Poll
Question:
Is Transgender a medical condition or a lifestyle choice?
Option 1: Medical Condition
Option 2: Lifestyle Choice
I've heard transgender referred to as a lifestyle. Especially with the increased awareness of non-binary genders, transgender is increasingly seen as a "movement" whose result would be greater freedom and acceptance for engaging in gender variant lifestyles. I've also heard people describe transgender as a medical condition. Something people are born with and that they may need to correct to live a satisfying life.
What do you think?
Why would someone "choose" this?
I am against one person making a decision for another, unless there is very good reason for it. I don't see that here. So I feel like how I define my own identity has nothing to do with how anyone else defines theirs.
So my response is "I think different people are different, and nobody is wrong."
No one said anyone was "wrong", its a either or question. Do you think this is a medical condition, or do you think it is a lifestyle choice.
Sounds like the debate about being gay or lesbian.
Quote from: Sarah Louise on April 11, 2013, 09:24:29 AM
No one said anyone was "wrong", its a either or question. Do you think this is a medical condition, or do you think it is a lifestyle choice.
Yes, and I think maybe for some people it can be a medical condition and for some people it can be a choice and for some people it can be both and for some it can be neither. I can offer an opinion on how I see my own self, but I'm not going to offer an opinion on trans people as a whole.
Your options are too binary :P
I think it's a combination of both. I know I'm not an urgent need-to-transition-right-away case and that confronting identity issues now rather than X years from now was a choice. The initial cause of my gender identity issues was probably something medical/genetic/unknown since I've spent a good portion of my life trying (unsuccessfully) to make it go away.
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I've heard transgender referred to as a lifestyle. Especially with the increased awareness of non-binary genders...
Where have I heard this one before...oh right. I've heard this in reference to people who are bisexual. "Oh, honey everyone is bisexual!"...yeah right I'd love to see you go have a relationship with both girls AND guys and thoroughly enjoy it.
Rofl...I laugh at the extreme conservatives lifestyle choice...being ignorant, intolerant, and spreading outright lies. Being who you are shouldn't have to be a choice, ignoring and trying to take away other people's rights is a choice (this includes EVERYONE, not just extremist conservatives).
I don't mean to sound overly confident or rude...I just find a lot of this to be ridiculous, outdated, and recycled to the point of redundancy. (How everything that has been previously said about other groups is said about newer groups)
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transgender is increasingly seen as a "movement" whose result would be greater freedom and acceptance for engaging in gender variant lifestyles.
Transgender people aren't the only ones trying to further acceptance, trans* allies are also doing their part. Again, this reminds me of the "issue" of gay marriage.
Oh noez, if gay people are allowed to marry that would destroy the definition of "one man and one woman". They're destroying society, what ever shall we do?
Sound similar to...
Oh noez, if transgender people are allowed to present as a gender different from their birth sex it will destroy gender roles. They're destroying society, what ever shall we do?
Grow up people...we live in the 21st century, not the 1300's...things change, get used to it.
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I've also heard people describe transgender as a medical condition. Something people are born with and that they may need to correct to live a satisfying life.
As a community (sort of) we use stuff like this to fight discrimination, similar to how being gay was defended as being inherent and genetic.
I agree that being transgender is a biological variation that seems quite prevalent in nature. But to say that it is a "medical condition" is almost to ignore the people that do not wish to medically transition, but yet wish to live as their true innate self (aka, they have less dysphoria).
The term "medical condition" also implies that being transgender can be fixed or cured by transitioning, perhaps instead of clinical-izing everything we could just agree that certain things are within the realm of standard variation. I don't mean to say that transitioning is not the solution, I just don't want to feel like I'm being categorized and clinical-ized; the mentality of, "patient 142 treated, on to the next one".
I think the scientific community is starting to realize that it isn't "nature vs nurture" but more like biological nature is affected by social nurture: being transgender is inherently genetic, but has to be "discovered" by the person who has it (regardless of ones age).
I don't claim 100% absolute truth, this is just what I think...
Seeing that "Transgender" is an umbrella term, it can be both. Being transsexual is a medical condition, where as Cross-dressing could be a life style choice. Some people enjoy dressing as the opposite sex, which could be a life style choice, as I personally know of some people who are like that.
That being said it might be a medical condition.
JMPO
Quote from: Ms. OBrien CVT on April 11, 2013, 11:04:09 AM
Seeing that "Transgender" is an umbrella term, it can be both. Being transsexual is a medical condition, where as Cross-dressing could be a life style choice. Some people enjoy dressing as the opposite sex, which could be a life style choice, as I personally know of some people who are like that.
That being said it might be a medical condition.
JMPO
+1
And there are TG people who are not TS, who think it "might be cool" to have their own set of tits...I've only met a couple of cis-guys who thought this, but if there are those who consider it, even hypothetically, there's bound to be those who will act on it, and who may (or may not) regret their choice.
Quote from: Anna Michele on April 11, 2013, 09:41:54 AM
Your options are too binary :P
Came here to say something like this, but less succinctly. :P
Much like my gender, I feel like it's not one, the other, or a combination, but something else entirely. I hear people going on about medical conditions and birth defects, and that doesn't sit quite right with me. Likewise, it's not a choice to be transgender, though transition is a choice a lot of people make (though it's not optional for everyone). It's kind of like sexual orientation in that it's just part of the natural variation within the human species.
I can't vote cause I dont feel any of the options suits my opinion.
I wont say its a lifestyle choice, you can choose to live out whatever you are, but you cant choose your fellings behind it. and even if you say choose the choice isnt really much of a fair choice. to not be hidden or not to be harrasmed.
--
but neither I guess medical condition is suitable cause even when many transfolks gets better with threatment as homones and surgery theres also many who dont need it and it also depend on what kind of transperson you are and where you live.
I Personally belive ->-bleeped-<- to be natural varientation and that sociaty is just struggle to accept it.
I believe in medical condition. I believe that we all start out life as a gender neutral egg. Then the hormones in the womb kick in that 1st give us our identity in that we either become mentally feminine or masculine or somewhere in between. Also the sex center is affected the same way
Lifestyle choice? *le facepalm* I have a girl brain and am working on the body to match.
Well, I guess it beats a deathstyle choice.
It's a much a choice as... Wanting to get teeth pulled without novacaine, Or... Say... Slamming your hand in the car door.. Repeatedly... No? It's like... oh... bending back several fingers til they touch your wrist.
WHO in any sense would want to be so conflicted that they would kill themselves??? Being transgendered is NOT a choice! It's a medical condition, a disability, it's like making a choice to being an epileptic, or diabetic!!! You HAVE no choice. The only choice is whether to live as you look, if that's even possible, or fix your body, because, the mind is the thing that's right.
I'm sorry, I didn't not mean to get so incensed over this..
Being transgender is not a choice. Transitioning is the choice (yes, even though sometimes its a death or transition choice, that is still technically a choice). I'm not sure I would say it's a medical condition either though. Maybe for some. I'd say for some it's probably just a variant - something that makes them different from non-transgender people.
Even if it were a "lifestyle choice", no one has the right to hate on or oppress others for their choice.
One chooses their beliefs; one does not choose their Being.
Quote from: Anna++ on April 11, 2013, 09:41:54 AM
Your options are too binary :P
Well put. I think that gender is a very huge, and even more complex, issue. Personally, I'm not going to click either of the answers. I get... anxious when even within our community we try to break something down and figure out the root. I worry that if we ever do discover the root, that the 'problem' for future generations may be preemptively fixed. I know no one wants to go through this struggle, but I also think individuals need to be free from other's oppressive choices.
Again -- big issue, very complex. I could write my dissertation on this and I still don't think I'd answer it thoroughly enough.
Quote from: Sarah Louise on April 11, 2013, 09:18:01 AM
Why would someone "choose" this?
Bingo. I know I never would. For me the choice was simple: Transition or die. I chose to live.
IMHO, regardless of its origin, I believe that a common denominator for most transgendered people is that we suffer from an obsession. The definition of an obsession is "an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind." When the obsession is gender-related and associated with mental anguish or depression, we call that "gender dysphoria."
Based on research by the medical and mental health community, it appears that what caused the obsession may vary. It may be hormonal in nature (medical), or related to an early childhood experience (environmental), or due to a combination of many factors. Regardless of the spectrum of factors that caused the obsession, the result is a restless desire or need to somehow resolve the obsession in a manner that brings a satisfactory degree of relief. And it seems that no form of counseling alone can bring about that relief. However, just as there is a spectrum of causes, there appear to be a spectrum of solutions that bring satisfactory relief. For some, the only satisfactory solution may be a complete anatomical gender transformation. For other, this will not be the case.
Is the relief we seek a lifestyle choice? I suppose if someone considered that a person was not suffering from an obsession but merely curious about what another lifestyle was like, or judged that a particular obsession was "minimal", that same person might consider the solution was a lifestyle choice. But for me and I believe most of us, the dysphoria is so significant and persistent that this cannot be considered a lifestyle choice.
i cant give an accurate vote on this as i am a non binary androgynous. for some people it is necessary because their dysphoria becomes to a deadly point were they literally wont wake up again. as for other's, its a life choice such as cross-dressing is a life choice, so i cant give my opinion unfortunately. the lines are blurred so much, i went through the phase of literally questioning my very existence until i figured since i dont fit either mold, i may as well find my mid point and go from there
I agree with ImSuzi. Transgender is a spectrum term, but most of us in the spectrum are not here voluntarily. So how can it be considered a lifestyle "choice" ? I am here seeking relief, and I have not yet determined the appropriate solution for me.
Medical condition definitely. Check out my male VS. female vital signs.
Male Female
BP 178/116 BP 124/76
Pulse >110 (rest) Pulse 78 (rest)
Blood sugar 200-750 Blood sugar 118
Sleep per night 2 hours Sleep per night 71/2-8
Daily meds (12) Daily meds (3) HRT
Nervous Calm
Isolated Outgoing
Suicidal Well adjusted
Jessica, I simply don't agree with your former lifestyle choices of high blood pressure and hyperglycemia.
Quote from: Sarah Louise on April 11, 2013, 09:18:01 AM
Why would someone "choose" this?
There you go.
"It's a lifestyle choice", sounds like something that some moronic talking head on the idiot box would say.
Quote from: Laura Squirrel on June 10, 2014, 02:32:03 PM
There you go.
"It's a lifestyle choice", sounds like something that some moronic talking head on the idiot box would say.
Is being a moronic talking head on the idiot box a medical condition or a lifestyle choice?
Quote from: Jill F on June 10, 2014, 02:33:57 PM
Is being a moronic talking head on the idiot box a medical condition or a lifestyle choice?
It's a lifestyle choice, since it's an easy way to make a lot of money.
I can only speak for myself but this was not a lifestyle choice for me. I was trying to drink myself to death to escape who I was. The only "choice" I made was to live. My condition is biological. And like someone else said - who would choose this?
Quote from: Eva Marie on June 10, 2014, 02:42:31 PM
I can only speak for myself but this was not a lifestyle choice for me. I was trying to drink myself to death to escape who I was. The only "choice" I made was to live. My condition is biological. And like someone else said - who would choose this?
Yeah, I would drink and drug myself into oblivion. I'm glad that I don't do that anymore.
I believe associating transgenders with either a "lifestyle choice" or "medical condition" may be too restrictive. Doesn't it also cross over into the realm of a mental health condition – one that may or may not be associated with a medical condition?
It's my understanding that the reason that American Psychiatric Association now uses the diagnosis "gender dysphoria" rather than "gender identity disorder" is in part to indicate that gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder. But for me, the dysphoria seems more closely linked to PTSD than it does to a virus or tumor. Perhaps the condition was brought on by my prenatal environment, my post natal environment or some medical condition. But why is it important to categorize my disphoria as a medical rather than mental health condition? Am I overly concerned that mental health issues are somehow more stigmatizing that medical conditions?
I also question those who suggest that cross dressing should be categorized as a lifestyle choice. Perhaps for some is may be, but I have met few cross dressers who would suggest that they can readily cease cross dressing without a great deal of dysphoria.
Well, I would see it as a medical condition simply because for a lot of people, it requires the long term use of prescribed medications.
Quote from: Jill F on June 10, 2014, 02:19:45 PM
Jessica, I simply don't agree with your former lifestyle choices of high blood pressure and hyperglycemia.
I know right? Buying all those donuts from street dealers really stressed me! ;D
Quote from: suzifrommd on April 11, 2013, 09:12:53 AM
I've heard transgender referred to as a lifestyle. Especially with the increased awareness of non-binary genders, transgender is increasingly seen as a "movement" whose result would be greater freedom and acceptance for engaging in gender variant lifestyles. I've also heard people describe transgender as a medical condition. Something people are born with and that they may need to correct to live a satisfying life.
What do you think?
Wow. If it was a lifestyle choice then I am an idiot for not realising this and choosing another lifestyle! Funnily enough I have had a leading TS Sociology Professor tell me that gender, my gender was a social construct. My response, that only hormones addressed my dysphoria, and my question - then why do I identify as another misunderstood sub group ie non binary just drew a blank response. Frankly I find non medical explanations non persuasive and at odds with my life experience. My brain and it's need for hrt suggest a medical condition but hell I will never really know, and frankly I refuse to tie myself up in knots or run in ever decreasing circles.
I am TG, I am non binary, I accept this and I am proud of this.
Aisla
Nothing about this seems like a choice, sure I could ignore my gender identity but it could well kill me if I did so I suppose in that sense it is a choice.
Very little makes me more angry than someone claiming that they disagree with my "choice" to be trans, as if I sought this out at a store and bought my gender identity on Clearance or something.
Quote from: Hikari on June 10, 2014, 05:07:58 PM
Nothing about this seems like a choice, sure I could ignore my gender identity but it could well kill me if I did so I suppose in that sense it is a choice.
Very little makes me more angry than someone claiming that they disagree with my "choice" to be trans, as if I sought this out at a store and bought my gender identity on Clearance or something.
I know, right? I could just see it.
"Blue light specials today on "Queer" and "Genderfluid". Get one for the wife as well..."
Is it a choice? is survival not an instinct that is part of our nature? If so is being human a choice? I thought if it is a choice its that of my parents (And not mine).
Every cause has an affect?
When one drops a brick into a body of water, it makes a splash. Point is did the water choose to splash? or was it the choice of the brick to fall and not fly to river bank? Or was the splash my choice for having dropped the brick? Or was it the bricks fault for being there? Point is if what I do is a reaction of gender based depression and a survival instinct. Is it my choice to be depressed? Is it my choice for my life to be worthless lest I do this thing, even if only IN
HOPE?
Yes we make choices, but those choices are reactions to things of which we don't have any control?
A life style choice? NO. A choice of survival we are human.
Their is a medical element and various processes involved that can be attributed to "transition" as it is called.
BUT dysphoria is a name for gender based depression. Granted as time passes this depression comes easier to cope with, considering a lot of it is fear of loosing ones we love. Is loving a choice? Is Fear a choice?
There are elements we react to, in a human way because we are human, but these things are outside of our control, and so is being human.
Is it a choice to have diabetes? no. The only choice is to either find a way to live with it or perish. And survival is a human instinct.
Medicine, how humans help humans bear their burdens in order to provide a better quality of life. Any one wishing to live and live as happily as possible is going to choose this. If it is a treatment for something that affect their life so negatively it becomes almost worthless if not worthless.
I am human, and do not want to die, I know I will but I want to live, and to live as long and as happily as I can. Why Because I'm human, and that is not my choice.
EDIT------
Quote from: Jill F on June 10, 2014, 02:19:45 PM
Jessica, I simply don't agree with your former lifestyle choices of high blood pressure and hyperglycemia.
So read a bit further, And lols at this.
Kind of blunt and straight forwardly and humorously, making my point :P
As others have pointed out, I can't believe anyone would "choose" to live a life of fear, anguish and torment for the sole purpose of having that lifestyle.
I'm much more comfortable with who I am these days, but for many years I thought I was completely alone inside my head with all this and at times thought I was some sort of freak. I practiced at suicide a number of times in the early years because I simply didn't know what the hell was wrong with me and the resources weren't available then for me to find out.
Lifestyle choice? Like I mentioned, I'm pretty comfortable enough these days with who I am so I am able to give the idea that this is a lifestyle choice a manly guffaw and a feminine giggle at the same time...smile..
I don't have a formed opinion but what i do know is people use medical condition WAY overzealously when they don't have much medical knowledge at all and can't explain it. In that sense, every aspect of your personality is a medical condition, but that's not helpfuk. You can't point to the gene that causes it, you can't take a blood test for it. There are no consistent signs that aren't purely behavioral. It's not a coherent medical condition, more like a medical phenomenon. It is poorly understood.
Yes, it is serious, and probs not a choice, (well not always a choice, like for me, it was definitely a choice), but it is found in the DSM right now, and it is diagnosed with psychotherapy, again it is poorly understood in a medical sense, it is probably a broad range of unique conditions in reality.
I took the OP as using "Medical Condition" as any other mental or physical variable other than "Lifestyle Choice". It seemed to be a lot shorter than typing a paragraph and I applaud the brevity...smile
Laura Squirrel:
Since I made Millions of bucks because of this being a life style choice.
Please just tell the guy who just put a bullet in head and stole all my millions that it was a life style choice.
I voted medical condition and the reason why I have always been this way it seems so not truly a choice at all. I however am not suicidal nor have I over used drugs/alcohol but I think I have stuffed this down so far for so long that its come to bit me in the you know. As for the fact of a crossdresser and being a choice. My answer is medical on the mental side of medical yet a choice no not really. I am not in the medical field whatsoever but would it not make sense that something in the brain has brought this dilemma in whatever form it has taken for each person and that something perhaps was physical change to the brain and perhaps the body itself. Not saying anything is wrong with anyone we are not crazy people more just confused and then get realization of what we are and grow most likely more then the general population ever could due to struggle of changes. The big point is who would truly want to be ridiculed, abused, misunderstood and perhaps abandoned. To that I say no one therefore it is not really a choice but more complicated since there is a mental aspect and after all we use what maybe 10% of our brain how the heck can we know what the other 90% is doing if we cant even use it all or maybe we use more then we think but that is probably another debate.
As for a crossdresser I do have a medical type theory in such that correct me if I am wrong most dress to alleviate stress and or anxiety. As to why the dressing would do this is perhaps on the hormonal side that person is and always was a little more of the opposite born gender due to how the brain has developed. Where as a transsexual a greater variance has occurred when the brain developed there for a greater change Is require then just clothes. All that being said I reiterate we are not crazy just a varying amount of acceptance really of who we are and who we are not. Obviously due to such a degree of variance of both a mental/hormonal aspect and out lack of understanding of the brain and really 100% of the populations is not truly 100% male or female since we all have some degree of both estrogen/testosterone flowing in us. It is really such a grey matter not black and white that no one can say it Is right or wrong. After all right or wrong is black or white is it not. My basic way of looking at this would be a lock on a door. What this is is a combination lock on the door to our mind/soul yet what it is not is a simple lock with a key.
Pardon for the long windedness I tend to articulate so so.
It wasn't a choice. If I had the choice, I'd be a cismale. But I'm not. I'm a trans man. Also, I don't believe that because I'm trans, I'm 'ill'. So I don't believe in either point.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No one chooses to be trans. Who in their right mind would choose to have a higher possibility of losing family, job and income, friends, getting assaulted and battered, murdered; losing male privilege (?), losing muscle so you can't defend yourself as well and all for what? Kinkier sex? That doesn't even make sense. Wouldn't be a fair trade off.
If it was a choice, as I told my therapist, I'd choose to spend the money on a Corvette. It'd be cheaper than all the surgeries - and less painful.
The symptoms seem to always have been there. That strikes me as medical.
How I choose to live, not live, behave seems to be a lifestyle choice.
Actually it is a medical condition due to this simple way of looking at it.
Acton to change = Sanity
Inaction to change = Insanity/death
Sorry If that is a lifestyle choice I choose the life choice of living not going insane due to internal conflict and or death not to mention the societal view of us. Even if this was wildly accepted by society there is the most important person that needs to find the resolution to this conflict yourself and the cause is somehow at least some degree medical aka biological and physical variation in the brain. Not saying crazy just not average Cis basically.
Quote from: Jessica Merriman on June 10, 2014, 11:28:02 AM
Medical condition definitely. Check out my male VS. female vital signs.
Male Female
BP 178/116 BP 124/76
Pulse >110 (rest) Pulse 78 (rest)
Blood sugar 200-750 Blood sugar 118
Sleep per night 2 hours Sleep per night 71/2-8
Daily meds (12) Daily meds (3) HRT
Nervous Calm
Isolated Outgoing
Suicidal Well adjusted
Wow.....
Looks familiar but even worse than I.... Way to go..
Hugs
Jen
I guess this would be like saying:
getting cancer isn't a choice, but choosing to get cancer treatment is a lifestyle choice.
Being trans is a medical condition, and while the 'choice' is whether or not you treat it or let it drive you to misery, it's a bit of a loaded one, isn't it...? Like with the cancer.
If I met someone who told me getting chemotherapy was a lifestyle choice, I'd laugh.
IMO: Being trans is caused by a variation in the levels of hormones received in utero. The variations can be naturally occurring or externally induced. Although the variations are identified by medical professionals, I don't think they are a medical condition. I think that they just occur. (the gender spectrum) I think the medical condition comes into play when we struggle with dysphyoria and seek medical care. Most gender therapists advise us not to fight it and encourage self acceptance. It is when we make the decision to accept it and embrace it that the lifestyle issue is becomes evident. Some of us transition and some don't or cannot. That's more of a choice issue.
*
My decision to make a 'choice' came toward the late end of a curious youth - childhood and teen years persisting in what was then called 'feminine protesting' - repeated tantrums, outbursts, and arguments with my family of my asserting my female-hood ('I AM a girl, Mom!') despite that 'M' on my personal documents.
My transsexualism and my feminine protesting convinced physicians to put me under fluoroscope, the knife, and conduct other determinants leading to their conclusion that indeed I am female inter-sexed, an anatomical situation, not a 'choice', unless my mind 'chose' to organise my anatomy in different ways while in utero by the third month into gestation.
Armed with that information, I 'chose' to wear my 'hysterectomy scar' as my badge of honour, I 'chose' to continue my transition, and I 'chose' a corrective procedure that helpt resolve my anatomy and identity.
My specific case - inter-sexed female - could be defined as a 'medical condition'. I learned from one set of resources over the years that many inter-sex people are satisfied to 'choose' to remain the sex the birth doctor assigned to them at birth. I learned from other resources that other inter-sex patients 'choose' to change their birth assignment.
With that being a 'choice', I 'chose' to change the 'M' on my Birth Certificate to 'F'. I 'choose' to have no regrets for my 'choices' concerning my 'medical condition'.
*
Quote from: Sarah Louise on April 11, 2013, 09:18:01 AM
Why would someone "choose" this?
Exactly, if I was given a choice, I would obviously choose not to have any dysphoria. I wish I could just take a pill or something to make myself cis, but we don't know nearly enough about the brain to try, much less do it safely. It'll take us until the 22nd century at the very least, leaving transitioning as my only option.
Hi! You have a lot to learn. We all did and do! Still! google the AMA web cast from 2011 that focuses on Sexual Preference and Gender Identity. That's a good start! This may open your eyes a little wider on how and who we are!
Hugz!
I voted in the overwhelming majority in this poll. I treated my condition medically and it worked quite nicely, thanks. There is the social aspect of transitioning that is certainly a separate dynamic.
The reverse question seems obvious but I'll ask the rhetorical question, who would choose this ?
C -
Well I think it's more complicated than that, and actually all three (medical condition, lifestyle choice and movement) apply, in some way or another. Cause the way I see it being trans and dealing with that situation entails several different aspects:
1.) Psychological, by which I mean anything that can be construed as gender dysphoria, gender euphoria, the wish to transition, the wish to pass and/or live as the other sex, etc. Not everyone refers to this the same way, but you get the gist.
- I think that at least the dysphoria part here is a "medical condition," but just wanting to be true to yourself, isn't necessarily. This entire aspect is quite individual, I believe, and I don't think it's a choice.
2.) Transition which is the action of making changes to your life to improve it gender-wise (often to reduce dysphoria and be true to yourself) which is anything from presenting as the other sex, name change and pronoun change to medical stuff like hrt and surgeries, to also legal stuff like changing the gender marker.
- I don't think it's entirely incorrect to call this aspect a "lifestyle" although that term has negative connotation (as to imply it's not a vital choice) and I don't call it that (I simply refer to it as transition), but in the sense that it's a way of life that most people do not embark on... sure.
3.) The social consequences. By that I mean anything from stuff like facing transphobia from friends and family, coworkers, strangers on the streets, etc, to bigger scale issues like bigoted laws and widespread transphobia, and much more. Issues like these and more is largely why the trans community started.
- The trans community (or the T in LGBT) in this aspect is what's considered the "movement," generally. As in being trans isn't a movement, but fighting for our rights and more acceptance is.
But to answer the question of if simply being trans - and not the consequences of being trans - is a movement, lifestyle choice, or medical condition: I'd say it's a medical condition.
For me, it's not a matter of choise.
I used to drink alcohol and use morphine pills to forget myself. Escaping myself was a fulltime job. Was also a Workoholic for a while when I was sober. I have 3 suicide attempts. The last one put me in locked psych ward for 6 months in 2010-2011.
That is when I realized I have no choise. Live as a man or die miserable.
I got the diagnose "Transsexual" a month ago. This is a medical condition. It is treated medically, HRT and corrections.
I can't imagine transsexuals would be that of curiosity or "for fun". I can't see this as a lifestyle choise.
But the transgender spectrum is wide. That includes all trans experiences. Maybe someone would say it is a lifestyle choise. But a lifestyle choise is not lethal.
Tony
It's both.