn't done. It's been over 40 years since Stonewall and although the legal rights are falling into place for Gay and Lesbian people, there is still more to be done and lots of people do not accept them. Christine Jorgensen had the first publicly recognized sex reassignment surgery in 1951 and it was 2013/14 that we finally have seen respect for the Janet Mocks and other Transexual women who have stepped into the public eye. I see crossdressers and other gender fluid people as being in the first few years of a long walk toward integration into general society. There are those who will never be able to understand or overcome their bias, some who will always loath us, but eventually it will be easier for the T part of the gender spectrum to fit in general society. My answer to the original post is yes, but it will take time and effort and probably never be complete.

[Beverley Sims]

I think only by weight of numbers.

A very long way to go here.

[CherylFlint]

Don't waste your time.
Focus on the positive.