Comments on: Is a Straight Guy in a Dress Considered Transgender?

By: Autumn Sandeen

Autumn Sandeen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:35:53 +0000

1.) Display solidarity with all our trans brothers and sisters.
2.) Build alliances by getting involved as ourselves in other areas of politics.
3.) Refuse to let journalistic and intellectual attacks on our community go unanswered – we can have and keep the moral high ground.
4.) Be creative, be smart, be ourselves, and don't let anybody tell us who we are and what we do.
5.) Refuse the pathological model – we are not sick, just different.
6.) Refuse those politics – heterosexism, body fascism – that work against all of the above, but especially #1.

Axiom 4 seems to be pretty poignant to the concept of not letting the behavior of one creepy, crossdressed individual define who my community or I are. And, it shouldn't be the gauge by which other folk judge most or all other other trans identified people.

By: Autumn Sandeen

Autumn Sandeen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:33:46 +0000

Well milylasouris, I'm a transsexual woman who sociopolitically identifes as transgender. It seems to be that you're looking to highlight differences, whereas I'm looking for commonalities — I'm wanting to embrace broader diversity that includes the intersections of identity communities, and not look for reasons to exclude.

The reality is that when we think about it, there are creepy lesbians, creepy gays, creepy bisexuals — just as there are wonderful lesbians, wonderful lesbians, and wonderful bisexuals. There are creepy transsexuals, crossdressers, and genderqueers; there are wonderful transsexuals, crossdressers, and genderqueers.

As broader communities, we need to get away from the predudice of painting communities with too broad of brushes.

By: Jessica Sideways

Jessica Sideways — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:32:51 +0000

Well, he is at one end of the transgender spectrum but he does NOT identify as a woman. It is not a safety issue since he is at a gay bar and shouldn’t worry about any homophobic or transphobic violence. If he was using any other restroom, my answer would be different due to the threat of transgender violence towards this crossdresser.

By: milylasouris

milylasouris — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:00:53 +0000

@LanceWorth:
That's the way I prefer to see things, too, since I see there being a huge difference between a transsexual person and a transgender person (though I do admit that a lot of transsexual people try to live with crossdressing, often hoping that will be enough to hold off transition).

Unfortunately, the world sees transsexual people and transgender people as one group (hence the 'transgender' umbrella term), though the motivations and the path followed are hugely different, which means that acting as he does above paints us all with the same brush and I do hate that.

By: @LanceWorth

@LanceWorth — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:51:36 +0000

Oh–and part of the confusion here is that we're conflating transgender with transsexual.

Transsexual = person working on changing their body to match their gender.

Transgender = person who expresses themselves in ways that cross stereotypical gender divides.

And I like you.

By: @LanceWorth

@LanceWorth — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:15:14 +0000

He's not closeted–he's crossdressing in public. Not all crossdressers want to be referred to in the feminine when Dressed, and many are in fact hetero men.

Regardless, the man needs to stop stalking the ladies. It's inappropriate.

By: Challenging My Own Gender and Transgender Prejudices : SistersTalk

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By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:52:39 +0000

Oh gosh, I hate this. Unfortunately, amongst the transgender community, there is an unfortunately large minority of male-thinking fetishists who prey on both cis and trans women in horribly invasive ways.

Yes, 'transgender' is an umbrella term and sometimes I wish so much I wasn't part of that umbrella.

By: polerin

polerin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:18:46 +0000

^^this.

1) yes, hell yes.
2) Meh. Definitions. Closet transsexual or gender queer? doubt it.
3) I'd go with this. That's still transgendered fyi, but with attendant issues.
4) Yes, Hell yes I do. He is why people are afraid of me just going to the damn restroom.

Regardless of if he's trans or not, if he's acting creepy/freaky/scary he should be talked too or stopped. Being a cross-dresser doesn't give you the right to abuse peoples emotions and willingness to be open.

By: EmK

EmK — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:00:33 +0000

4. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It's what people seem to first think, and it's so, so, so fucked up. And incredibly harmful. It's the go-to attack argument.