This is an issue I have dealt with many times, but it seems like there are some accepting people out there as well. The problem I often run into is people thinking I am somehow different from any other girl. What I will say is aside from being born with male genitalia I am very much a girl in every way. Throw the transgender label in there and some people treat me with zero respect. These are the times when I really wish I was just born biologically female and never had to deal with any issues like these. Does anyone else here feel the same? Do you think maybe some people are just too judgemental for your liking?
The worst I have personally encountered IRL is someone who thinks transgendered people are victims of a fashion trend. They believe this for a reason, and although it's not correct in the case of most of us, it is not unheard of for people to say they have problems when they don't to be considered special. I have encountered people who thought they were trans but turned out not to be. Things like this in conjunction with the rise in trans visibility lately has resulted in the impression that trans conditions are "spreading".
So while this is ignorant regards genuine cases of trans people, I can see why they might come to think this. There has been a sudden explosion of trans awareness and of society catering to trans people, and because these people have never had to think about it before, it's a sudden wave to them.
Online, where people do not have to rub shoulders with you for real, I have encountered everything from trans people who hate everyone who isn't trans to non-trans people who think this is the devil's work.
Usually it's nothing but ignorance and fear of the unknown. To fear the unknown quantity is not illogical, however. To have some trepidation regard things you have never encountered is entirely natural. What isn't is to become so afraid that you fail to correctly assess that the trans condition itself is not a threat to anybody. Some of the activism presents a threat to certain people - i.e. if their children are being influenced above and beyond any natural tendencies they may have toward thinking themselves trans. This is where the main pushback right now is coming from. Generally speaking until now we have been considered a threat only to ourselves.
Quote from: CosmicJoke on March 10, 2019, 02:32:27 PM
This is an issue I have dealt with many times, but it seems like there are some accepting people out there as well. The problem I often run into is people thinking I am somehow different from any other girl. What I will say is aside from being born with male genitalia I am very much a girl in every way. Throw the transgender label in there and some people treat me with zero respect. These are the times when I really wish I was just born biologically female and never had to deal with any issues like these. Does anyone else here feel the same? Do you think maybe some people are just too judgemental for your liking?
Based on my experience I can only speculate that a lot of judgmental behavior comes from interior conflict. A person is in conflict with what they were taught, or has low self esteem and needs to make others wrong, or is afraid and wants to make the world more orderly and safe. Those are the reasons I usually feel judgmental.
Case in point. I am generally far less judgmental (in my head, I've rarely aimed my judgement at others) since accepting I am Trans and moving forward. Maybe Judgementalness can be the opposite of self acceptance?
Since coming out there are new groups/people I want to judge fiercely, mostly because they think I should not exist. In general I would quantify that as discernment and not being 'judgy' :) However, there is the desire to not just make them wrong, but to make them evil. I think when it becomes so moralistic is when my projection of fear makes it 'judgmental' rather than discerning.
Jealousy? :D
Seriously, I think they're afraid. One of the most fundamental distinctions among human beings is that between male and female; and we shake their trees. It makes them uncomfortable, and they blame us.
These days, I do my best to ignore the haters and enjoy the positive affirmations I get from others. There will always be people who don't like you and never will -- that's not a trans thing, particularly; lots of people deal with that one. It just makes little sense to focus on the negative, when there is so much positive all around us.
Quote from: CosmicJoke on March 10, 2019, 02:32:27 PMThese are the times when I really wish I was just born biologically female and never had to deal with any issues like these. Does anyone else here feel the same?
When my fairy godmother finally pays me a visit, that's my first wish. My second is to be 21 again. Then, I'm going shopping for my first miniskirt!
But it's not because of how others treat me, particularly. Jerks we always have with us, no matter who we are. We just have to move around them.
Quote from: Kylo on March 10, 2019, 02:56:08 PM
The worst I have personally encountered IRL is someone who thinks transgendered people are victims of a fashion trend. They believe this for a reason, and although it's not correct in the case of most of us, it is not unheard of for people to say they have problems when they don't to be considered special. I have encountered people who thought they were trans but turned out not to be. Things like this in conjunction with the rise in trans visibility lately has resulted in the impression that trans conditions are "spreading".
So while this is ignorant regards genuine cases of trans people, I can see why they might come to think this. There has been a sudden explosion of trans awareness and of society catering to trans people, and because these people have never had to think about it before, it's a sudden wave to them.
Online, where people do not have to rub shoulders with you for real, I have encountered everything from trans people who hate everyone who isn't trans to non-trans people who think this is the devil's work.
Usually it's nothing but ignorance and fear of the unknown. To fear the unknown quantity is not illogical, however. To have some trepidation regard things you have never encountered is entirely natural. What isn't is to become so afraid that you fail to correctly assess that the trans condition itself is not a threat to anybody. Some of the activism presents a threat to certain people - i.e. if their children are being influenced above and beyond any natural tendencies they may have toward thinking themselves trans. This is where the main pushback right now is coming from. Generally speaking until now we have been considered a threat only to ourselves.
During my many years, I have grown sick of people thinking I wanted special treatment just to be treated like everyone else. They don't get it. Fair treatment is not special. Special would mean expecting to cut to the front of every line, get paid more than anyone else, or be treated like a celebrity. Most of us (including myself) never expected special treatment. Unfortunately, many humans think that if we want to be treated the same as everyone else, that would be special treatment, just because they'd rather treat us like crap. Only when you can pass well enough that nobody knows you are trans, can you be treated like everyone else.
Hello again CosmicJoke
In my opinion those that judge us negatively usually do for one of the following reasons:
1. Their misplaced religious views
2. Tribal reasons; they think it is a plain never to crossed
3. Trans is more in the public domain and there are more of us and they see that as a threat
4. Some people simply do not like any form of change
5. Pure ignorance and the desire to remain so.
The good news is that the anti-reaction is not as bad as previously; the younger generation are more accepting; we are gradually "getting there"
Hugs
Pamela
People resist change because it's easier and lazy to point fingers than have a sophisticated intelligent outlook on life. Discipline is uncommon among lazy people.
Sophia
I'm afraid I'm going to use a cliche here, so please bear with me.
Haters gonna hate.
But seriously, many of the reasons pointed out by everyone are more than likely true. We are "outside of the cis male/cis female box," thus something that people are sometimes afraid of. We are people that realize that we are the opposite of what our genitalia are, what our ambiguous genitalia are, or someone that wants to be somewhere in the middle of what our genitalia is.
We are different, and until they either research "transgender," talk to someone that's transgender or realizes that they are transgender, some people choose to fear us.
Hopefully, those people will realize that we are just people. That we just want to live out our lives, nothing more.
Ryuichi