Quote from: Sarah7 on December 07, 2013, 01:13:36 PM
And all the people who are bisexual are...? I always find theories that discount over a third of the population a bit suspect.
That said... I've always known what I am. I have no memory of not-knowing, no memory of realization. My dysphoria is also among the nastier varieties. I have three pretty serious suicide attempts and nearly a decade of self-harm--my forearms are coated in old scars. I also never crossdressed or had any interest in doing so. And thinking of myself with the correct body made me suicidally depressed--about as far from aroused as it's possible to get.
And my pre-transition form? I was a fragile queer-looking fey boy. From when I was 10 everyone assumed I was gay. I have big eyes and lips, a slight frame, female proportions and my voice didn't drop. I regularly passed as female accidentally pre-transition. And I lost the capacity to pass as male after 6 months on HRT.
By all accounts I should be a "homosexual transsexual" (what you are calling a "true transsexual") right? Only I'm exclusively attracted to females, and always have been.
In order for your theory to work, you need to classify me as an anomaly and discard me from the results. But that is bad science. Yes, I think some folks can sometimes confuse sexuality and gender. Maybe it even happens more regularly among trans women attracted to women or trans men attracted to men. I don't know, you'd want some research.
I'm really glad you came to an understanding of how things work for you. That's fantastic! But there is no need to try to extrapolate that outwards to explain every single trans person. We are quite a diverse bunch, with different identities, desires, needs and ways of expression those. And thankfully, Blanchard's theory no longer holds much weight in the medical community. Otherwise transitioning for an anomaly like me would have been very, very difficult.
I'm very similar to you. Was small framed, easily mistaken for a female when I was younger, and often mistaken for being gay. I wouldn't say I was a "fragile queer-looking fey boy", but I'm small and not very masculine. But I'm also not overly effeminate the way some gay men are. But that's like a stereotype of a women. Even my ex wife has said I reminded her more of a woman. She was also very upset that I might be gay (as in liking men) thinking our marriage was a farce. Which it wasn't.
I was a transsexual since the age of 4 or so, so as I said in my last post it has nothing to do with sex. I am absolutely autogynophelic. But as I said in an earlier post, while I'm attracted to my own image as a woman, but its not paraphillia, because it's not about dressing that way. But I think this is normal. Straight cis females like looking at other women, you can see that in women's magazines. And everyone likes looking pretty.
I'm also exclusively attracted to women. But to me that has nothing to do with me self identifying as a woman. Just because you are a woman doesn't mean you want/have to sleep with men. It's interesting that many MtF's are attracted to women, but if you think about it, there are more hetero people than gay, so if you take a sampling of them to pick out trans people, you will have a higher incidence of former males attracted to females (and vice versa). And that's because being trans doesn't have much to do with being gay or straight.
We are unique in that we are a mix of both male and female. While I have always felt female, and related to females, and have female mannerisms, but i grew up as a male, with male hormones, etc.
I find it all very fascinating. And complicated. But in the end we are who we are, and that's OK.