The word transgendered has many origins but in 1984-1985 it was used in an extended discussion in usenet newsgroups net.women and net.motss (members of the same sex) to refer to the broad spectrum of behaviors in which one might express the aspects of the opposite sex, ranging from fetish dressing to transvestites to cross-dressers to transsexuals. The term was adopted to be as inclusive as possible.
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On TV tonight I heard a woman say “I support the LGBT community.” Is this because she’s a woman, and lesbians come first in the same-sex hierarchy (in her mind)? Are there perhaps regional re-orderings of the letters G, L, B, and T according to what has been decided on by the community in a given location? You tell me. Carrying on with this logic, would a bisexual say (or write) BGLT, or maybe BLGT, depending on what your birth gender happened to be? More importantly, is there a pecking order amongst same-sex individuals, or is it more like a game of musical chairs, much like the one we played back in the first grade? If we are to be as politically correct as possible, why assemble these four disparate groups in the first place? Relax, I'm just curious...
I've seen corporate directives indicating that we should now use the term LGBT. No particular reason was given, but I would suggest that this may be be based on the degrees of persecution, with Lesbians being least persecuted - but still persecuted. Gays are next, Bisexuals often struggle between the straight and gay communities and risk the rejection of both, and transgendered are the most closeted and often experience the persecution at the earliest ages and are under the pressure to remain closeted for the longest period of time. This may also be reflected in the records of suicide victims as well. As police now investigate the computer records, cell phone records, and other personal background information - looking for signs of harassment, and often find evidence of hate-crimes which can be tied back to the perpetrators. Transgenders often experience harassment for being "sissies" starting as young as 4-5 years old, and are often forced to conform and suppress their identities by parents, wives, ex-wives, and even their own children.
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Yet another question – this was alluded to in another thread a few weeks ago. Maybe it was my thread about the lovely word “queer,” which used to be a catch-all term for G, L, B, and T. Tell me – if you’re a heterosexual MtF crossdresser, how can you possibly be part of GLBT? Since “T” is included in the four letters, the implication is that all transgendered behavior comes under the heading of homosexuality. This somehow marginalizes hetero MtF CD’s, and they are thus assumed to be gay, much to the consternation of their wives, SO’s, girlfriends, family members, or associates, distorting the “normal” lives everyone thinks they are living. I know concessions have to be made for political expediency, but I don’t see how heterosexual crossdressers fit into this “community” idea. Politically we don’t exist, so we cannot exist socially, and vice versa...
Sexual identity has nothing to do with sexual preference, and each is established separately, and may change as a result of other changes. For example, a MtF transsexual who transitions may have no attraction to men before they start transition, and may even be repelled. As they complete transition, they may find that they are more attractive to men, who now treat them with more respect, kindness, and interest than when they were "sissy" men. It's not really clear why a transsexual's sexual preference changes, and in many cases it doesn't.
Both preference and identity are established at very young ages, often one a male first starts experiencing erections and when girls first start to have romantic fantasies. For normal children, the girl wants to be the princess who is wooed by the prince, and the boy wants to be the hero who seduces the sexy woman. That in itself creates a conflict which plagues even "normal" heterosexual couples. But when the boy wants to be the princess wooed by the sexy woman, or wants to be the sexy woman who woos the princess, can be a much more confusing fantasy. The same is true for the prince who want's to be wooed by the hero, or wants to be the hero who woos the prince.
Later, as we experience more sexuality and eventually orgasms, these images get imprinted more and more deeply, both identity and preference. For most people, there is a period where shame, guilt, and repression by friends, schoolmates, and family. Some grow up with strong religious convictions. In some cases, the conflict, shame, guilt, fear, and anger leads to extreme behavior including self-destructive behavior, suicide attempts (many successful). This can also include "suicide by the installment plan" - such as alcoholism, drug addiction, overeating, unhealthy lifestyles, obesity, and neglect of medical care.
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Here’s another question I have about GLBT – why is “T” always at the end? Are transgendered individuals the weak sisters or Johnny-come-latelys of the queer universe? Were the TG’s begrudgingly added on at some point because they are traditionally associated with homosexuals in a peripheral sense (case in point: transvestites)? Was it a case of not fitting in anywhere else, so they (we) bonded with the rest of the people that society cannot easily tolerate? Also, is it OK for a TG to say “TGLB,” or “TLGB,” or even “TBLG?” Let’s be fair in a communal sense, and display some consistency, even though it CAN get very confusing, and important issues tend to fall through the cracks as everybody jockeys for position...
As I suggested above, it may be because of the level of repression, the number of those "out" vs those in the closet. Knowing how many of each group there actually are, vs those who are out is really difficult to determine. There is so little research into the private lives of individuals to determine their closeted sexual identities and preferences. To further complicate things, there are often ranges of both preferences and identity, from the person who only wears his girl-friend's or wife's underwear when there is no one around, including his partner, to the transsexual who completes transition. And sexual preference can range from the mostly heterosexual man who might have rare and never disclosed fantasies of being seduced by a she-male or very aggressive woman who would seduce him like a man would seduce a woman, to the fully out and legally married homosexual with a lifetime partner.
Even if you break both preferences and identities down into 6 catagories each, you come up with 36 possible combinations. When you then consider that there are 36 possible combinations of possible partners of each sex, making 72 possible combinations, you get 36*72 or roughly 2592 possible combinations, and only a few are actual compatible matches. For example, if a man wants a woman to be very feminine and sexually aggressive at the same time, it could get really complicated trying to find a match. Conversely, a woman who wants a man to be very masculine, and submissive at the same time, might have a heard time finding a match.
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I’m not questioning the accomplishments of same-sex advocacy groups or political movements, but, once again, I feel left out. A man who likes to wear women’s panties to feel good is not the same as a transgendered individual, do you agree? To the world, I belong with GLBT because I’m doing something very queer along the lines of gender, according to the “standard” everyone has agreed upon, but, to me, I’m just wearing the “wrong” clothes to be happy as I remain male. Oh, I might feel warmed by what I term second-hand female sensibilities, but, much like Cinderella, I always revert to drab after playing dress-up. In my case, TG stands for “tiny girl,” since I am beneath nearly everyone’s notice (and contempt). That’s OK, though – I like being small and meek, under a big sky, free of “group” thinking...
When the stonewall riots occurred in 1969, it was because the transvestites fought back. Yet in the gay liberation movement, many were trying to separate the issues of transvestites, transsexuals, and transgenders from the issues of the homosexual men. Many gay men were sick of the stereotypes of gay men as effeminate, and were eager to point out that many gay men were very masculine, many were adorable "hunks", complete with great muscles and beautiful tans, men any woman would want.
At the same time, films and movies were giving transgenders a bad reputation. Transsexuals were depicted as rapists (Myra Breckenridge), assassins (Freebie & the Bean), and Serial killers (Dressed to Kill) or crazed killers (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls). Even in "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Frankenfurter kills Meatloaf with a pick, engages in cannabalism, rapes both a man and a woman, and then engages in kidnapping and forced cross-dressing, even turns people to stone (alluding to Lot's wife?). Glenn or Glenda and Edwin Drood didn't help much either. Priscilla Queen of the Desert was a positive issue of drag queens, and To Wong Fu was a positive presentation of drag queens, but Chi Chi and Patrick Swayse's character were more transsexual in nature, even though the movie started by trying to explain the distinctions.
Other movies like TransAmerica used female actors to play MtF's who were going through transition. Even today, there are very few positive media images of transgendered or transsexual men being played by transsexuals.
For many of use, especially in the 60s, 70s and 80s, the only source of publicly available information was in adult literature. Magazines like Penthouse Forum and Variations provided stories of people who were into cross-dressing. In the 1970s Sulka was one of the first to make "Before" and "After" films of her transition, and even then it was clear that her transition was limited, she lacked a functional clitoris. Shannon did a movie of her before and after, which included interviews of what it took for her to go through transition. She was one of the first to get the procedure that gave a sensitive clitoris - but to get it she had to have surgeries done under local rather than general anesthesia, which she said was incredibly painful.
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Could there possibly be such a thing as a formal CROSSDRESSING community, or are we much too individualistic to be part of anything like that? :thinking:
BTW, I sincerely mean no harm - these things just fascinate me. I KNOW everybody is doing the best they can under unusual circumstances... :o
