How would you describe the typical transgender personality?

[Terracotta]

The typical transgender personality

As an interplay of false gender conditioning, intermixed with miswired neurology, it equates into an interestingly -somewhat- homogenous personality despite the extreme influences of factors.

Definitely there's much more diversity in a handful of transgender women visually than genetic women. But personality wise there's a degree of homogeneity?

Extreme honesty is one striking difference between the trans and general population.

[Edge]

There is no one typical "transgender personality" any more than there is one typical human personality.

[FalseHybridPrincess]

Well this has to be the only forum I havent seen people fighting and calling words each other...
so I think that means something.

Anyway I believe that trans people are more kind , wise and accepting than the normal ones...
and not only trans generally people who have to go through that kind of inner search etc

I could be wrong.

[amZo]

I feel there's more introversion in the trans world. Not sure if that's hereditary or environmental.

[Terracotta]

@nikko

Introversion is a really common trait, considering that most trans people find successes in industries like engineering, IT, more socially isolated career pathways - and Lana Wachowski, fantasy film director - similar vein in a sense to those typical industries.

I feel there's oddly an under representation, in proportion to talent pool and population
In traditional arts - when you'd assume that to be something to be a large trans industry,
However art is extroverted and socially-based in a sense.

It makes sense it's environmental moreso than hereditary, but then I can't be so sure.

[Kaylee]

Though personalities differ, there do seem to be a lot of common traits, as this thread can attest to.

[Keira]

The typical transgender personality

As an interplay of false gender conditioning, intermixed with miswired neurology, it equates into an interestingly -somewhat- homogenous personality despite the extreme influences of factors.

Definitely there's much more diversity in a handful of transgender
women visually than genetic women. But personality wise there's a degree of homogeneity?

Extreme honesty is one striking difference between the trans and general population.

Ummm I personally don't like being described by someone -cis or trans- as being broken or malformed. And honestly how I was raised had very little to do with me being trans, I was always the gender I identify as, I just express it outwardly now and am taking medical steps to blend in and make my body as I wish it to be.

Also, genetic women also implies that everyone who appears male or female has the chromosomes of xy and xx respectively. There are men with xx chromosomes and women with xy chromosomes. The term that is most accurate would be "cisgender women".

"The trans"? What are we a collective like "the Borg" now? Lol

You mean to say "Trans people", its a common mistake. People think "transgender" is a noun when in fact it is an adjective.

I've seen a lot of diversity in trans and cis women...to categorize us all as "homogenous" would be like mixing every drink in your fridge together comparing them to the original drinks and trying to say "See they're basically all the same"...even through the blend of all of them doesn't quite match the others.

I have heard of sexual predators who are trans women, sociopaths, and people who are very broken because of how society as a whole treats us. But I've also met very happy trans women who are well to their core being. There is a huge spectrum of diversity.

[Terracotta]

I'm a trans women that uses the term genetic women rather than cis women because I find the term cis to be reminiscent of "cysts" and a bit shady. It's easy to use it online but definitely in real life when I call genetic women cis women they look a bit offended.

Well there's a forum, for trans people, and we're on it, as a collective, and in my observations I find shared traits and it strikes my curiosity and therefore I'm bringing it up - I find it bizarre that it's being misinterpreted so literally: That transgender people have a "typical" personality in a literal/defined sense.

[Keira]

I'm a trans women that uses the term genetic women rather than cis women because I find the term cis to be reminiscent of "cysts" and a bit shady. It's easy to use it online but definitely in real life when I call genetic women cis women they look a bit offended.

Well there's a forum, for trans people, and we're on it, as a collective, and in my observations I find shared traits and it strikes my curiosity and therefore I'm bringing it up - I find it bizarre that it's being misinterpreted so literally: That transgender people have a "typical" personality in a literal/defined sense.

"Cis" has no relation at all linguistically to "cyst".

Here is a cut and paste of the Wikipedia article for "Cisgender"

Cisgender has its origin in the Latin-derived prefix cis-, meaning "on this side of," which is an antonym for the Latin-derived prefix trans-, meaning "across from" or "on the other side of". This usage can be seen in the cis-trans distinction in chemistry, the cis-trans or complementation test in genetics, and in the ancient Roman term Cisalpine Gaul (i.e., "Gaul on this side of the Alps"). In the case of gender, cis- is used to refer to the alignment of gender identity with assigned sex.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender

Just because someone takes offense at a word, doesn't mean its automatically offensive or shouldn't be used. (Unless its origin is being used in oppression eg. "Slut", "Whore", the T word)

Overall it is more accurate to use "cisgender" because 90% of people don't actually know what their chromosomes or kareotype are. And, often "genetic girl" is used as a way of oppressing trans women like us...it is not a neutral word.

[amZo]

I feel we're inclined to be more argumentative. 

[sad panda]

I know that people probably won't like me to say this but I think that mostly, trans people have pretty similar personalities overall to what is normal for their birth sex in their own culture. Not saying it's wrong or bad or not valid, just, that's what I noticed. Please don't hate me for noticing it ;O;

[suzifrommd]

I know that people probably won't like me to say this but I think that mostly, trans people have pretty similar personalities overall to what is normal for their birth sex in their own culture. Not saying it's wrong or bad or not valid, just, that's what I noticed. Please don't hate me for noticing it ;O;

You can get in big trouble around here for saying that. I happen to share this observation, but if you tell ANYBODY, I'll deny it vigorously.

[EllieM]

Is there a typical transgender personality? Perhaps there are some common traits that derive from being trans, and even those may be mitigated or amplified by the temporal sphere. Personality is a multidimensional thing, in terms of quantification. Without data, all I can offer is anecdotal "evidence" with a very small (N = 1) sample size. My speculation would be that TGs from my generation (boomers, post WWII) would tend to be less assertive than say, Gen-Y. I attribute that hypothesis to change in attitude. When boomers were teenagers, any sexual or gender-related behaviours or attitudes that fell beyond one (or so) standard deviations from the mean were considered deviant, not simply statistically, but in a pejorative sense, and the consequences for being known to cleave to such thought were dire. Thanks to the efforts of (largely) the gay community, those prejudices are melting away so adolescent TGs today have somewhat less to fear and are more likely to announce themselves, feeling less threatened.

Nonetheless,  there is still reservation, there is still some degree of mistrust, there is still fear. That speaks to Nikko's point about introversion.

@FalsePrincess, more tolerant and accepting of peopled differences than the cis (on average)? Perhaps. That one's harder for me to judge because most of the people I know are university graduates and they tend to be fairly tolerant on average anyways.

@BLZA, as regards honesty... I have lived a lie most of my life. I have walked about, dressed as a man, engaging in manly things, football, construction, hunting; and yet never admitting to myself that in fact, I am female. The first person I discussed that fact with was a licensed mental health professional, in complete confidence. I still present in public as a male. I know other TGs who behave in a similar fashion. So, while there are certain principles of morality I guide my behaviour by and, I am not a thief, murderer or bearer of false witness, I don't think I can consider myself or those other trans people I described, as being completely honest. Sorry.

@Skye-Blue: We are the Tranz. Lower your shields and surrender. Your biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile. You will be transitioned. You lucky girl

[Nero]

I know that people probably won't like me to say this but I think that mostly, trans people have pretty similar personalities overall to what is normal for their birth sex in their own culture. Not saying it's wrong or bad or not valid, just, that's what I noticed. Please don't hate me for noticing it ;O;

I think they tend to have similar interests to their birth sex (one study said the rate for the military is much higher among trans women than for the general male population; not that there aren't women in the military but it's generally a traditionally masculine thing). I'm not sure about personality. There are some really womanly trans women on here, some of whom are veterans.

Oddly, or not so oddly, interests also seem to correspond to orientation some. Trans women who were straight in their male lives tend to have more traditionally male interests. Trans guys with traditionally feminine interests also tend to be gay (not all, but enough to see a pattern).

[sad panda]

You can get in big trouble around here for saying that. I happen to share this observation, but if you tell ANYBODY, I'll deny it vigorously.

Well, I don't know. I am not trying to hurt anyone. It is seriously just my opinion, everyone deserves one, but that's it, and I don't mean anything by it (except that i don't want to pretend i think something I don't) and don't expect anyone to agree or anything. Cuz, I know in the trans community it is taboo but most of the cis world doesn't even care. Better to be honest among accepting people and figure out how everyone feels than stay in denial and get it from the cis world who ISN'T accepting. That is how I feel.

It's not that I don't see WHY it frustrates people, because a lot of people with my opinion also believe trans people like that are not valid, but since i believe trans people are valid... yeah. No pitchforks please ><

I think they tend to have similar interests to their birth sex (one study said the rate for the military is much higher among trans women than for the general male population; not that there aren't women in the military but it's generally a traditionally masculine thing). I'm not sure about personality. There are some really womanly trans women on here, some of whom are veterans.

Oddly, or not so oddly, interests also seem to correspond to orientation some. Trans women who were straight in their male lives tend to have more traditionally male interests. Trans guys with traditionally feminine interests also tend to be gay (not all, but enough to see a pattern).

I don't really want to talk about it too deeply and make people upset at me. I know that will happen no matter how well meaning I am. Plus I have only really interacted with the trans population on the internet, so I don't know how it represents the entire population either. But in my opinion it does extend to personality. Things like dependence/independence/counterdependence and attachment styles, relationship role preference, group forming and conforming, conscientiousness, combativeness, decisiveness, measures of self worth, social emotional processing, sexuality, sexualization of others and sexual behavior, logical vs artistic preference, thinking vs feeling preference... I did notice the orientation thing as well, esp orientation pre-HRT and before thinking about transition.

For example i think I am personally in the middle or inconsistent on most of the gendered personality aspects despite a lot of people thinking i am feminine. It doesn't always jump out at you.

[Ms Grace]

Well this has to be the only forum I havent seen people fighting and calling words each other...
so I think that means something.

That's likely due to the strongly moderated nature of the forum...having previously on some other trans forum with lax moderation the insults flowed pretty freely sometimes!

I don't know about "homogenous", having now met a number of trans women it seems we are all as unique as any person. I only know one trans guy - a friend going back ten years - and he's as unique an individual as any person I know. It's a bit like saying all "racial group" are the same or all "religious group" are the same or all "political group" are the same. It only appears that way to the outsider, on the inside it's pretty obvious they share cultural or philosophical traits/beliefs but are still individuals.

[Jess42]

I think they tend to have similar interests to their birth sex (one study said the rate for the military is much higher among trans women than for the general male population; not that there aren't women in the military but it's generally a traditionally masculine thing). I'm not sure about personality. There are some really womanly trans women on here, some of whom are veterans.

Oddly, or not so oddly, interests also seem to correspond to orientation some. Trans women who were straight in their male lives tend to have more traditionally male interests. Trans guys with traditionally feminine interests also tend to be gay (not all, but enough to see a pattern).

Well FA, I can only speak for myself but I somehow had the thought that the military might "fix" me but learned the hard way it doesn't work like that. So even after four very long years of faking it I was and still am trans. For me it was more of a test, sort of like an extended purge that ended up being extremely miserable. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have joined but sort of glad and proud that I did.

[Nero]

I think they tend to have similar interests to their birth sex (one study said the rate for the military is much higher among trans women than for the general male population; not that there aren't women in the military but it's generally a traditionally masculine thing). I'm not sure about personality. There are some really womanly trans women on here, some of whom are veterans.

Oddly, or not so oddly, interests also seem to correspond to orientation some. Trans women who were straight in their male lives tend to have more traditionally male interests. Trans guys with traditionally feminine interests also tend to be gay (not all, but enough to see a pattern).

Well FA, I can only speak for myself but I somehow had the thought that the military might "fix" me but learned the hard way it doesn't work like that. So even after four very long years of faking it I was and still am trans. For me it was more of a test, sort of like an extended purge that ended up being extremely miserable. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have joined but sort of glad and proud that I did.

I think the study touched on that too, that there was probably an element of trying to stamp out feminine feelings responsible for so many trans women in the military. <wish I remember where I saw this>

[Jess42]

I think the study touched on that too, that there was probably an element of trying to stamp out feminine feelings responsible for so many trans women in the military. <wish I remember where I saw this>

I wish you could remember too, it seems like it might be an interesting study. Look at how many we have on the forums that are now going through the same smack on the head that I did. I had a whole lot of patience though to wait it out. I truly feel for the ones that are going through the realization because I know how miserable it was for me. I tried the gung ho thing and that worked about as well as trying to get a rock to float. I joined the flag football team for my unit at my first duty station, less than 6 months in. I just wasn't aggressive enough(go figure, flag football?) and that is the point in time that I realized I am not really a man or at least not on the inside and never would be. Then 3 1/2 years I had to make do and trudge through it more or less on autopilot.

[Keira]

I agree with the whole theme of "hiding feminine behaviors" being something that a lot if not most of us went through.

It was slightly different in my case because I am bigender, I have two genders that I switch between without control. (I am sometimes androgyne, but most of the time I am female)

So as a child I was very between guys and girls and never really understood guys at all, but felt like I could relate a lot to girls and sort of envied them. I started to figure out that if I behaved a certain way that I would be more likely to be accepted. Effectively I was forced into being androgyne for 19 years, albeit when puberty hit it was a lot easier to pretend to be a strong masculine jerk male (which I did for several years, all of which I regret painfully)...yay male hormones...

As much as what I did was dictated by my hormone levels, I still felt like my actions and what I felt/wanted were completely opposite things.

Eventually after living that long suppressing my primary female gender "she" sort of just popped out complete with a psychosomatic breakdown beforehand (IBS, major depression, complete confusion as to what was happening to me, and a loss of time).

Lesson learned...you can only suppress things for so long before they come out without your consent and turn your life upside down.