Transgender
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Transgender is a term applied to people who may act, feel, think, or look like someone of the other sex. This word is sometimes called an 'umbrella term.' That means it includes many smaller groups that share an important trait but may not be exactly the same. The common trait for transgender people is that they have some special way that they are like people of the other sex. Sometimes transgender is also used by people who prefer it to the word transsexual.
Contents |
[edit] Definitions
Talking about transgender people can be confusing even for native English speakers because different people define words in different ways. Some common definitions of the words used in this article are listed here. These are common but not agreed to by everyone:
- Sex means whether someone was born with a male or female body.
- Gender means whether a role or way someone acts is masculine or feminine.
- Gender identity is a persons sense in their mind of whether they are a man or a woman.
- Binary or 'Gender Binary' is the idea that there are only two groups that a person, action, or behavior can belong in: male or female.
These definitions are important. They help us understand that what people look like outside (sex) is not always the same as how they feel inside (gender.) Some people do not fit well in a rigid gender binary. People who are transgender usually want to be called by the pronoun (he or she) that matches their gender identity, so this article will do that.
[edit] Who is transgender
There are many groups who are included under the 'umbrella' of transgender. Some of the bigger groups are:
- Transsexual – Someone who was born one sex who has a different gender identity. Transsexual often means those people who take medicines and/or have surgery to change their body to fit their gender identity. For example a person born with a male body who feels inside that she is a woman and has surgery and takes medicines to make her body more female. Some transsexual people do not like this word and just call themselves transgender.
- Transgenderist – Someone who was born one sex but has a different gender identity. However, transgenderists choose not to take medicines or surgery to change their bodies. They do often live in the other gender role, however (known as crossliving). For example, a person born with a female body who feels that he is a man inside. He may act and dress like a man, may choose a job that men usually choose, may be treated as a man by his family and friends.
- Cross-dresser – This is someone who is born one sex but likes to sometimes wear the clothes and act like the other sex. However, this person may not feel like he is the other sex inside.
- Transvestite – This is a kind of cross-dresser who usually likes to cross-dress for sexual excitement. However, this word is used by some people in a negative manner. Some people use it to mean that cross-dressing for sexual pleasure is bad or abnormal.
- Genderqueer – This means someone who uses both male and female roles, look, or actions at the same time. It is not just a person who does not fit in the gender binary. Some genderqueer people reject the whole idea of a gender binary.
- FTM (acronym)– This means 'female-to-male.' It is someone who was born in a female body but who in some way feels or acts male. An FTM person is also sometimes called a transgender man, a transsexual man, or a transman.
- MTF – This means 'male-to-female.' It is someone who was born in a male body but who in some way feels or acts female. An MTF person is also sometimes called a transgender woman, a transsexual woman, or a transwoman.
[edit] History
People who, in modern Western societies, we would now identify as transgender or transsexual have existed in many cultures and for thousands of years. However, only in the last century, has science and medicine been able to meet some of the needs for bodily change of trans people who want to change their body. I will use the word 'trans' people because of the wide variety of contemporary understandings of what the word ' transgender' means. Trans will be used to acknowledge all of these people in whom we would now recognise some cultural gender variance, including those people who claim that they feel they have the wrong brain for their body.
People exhibiting cultural gender variant traits have been accepted in some societies, both historically and now. For example, some Native American Tribes accepted two-spirit people who included what we would refer to as trans people. Similarly a Tongan person born with a male body who acts and dresses in a female way is known in the local dialect as a fakaleiti, but if they lived in the west they might now identify themselves as being trans (either trans, transvesite, transgender or transsexual).
The hijra in India, are born physically male, but they socialize and act as if women in many ways. In the past they used to self castrate and even remove the penis in order to urinate through a small hole. Now, with the arrival of western medicine, many hijari are choosing to take hormone therapies and undergo gender reasignment surgeries. Many of these wll still identify as hijari, but increasingly some are referring to themselves as transsexuals or even as transgender women. All of these people were and are accepted in their societal groupings and many, even today, have special roles in their society.
Intersex is a medical word for people who are born with both some male and some female biological traits.
[edit] Issues
[edit] T and LGBT
Transgender people are not always accepted in every society. They can suffer discrimination, violence, and even murder. Transgender people have fought for and have gained many rights and protections in some societies. In many places the fight for transgender rights is associated with the fight for homosexual and bisexual rights. Together these groups are sometimes called by the acronym LGBT for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
Unfortunately, like all political relationships, this is not always peaceful. Some transgender people do not want to be part of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community. They may see themselves as 'straight' (heterosexual) and not feel like they belong with homosexual people. Some gay, lesbian, and bisexual people do not want to be part of the transgender community. They may see transgender people as strange or bad and worry that the rest of society will see homosexuals in that same way if transgender people are included in LGBT. However, homosexual and transgender people often have some of the same problems in society. So many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people try to work together to solve all of their problems.
[edit] Medical care
Transgender people who wish to take medicine and have surgery to change their bodies face several problems. In order to change their bodies, they must have doctors who are willing to help them and make the changes. They sometimes cannot do this because doctors will not help them. They may also not be able to do this because even if a doctor would treat them, they may not be able to afford the medicine or surgery.
[edit] Disease versus difference
Many transgender people do not like being labeled as having a disease. They do not feel being transgender is an illness or disease. They see it as a 'harmless trait' like being homosexual or left-handed.
However, many transgender people depend on this diagnosis. For some people, they can only get medical and surgical treatment paid for by their government if it is to 'treat a disease.' So if it is not a disease, they will not get the medicines and surgery they need. Also, some laws protect people from discrimination if they have a disease. If transgender people do not have a disease, they do not get this protection.
This argument still goes on in both the transgender community and in the medical community that treats them.
[edit] Legal problems
Transgender people have problems with laws and regulations about sex. To be seen and treated as the sex they wish, transgender people usually have to change their first name. They also may want to change their identity documents to say the correct sex. For example, a transgender woman may wish to change her birth certificate or driving license to say her new female name and to say that she is a female.
These changes can protect transgender people from discrimination. For example, transgender woman who have been raped may not be allowed to go to a rape crisis center for care unless her identity papers say she is a female. These changes can also be necessary for transgender people to be allowed to marry their spouses in places where it is illegal for homosexual people to marry. These changes can even protect transgender people from violence. Some people may be revealed to be transgender because their identity papers do not match how they look. Being revealed as transgender can put people in danger in some places because of transphobia (fear and misunderstanding of transgender people.)
Unfortunately, in many places this is hard or impossible for transgender people to change their identity documents. This is changing, however. Recently the United Kingdom passed the Gender Recognition Act of 2004. This act allows people to have their change of sex officially recognized. Once changed, they have all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of their new gender.
