There is one clarification I want to make on that video I shared yesterday from Dr Z. She uses the term transgender woman for those people who are dysphoric and their investment goes well beyond expression for either sexual or other motives.
Those of us who are older and grew up under a very strict binary did not experience any blurring of gender. Thus male to female aligned people were either seen as largely secret "crossdressers" or transsexuals who needed to move on ideally in stealth. One was expressing as a woman while the other was a woman.
Today, youth are more likely to say "I am trans" and allow for much binary elasticity (although transsexuals do call themselves transgender women) without need to add as much weight to the terms man and woman which carry their fair share of social construct. In other words, the vocabulary of youth contains a more expansive view of gender.
This can be more difficult for older people to wrap their head around due to their early and pervasive programming.
Honestly? I feel like you wrote this just for me.
ReplyDeleteI definitely fall into that older category you’re talking about. I grew up thinking there were only two options: secretive crossdresser or full transition. There wasn’t space for anything in between—and there definitely wasn’t language for it. I don’t think I even heard the word “transgender” until I was well into adulthood.
I carry a lot of guilt and shame around my gender identity, and I think so much of it comes from that early, rigid programming. So reading this? It really does help. Thank you for taking the time to explain it with compassion and nuance. 💜
Many of us are in exactly the same boat and being born in the early 60's to a religious family meant all this work was mandatory for me. Pleasure if it helps:)
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