Transsexual Female Priviledge

[Wild Flower]

Today. In fact... was the first time that I accepted I am a transsexual woman, and even embrace it like I am better off than cisgender woman.  I wouldnt say I am so superior I am ready to tell my family, but it makes me question society... were prisoners in our own bodies and if we change we become outcasts.

Is it wrong to be a female? I do not think so. Its equally good and bad to be either gender.  I think being a transgender woman gives us a perspective in society no one else sees.

Transsexual women do not need to be pity. Were only victims who are asking to be abuse if we are pity. Its like being that 45 year old stripper in a nightclub of the 18-25 bracket. Her knowledge, confidence, and wisdom makes her that much of a higher earning Queen B.  Supply//Demand

We are in low supply but men/women who desire us are in high demand.

The problem is in us as a community... not the world. We need to revolt against the world... embrace our power, wisdom, and our superiority as human beings. We are able to transform the body we are in... something most humans never understand. We are walking beings from another dimensions capable of the incapabilities that no group has ever seen.

We do not need to be pity but worship for we are the  goddesses of surpreme feminity.


~" I exaggerated just a tad'

[DanielleA]

I think that it is great that you have come to terms with how you are. Understanding what makes you who you are can bring you alot of piece of mind, and knowledge is power.
I also firmly believe in womens rights and believe that there is nothing wrong with being a woman. It's just societies persectives on women that can get in the way.
As for our ability to offer a unique perspective. (I tried to think long and hard on this one) There are many of us who have lived as one gender, been interacted with as that gender, then when we transition, people interact with us in a completely different way. That understanding of how people socialise is very valuable.
It would be a cold day in hell before I would consider myself as a superior being but one of the perks is understanding.

[Brenda E]

Its like being that 45 year old stripper in a nightclub of the 18-25 bracket. Her knowledge, confidence, and wisdom makes her that much of a higher earning Queen B.  Supply//Demand

We are in low supply but men/women who desire us are in high demand.

Hmmm.  From a sexual perspective, I suppose you're right.  There aren't enough of "us" to go around, and demand for transgender women probably does far exceed demand.  In that sense, we do have a large degree of power and could exert control over a certain segment of the population.

But to me, that kind of power is dehumanizing.  I want my respect to be earned by who I am, not what I am.  I want my influence to be determined by what I do for others, not by what people want to do to me if I'd only let them.  I have no intention - ever - of using my unique body to get what I want out of life.  I in no way want to be the girl who sleeps her way to the top, and I'll have worked so hard to get my body the way I want it that the last thing I'd ever think of doing is cheapening it by waving it around in front of men to get things from them.

If I didn't misread the post, of course.

Now, you're absolutely right that we do have some attributes that are rather useful - seeing both sides of the gender coin (although that's debatable - were we ever truly the opposite gender?), the strengthening effects of gender transition, the freeing effect of not playing by the rules society wants to impose upon us, etc.  And if only those traits were valued.  Sadly, I think we're still a group that is looked down upon rather than held in high esteem - in part, because outsiders see transgender issues as being prurient rather than medical in nature.  I'd strongly prefer to see us move forward as a united group and present the message that we're no different from anybody else, neither inferior or superior, and all we're asking for is equality.

[zog]

This is exactly why I don't ever want to go full stealth, or at least I don't think I do. I have nothing against people going stealth if they feel that's what's the best way for them to live, but I feel that all trans' folk offer a pretty valuable perspective on a lot of things and I've found that a lot of people have actually found it helpful in understanding a lot of things, especially about the supposed "differences between the sexes". But more than that, this is a perspective about all of life that's been silenced and kept silent in the western world for a very, very long time. I refuse to be silenced. I refuse to disappear, because that's not me. And the whole point in this is to be me.

At the same time, I don't find this to be any more or less superior state of being than any other (and personally I can't stand the term 'transsexual' but that's a whole another discussion and it's just me and I don't want to limit or criticize any choices of vocabulary preferred by others). It's just another strand in the tapestry of humanity. It's just one that shouldn't be buried under the others like it has been for quite some time.

[JoanneB]

I can still feel the sense of ... euphoria(?) that overcame me one day in my therapist office when I said the words "I am a transsexual". At that instant I came to own it. In a way I shed a layer of shame, the 20ft thick harden and reinforced concrete layer. In a way I felt empowered. Not that I am a TS, but by my own self acceptance that I am. That helped empower me to face the real world as the real me. To forever shed the feelings of "Some guy in a dress".

While many cultures throughout time and civilizations have a "special" respect for TG people, especially MTF's, we were and still remain sub first class people and perhaps a notch above lepers. And that is by cultures that try to recognize us. No if ans or buts, we are an aberration. We do not fit the norm. Being different does not make you superior. Being different only makes you an easy target to spot.

Yes, being to view life from both male and female vantage points may be a good characteristic to poses. Yet, how many of us (MTF in my case) have heard the words we come to hate from girlfriends, "You are so different from other guys"? Which, at times is great, until the real truth comes out as "You aren't a real man". And think, this is from what our society basically has in the second class citizen bin and from a person that allegedly  loves you!

The only privilege  I feel walking down the street is the privilege of not having rocks (real or metaphoric) thrown at me. Everything after that is gravy.

[Unrepentant]

You might change your mind when the hammer of reality strikes the anvil of life and you discover you are wedged firmly between them. Bohica

[Eva Marie]

You might change your mind when the hammer of reality strikes the anvil of life and you discover you are wedged firmly between them. Bohica

True, life serves up a lot of lemons and it's up to us to figure out what to do with them. Some even make lemonade out of those lemons. Your attitude about life plays a big part in this.

For a lot of us that are MTF when we transitioned we moved from a position higher up the social totem pole to a much lower position. Some of that is inherent in being a female in a patriarchal world, and some of it is inherent in being trans. It's simply one of the costs of becoming your authentic self.

Where we were previously on that totem pole was rarefied air, and where we are now is where much of the rest of the world lives. We gave up male privilege. Adjusting to that change might come as a shock to some. One of the characteristics of privilege is that you can't see it until you lose it.

As the OP pointed out we are not without power. We have an advantage in knowing what motivates men, and in knowing a lot about how men think and behave. As women we are extended politeness, courtesy, and respect from others, and those can be used to move us forward. As trans women that have fought to become who we are we are far less likely to become a doormat and let someone walk all over us. We are fighters. We have quite literally experienced hell, and we have experienced staggering losses - and we survived. We are strong people not to be trifled with. We are the iron fist in the velvet glove.

I think that this is where our transsexual female privilege lies - the world doesn't give it to us; we make it happen ourselves.

A final thought - given the battle we endured to be our authentic selves we are very, very likely to have the ability to turn life's lemons into something positive, because we already have done so.

[Damara]

True, life serves up a lot of lemons and it's up to us to figure out what to do with them. Some even make lemonade out of those lemons. Your attitude about life plays a big part in this.

For a lot of us that are MTF when we transitioned we moved from a position higher up the social totem pole to a much lower position. Some of that is inherent in being a female in a patriarchal world, and some of it is inherent in being trans. It's simply one of the costs of becoming your authentic self.

Where we were previously on that totem pole was rarefied air, and where we are now is where much of the rest of the world lives. We gave up male privilege. Adjusting to that change might come as a shock to some. One of the characteristics of privilege is that you can't see it until you lose it.

As the OP pointed out we are not without power. We have an advantage in knowing what motivates men, and in knowing a lot about how men think and behave. As women we are extended politeness, courtesy, and respect from others, and those can be used to move us forward. As trans women that have fought to become who we are we are far less likely to become a doormat and let someone walk all over us. We are fighters. We have quite literally experienced hell, and we have experienced staggering losses - and we survived. We are strong people not to be trifled with. We are the iron fist in the velvet glove.

I think that this is where our transsexual female privilege lies - the world doesn't give it to us; we make it happen ourselves.

A final thought - given the battle we endured to be our authentic selves we are very, very likely to have the ability to turn life's lemons into something positive, because we already have done so.

So many wonderful words I needed to hear!

[Dee Marshall]

I agree with most of that, Eva Marie, but personally I never understood men, even when I thought I was one. That's why I ended up studying psychology.

[Tori]

Trans privelage is a thing.

Since I started to transition I have got very cheap laser, free health care of trans stuff (USA) and the big one, the superpower to inherit hand me down clothing from just about any woman who meets me.

[mrs izzy]

This is the only warning i am going to give 

I have locked the topic, removed a post, gave a warning all on 2 reports.

Keep topic in Tos.

I am un-locking the topic so keep it respectful.

Thanks
Izzy G.M.

[Lady_Oracle]

I can't completely agree with this topic. We as a community have very little privilege if anything. Its so dependent on where you live in the world, for example like a country that doesn't even have healthcare for trans people or if they do have it, they deny you medical care so its practically the same thing. Even here in the U.S. trans people have been refused medical care countless times over the years. I also cant consider being "wanted" as a fetish some sort of privilege..I however can agree that we have a very unique perspective and life experience that we can share with others and help break the vicious cycle of discrimination for people who do not fit the binary. Also to help show that we're all just human (to disprove those terrible people calling us monsters) and that no one should be mistreated for their appearance. The world isn't black and white, instead its more gray than anything else and we can show society this better than any other community.

Now if you're able to blend in "pass" or are stealth then you do get to experience female privilege. 

[Julia-Madrid]

Wildflower and friends

What we are talking about here is empowerment, and mostly it's self-empowerment.  I don't think we innately possess any particular privilege, other than the perspective of witnessing first hand the difference in privilege between men and women, as granted us by society.

It is important that we perceive ourselves as being valuable, but I wouldn't go so far as to call us a commodity, far less a commodity in short supply.  If anything, the goal most of us have is to become as generic as cornflakes - indistinguishable amongst the mass of others of the same gender.

As a consequence of this very desire, I would argue that we are far from being a collective, and even further from being a powerful collective, as we are too often fetishised by the society we would want to influence.

At the end of the day, I think that most battles for privilege are won privately - in our individual workplaces; amongst our small number of personal friends; in the skirmishes we have with with officialdom, and this returns me to the empowerment issue.  Those of us who had power before we chose to transition are frequently the same people who have the empowerment later on. Sad but probably true.  Local support groups and entities such as Susan's may provide a small amount of wind beneath the wings of our many trans brothers and sisters, but most have a pretty hard time not only learning to fly, but being allowed to fly.

We've got a way to go yet...

Julia