Whilst ignorance is a bad thing, this person is willing to learn and isn't trying to intentionally cause harm. We should be understanding and try help as best we can to educate Emma. I understand how offensive and harsh her comments may have been, I thought that too. We all have our ignorances but being open and wanting to understand is what really matters in a situation like this. I'm not trying to start anything here at all but I think we should take this opportunity to make positive.
Emma, please don't feel threatened or scared to post again. You're only here for legit concerns. I'd just like to clear things up for you so you can better understand why what you said may have offended transgender people and how you can avoid doing that again in future.
*Our physical bodies do not determine our gender, people do and if someone is a transgender woman then they're nothing more than that - a woman; same goes for transgender men - no matter what they look like or what parts they have.
*Many transgender people experience ignorance/prejudice and hate from most of society due to the lack of knowledge on this topic; we were born like this and didn't asks for any of this; there is nothing wrong with being transgender, however. We are human just like you and every other person on this planet, we feel and have emotions too.
*Transsexual porn is very misleading and shouldn't be taken seriously, just like most porn, it is merely fantasy. Most transgender people experience dysphoria because of their bodies and most aren't comfortable with their genitals.
*Many transgender people experience depression because of the lack of support and understanding from those close to them and feel they need to hide, thus causing problems such as clinical depression. I'd also like to mention that the rate of suicide amongst transgender people is much, much higher than that of the general population.
*If someone identifies as a transgender man then it is only respectful to use male pronouns and refer to them as their chosen name, vice versa.
*Being transgender is something we're born with, we feel it on the inside and know who we are, we don't do this to deceive anyone, we're just being ourselves and we more than often lead lives full of misery because of that. There have been many studies to prove that it is real, I'm sure a quick Google search could yield some useful information/evidence.
*Gender and sexual orientation are very different things. Gender is who we are on the inside. That can be male, female or non-binary from what I know. Sexual orientation is what gender we are attracted to, and there's more sexual orientations than just lesbian, gay and bi-sexual but I won't delve into that as it's irrelevant. Example: Someone could be a transgender woman and like women; they're therefore lesbian. A man attracted to a transgender woman is straight. You get the idea. The word transgender simply implies that someone's gender-identity doesn't match their sex (their physical body).
*Gender and sex are also different things. Gender is in the mind and sex is physical. We are still nonetheless whatever gender we identify as, our bodies (sex) just don't match our mind (gender) but that doesn't mean you should think any less of us because of that.
I'm not sure how to answer your questions but I guess role-playing with a strap-on could work. As long as you're comfortable doing so, of course. I hope I was able to clear some things up for you, feel free to ask more questions if you need. I know it can be a hard concept to grasp, it is very complex, after all.
