What Being Transsexual Means To Me

[Ashey]

I hope I'm not going to be crucified for this post, especially being new, but in just the bit of poking around that I've done recently I've noticed a wide variety of opinions of what it is to be transsexual. And I've also noticed some boat-rockers get shut-down quick by the 'majority' here, so I apologize in advance for making waves, but this may make-or-break my stay here. In general, I don't get along with the rest of the trans community. I simply have personal viewpoints that seem to differ. But if y'all can handle what I have to say, it'd be nice to hear from those that can relate, and even those who don't agree but are willing to listen and discuss. So here it goes...

I'm not female. I've never been female and never will be female. But what I am is a transsexual female. This took me some time to come to terms with, but it partly came about through my therapy. And this may sound horrible, but it also came about from reading so many hateful comments across the internet from people that certainly don't understand what being trans is. I've seen a lot of comments from these people claiming that MTF transsexual's are delusional for seeing themselves as women. I think these comments are rude and misinformed, but they did get me thinking about people's perceptions of me and the rest of the trans community and how I see myself. And the truth is, I don't see myself as a woman. In a way, saying I am a woman is a lie. Biology aside, I also don't have the same life experiences. And aside from that, I feel like trying to classify myself as a woman would be as much a deception as considering myself a man. I would still be categorizing myself as something that is more palatable to society. I would still be trying to conform to other people's ideals and stereotypical gender roles.

After really thinking about all this, I came to embrace being a transsexual female. For me, it's a bit more liberating and 'true' to myself. I don't have to 'lie' to people saying I'm a woman, instead I can say I'm a transsexual woman and am therefore not bound by their expectations one way or another. I personally find it empowering, whereas I had previously felt there was too much of a stigma around being labeled 'transsexual'. Because when it comes down to it, I'm not trying to be seen as a woman, I'm simply escaping the associations and expectations of being male and being comfortable enough in my own skin to express my femininity. That was the key for me. I don't feel I was born in the wrong body. I DO feel being transsexual can be a curse and is in a way a birth defect, but that's not what I'm trying to 'correct'. I've realized I'm just trying to be comfortable expressing who I am, and who I am is feminine rather than female. As a male, it's hard to express femininity in this society, especially if you aren't homosexual. People just don't get it, or they're offended or confused. I think if people could accept me being male and feminine, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to transition. But that's not how it is at all, and so I guess I feel like I have to appear female to be accepted as a feminine person. That is why I transition, and why I strive to be accepted as a female-looking individual. Most women don't have this issue, they are naturally considered feminine whether they are or not. We have different struggles and issues, and like with men I simply can't relate. I have my own issues, struggles, and identity. So I'm no woman, I'm a transsexual woman, if anything.

Again this is just my opinion, and I know many of you will disagree and that's okay! Just don't hate me for it, because I certainly don't hate anyone for considering themselves a woman. I love women.

[Tanya W]

Hey Ashey, many thanks for posting your experience. It really is one of the main things I love and appreciate about this place - the chance to glimpse the experience of other transgender folk, to compare notes as it were, to think, 'Hey that's just like me!' and 'You know that's kind of like me' and 'Well, not so much.' I have never had this in my life, ever! It's so great that it's available now.

But I digress...

I feel a lot of resonance with many of the things you share here. I sure feel female at times. And honestly, if I had my druthers, I would be female! If I could go back to that instant of conception, find the right switch... My truth, however, is I am not female. I have never been female and never will be female. So where does this leave me? Asking a lot of the same questions and having many of the same reflections as you report.

There's a whole lot of different life experiences and perceptions shared on this site. Maybe it's possible to say there is a 'majority' view, I don't know. Bottom line is I believe we have all found ourselves on the fringes in one way or another, and have come here in our search 'to be comfortable expressing who' we are.

So I hope you stick around and write some more about how your life is and such. I'd love to hear from you. I know I have gotten something from your first missive here; I expect I'll get more from what's to come. I also expect I will not be the only one.

[Sammy]

Thank You for sharing Your thoughts and feelings. I can relate to many of them and despite of what majority thinks or might think, each and every person is unique and it is her or his journey to take. The majority can look with disdain, but that is what the majority is for. Huh, there is even another majority for whom all of us are mentally-ill deviants, monsters, sexual predators and sub-humans. Do I need to relate to that? Oh, that was just rhetorical question .
I still keep questioning myself who I am and what I am, how femininity and masculinity interweave and play within me and how I express and manifest my feelings externally. And I dont know - after months on hormones and decades in denial, I am still the same confused kid I used to be when I first talked with my parents about my gender feelings. At least, hormones have removed my internal barriers and with each day I feel more open and brave to express my feelings – and sometimes they are just feelings without any gender flavour in them.  I have no idea how I will look after another 6 months or 2 years – would I be seen as someone resembling female? I would wish so. But would that mean that I could not express some remaining parts of masculinity (which I am sure there will be – decades of socialising and conditioning cannot be that simply forgotten)? What would majority say?  Ah. screw the majority – it is our lives to live and be happy.  This is what being a transsexual means to me.

[oliviapril]

Ashley
what a beautiful expression of your feelings.
i can and do relate to much of your story.
we are all different, so we all travel on different paths along the way.
At some point others will join us and we join them, but it is always our own journey.
good luck
cheers
Olivia

[suzifrommd]

Thank you for posting, Ashley.

I definitely agree that transgender women and women are different things, at least as it relates to my life.

I experience my transgender as an intense desire to be female. That doesn't mean I AM female, doesn't make me a woman. I've been living as a woman for nearly five months now, I pass as a woman most places, and am accepted as a woman by nearly everyone. But I don't have a sense that I am one, just that I want to be as much of one as possible. I'm thrilled with my transition. It's been better than I ever dared imagine. But it didn't make me a woman. And that's OK. I'm a transgender woman, and that's just fine with me.

But I do want to make one more point.

Whether we are women or something else, is a moot point regarding how we need to be treated.

The world needs to treat us as women, full stop. There is room under the "woman" umbrella for transgender woman. We deserve access to female spaces, have our female-ness recognized by proper pronouns, and we deserve to be interacted with socially as females.

[FrancisAnn]

I do not even like the word. There should be something more pleasant sounding for us all.

[MaryXYX]

Thank you for posting, Ashley.

I definitely agree that transgender women and women are different things, at least as it relates to my life.

I experience my transgender as an intense desire to be female. That doesn't mean I AM female, doesn't make me a woman. I've been living as a woman for nearly five months now, I pass as a woman most places, and am accepted as a woman by nearly everyone. But I don't have a sense that I am one, just that I want to be as much of one as possible. I'm thrilled with my transition. It's been better than I ever dared imagine. But it didn't make me a woman. And that's OK. I'm a transgender woman, and that's just fine with me.

But I do want to make one more point.

Whether we are women or something else, is a moot point regarding how we need to be treated.

The world needs to treat us as women, full stop. There is room under the "woman" umbrella for transgender woman. We deserve access to female spaces, have our female-ness recognized by proper pronouns, and we deserve to be interacted with socially as females.

That sounds very much like my experience.  I do regard myself as a woman, but I agree the most important point is to be treated as a woman.  I've joined the local feminist group and I'm in the group planning "Reclaim the Night" and I've joined the lesbian group.

This year the "Reclaim" march (or "Take Back ...") was billed as for women only and one woman took exception to my presence.  Future events are billed as for self identifying women.  I take that as positive acceptance.

[MadelineB]

I think Suzi makes an important point, and that is distinguishing our interactions with the world, and our experience of our selves inside.
The world outside of certain doctors does not need to know my history, only how to treat and see me in the here and now. For me, I want to be TREATED, and to be REGARDED and INCLUDED in society and within institutions, like any other woman.
So socially and legally and interpersonally, I am a woman, period.
Socially or legally, putting me in a separate category from all other women would prevent me from being treated the way I need and want and deserve to be treated.

Now that doesn't say anything about my internal life, about my personality and life experiences and feelings and preferences and how I see myself.
Those are reserved for the people who get to know me, who I come to trust and chose to share. Such personal truths might include-
-being a woman of male or mixed sex embodiment
-being a woman who holds the Mormon priesthood
-being a woman who doesn't feel inside the way she imagines women who never had any time spent living as a male in society must feel inside
-being a woman who is uniquely me

I like this approach personally because it supports the kind of world where every woman, man, and nonbinary person, has the right to be treated in a way that affirms instead of hurts.

I look forward to, and am working to make, a world where everyone knows that gender is complicated and personal, a world where if people don't know they ask what pronouns they prefer, and how they like to be described to others, and how they like to be treated.

I am working for a world where every child and adult has the ability and right to determine their own gender, including a non-binary gender. I would call the non-binary category 'user-defined' if we were software not wetware; my favorite name for a third gender category is 'Please Ask" because it tells people not to assume anything until told by the person.

In my own experience there are many many people, cis- trans- or intersex, who would feel most at home in a user-defined gender, while there are a larger number who do fit into a binary gender. Both should be ok, and when someone finds out we are transsexual that shouldn't affect how we are treated; our social gender is what we say it is; our internal gender is whatever we feel it is (and may change from day to day).

It should not only be people who identify as trans* who have this gender freedom; it is just as needed for people who are intersex or cis*.

[Ashey]

Socially or legally, putting me in a separate category from all other women would prevent me from being treated the way I need and want and deserve to be treated.

Oh I definitely agree with this. I mean, I'm transitioning and trying to look like a woman, and so I expect to be treated as such. I'd be a big hypocrite if I said otherwise. I guess my problem is just society's view of gender. It's a spectrum rather than binary but try telling that to most people.. Many people seem to think society would collapse if there was more than just strictly male and strictly female and all the stereotypical crap that goes with them. But that's where we are, we have to conform to one or the other to 'fit in' so I have to lean towards the socially accepted gender that applies to femininity. And in a way, that's alright. I can deal with it so long as I know where I stand. Sure it drives me nuts sometimes, because it's not that different than being pegged as a man and having all these expectations thrown at me. Everyone genders one another whether they realize it or not. Walking down the sidewalk, someone could pass by me and glance at me, and their brain will automatically try to gender me. And if they consciously think about it for a moment, they could come up with a slew of stereotypes to apply to me and completely get me wrong without even knowing a thing about me. Being gendered as female, there are still expectations. But guess what? I suck at cooking, I can't sew, and I like cars, machinery, and working with my hands. But I'm still feminine. So screw gender stereotypes! xD But as much as this stuff drives me crazy, I still would prefer it over being stereotyped as a transsexual (whatever that would entail) and still having people get me wrong. If I could get away with referring to myself as a transsexual female and have people accept my femininity and NOT assume I'm masculine or have any typical male attributes, then I would be thrilled. But typically, it's not going to go quite like that. Instead, in most situations, I'm going to portray myself as a woman. I'm going to change all the M's to F's, use the woman's restroom, take pay cuts, and coax people into using 'her' and 'she' when referring to me. That's just the society we live in. Even as a transsexual, I can't be feminine without being a woman.

[Tanya W]

I look forward to, and am working to make, a world where everyone knows that gender is complicated and personal, a world where if people don't know they ask what pronouns they prefer, and how they like to be described to others, and how they like to be treated.

I am working for a world where every child and adult has the ability and right to determine their own gender, including a non-binary gender. I would call the non-binary category 'user-defined' if we were software not wetware; my favorite name for a third gender category is 'Please Ask" because it tells people not to assume anything until told by the person.

In my own experience there are many many people, cis- trans- or intersex, who would feel most at home in a user-defined gender, while there are a larger number who do fit into a binary gender. Both should be ok, and when someone finds out we are transsexual that shouldn't affect how we are treated; our social gender is what we say it is; our internal gender is whatever we feel it is (and may change from day to day).

It should not only be people who identify as trans* who have this gender freedom; it is just as needed for people who are intersex or cis*.

Honest to goodness Madeline, this just made my day! And that part about 'every child and adult has the ability and right to determine their own gender'? Well this reduced me to tears!

Perhaps this comes back to my comments to you, Ashey: While I am certain there are a lot of different views and experiences here, I am equally - if not even more - certain there are vast tracts of commonality, the likes of which I have never before known. For me Madeline's post, and others, reflect this so beautifully.

[MariaMx]

The sense of being a woman comes with the experience and history as a woman. During transition and the first few years after I felt very much this way, but as time went by this feeling slowly went away. Now it's a little bit the other way around. I don't really feel like a trans woman anymore.

[suzifrommd]

The sense of being a woman comes with the experience and history as a woman. During transition and the first few years after I felt very much this way, but as time went by this feeling slowly went away. Now it's a little bit the other way around. I don't really feel like a trans woman anymore.

Thanks for posting this, Maria. It gives me hope.

[Noah]

Your post seems a little dramatic in its "make or break" your time here! It's okay to feel differently than others. Just be careful not to generalize your opinion over others opinions and experience.

Most trans ladies don't transition to make society OK with their feminine demeanor. Most transition in order to alleviate te experience of gender dysphoria.

It's totally fine to transition for whatever reason you want, but I do so hope you aren't doing this unless its REALLY how you want to live life and it's the body you really want.

I relate to the pain of being a fem man! But ultimately transition was, for me, a way to understand why I never felt right or REAL. I never felt real until I transitioned.

It's okay to be a fem man and if you would rather be that, then I hope society affords you that opportunity one day.

Personally, the further I go in my transition, the less I care about if I'm a "real" woman or not. It's more about making my body feel right to my mind.

Sorry if you've experienced hostility from others for your views! You don't deserve that. My best suggestion is to try and be honest with how you feel about your gender while remaining sensitive to how your perspective might trigger other people.

[MariaMx]

Thanks for posting this, Maria. It gives me hope.

YW And yes, I think there is absolutely hope. I think it is our experiences that define our self-images, and as an mtf transition is a trans-woman experience, that is how we are left feeling afterwards - like a trans-woman. As time passed by after transition my collection of experiences both as a male bodied person and a transitioner were slowly augmented/replaced with experiences no different than those of cis-women. The cumulative effect over the past 10 years is that my current self-image is that of a woman.

My past life has faded a lot and in many ways it seems almost as if it never really happened at all. During transition I remember lamenting how my past life was starting to feel like a dream I once had or a story I once read. Now I feel the same way about my transition and the first few years afterwards. It blows my mind to think those things actually happened to me.

I used to worry about not feeling like a woman back when I didn't. That was tough and it scared me a little I think. I was worried about having been wrong and having made a huge mistake. What I notice to be very different today is that I no longer care about the early signs of my condition. Once this was very important to me, to be able to explain and justify my feelings and actions and to reassure myself I was doing the right thing. Today almost all my issues are gone. It's done, and my feelings on this matter is basically just a "Meh..." and a shrug. I might as well have transitioned for no reason at all for all I care.

If you don't make being trans the focal point of your life, you will eventually stop feeling like you are.

[Ashey]

My best suggestion is to try and be honest with how you feel about your gender while remaining sensitive to how your perspective might trigger other people.

I do want to be considerate of others' feelings, so I will include a warning here. You probably shouldn't continue reading this if you're insecure, sensitive, or doubting yourself. This topic isn't for you anyway. If you're any of those things then you likely won't feel the same way about all this as I do.

It's totally fine to transition for whatever reason you want, but I do so hope you aren't doing this unless its REALLY how you want to live life and it's the body you really want.

I relate to the pain of being a fem man! But ultimately transition was, for me, a way to understand why I never felt right or REAL. I never felt real until I transitioned.

It's okay to be a fem man and if you would rather be that, then I hope society affords you that opportunity one day.

Oh I'm sure I want to transition lol. I feel as female as I can without truly knowing what it's like. I most certainly won't miss my 'male persona/guy mode', patchy face stubble, awkward gait and posture, boring men's clothing, and any of the other things I failed miserably at in pretending to be a guy. I want no part in being a man, feminine or otherwise. I just can't relate with them. My point was that if society were more accepting of feminine men, then I might not be in such a hurry to transition. I'd be able to act, dress, walk, talk however I like, so there would be less reason to transition. Still couldn't relate to men though, and still wouldn't want to be associated with them. But at least there might be less assumptions and expectations linked to me just being male at all. But society doesn't tolerate that, so that is part of why I want to transition. Some may feel being trans is more a spiritual thing. Like they're female right down to their soul and they were literally placed in the wrong body before birth. In some ways, I wish I felt that way, but I don't. And if you do feel that way, I'm not trying to disrespect you or say you're wrong in feeling that way. If you can face naysayers and still stay strong in that belief then more power to you. Maybe I'm weak, but I just can't do that. I'm more inclined to see it from the perspective of medical science. I see being trans as a biological curse and a birth defect. And I'd feel more vindication if I saw solid results from the scientific community saying I have a female brain to justify my womanhood. So that's also a reason to consider myself a TS female rather than strictly female. I feel like it's taking this thing that's been plaguing me my whole life and giving it a positive affirmation. Maybe I'm using it as a defensive mechanism though? When I read any comments calling (female) transsexuals delusional for considering themselves women, it hurts. But part of me understands that as rude, disrespectful, and uneducated as those comments are, they may have a point. I'd rather not have people think I'm delusional, and I'd like to have a practical response to it that maybe they can comprehend, in lieu of scientific studies to back my reasoning. Which is what set me down this path of trying to define who and what I am. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I care what people think of me. >.< So I just feel like defining myself as a TS woman makes more sense than just defining myself as a woman, for all the reasons I've mentioned, and because for me it fills in the gaps of the parts of womanhood that I'm lacking. Am I wrong in thinking this way? Am I really just empowering them instead of myself? Does it make me any less of a transsexual? Less of a woman? Or am I just out there in genderqueer-land?

[Noah]

It's up to you! Sounds like you're figuring yourself out. Just keep being honest and let your truth shine. I lived as a very fem man for years, but I rejected myself so deeply I would try to butch it up all the time. I reached a point where I didn't care anymore and couldn't escape my femininity. So I know very well what it's like to live as a fem man. Living as one in full honesty is what allowed me to accept that I wanted / needed to transition. My transition doesn't mean I'm a woman, I don't really care what it means. Though I do believe that for the purposes of this life that man and woman are categories that need to expand to encompass trans individuals. You feel that if society accepted fem men your transition would be less urgent. That's very interesting. For me, if society accepted fem men, I would have been able to accept myself when I was way younger and thus could have transitioned sooner. I would also suggest that if we had less stringent gender norms that more people would take actions to embody their gender differently, which might mean significantly more "transitions" taking place, though the language of transition might stop making much sense at that point.

Personally, when I first started transition I heard a lot of scary critics who were both radical feminist cis women and primary transsexual Harry Benjamin syndrome trans ladies who told me a lot of stuff similar to how you feel. I believed them for a while because I still hated myself even though I was beginning to take action of self love.

You should keep believing in whatever you believe in as long as it empowers you and helps to sustain your life. Whatever works for you.

Labels don't mean anything to me anymore. I don't have to be a woman, but I'm just as much of one as anyone else. Honesty I'm more interested in how my embodiment projects conceptualization of my identity than in how I can intentionally conceptualize that embodiment. If you know what I mean?

[peky]

I was born a female and I will die a female, nothing can change that

I was forced to transition into the role of a male but the socialization was never deeply internalized. Not even in combat 

I de-transition into my rightful gender and for the last few years I have been socialized as a woman. Never too late 

I am trans nothing....I am a woman, more specifically and American woman, a bona-fide full-blooded gringuita 

[JLT1]

Ashley,

A responce from my heart.  I hope you understand.

Ashley: "I hope I'm not going to be crucified for this post, especially being new, but in just the bit of poking around that I've done recently I've noticed a wide variety of opinions of what it is to be transsexual. And I've also noticed some boat-rockers get shut-down quick by the 'majority' here, so I apologize in advance for making waves, but this may make-or-break my stay here. In general, I don't get along with the rest of the trans community. I simply have personal viewpoints that seem to differ. But if y'all can handle what I have to say, it'd be nice to hear from those that can relate, and even those who don't agree but are willing to listen and discuss. So here it goes..."

Jen "You go ahead and make waves.  I, for one, although I am going to disagree with some of what you have said, yet I do respect your assertions as being well thought out and very heartfelt.  You have raised good questions.  You have as much right to be here as I and I think more of you for writing this than I would if you were quiet.  From the responses, it seems you have struck a chord with many and that is good.  There is room for us all.  I would have given you a +1 had someone else not beaten me to it."

Ashley "I'm not female. I've never been female and never will be female. But what I am is a transsexual female.
This took me some time to come to terms with, but it partly came about through my therapy. And this may sound horrible, but it also came about from reading so many hateful comments across the internet from people that certainly don't understand what being trans is. I've seen a lot of comments from these people claiming that MTF transsexual's are delusional for seeing themselves as women. I think these comments are rude and misinformed, but they did get me thinking about people's perceptions of me and the rest of the trans community and how I see myself. And the truth is, I don't see myself as a woman. In a way, saying I am a woman is a lie. Biology aside, I also don't have the same life experiences. And aside from that, I feel like trying to classify myself as a woman would be as much a deception as considering myself a man. I would still be categorizing myself as something that is more palatable to society. I would still be trying to conform to other people's ideals and stereotypical gender roles."

Jen "If we look at all women, we see so many different types: athletes, corporate presidents, stay at home moms, scientists, engineers, artists, dancers and solders, just to name a few.  Some women are feminine women, some are butch and some are in between those two extremes. Womanhood is a very big umbrella.  I think there is room for one more type of woman, one more adjective – trans.  Yep, someone with different life experiences, experiences that do make a difference.  I think we bring something to the group having walked in the other sex's shoes but that does not make us any less of a woman. 

Your statement that people think we are delusional is correct.  But I that is an excuse haters use to hate that which is different; the way some people hate anyone who doesn't look like themselves.  Pick you favorite prejudice and put it in there: race, religion, eye color, geography, it all works.  Those people are ignorant, looking to make themselves feel better by putting someone else lower.  They do that because they hate themselves.  I for one, refuse to be lower.  I am a trans-WOMAN."

Ashley "After really thinking about all this, I came to embrace being a transsexual female. For me, it's a bit more liberating and 'true' to myself. I don't have to 'lie' to people saying I'm a woman, instead I can say I'm a transsexual woman and am therefore not bound by their expectations one way or another. I personally find it empowering, whereas I had previously felt there was too much of a stigma around being labeled 'transsexual'. Because when it comes down to it, I'm not trying to be seen as a woman, I'm simply escaping the associations and expectations of being male and being comfortable enough in my own skin to express my femininity. That was the key for me. I don't feel I was born in the wrong body. I DO feel being transsexual can be a curse and is in a way a birth defect, but that's not what I'm trying to 'correct'. I've realized I'm just trying to be comfortable expressing who I am, and who I am is feminine rather than female. As a male, it's hard to express femininity in this society, especially if you aren't homosexual. People just don't get it, or they're offended or confused. I think if people could accept me being male and feminine, I wouldn't be in such a hurry to transition. But that's not how it is at all, and so I guess I feel like I have to appear female to be accepted as a feminine person. That is why I transition, and why I strive to be accepted as a female-looking individual. Most women don't have this issue, they are naturally considered feminine whether they are or not. We have different struggles and issues, and like with men I simply can't relate. I have my own issues, struggles, and identity. So I'm no woman, I'm a transsexual woman, if anything."

Jen "Yep, you got it. Be who you are, that is what this is all about. I just keep thinking that "transsexual" is an adjective, describing the type of woman but a woman no less.  Sometimes I feel this is a discussion on semantics but I also think it is bigger.  I think you and I are on different ends of the "trans" spectrum.  I've never been feminine.  I won't be feminine when I transition.  I am however, almost a clone of my older sister, who is a woman; we think alike, we talk alike, we have similar tastes in clothes and in women.  We both drive pickups and like to build things although she has more tools. I'm transitioning in part because there are parts about being male that I realized I am not. I am not transitioning to be more feminine." 

Achley "Again this is just my opinion, and I know many of you will disagree and that's okay! Just don't hate me for it, because I certainly don't hate anyone for considering themselves a woman. I love women. "

Jen "Ashley, even though you and I are different, we also share so very much in common as we are both trans.  There is room for both of us to be here and hopefully, we will learn from each other as some of our life experiences are so very different.  We are stronger here because of our diversity and our unity."

Hugs?

Jen

[JLT1]

I'm more inclined to see it from the perspective of medical science. I see being trans as a biological curse and a birth defect. And I'd feel more vindication if I saw solid results from the scientific community saying I have a female brain to justify my womanhood. So that's also a reason to consider myself a TS female rather than strictly female. I feel like it's taking this thing that's been plaguing me my whole life and giving it a positive affirmation. Maybe I'm using it as a defensive mechanism though? When I read any comments calling (female) transsexuals delusional for considering themselves women, it hurts. But part of me understands that as rude, disrespectful, and uneducated as those comments are, they may have a point. I'd rather not have people think I'm delusional, and I'd like to have a practical response to it that maybe they can comprehend, in lieu of scientific studies to back my reasoning.

I am a scientist for a US based multinational.  I sign off on a review of every product we manufacture to ensure they are safe.  Every one. Today, like every day, 97% of the population of the world will be within 3 feet of one of the 57,000 products I looked at sometime over the last 17 years. 

Science is advancing, every day.  I do not doubt the there is a valid biological reason that we are transgender. I can think of several probable causes although I do not necessarily think there is only one cause.  In fact, I think there are probably three separate causes excluding the intersexed conditions.  But that is another discussion.  I suggest that you have to base your reasoning on what science knows and what is probable.  Never base your decision on what science does not know.  Because sometime this week, even I am going to look at something and say a mental "Wow, I didn't think that was possible.".

The problem is that research funding for figuring out why people are transgender is so very low.  It's just a trickle.  Funding for this isn't high on the future priority list either.  We are going to have to struggle in this scientific void for a while.  But some of us transgender scientists are trying to get together to work on it part time.  But even then, there are so few of us.  We'll see how that goes.

Jen

edited for a spelling error I found right after posting.  It's late here.

[Ashey]

Science is advancing, every day.  I do not doubt the there is a valid biological reason that we are transgender. I can think of several probable causes although I do not necessarily think there is only one cause.

Yeah I definitely think there's a biological basis for it. I remember watching "A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story", and the therapist is trying to explain to the mother the biological reasoning behind being transgendered, and it really stuck with me. It felt so validating. I think she basically said that all fetuses start off female and that in the case of transsexuals, the male mental component just didn't take hold and remained female. I've always held onto that concept because it makes perfect sense to me, whether there really is enough scientific basis behind it or not. I just really wish there was clear evidence to shut people up with. Because without it, most people just can't wrap their heads around it. Maybe I lean towards scientific explanations more because I also have Synesthesia, which is another mental condition that most people can't comprehend. It's something that I have to explain in scientific terminology and metaphors, otherwise I sound like a nutcase. :/ So I feel like the same thing applies with being trans. It's something most people can't even begin to relate to, which I found surprising. And because of that, they think it's this imaginary condition and that we're just nuts and perverts living in some dream land. Dealing with that kind of crap is why I try to keep it clinical rather than abstract or intangible. >.<