If you think about it, being trans is actually kind of weird.

[Nicolette]

Hey!!! If that isolated tribe made hooch....I would be leading the
Singing and dancing around the fire. .
And use war paints for make up and have a grass dress...

Oh...wait....I'll just be an Indian...tried to be wierd

You defo sound weird. Beautiful, but weird nonetheless. 

[aleon515]

Reminds me of the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy". Native finds a coke bottle and all h___   breaks loose.

--Jay

[Just Shelly]

Reminds me of the movie "The Gods Must be Crazy". Native finds a coke bottle and all h___   breaks loose.

--Jay

LOL so true!!

Kind of like Crocodile Dundee walking around New York City!!

[zombieinc]

I think that you are only as "weird" as you think you are.

If you are comparing yourself or transfolk in general to "normal" folks, then yeah, you're going to be weird in one way (being trans). But "normal" people are weird too. As stated above in this thread, blue eyes, blond hair, left handedness, are all "weird" traits. There is a lot of variety among humanity as a whole, imo.

Personally, I think that a lot of people (the 93-99% of "normals") are absolutely terrified that their boundaries might be moved, so they do all that they can to keep the 1-7% of "weirdos" in check through guilt, force and law.

[MaddestScientist]

Personally, I think it's weirder to pop out of the womb and have a whole host of traits/characteristics/ways of life thrown onto you just because of your anatomy.  I mean, even before you are born, a lot of preparation is put into how this boy or girl will be treated...pink, Easy Bake ovens, makeup, inferiority, blue, sports, GI Joe, dominance. 

I think it's great to have people that question it.  You definitely should...as the gender binary is not necessarily the norm...it's the norm for some societies...but, in other societies, there are no "male" or "female" genders (people are classified by what they contribute to that society). 

Similarly, homosexuality and heterosexuality definitely does not exist in every society.  People are classified by the "role" they play...heck, we love the Romans so much, and yet we forget that they had a very different system.

But, it turns out that people get very unhappy when other people's beliefs are forced upon them.  It's not so much of "weirdness," so much as it's just that people seem to be uncomfortable with accepting the fact that other people can live their lives in a drastically different manner and be just as happy (if not happier).  So, it seems a lot is done in order to make the people with a different way of life miserable.

When you really give it some thought, gender is very strange...I don't think it's right for everyone.

[Anna++]

I knew I was weird long before confronting my transness.  The best thing to do is embrace it

[Leo.]

Everyone is 'weird' if you want to put it that way. Everyone is different in their own way. 'Normal' doesnt really exist. Being different is what makes things interesting. If everyone looked and acted the same the world would be an incredibly boring place. Im not happy I've had to go through all this but its made me understand and appreciate things in a way I never otherwise would have. I dont care what anyone thinks of me, its their problem not mine. Its our society thats weird and constantly forcing people to try and conform to a 'norm' which in itself is abnormal. As has been said, diversity is normal in nature so this is actually the unnatural situation. Many animals are not just one gender, some are both, some are neither, some are gay. Its all perfectly normal in nature so why is it seen as 'weird' in us? It really isnt. Its society that needs to change and let us be free to be who we are than trying to force us to be something we're not

"Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly"

[Rachel]

Weird no. Natural variety within a species that is not accepted by the general populist, yes.

[Cassandra Hyacinth]

If you ask me, the fact that 99% of the population is cis is extremely weird.

Think about it - you're assigned a gender at birth, arbitrarily chosen based on their perception of your genitals, with all the cultural expectations and beliefs that apply to each gender... and 99% of people go along with that assignment and think nothing of it?

That is weird.

[FrancisAnn]

I do not think it is weird at all to want to become normal. The weird fact is our society that tries to make each person a male or female. You would think people would help & support other people that just simply want or need to change gender. What is the big problem with people. Why does this scare them so much???

[zombieinc]

If you ask me, the fact that 99% of the population is cis is extremely weird.

Think about it - you're assigned a gender at birth, arbitrarily chosen based on their perception of your genitals, with all the cultural expectations and beliefs that apply to each gender... and 99% of people go along with that assignment and think nothing of it?

That is weird.

I agree with your assessment.

It makes me think about a former good friend who is expecting a baby next week. I saw her latest posts on facebook and how they are all about how she can't wait to meet her son, and all of the boy things they have gotten for him. It's like they KNOW he's a boy and they don't really plan on considering the possibility that their baby may not be 100% boy.

Most likely, he will, if they stay in this area though. Hell, more people around here watch Duck Dynasty than the nightly news. The odds of their son being anything other than a cookie cutter boy's boy is very low, imo. Especially since the dad is very anti-gay, anti-arts, anti-everything not sufficiently manly.

[LordKAT]

Especially since the dad is very anti-gay, anti-arts, anti-everything not sufficiently manly.

This has nothing to do with a child being mis gendered at birth.

[Tadpole]

Look, the world is weird. I can tell that you just came here to post this messing around and trying to incite a reaction. But here is what I think on the matter. The suicide rate is so high because the world continues to be non-accomodating and hostile towards anyone that happens to fall out of the box of male or female even a little bit. People who are socially conservative will say something like the world is too accomodating to transexuals (but they probably won't use that word in lieu of something more insulting) and go on about how the world is falling apart. What is falling apart now is structures of many years of gender oppression that people have built in some cases depending on the country. These people are desperate and clinging at straws kind of similar to the misogynist response to feminist movements.  But it's still hostile for our kind, believe me. I have thought for several years out of my life to change genders but decided against it because of all the oppression that still exists. But think about where we are now. Some people would want to bring religion into it and say that God would be against an unnatural order but to me that seems very oppressive. I'm not surprised of the suicidal statistics. There's no need to be condescending about it like anyone that doesn't feel like they fit into the socially constructed box of male or female characteristics is human filth. Suicide is tragic and anyone who kills themselves should not be spat on and mocked because that trivializes the issue of suicide. But besides all of that I see the current transgender state of being able to get sex-change operations if a person is deemed too uncomfortable with their body as a refection of today's world and technology. Back when the technology didn't exist people would have to stay in their bodies most of the time. Depending on the culture they lived in cross-dressing may or may not have been an option. Even today in some parts it continues to be a dangerous one.
Now we have many non-transexual people doing such things as altering their body with breast implants, eye surgeries, limb surgeries, circumcisions done later in life, weight loss surgeries, you name it. People take a pill manufactured by technology for almost anything. Non-transexuals take hormone therapy with synthesized hormones of their own gender. All kinds of new and creepy, possibly even unnatural technologies are around. If you are religious you could probably also apply many of these types of things as also going against the laws of God or nature. So now how abnormal does it seem for someone to get this particular kind of cosmetic surgery? And hormone treatment with it? Because that's all it is.  We are still human. We still have a beating heart. And can breathe. This is just a particular way of adapting to a hostile society and a more technological society in my view. If you were one gender and could never really fit in no matter how hard you tried with your gender and wanted to be the other gender what would you do given the current technology? Would you stay as you were and feel miserable or try to act really fake?  Or if there was another opportunity around to feel more like who you really felt you were would you take that?
It's not an easy issue, believe me.

[xchristine]

Wow .....tadpole...you should really write a thesis
Or somethng ...
It looks ad though you almost have it all broken down.
Family unit.. collective unit....cultural .....religious...
It all does for together...

[Bookworm]

Yeah being trans is weird and most of the time it does not make any sense, and no matter how good a spin you put on that it can suck at times. I dont want to be an x-men or anything like that. I am a social outcast either way and even though I have come to terms with being weird and I have a group of friends who are weird like me sometimes it would be nice to just be normal and not have to deal with the struggle as much.

I know everybody has issues with fitting in, but being trans does not really help that cause all that much most of the time.

Now before anybody asks I am fine just frustrated with it.

[stavraki]

You've got 99% of the world living in this happy little bubble where all women have vaginas and all men have penises, and then there's the transsexual bubble, with a suicide rate of nearly 50% and people born with parts that need to be changed.
It's like being albino or something but with life-ruining side effects.

When I say the next bit, I want you to laugh with me--I'm actually doin' okay I'm poking fun at myself...cause I'm on the mend...

I don't have any bits at all ATM Gone!  I'm smiling though ATM - because - I figured out I'm gunna be okay....I wasn't after it first happened, but now I'm okay.....I'm gunna be okay cause.....

I get a bionic schlong!  Is how I'm lookin' at it, and the darned thing I had before never did what it was told anyway!  Hard when uninvited, soft when needed, and too totally precious for words...mind of its own the darned thing!

  So HOORAY - I am gunna have a bionic thingywhatsit, I can relax with my sexual partners and just enjoy the whole experience....I've turned the loss into a positive. 

*gets a little more focussed/real*

Ya know, ur right to the extent that the world just has this darned 'blindspot' about 'genital configurations' and this rigid assumption of 'plumbing a on body a' and 'plumbing b on body b'.  Add to that that it mixes up gender concepts with biological sex concepts, and *gets a headache* then sexual orientation with gender identity.  And the cost to mental health from this all.

That doesn't make anyone here weird.  That makes the world just a little dim witted.  The whole 'losing my gonads' journey for me has awakened me to what the world looks like when bits and parts are not where general public people expect them to be.

All I can say is that I've taken ownership of 'what I got'.  Might not be what KenDoll next door has - or even Barbie up the road.

But ya know what--let's make a freakin' new doll - the KBarbie Doll or the BarKenDoll and I swear, I'll mass market the darned new doll and give it to kids with their other dolls, so that kids can grow up realising there's just a little bit more to the natural variation of the human being than we've been told!

You are all beautiful!  ALL of u - and me too.
cheers
stav

[xchristine]

Thank you stav
It has been a very long time since I was
Called beautifull :-)
I appreciate that I'm ways I can't express

[stavraki]

Thank you stav
It has been a very long time since I was
Called beautifull :-)
I appreciate that I'm ways I can't express

well you are!  You really are - and all of you.  The world needs to learn to bow in respect for you all.  Believe me--they all will one day.....there's an inevitability to that at work, though so very very slow.

this whole journey has opened my eyes to this whole area.  I've never, in my life, been so very moved by what I've found here.  We darned well lost Andrea!  Goddamit!  She was beautiful -

[PrincessDayna]

With my culture as a Native American, to us it is pretty sacred.  I love being two spirited, and wouldnt change myself for the world.  Weird? no. Different? yes. but who isnt different?  My only difference is my gender, and I am proud to identify as and be a woman, and I feel blessed that it is in this day and age I was born, so that modern science can help me out with who I am

I couldnt imagine being two spirited two hundred years ago and not having the medical care available to be able to help me find balance It is a blessing to be able to walk between adn understand the genders, not a curse.  Only modern society with its strict mores/norms on what is male female in such a binary pattern that create those feelings.  If you can over come those limitations, you help change society by proper interaction with those in our lives, because they effect other peoples views when negativity is expressed on our gender roles, and place within society.

So walk strong in who you are and love and help all that cross your path find a smile.  Only through self acceptance and the above, can we change the binary mores/norms, and move who we are out of a subculture and into the mainstream again

~Dayna xoxo

[aleon515]

What Dayna said.

There have probably been MORE cultures that believed in trans identities as normal (or hyper normal perhaps) than have thought otherwise. IN the whole hx of the world the idea of trans as abnormal and bad is probably the minority. Just went to an awesome presentation on gender throughout the world. It was just amazing and eye opening.


--Jay