Semantics of 'Transsexual"

[Hazumu]

How you phrase something can change the meaning.

Consider the two phrases:

'I'm a Transsexual'

'I am Transsexual'

The former, to me, seems to imply a choice on my part, and a membership with a group -- "I'm a Kings fan"  "I'm a Miata owner."

The latter seems to imply no choice, and group membership is not an issue -- "I'm caucasian"  "I'm myopic."

I prefer to tell people "I'm transsexual".

What's your take on this?

Karen

[Nero]

Never thought about that before, but I like your take on it.

[Elizabeth]

Karen,

I'm = I am

So we have the two statements

I am a transsexual

     And

I am transsexual

The first one identifies you as one transsexual. The second identifies you as a member of the group of transsexuals.

That is how it reads to me.

Love always,
Elizabeth

[Ricki]

Lovely Karen....Elizabeth made it very easy for me I-AM-BOTH-!
kisses
Ricki

[umop ap!sdn]

I'm a human.



Well, the first is using it as a noun form and the second is using it as an adjective. So the first says "this is something I am" and the second says "this is a characteristic of me". So yeah, I guess it kind of has some implication of choice, although to me it's more like "this is what I'm defined as/pigeonholed into" vs. "this is just something that happens to be true about me, therefore merely one aspect of me and not ultimately the whole of what I'm all about".

I hope that made sense.

[Steph]

Nope I am a woman.  I didn't have a choice it was how I was born

Steph

[tinkerbell]

I am the one and only fairy goddess, that is all!

Seriously, I am a woman although the world has made such a big drama about my being a woman all my life.  Tough toenails!


tinkerbell

[LynnER]

Ummmmm.... Im not transexual... Im a girl... I just happen to suffer from an extreem genetic birthdefect...

[umop ap!sdn]

Right on, Lynn!

[HelenW]

I think that saying, "a transsexual" objectifies it - makes it a noun - makes it something outside of myself that I've acquired.  Saying "I'm transsexual" makes it an adjective, just another part of my gestalt.  I prefer the latter.

I have been considering, though, to explaining it just as a major league, humongous, life long hormone imbalance that I've finally built the courage to confront and treat.

Or is that being too much of a victim?

hugs & smiles,
helen

[Sheila]

I was both then I transitioned now I'm who I should have been, A female the woman type. I can't help it if the doctor and I think my parents had a 50/50 choice and blew it. What the heck it was in the 40's. I corrected their mistake and they didn't even have the nerve to tell me what they did. It's all about ignorance.
So I am a woman, I'm a woman, I have been a woman and I will forever be a woman.
Sheila

[Debbie_Anne]

I prefer to tell people "I'm Debbie".  "I'm a Debbie" doesn't sound right, even though there are a lot of "Debbies" out there.

[Refugee]

I think the phrase a friend of mine used was "I was born a transsexual, but I had it corrected when I was XX"

I always liked that better then anything else.