Who of you are going to assume the woman role full-time?

[Marcelle]

Hi Luciana,

The best way to look at this is the "coveted" spectrum which many have already described. Some will gravitate on the far left, dress up as the target gender on occasion and spend a predominant portion of their lives as their birth sex. Others who gravitate on the far right will seek whatever means they need to be the target gender full-time in their daily life and that means living, socializing and working in the target gender. Where a person ceases being a CDer and becomes TS well . . . open for debate and to be honest . . . it is really that person who decides it is so and not some definition of a term IMHO. I consider myself a trans woman but I have no desire to alter my physiology via hormone replacement or surgery. However, I do live and work as a woman.

Look at the word "transsexual" literally. "Trans" means to cross, and "sexual" refers to a person's body, their male or female sex. A transsexual is a person who crosses over from being one sex, to the opposite sex than birth. It is done with hormones, facial feminization surgery and breast augmentation surgery if the hormones are not sufficient to produce the changes, and sexual reassignment surgery . . . Anyway, a TS changes the physical self in order to align it with their gender identity which, for a MtF TS, is female. Does it matter what clothes they wear? No, not really. Clothes are just an aid to help others determine the target gender and I dare say that a successfully transitioned MtF TS can wear what she wants, even a Tshirt and jeans with no makeup and people will still see that she is a woman.


And in the middle, there are people who are physical males who do not alter their bodies and who present as females to either all the people in their lives or a selection of people. Are they transsexual? No, since they are not changing their physical sex . . . But it doesn't mean that a MtF who does not alter their body does not identify as a woman.

Hi Reine,

IMHO this is the inherent danger in trying to use a hard and fast (boxed) definition to describe something that is fluid and differs from person to person. Yes, the literal definition would imply that in order to be considered TS you have to change your body chemistry and undergo surgery to be seen as a woman by society. However, who decides this is so. I consider myself TS and to be honest I do not feel the desire/need to alter my body to be perceived as a woman. Nope, not living in some "seven degrees of Narnia fantasy land" in that by dressing as woman and working as a woman . . . people will see a woman. I just know in my heart of hearts I am a woman and that is my outwardly expression to the world. When people see me do they see a man? Most definitely, but that is their perception and not mine. My body does not define my gender, it defines my birth sex only. I don't look in the mirror and see a man (gender) I see a woman with a genetically male body (sex) but that does not change the fact that I am a woman . . . I just have to work a bit harder to present as one . Even if I was to go the route of FFS and BAS I doubt it would all of a sudden make me a super model . . . way too guy looking for that to change anyone's perception.

Cheers

Marcelle