In addition to needing a precise definition of the word transgender, it is also important to note that there is a difference between femininity and the mental state of "being" a woman. Masculinity and femininity are social concepts that divide some basic human nature and behavioural traits into those that are more predominant in the male and those that are more predominant in the female. The predominance is due to various factors such as hormonal influences, and social conditioning. But all humans are capable to some extent of displaying the entire range of both masculine and feminine qualities regardless of their biological sex. The degree to which it is possible depends upon their genetics, personality and upbringing and varies from individual to individual. The major difference between the sexes is the fact that males are conditioned to suppress most of their feminine qualities to avoid the appearance of weakness, while females are encouraged to utilize their masculine qualities, since they denote strength, so long as they maintain their feminine qualities as well. The continual suppression of a portion of ones personality and being can be stressful, and crossdressing provides a means of stepping outside of ones normal external male imagery, and in a sense stepping into an apparent external female image, all the while remaining the same basic internal person. This enables the suppressed inner feminine qualities to be released in what appears to others to be in harmony with the external image. In reality, the crossdresser has passed from being a man in a man's body, to being a man in an artificially created woman's body.

If we consider gender to be our own internal mental identity, then the crossdresser is not necessarily transgendered, as it is his external image only that may have changed. The external image consists of the characteristics that we generally refer to when describing one's sex as opposed to their gender. To be truly transgendered, the act of crossdressing has to create inner feelings of being a woman in line with the outer appearance, and not simply the releasing of pent-up feminine qualities. I think that some CD's mistakenly identify the release of their own male feminine qualities when crossdressing as mentally becoming a woman, because they are not used to the sensation of allowing that side of their persona to be displayed. This misinterpretation of their actions seems logical to them as it brings the internal and external being into harmony. The outer female "shell" enables this mental deception to occur. On the other hand, some TG's can be in denial of their transgenderedness, as it could cause major complications in their personal lives, because of the assumptions that it could lead them further toward the TS end of the spectrum, or to going full-time. It is a highly individualistic situation, and I think we should respect everyone's judgement as to where they stand.

While transgender is a useful term that can apply to many situations, depending upon how it is defined, I am not an advocate of the "umbrella" approach as we are all individuals. This use of "TG" tends to define us in a very narrow way, but we are all individuals, and should be celebrating our individuality. Also, the origin of the term, was intended to provide a label for a specific type of crossdresser, rather than being applicable to everybody.

Veronica