There appears to be a section of the transsexual community that feels as if they need to have walls built up around them in order to exist. They live by a very strict doctrine that is usually self-imposed and based upon archaic and outdated perceptions of the transsexual and transgender cultures. They believe in these ideals so strongly that any opposing viewpoint is either immediately dismissed as being false or construed in ways to represent something completely different than the original intent of said viewpoint.
They seem to live in a constant state of self-induced despair and depression that is so familiar to them that they only lash out when compassion is given to them they see it as a threat. Instead of taking responsibility for their own actions and feelings, they blame society and the world at large for their misery. According to their tightly held ideals, it appears that would rather suffer in silence than enjoy an actual harmonious existence amongst the rest of the world.
There seems to be a transsexual hierarchy amongst them as well. If people do not fit every one of their fundamental beliefs then that person is not a transsexual in their eyes. That person is actually a hindrance to the transsexual community as well. Having a progressive and accepting attitude towards the advancement of the transgender community is not looked upon with welcome eyes by these people. They prefer to have their lives and the lives of others to be dictated by rhetoric based upon rhetoric written with the purpose of ensuring the mental health community will always have a source of income.
I think we all suffer from gender identity conflicts of one kind or another. The anxiety, depression, dimorphic issues, and other list of anti-social behaviors are most likely more closely to the core of their being than anything dealing with gender though. Because the gender identity is the easiest scapegoat for all problems, worries, and fears, it is used most often without ever recognizing the others at all. Could this be a truer reason for their embittered beliefs?
There will always be varying opinions and points of view when it comes to being transsexual. The ability to be able to acknowledge those views without feeling devalued on a personal level is something that needs to be improved on a personal level for some people. To try and segregate a group of people for having new and progressive thoughts on being transsexual from a community already segregated from society is almost on the borderline of tragic.
I would hope that we, as a community, can learn how to evolve together. It would be so amazing to be a part of a community that not only has diverse experiences and ideas, but also the ability to accept each other's views and opinions while still standing together as transsexuals in modern society.
You know we share a similar attitude towards all this, but I gotta tell ya I just don't see any sort of reconciliation coming anytime soon. I've watched those patterns play out on here for a year+, and it's all just too predictable now. It used to infuriate me at first.. suggesting that my GID angst was lower on some sort of scale just because my priorities and solutions were different than others. But then I realized there's a lot more going on there than their GID, so I l try to just let it go.
Mostly ;)
Saints need sinners. Gods need devils. True Believers need heretics.
It's just the way of things it seems.
~Kate~
All very well reasoned Renae, but coming from someone who so recently devalued most transsexual women's fundemental desire to feel to be "congruent in body and mind" and to be able to function in society as a woman at every level as "elective and cosmetic" surgery, its a bit strong !
Bottom line is that TS women need to pool their campaigning resources to fight for the recognition that we have a real medical condition which needs to be treated and funded by our insurers, state health services (e.g. UK NHS), on an equal footing with any other accepted ailment ...
Hitching TS onto a TV/ transgenered bandwagon and onto the tailcoats of the gay community (LGBT) makes TS look like no more than a lifestyle choice .... hence the need to categorize.
I respect your own TG position, I respect TVs too, I have friends in both categories, but no way can I identify with them any more than I can with a straight man !
Its not about "brownie points" or superiority, its about identifying my condition as one that gives me the ultimate legal right to be myself - birth certificate, marriage, etc ...
Laura x
Quote from: Laura Eva B on June 14, 2007, 03:31:16 PM
Hitching TS onto a TV/ transgenered bandwagon and onto the tailcoats of the gay community (LGBT) makes TS look like no more than a lifestyle choice ....
I wouldn't consider homosexuality a "lifestyle choice."
Or even TVism or TGism for that matter.
~Kate~
Quote from: Kate on June 14, 2007, 03:38:19 PM
I wouldn't consider homosexuality a "lifestyle choice."
Or even TVism or TGism for that matter.
~Kate~
Neither would I, but that's how the public and medical profession so often see it ... certainly none of the conditions (homosexuality, TV / TG -ism) need medical intervention other than maybe psychoanalytical therapy, which is what puts the need of TS guys and women in a totally seperate category ?
Laura x
so mental instability separates TS folks from the rest of the TG spectrum?
Topic locked due to the fact that it was already rapidly degenerating. Please, let us refrain from this subject for the time being. Right now the Admins of this site are going to hammer out what the terms mean in relation to this community. See the post by Susan (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,14595.0.html) in announcements.