Cultural Differences in Transsexuality/->-bleeped-<-

[Princess of Hearts]

During my time here at Susan's I have noticed that there seems to be a difference in attitude amongst TS/TG people from different Countries/cultures.   The Americans seem to be more upbeat, more 'most people have no problem with my gender expression, and for those that do there is always legislation.  We can legislate hatred and oppression right out of existence.'   Well there is legislation against fraud,murder, assault and theft etc but that hasn't stopped people from committing those crimes.   

Here in GB I think that we see things from a different perspective - an this holds true I think for countries with a British cultural/political inheritance. To put it plainly, I think that American mtfs are too upbeat, too optimistic and too PollyAnnish about cisgender acceptance.   However, to be fair and balanced, American mtfs could turn this around and say 'you British mtfs are too afraid, too cynical, you take too dim a view of human nature.'   

I wonder who has the correct attitude.

[~RoadToTrista~]

Neither.

[britt27]

I agree with neither, and quite frankly, in "still-very-religously influenced-and upholding of conservative values" America, I am scared as hell to transition.  I just think it depends on the individual, outside of cases dealing with very culturally opressive countries, of which neither GB or the US are.

[Keaira]

I guess I am blessed to answer this because I am British and have lived in the US for 11 years now.
Americans tend to get a bad rep around the world for being loud, obnoxious, etc. Truth be told, they are some of the most giving people I have ever met. I dont know about being too upbeat. I'd have to say that its more of an "I can do it!" attitude. It's just woven into the culture. And when the attacks happened on Sept. 11th 2001, Everyone came together in support, loss and grief. British dont tend to do that. Unless things have changed since I left, Store Cashiers dont even say "Have a nice day" over there. Britain has seen some wonderful reforms, like allowing gay marriage, not just in counties but the entire country. And GLBT can serve in the military. We can hope for the same, but the behemoth that is our government is larger than over there, so change is slow.

Meanwhile, The Americans will continue to have the "I can do it!" attitude. After all, It did get them to the Moon.

[SandraJane]

Touche' PoH! Neither but...it seems Canada, the UK, Australia & NZ are ahead of us on how we treat the TG/TS community.

[heatherrose]

United States has 3,794,083 square miles of land mass compared to Great Britian's 80,823.

Great Britian has the same area as the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey combined.
The state of Kansas alone (ranked the 14th largest in area of all the states) is still nearly 2000 square miles larger than Great Britian.
The nine most populus metropolises (3 three of them in Texas) in the United States, have an average of 2.6 million people each.

There are 312,216,004 people living in the United States compared to 62,435,709 in Great Britian.
Given the vast differences in population density alone, I feel that trying to compare the
cultural demographics between the two would be like comparing apples to banana splits.

[eli77]

Britain has seen some wonderful reforms, like allowing gay marriage, not just in counties but the entire country.

No, they don't. There are 10 countries in the world that have marriage equality and Britain is not one of them. They have civil unions. It is not the same, nor true equality. It irritates me that they are still lagging behind - I'm a British National, as well as a Canadian Citizen.


I don't really know that much about Canadian trans folk, and Canada is such a big space and such a diverse people it would probably depend a lot on where you were. I know Toronto is the big hub for trans folk and pretty safe, as are most major urban centres. And quite a few of the provinces have legal protections - Quebec and Manitoba for transsexual men and women, and Ontario and BC for both transsexual and transgender people. Out in rural Alberta, you'd probably be in a lot more difficulty.

For the majority of Canadians though... Pierre Trudeau, in 1967, as part of his speech in the House of Commons in favour of abolishing criminal legislation for homosexual acts said: "there is no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." Basically meaning, "keep your bloody nose out of other people's business." The concept is still pretty near and dear to our hearts here.

Maybe that makes me overconfident, I dunno, But of the few dozen people I've come out to, I've gotten nothing but love and support... I feel pretty safe.

[Keaira]

No, they don't. There are 10 countries in the world that have marriage equality and Britain is not one of them. They have civil unions. It is not the same, nor true equality.

Oh, I thought they had Full marriage rights.. my bad! Gomen nasai. But still, that's still better than the very few states here.

[eli77]

Oh, I thought they had Full marriage rights.. my bad! Gomen nasai. But still, that's still better than the very few states here.

No need to apologize. Just a bit of a sore spot for me, sorry. And you are right, it's better than the situation in the States.

[SandraJane]

Gosh, here one state has full marital rights and another doesn't make it a crime (sodomy) to have "same-sex" relations(name me a State..that's right..Texas, wait a minute...I live..). We can also have full employment protections if, if we work for the United States Government (Federal, not Military), but each state can wiggle around, alot, and ENDA has stalled.

Violence, right now what is making news is the violence against African American Trans Women by AA Males, Hispanic Men against Hispanic Trans Women, and as to Caucasian/White Trans Men and Women, don't know. And we are now starting to see Gay and Lesbian Mayors and Congresspersons, and a few Trans elected officials, including the Senior Technical Adviser to the Commerce Dept, Trans Woman Amanda Simpson, appointed by President Obama. We're making some progress.

[spacial]

I spent the first 9 or so years of my life in N America and the rest, mostly, in the UK.

With respect, from my observations, the most notable difference is that British people are very reserved and along with that, very conservative. I don't believe British people are intolerant, especially of race. But they are cautious of any innovations that might impinge upon their own lives. Clearly, there will be many individual exceptions. I'm obviously referring to the general attitudes. But generally, if it doesn't directly affect them, most British people, especially English people, are often quite interested in other ideas and ideals. Though in the case of race or sexuality, this curiosity can sometimes be misinterpreted as intrusive interference.

Americans especially, are obsessed with the past and controlling the future. They seem to be continually prepared to abandon the present, even the values of the past, in the present, so they can restore what they see as some sort of traditional ideal in the future. Form a people who have so much to enjoy from the present, an astonishing environment, wealth beyond dreams, opportunities and mostly wonderful people, their readiness to send their sons to fight and die in wars that are of no concern to them at all, even to attack each other at times, is sad and surprising.

I don't accept the arguments of gay marriage. I have personally, I'm sure like many, avoided the gay marriage debate quite deliberately and will try to continue to do so. But the current and I suggest, infinitely more sensible focus, in the UK, is currently upon extending civil partnerships to mixed sex marriages here in the UK.

This is a long over due measure. A large part currently holding it up, is the section of the gay lobby who want gay marriage. But the biggest obstacle to marriage equality is the CofE. This is still the established church in England and hold enormous power, especially in marriage law. The long term solution is to disestablish the church of course, but that can never happen in the lifetime of the Queen since she made it part of her coronation vows to uphold the position of the CofE.

[justmeinoz]

As Australians tend to support the underdog, anyone who shows they have had to fight to get where they are can generally expect a fairly good hearing.  Plus we have a touch of the British reserve about poking our noses into others' business.  It sounds facetious but people here in many cases really would be more concerned that you didn't change your football club allegiance, than that you had SRS. 
Karen.