Quote Originally Posted by PetiteTonya View Post

How do I feel about them? ... I feel that they are also labels and are often misused, over applied and also used as a status symbol on what I call the "gender hierarchy".

The TS female is described in the literature as someone who, of course thinks of herself as a woman, has been diagnosed with GID, likely after seeking therapy, has begun a regimen of HRT and is making huge changes in her life to align her body and her living circumstances to better conform with life as a female.

Alot of folk in "the community" often label themselves as TS females because that term occupies the highest wrung on the hierarchical gender ladder and as it is the natural inclination for most humans to always view ourselves as one wrung up class wise, I see this is as quite normal.

The reason why I even mention this in this context is that, the TG community is generally fragmented, subject to the same internal strife and prejudices as society in general. The TS females in transition look down their noses at the CDs, deeming them to be "wanna be's" who really aren't at all serious and of course, cannot possibly understand the terrible struggle and appreciate the courage of the TS female.

This attitude tends to manifest itself into rather bad, unmannerly and intolerant behavior towards others who are "deemed" to occupy a lower place on that gender hierarchy.
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I think TG ought to be the ONLY label used to describe ALL trans folk without the sub-categories but it is much too late for that.
The notion of a hierarchy comes up a lot, but I think it's largely a mischaracterization of actual, material differences, and the hard feelings and words that arise when people feel they are not heard.

Many transsexuals identified at some point as crossdressers. They not only never aspired to "becoming transsexual," they fought coming to the realization with everything in them. The fight is hard, bitter and incredibly destructive. The point is this: The typical transsexual wouldn't wish it on her enemy, and doesn't think herself better for having gone through it. Many are just relieved they got through alive. To the extent there are non-transsexuals who call themselves TS because of some wacky ideas about community status, this actually has nothing whatsoever to do with issues between crossdressers and actual transsexuals! Moreover, among all those under the transgender umbrella definition, transsexuals are the least likely to subscribe to the idea of a community to begin with.

There is some puzzlement over attitude differences at times between CDers and TSs because of male vs female core identity differences (even though both were raised and socialized male). That took me a while to figure out and it's subtle. There are some things I understand totally. Living in a male world I can speak with perfect knowledge to how men speak to one another, for example. But I really don't fully understand some aspects of male cisgender attitudes towards women or how they view certain relationship issues. I SORT of do, because I've been around the concepts and expectation all my life, but I don't FEEL them. There have been certain expectations of me that I've tried blindly, and often badly, to fill as a result.

I always figured the problem was just me. It can be a hard thing to perceive because individual differences do mask many broad gender differences. But over time you begin to sort out what you can attribute to your gender and just what is individual.

I do not see transsexuality and crossdressing in terms of one as a subset of the other, regard one as a lesser form of the other, or subscribe to simple spectrum approaches to identity. Anyone subscribing to ideas of relative superiority based on spectrum should also consider that the spectrum may be referred from either end. That is, if a transsexual or crossdresser may be viewed as relatively superior from one perspective, they are just as inferior from the other. This is less than useful.

Other differences - Medical needs are radically different between transsexuals and crossdressers. Risk profiles have some overlap, but some differences, too. Both are subject to assault, but the average transsexual will be at a physical disadvantage vs an average crossdresser due to the effects of hormones. And, of course, the transsexual is a full-time target. They have differing confidentiality needs, including at the workplace, which doesn't play into the situation for most crossdressers. The situation at home is closer in some respects, but even here the crossdresser has compromise solutions not available to the transsexual. There are overlaps in social perceptions, but also differences, with the worse public perception belonging to transsexuals, in my opinion. And finally, transsexuals face unique legal challenges.

Most people understand all of this when the issues are discussed separately and in detail. People tend to become incensed when things are glossed over as if to ignore real differences, however. It's all about invalidation, not superiority. That's when the invective starts flying. I actually see fewer arguments over relative superiority than I do seeing CD vs TS as mutually-exclusive categories. I find myself closer to that view these days. Were it not for the fact that there will always be those who have to work through identity confusion across categories, I'd be more of an advocate for going separate ways. There are also some people who don't neatly fit categorization or into any one community anyway, some in this thread. I think they are a minority, though.