It's a given that although most people in our society don't give a second thought to the man on the street who presents as a woman, unless perhaps telling an interesting story at the dinner table that night, many such people do have quite different attitudes when it comes to family members, maybe close friends, and certainly employees. Kudos to the CDers who don't have family members or young children or employers to worry about or whose families are supportive, and who feel they don't have anything to lose by going out in public.

It is also a given that although a TS suffers similar bias, once she comes out permanently people have no choice but to either accept her, or reject her and move on. She doesn't have to deal with the question of a fluctuating gender, in other words, she has made her permanent choice and goes on with her life once all the nay-sayers have been shaken out of it.

That said, I think the desire to hide is directly proportional to the degree of gender dysphoria that a TG experiences. (see note below).

  • In other words, a CD who is happy switching back and forth, who is otherwise not unhappy in male mode, will not resent keeping the dressing private from certain family members, friends, and coworkers, even though he needs to dress on a regular basis. He will find a way to balance it all.

  • Whereas a CD who suffers gender dysphoria to a greater degree, and who perhaps questions whether or not he is really a CD, will resent the hiding more, as will all the people who say they would live full time in a flash if they could but who may not not consider themselves to be TS. I don't know what to make of those who just wish to present in a feminine manner all the time and who don't think of themselves as suffering gender dysphoria. Perhaps they like to use a language all their own.

  • And of course TSs who do suffer full gender dysphoria simply reach a point where they can no longer present in guy mode, period.


And then, there are others who identify as male, whose manner of dress is goth, androgynous, or other, but not necessarily full-on femme all the time, who live in conservative circles and who do feel frustrated by trying to maintain a happy balance with their unconventional selves and their conventional surroundings.

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This is the best definition of gender dysphoria I've seen, that takes it out of the DSM "mental illness" debate. The author is Anne Vitale Ph.D., author of "The Gendered Self", who transitioned in 1980.

Quote comes from: http://www.avitale.com/FAQ.htm#category%202 question 5.
Quote Originally Posted by Dr Anne Vitale
5. Are there many levels of gender variance or is it just something that you have or don't have?

Gender Identity varies from having an unquestionable sense of being male to an equally unquestionable sense of being female. Because gender identity is hormonally set, subject to variability before birth, most people fall appropriately closer to one end of the spectrum then to the other. However, pre-natal hormone availability is subject to extraneous influences, creating a gender identity continuum with some people falling somewhere in between the male/female binary. It is only when a person's location on the continuum crosses over the line into the other side from which they were assigned at birth, do we have the beginnings of gender dysphoria. The further from the middle, the more intense the dysphoria, and the more likely he or she will only find relief by transitioning.