I remember Renee Richards commenting in her autobiography about her own TS prejudice. She was in the waiting room of a TS therapist's office and she looked around and wondered how she could be part of such a group. I've often wondered if that's the reason TS's don't usually organize socially, out in the open, like gay groups. Do we see our own "faults" in other TS's? How many TS's are secretly transphobic?
I admit that I've shared uneasy feelings towards some other TS's. There was a TS in a TS group once who was built like a football player but loved to wear chiffon dresses and heels. Others in the group, as has been said in other posts, made no effort to soften their very bassy voices. It made no sense to me and I realized that the way they presented themselves made me feel threatened -- society would equate me as being in the same box as the Jerry Springer-type TS's.
After one of these encounters at the TS group, I cried on my friend's shoulder, pleading, "Was I going to look like that after transitioning?" She assured me that I looked fine and sounded feminine.
For me, it was more of a FEAR thing than a transphobic thing. Was I as obvious as these others? Years of living as a woman has helped dispel most of those fears.
Teri Anne
