Originally Posted by
Lea Paine
The heart of the heat in THIS dicussion is whether transitioned transsexuals are different (in OP terms - what's the difference between ...) from the rest of the trans population. And that's where I tend to agree with them and say yes. If you read carefully, they are NOT saying they (necessarily) are different in identity, but that the experience is so radically different that it just doesn't compare. Do other trans people experience deeply feeling their identity, have conflict, experience GID, commit suicide, experience depression and marital difficulties, blah, blah, blah. Yes, of course. But they do NOT have to live exposed in the same way, do NOT experience the same social and economic consequences, do NOT have to walk (there's a euphemism) away from friends, family, jobs, church, community, etc. at anything like the same levels of risk. It's not that these things don't happen to some other trans people. It's more that the situation is turned upside down. I.e., if 10% of the non-TS trans population experiences such things, 90% or more of the transition(ing) TS population does. To live transitioned is to live 100% of the time at risk of being a pariah. And THAT is "different" (OP), if not in kind, it is in certainty.
Lea