As you can see looking through these posts, there are a lot of people out there who call themselves crossdressers but have transgender feelings, and many of them are in a sort of state of denial because they don't want to disturb their family situation, or because they're afraid. Don't make excuses. Don't say "I'm too old" -- a 65-year-old friend of mine just got SRS two years ago. Just be honest with yourself. It's OK to admit you're afraid to transition. I'm a huge wimp, and the whole idea of being TS is terrifying.
Yeah, T-girl could mean either Transgender-girl or Transsexual-girl. But since when is TG an umbrella that covers CDs? Look at the words. Crossdressing is about clothes. Transgendered is about gender. Obviously you can identify as both a crossdresser and as transgendered, or as varying degrees of either, but the bottom line is that crossdressing simply means wearing the clothes of the opposite sex and that does not necessarily make you transgendered. TG does not include all CDs -- certainly not the fetishistic ones.Originally Posted by Michelle S
The "T" in "T-girl" stands for whatever you want??? It's a catch-all for everybody? So, in your experience, people commonly call their mother, father, brothers, sisters, neighbors and pets T-girls? That's obviously asinine.
T-girl is simply an abbreviation. It can be an abbreviation for either Transsexual-girl or Transgendered-girl. The point in an abbreviation is that it is a shortening of a term that is in common use. If several members lived in the Tunisian Republic then maybe we'd start using T-girl to refer to them, too, but the "T" in "T-girl" obviously doesn't mean "crossdresser."
Divided by a common language? More like divided by a lack of common sense.
There are a lot of women who aren't interested in sex. Don't try to be something you're not just because you don't think people will be into you. Sure, not as many women will be interested, but if you like women then don't give up on them as a gender.
I don't find T-girl offensive. But I don't find many things offensive -- except "gurl" -- that one really makes me shudder. It's probably good to equate "tranny" to the N word. I would be very offended if someone who didn't like me called me a tranny, but among TG friends we call each other tranny sometimes in a very friendly way.
Simply feeling female makes you transgendered. I would also argue that you need to have the desire to be accepted and treated as female by others. After all, we don't know how anybody feels. I don't know how the average female feels. I don't know how the average male feels. I just know how I feel, and whether that is labeled as male or female is just semantics. The point is that I want to be accepted as female.
But you don't have to present as female full time to be TG. I know many people who are TG -- many of whom are on hormones -- who do not present as female 24/7.
The most accepted definition of transsexual is:
"The desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by the wish to make his or her body as congruent as possible with the preferred sex through surgery and hormone treatment"
People have different feelings regarding whether or not you need a strong drive to get SRS to be considered transsexual, and some people even argue that you're not really transsexual if you're not full time. That's why we have the more encompassing term transgendered so that there isn't bickering about whether or not someone's really transsexual. But there's nothing wrong with anybody who dreams of being accepted as the opposite sex being called transgendered whether or not they're dressed like it, whether or not they want surgery. I usually call myself TG because I don't want to stir up the trannier-than-thou crowd of transsexuals.
