Lyssa - On Being Transgendered

Submitted by Lyssa (9/8/2004)

On being transgendered...

I've been asked to write a bit about being transgendered, but I really don't know what to say, other than to address a frequently repeated misconception:

I'm often told that for one to have one's body surgically corrected, to match one's gender identity, is a case of self-delusion. The irony is that the very argument that they use to support this errant assertion is actually what proves the opposite. What I hear most frequently is a variant on the following theme: the presence of breasts and vagina, and the absence of penis and testicles, do not make one into a woman; this assertion, and its counterpart (the presence of penis and testicles, and the absence of breasts and uterus, ovaries, etc. do not make one into a man), are quite true. However, this is not limited to when those sex characteristics are adjusted later in life - it also applies at birth. Just because one is born anatomically male does NOT make one a member of the male gender; likewise for the female gender.

Again, the argument AGAINST surgical correction of transgendered people, that you cannot change your gender, is exactly the strongest argument why such is necessary: just because one is born into a body of one sex, and is forced to live for at least 18 years, and often for one's entire life, in a body of the anatomically incorrect sex for one's gender, does NOT make one a member of that sex's gender. There is nothing that can be done to change a member of the female gender into a member of the male gender - even if that person was born anatomically male; likewise vice versa. As such, the only viable option is to surgically alter the anatomical features of the body to correspond to the unalterable gender of the person inhabiting that body.

On the use of the words 'sex' and 'gender': the word 'sex' is commonly used to refer to the physical reproductive system and secondary physical features related thereto; the word 'gender' is used to refer to the identity of the individual. While the words are often used interchangeably, the concepts are quite distinct. Most misconceptions regarding transgendered people stem from the fact that the two concepts are incorrectly believed to be inextricably identical.

Taken with the author's permission from http://www.angelfire.com/rebellion/tepsiar/.

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