why do people equate transsexuals with sex offenders?

[Taka]

i don't get it at all. probably just the usual paranoia, combined with the knowledge of some men who molested little boys. so they think that
'child molester = gay' and 'crossdresser (drag queen) = gay' also means that 'crossdresser (transsexual) = child molester'

completely illogical, but when were humans logical beings?

[Julie Marie]

It's all about control.  "I want everyone to be like me.  So if I demonize people I consider weird, they will either change to be like me or go away."

Being a sex offender is taboo even within the prison population.  Pedophiles don't have many friends in prison. 

All I have to do is find one person who molested a child AND had at any time in his life crossdressed and whammo!  I got me a ->-bleeped-<- pervert!  Send it to the sensationalistic media and you've just created public enemy #1.  And since the ignorant speak the loudest, you've got yourself an immediate and very vocal following.  Then you can start taking donations to stop the ->-bleeped-<- pervert and next thing you know, you're living the high life.  Cha-ching!

OK it's really about money.

[JoanneB]

I think TheAetherealMeadow put it best and so much more eloquently than my "All men are horney" and "You have to be insane to WANT to be a woman" theory. Being at the absolute bottom of the societal totem pole we are the low hanging fruit to blame and or kick around with impunity.

In fairness much positive progress has been made since I first considered transitioning in the 70's. Then, you had to be suicidal or close to it to seriously give transition a go. In today's world, the obligatory Sweeps Week rating grabber TG scripts always have a positive spin. Some shows do/did have recurring trans characters leading typical lives. I hope to see a lot more progress in the next 40 years. I also believe that ignorance will always abound. Sex and gender are just too much of Hot-Button issues to think there will ever be a time of universal understanding.

My theory is this. I think it all has to do with gender roles, particularly toxic ones. One of the aspects of toxic masculinity is that men are id ridden animals who are constantly horny and can't control their urges. Another aspect of this is that femininity is the worst thing someone (particularly a man) could ever have, and must be avoided at all costs. Therefore, when someone who is perceived as a man dresses and behaves like a woman, since men are id ridden animals who can't control their sexual urges, and also because no man would ever want to stoop so low as to become a woman, the conclusion is that any man who dresses like a woman must be doing so because they are sexually motivated to do so. Hence, the whole association between transsexuals (women in particular) and perversion. This is also the origin of the all transsexuals are autogynephiles theory. So called "feminists" like Janice Raymond are actually encouraging misogyny by encouraging this notion that the only reason why a man would want to become a woman is sexual.

[jojo10]

why do people equate transsexuals with sex offenders?

Because there are a LOT of ignorant dumb-asses out there.

This.

And also because Silence of the Lambs had a serial killer that cut women apart and wore their skin as a suit. That certainly didn't help either. An absolutely irresponsible and completely fabricated portrayal. It still makes me sick to this day.

[Arch]

And also because Silence of the Lambs had a serial killer that cut women apart and wore their skin as a suit. That certainly didn't help either. An absolutely irresponsible and completely fabricated portrayal. It still makes me sick to this day.

Well, fiction does tend to be fabricated in one way or another...

[Steffi]

Simple
Everyone knows that they are surrounded by deviants ..... rapists, paedophiles, homosexual men, lesbians, bondage freaks, piss freaks etc etc etc ........the trouble is that all of these people are invisible.
We aren't....... and it's "obvious" that we did it all for sex anyway, so we get the flack for everyone ..... we're the VISIBLE perverts

[Jen61]

I think the real answer lies in the people who portrays in the media. Who is the face of transsexuals and transgender people ? Turn the TV, locate a program dealing with transsexual/transgender who do you see ?

The guy with the 5 o'clock shade in garter belt, fishnet stockings, miniskirt, and stiletto boots, who claims to be a prostitute by choice, and who says: "love knows no boundaries." Should I say more ?

Jen61

[Jen-Jen]

Because there stupid!

[AbraCadabra]

Because they highly uneducated.
The VERY LAST thing on most of our minds be to be sexually offensive, yes?

I'm ever so glad no one to take advantage of ME - in an 'offensively' speaking way.

It's just plain dumb. Yet the world is populated with dumbos galore...

So, best to stay clear and give them a wide birth,
Axelle