What Does It Mean To Be Transgender Some

What Does It Mean To Be Transgender? Some thoughts and questions to discuss By Marianna Kruchinski

Terms such as transgender and gender identity have been in the news a lot recently. Awareness of gender diversity and transgender people has increased dramatically — in health care, in the media, and the workplace. In fact, Time Magazine’s May 29, 2014, cover story, called the current social climate the “transgender tipping point” in American society:

Actor Jeffrey Tambor won the 2015 Golden Globe’s Best Actor in a Comedy award for his role as transgender woman in “Transparent, ” the Amazon series that also won Best TV Series

Call me Caitlyn One of the world's most celebrated Olympic champions of the 20 th century (and one of the most celebrated Wheaties cereal box stars of all time) — the gold medal winner of the 1976 men's decathlon — announced to the world in April 2015 that, at 65, she is finally living as her authentic self as a woman named Caitlyn Jenner.

African-American transgender woman Laverne Cox, a star of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black series, has been prominent on the talk show circuit.

Even Facebook now allows users to select from more than 50 different terms to describe their gender — quite an expansion from the more familiar binary options “male” and “female. ”

Despite this increased visibility in the media, a 2014 Pew poll reported that only about 8 percent of Americans are personally acquainted with a transgender person. The population is rather small — estimated a little more than 700, 000 in the United States — so it’s understandable that transgender people are still a bit of a mystery. Until you have a chance to get to know some people who identify as transgender and hear their stories, it’s natural to be confused or to have questions or concerns. Everyone has been there at one time or another!

What’s the difference between sex and gender?

SEX A person’s sex or assigned sex generally refers to the body’s biological make-up — including reproductive organs as well as chromosomes. Most people are assigned either male or female after a quick visual inspection by a doctor in the hospital delivery room, or even earlier through medical technology such as an ultrasound. Courts in different states have used various criteria (e. g. , the ability to bear a child, XX versus XY chromosomes, and so on) by which to make an “either/or” decision about whether a person should be considered male or female. But sex is really not a binary classification; it just happens to be dominated by two sexes: male and female. This is true throughout nearly all known species of life. For that reason, every attempt by courts to draw a definitive line in the sand has been faulty, as many exceptions can be demonstrated for each one.

Gender refers to the set of traits and characteristics that over time have come to be assumed of (some might say imposed upon) one’s assigned sex. Pretty much across the board, male-bodied people are assumed to be “boys” as children and “men” as adults. Female-bodied people are assumed to be “girls, ” then “women. ” From “boys don’t cry” to “that’s not very lady-like, ” children are taught from an early age how they are expected to behave based on their sex, and those who misbehave usually have a price to pay. But what is a man, exactly? What is a woman? Why is a man “supposed” to be out working while the woman stays home to care for the children? Why is an assertive man considered to be confident and compelling, while an assertive woman with the same type of personality is called all kinds of unflattering names?

What is gender identity? Gender identity, sometimes called affirmed gender, refers to an individual’s own psychological sense of self — who you know yourself to be. Similar to handedness, everyone has a dominant, persistent gender identity, and that identity is considered to be an immutable core psychological characteristic. It’s not a matter of preference and not something you can simply change because you want to. Just like knowing whether you are left- or right-handed, it’s hard-wired in the brain. Borrowed from organic chemistry, the Latin prefixes cis- (“on this side”) and trans- (“across from”) are used to describe which type of gender identity someone has: cisgender or transgender. When people start to change their gender role this is known as ‘transition’.

CISGENDAR Anyone whose gender identity is harmoniously aligned with the sex they were assigned at birth is considered cisgender. In most cases, cisgender identity is taken for granted, because the vast majority of the population enjoy the luxury of having a gender identity that fits relatively well with their assigned sex.

TRANSGENDER When one’s gender identity is “across from” one’s assigned sex, that person is in essence transgender, although they may or may not use this word to describe themselves. The term transgender itself is used both to describe a particular type of gender identity as well as sort of a shortcut to collectively describe a whole bunch of different types of people whose genders don’t fit neatly into the M or F checkbox. Some other words you might hear are transsexual, gender-creative, bigender, trans man or trans woman, genderqueer, gender-diverse, affirmed male or affirmed female, a woman (or man) of transsexual history, non-binary, questioning, agender, and many others. Being transgender doesn’t automatically mean a person needs to change anything, although most trans people tend to make at least minor adjustments to ease the anguish they’re experiencing. It could be as simple as choosing a less gendered name, such as going from Mary Ann to Jordan, or from Richard to Rey.

Gender-confirming surgical procedures If the individual’s level of discomfort and distress is more intense, they may pursue more comprehensive treatment, which might include cross-sex hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and perhaps gender-confirming surgical procedures. These procedures are considered medically necessary — life-saving, in fact — for many people. Several federal, state, local, and corporate policies now include nondiscrimination protection for gender identity, including Medicare and the IRS.

Medical intervention Young people who are distressed because their bodies are developing during puberty can be given treatment to stop these changes. The relief this provides helps them to make better judgements about how they want to live their lives as adults. If they wish, they can stop taking the medication at any time. It is safe, and its effects are reversible. Once they’re a bit older, they may start taking 'cross-sex hormones'. Surgery associated with gender dysphoria (if a person chooses to have it), is never done in the UK before the age of 18.

How common is it? The Gender Identity Research & Education Society (GIRES) estimates that about 1% of the British population are gender nonconforming to some degree. The numbers of trans boys and trans girls are about equal. The number of people seeking treatment is growing every year.

Are trans people protected by the law? The Human Rights Act 1998 protects the privacy and dignity of gender variant children and adults. This protects people from being called by the wrong name, or being misgendered, or being made to use the wrong toilets. Unfortunately transgender people can face prejudice or bullying. The Equality Act 2010 (EA) protects those who are intending to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone changes to reflect their gender identity against discrimination and harassment. Bullying, including online bullying for any reason, is completely unacceptable.

Only the individual can say for sure whether they are transgender, cisgender, or anything else — it’s not something you can decide for someone else, not even if you’re a doctor. Nor can you simply tell if someone is or is not transgender by looking at them. Because it is such an innate thing, a lot of people might not think of themselves as somehow gender “transgressive, ” even when other people might think it is very obvious. But if you ask them, they might say, “Nope, I’m not trans, I’m just me!”

Babies are not born wearing lipstick or neckties. Nevertheless, Western society has some very rigid group-think ideas about how a person of a particular sex should look and behave. Those rules mean that a male-bodied person is supposed to consider himself a man (whatever that is), and “act like one, ” too. But do you remember the first time you felt that you are a girl or a boy, or rather your gender?