I do have to express a concern that the idea that only those who medically transition are “real” and the rest are just navel gazing is part of what encourages young people caught up in this social contagion to medicalize, in order to prove their “validity”. A more useful way to characterize this might be that it’s difficult to know for certain what is causing the desire to be a different sex, and whether it will persist, and whether you are a person who is able to make peace with your own sex and anatomy. Only through therapy and experimenting with different ways of living and presenting over a period of years can someone make that decision, and there is no shame in trying something out but ultimately deciding it’s not right for you. Making peace with your body without surgery should always be the desired outcome if possible.
This gives the Demi Levatos of the world a graceful way out of internet-induced identities and hopefully helps to counter some of the cultish aspects of the current transgender activist community, while respecting the rights of adults to live as they please.
This is a very thoughtful comment. We wrote this essay from our perspective as people who have had our lives improved because of transition. Among transsexuals, there has been frustration over the influx of Demi Lovatos (or "theyfabs" in our slang), clear non-transitioners claiming to be "trans." You are very correct to warn that by calling out non-transitioners as not "valid" transsexuals, we risk incentivizing non-dysphoric people to transition to prove themselves "valid." This is not an outcome we want. We don't want non-dysphoric people to undergo unnecessary medicalization. Furthermore, these people will then be able to more easily speak for us despite not being transsexual in the "clinical" sense. This has begun to happen (e.g. "transmascs" who go on T, but are still very clearly women who fetishize transsexual men).
Our suggestion is to look at the transsexual clinical profiles that were known before the politicization of our condition. One major aspect that comes up in old studies, yet has been overlooked in popular political discussions about minor transitions, is age of onset. The little "girl" who says at five years old, "Why can't I pee standing up like Daddy?", and has a *persisting* feeling of being the wrong sex, is far less likely to "grow out of it" and more likely to turn out to be a transsexual man, than someone who has dysphoria onset at puberty (or claims "dysphoria" after getting influenced by a friend group).
There is also a milder "gay-to-trans" profile. Quite a few of us in the group lived as effeminate gay men before realizing we were transsexual women, and one of us lived as a butch lesbian before realizing he was a transsexual man. We know that both sexual orientation and sex identity are influenced by prenatal hormone exposure, so there may actually be a fuzzy boundary between gay and trans. Some minors getting caught up in "social contagion" actually fit this profile, but we are a lot less bullish on minor transition here, as this type of dysphoria may be grown out of and the person may turn out "just" gay. Transition is a big deal, so the decision has many factors, including severity of dysphoria.
Finally, transsexuals don't fret over proving ourselves "valid." When we talk about being "valid," it's more like reading a script, not genuine emotion the way some people do to prove to themselves and others that they're "valid." That's what the shift to language like "gender-affirming care" is all about. What matters is if your transition is successful. The real question to ask is: Will transition improve your life?
I am so astounded that someone could believe transgender people don't experience dysphoria, like, huh??? Before transition I experienced dysphoria over the minute difference in my facial structure and my facial hair a hell of a lot more than over my banana, I do agree that there should be distinctions between transexual and transgender though, I would probably prefer to use transgender day-to-day because that desribes all that I'd like most people to know about me, and transexual with doctors and romantic&/|sexual partners
I do have to express a concern that the idea that only those who medically transition are “real” and the rest are just navel gazing is part of what encourages young people caught up in this social contagion to medicalize, in order to prove their “validity”. A more useful way to characterize this might be that it’s difficult to know for certain what is causing the desire to be a different sex, and whether it will persist, and whether you are a person who is able to make peace with your own sex and anatomy. Only through therapy and experimenting with different ways of living and presenting over a period of years can someone make that decision, and there is no shame in trying something out but ultimately deciding it’s not right for you. Making peace with your body without surgery should always be the desired outcome if possible.
This gives the Demi Levatos of the world a graceful way out of internet-induced identities and hopefully helps to counter some of the cultish aspects of the current transgender activist community, while respecting the rights of adults to live as they please.
This is a very thoughtful comment. We wrote this essay from our perspective as people who have had our lives improved because of transition. Among transsexuals, there has been frustration over the influx of Demi Lovatos (or "theyfabs" in our slang), clear non-transitioners claiming to be "trans." You are very correct to warn that by calling out non-transitioners as not "valid" transsexuals, we risk incentivizing non-dysphoric people to transition to prove themselves "valid." This is not an outcome we want. We don't want non-dysphoric people to undergo unnecessary medicalization. Furthermore, these people will then be able to more easily speak for us despite not being transsexual in the "clinical" sense. This has begun to happen (e.g. "transmascs" who go on T, but are still very clearly women who fetishize transsexual men).
Our suggestion is to look at the transsexual clinical profiles that were known before the politicization of our condition. One major aspect that comes up in old studies, yet has been overlooked in popular political discussions about minor transitions, is age of onset. The little "girl" who says at five years old, "Why can't I pee standing up like Daddy?", and has a *persisting* feeling of being the wrong sex, is far less likely to "grow out of it" and more likely to turn out to be a transsexual man, than someone who has dysphoria onset at puberty (or claims "dysphoria" after getting influenced by a friend group).
There is also a milder "gay-to-trans" profile. Quite a few of us in the group lived as effeminate gay men before realizing we were transsexual women, and one of us lived as a butch lesbian before realizing he was a transsexual man. We know that both sexual orientation and sex identity are influenced by prenatal hormone exposure, so there may actually be a fuzzy boundary between gay and trans. Some minors getting caught up in "social contagion" actually fit this profile, but we are a lot less bullish on minor transition here, as this type of dysphoria may be grown out of and the person may turn out "just" gay. Transition is a big deal, so the decision has many factors, including severity of dysphoria.
Finally, transsexuals don't fret over proving ourselves "valid." When we talk about being "valid," it's more like reading a script, not genuine emotion the way some people do to prove to themselves and others that they're "valid." That's what the shift to language like "gender-affirming care" is all about. What matters is if your transition is successful. The real question to ask is: Will transition improve your life?
I am so astounded that someone could believe transgender people don't experience dysphoria, like, huh??? Before transition I experienced dysphoria over the minute difference in my facial structure and my facial hair a hell of a lot more than over my banana, I do agree that there should be distinctions between transexual and transgender though, I would probably prefer to use transgender day-to-day because that desribes all that I'd like most people to know about me, and transexual with doctors and romantic&/|sexual partners
“People who adopt political “trans” identities”. WTF? Seriously? LOL