Question....

[conuly]

I've noticed I have a surprising number of transgendered/transsexual friends. So I've got a question. Two questions. I hope this sounds as I intend, and not offensive...

1. What's the difference between transgendered and transsexual, or are they the same thing?
2. Is it possible that somebody would actually make a mistake? I mean... go through (or plan to) the operation or the hormone to be female, say, and then look around a year later and say "yeah, I was wrong, I'm really a guy"? I doubt this would happen, given the amount of time and energy and money that'd be spent on this, but is that possible?

Comments

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

1. "Transsexual" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual) refers specifically to someone who has a very strong sense that she or he does not belong to their gender of birth and upbringing. Often this means that they will seek legal and surgical sex reassignment.

"Transgender" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transgender-related_topics) is a broader term, which has grown to include most of the psychological and emotional reasons one feels more self-identified with the opposite sex (or with neither sex).

I am a "non-operative male-to-female transsexual," which means I intend to live as fully and openly as a woman as possible, though I do not plan to have my body surgically altered (beyond a few cosmetic changes such as hair removal).

2. Mistakes have been reported -- I've heard of situations where people changed sex, then changed back. They are exceedingly rare. Access to sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is limited by cost, and in many places by psychiatric screening designed to root out people not suited for it.

[conuly]

Thank you. I was really worried about the second question, it sounds slightly condescending to me, but I'd rather risk that than stay ignorant, y'know?

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Not at all. It's a valid question. If someone is going to have a permanent, irrevokable change done to their body, it better damn well be the right thing for that person to do.

[conuly]

Or at least they'd better have a lot of money to try to change back... Can you change back, come to think of it? I'd assume so, from what I know of the operation, but...

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

You can change back, but it won't be like before, as tissue has been removed, etc.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

There is a book written by a person who started life as a man, had MTF surgery, and then realized that "she" wasn't female, either, and decided that she had no idea what gender she was, but neither male nor female fit.

I wish I could remember the name of the book, but if you have many transgendered folks on your friends page, someone is bound to come by and know the title already and hopefully volunteer it.

[conuly]

Well, many may be an exaggeration. As far as I know, I have two, but there's probably others that I don't know are trans-something.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Was that Gender Outlaw?

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

It might have been.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

I'm a pre-operative (meaning I plan to have surgery) female-to-male transsexual who is on hormone therapy (in my case, testosterone shots).

One thing that a lot of people are not aware of is what "surgery" means to FTMs, as opposed to MTFs. For MTFs it means getting rid of their male genitals and constructing female ones. For most FTMs, it means getting rid of the breasts and constructing a male chest.

A lot of people don't understand this. The surgeries that are available for constructing a penis for an FTM, while a lot better than they were a few years ago, still have too high a failure rate for most FTMs to risk it. "Bottom surgery" for an FTM may simply mean having a hysterectomy, mostly to prevent cancer risk, and I've read new studies that say FTMs are not at higher risk of cancer just because they're taking testosterone.

When you hear an MTF refer to "surgery," they very likely mean genital reconstruction. FTMs, on the other hand, will usually specify "top surgery" (chest reconstruction, which for most of us is the important one) or "bottom surgery" (which may mean either a penile construction or a hysterectomy/vaginectomy). So you gotta check.

[conuly]

Huh. I just assumed that everyone going FTM with a surgery was getting a penis. Learn something new every day.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Huh. I didn't know that either. Thank you.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

*poke hand up* MtF here. As is my partner. I seem to know a whole bunch of us all over the world, it seemed pritty inevitable i'd fall in love with someone who I could understand and vice versa. We're both in early stages, and while it might be a betrayal to the trans community to say so, having a loving, understanding partner who is willing to refer to you by the right gender pronouns has for us been quite the boon and relief of the need to change for the way other people se us. We know how each other sees each other and that's ok. Doesent remove the feeling of wrongness every time I look down and see my boy bits. It just mitigates it to the point where it's livable.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

1. "Transsexual" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual) refers specifically to someone who has a very strong sense that she or he does not belong to their gender of birth and upbringing. Often this means that they will seek legal and surgical sex reassignment.

"Transgender" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_transgender-related_topics) is a broader term, which has grown to include most of the psychological and emotional reasons one feels more self-identified with the opposite sex (or with neither sex).

I am a "non-operative male-to-female transsexual," which means I intend to live as fully and openly as a woman as possible, though I do not plan to have my body surgically altered (beyond a few cosmetic changes such as hair removal).

2. Mistakes have been reported -- I've heard of situations where people changed sex, then changed back. They are exceedingly rare. Access to sex reassignment surgery (SRS) is limited by cost, and in many places by psychiatric screening designed to root out people not suited for it.

[conuly]

Thank you. I was really worried about the second question, it sounds slightly condescending to me, but I'd rather risk that than stay ignorant, y'know?

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Not at all. It's a valid question. If someone is going to have a permanent, irrevokable change done to their body, it better damn well be the right thing for that person to do.

[conuly]

Or at least they'd better have a lot of money to try to change back... Can you change back, come to think of it? I'd assume so, from what I know of the operation, but...

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

You can change back, but it won't be like before, as tissue has been removed, etc.

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

There is a book written by a person who started life as a man, had MTF surgery, and then realized that "she" wasn't female, either, and decided that she had no idea what gender she was, but neither male nor female fit.

I wish I could remember the name of the book, but if you have many transgendered folks on your friends page, someone is bound to come by and know the title already and hopefully volunteer it.

[conuly]

Well, many may be an exaggeration. As far as I know, I have two, but there's probably others that I don't know are trans-something.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Was that Gender Outlaw?

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

It might have been.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

I'm a pre-operative (meaning I plan to have surgery) female-to-male transsexual who is on hormone therapy (in my case, testosterone shots).

One thing that a lot of people are not aware of is what "surgery" means to FTMs, as opposed to MTFs. For MTFs it means getting rid of their male genitals and constructing female ones. For most FTMs, it means getting rid of the breasts and constructing a male chest.

A lot of people don't understand this. The surgeries that are available for constructing a penis for an FTM, while a lot better than they were a few years ago, still have too high a failure rate for most FTMs to risk it. "Bottom surgery" for an FTM may simply mean having a hysterectomy, mostly to prevent cancer risk, and I've read new studies that say FTMs are not at higher risk of cancer just because they're taking testosterone.

When you hear an MTF refer to "surgery," they very likely mean genital reconstruction. FTMs, on the other hand, will usually specify "top surgery" (chest reconstruction, which for most of us is the important one) or "bottom surgery" (which may mean either a penile construction or a hysterectomy/vaginectomy). So you gotta check.

[conuly]

Huh. I just assumed that everyone going FTM with a surgery was getting a penis. Learn something new every day.

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Huh. I didn't know that either. Thank you.

[rantinan.livejournal.com]

*poke hand up* MtF here. As is my partner. I seem to know a whole bunch of us all over the world, it seemed pritty inevitable i'd fall in love with someone who I could understand and vice versa. We're both in early stages, and while it might be a betrayal to the trans community to say so, having a loving, understanding partner who is willing to refer to you by the right gender pronouns has for us been quite the boon and relief of the need to change for the way other people se us. We know how each other sees each other and that's ok. Doesent remove the feeling of wrongness every time I look down and see my boy bits. It just mitigates it to the point where it's livable.