As if there weren't enough labels in society, I have to one more to add to weird

MTF

Quote from: Tink on August 13, 2006, 05:41:35 AM
Okay, I have a question for the people who identify as androgyne.  I have read the article in our wiki but unfortunately I was not able to find a clear answer to my question.  Please forgive my ignorance on the subject, but I must admit that my knowledge about androgyny is very limited.


I'm pretty clear on the definition of what an androgyne person is; however there is something that I can't understand.  If being androgyne means to be mentally between male and female or entirely genderless, why is it that  androgyne people use female names as their own?  Honestly I have never heard of an androgyne person whose name is Michael, Peter, or James....why do the names they choose for themselves have to be female names?  Is it because they identify more with their female side? or perhaps I haven't  met an androgyne person with a male name yet...if you'd be so kind to explain, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks very much for answering my question.


tinkerbell

I loved this question! It sent my thoughts in so many directions, including:

* Oh, use a nickname. That hadn't occurred to me. I yam who I yam.

* Am I avoiding some level of conflict or not standing up to some challenge by continuing to use a name labeled as female?

I had to gnaw on that one for a while. And it all came down to: It's the label applied to me at birth that I've carried for 50 years. My fingers would type
-- Sue
before I knew what was happening. I don't know that I'm genderless. It's just that all the patches of genders that get applied to me don't really matter. My name happens to fall on the female side, as does my physicality, one having led to the other. My conversational style tends more toward the male side, as do other bits. And I'm just a mutt in the middle, not caring either way.

Thanks for the great question, Tink.

-- Sue

FTM
Made a mistake and voted MTF 
Not enough coffee or too much
Myles

F2M

After all this time I have a more definite answer for my own identity: dyke with a physical deformity. I often go to lesbian hangouts with friends of mine and am right at home there; I identify much more strongly with them than with straight gals.

Quote from: Butterfly on May 22, 2007, 12:28:43 PM
M2F to F

You go girl!

You know, I really dislike labels. But I don't want to get hung up on that right now. I don't know if I am in the right forum for this, but I need to vent. What bothers me is the "invisible" heirarchy of transsexuals. I am fed up with post op Ts who think that they are better than the rest of us. some of them have the gaul to flaunt it. It's all about the money. Believe me, if I have the money, it would be done. And I really get pissed off when one has the gaul to say "I'm not trans any more, I am a woman now". They act as if they want to forget where they came from. And the idea that "I've had SRS now, my transition is done", boy are they in for a surprise! One TS had the nerve to tell me I'm not a TS because I wasn't sure I wanted the surgery! Am I not trans because I haven't set the date yet? Show me the money, and I'll be at the surgeon's door tomorrow! Just because some of us dot have the money, does NOT make us any less trans or any less woman! 'Nuff said!

Well said Nickie. 

M2F. Hate labeling myself though. ..

Edit: Actually technically.. I'm .. I don't know what I fit among labels, I'm mentally a woman.. yet physically a guy.. haven't been on hormones or anything, living full time as a man still [though I stick to being anti-social] .. Have no idea if that still makes me M2F.

Michelle

At the moment I'm really not sure, but I'm certainly not female. I suppose I'd either be a f2m or androgynous.

Sue, I loved your comment, "I'm just a mutt in the middle."  Though I'm post-op, I think "mutt" probably is good for me, too.  When you live 5/6th of your life one way and 1/6th of your life the other, how could there not be SOME mixture left in my "breed?"

Nickie, I agree with you the "trans" vs. "woman" label can seem like flaunting but I would doubt that people mean it that way.  Rather than intending to cause hurt, I think what they mean is that they are very relieved.  Thanks for raising that point, though.  I never liked the "trans" or, even worse, "->-bleeped-<-" label.  It contradicts the fact that the most important thing is what we are INSIDE.  All you are "trans"ing is exterior skin and bone. 

I think some may say they are "women" rather than "trans" or TS because transitioning is a long (years), expensive (tens of thousands of dollars), painful (electrolysis and bigotry) war and we're happy as heck that the worst, hopefully, is over.  The lack of funds many TS's face is a huge problem and I know everyone here is pulling for everyone else.

Teri Anne

Quote from: Hypatia on May 19, 2007, 10:49:45 PM
A young woman asked me: "Do you identify as transgender?"
I answered: "I identify as a woman. Transgender is how I got here... I took the long way around."

None of us has just a single dimension to our identity.  Some of the dimensions of my identity are (in alphabetical order): Activist, bisexual, computer programmer, future therapist, Lutheran, parent, student, transgendered, transsexual, woman, worker, writer...  Unlike some others, I have no trouble identifying myself as both a woman and a transsexual or transgendered.  They are part of who I am and how I got here.

I answered androgyne, at least for now. I've also identified as m2f in the past and that still fits sometimes.

Z

Quote from: Lisbeth on October 16, 2007, 09:01:19 AM

Quote from: Hypatia on May 19, 2007, 10:49:45 PM
A young woman asked me: "Do you identify as transgender?"
I answered: "I identify as a woman. Transgender is how I got here... I took the long way around."

None of us has just a single dimension to our identity.  Some of the dimensions of my identity are (in alphabetical order): Activist, bisexual, computer programmer, future therapist, Lutheran, parent, student, transgendered, transsexual, woman, worker, writer...  Unlike some others, I have no trouble identifying myself as both a woman and a transsexual or transgendered.  They are part of who I am and how I got here.

Certainly, but they're not all of equivalent status.

"Woman" is the noun I answer to.

"Transsexual" is one of several adjectives that describe the sort of woman I am, along with Italian, Pagan, bisexual, tall, stylish, soft-spoken, sensuous... The noun "woman" is the essential thing for me, while the adjectives are more incidental.

Well, I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I heard myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself

But I, I could never follow
No I, I could never follow

Well, I never seem to do it like anybody else
Maybe someday, someday I'm gonna settle down
If you ever want to find me I can still be found

Taking the long way
Taking the long way around
Taking the long way
Taking the long way around
--Dixie Chicks - "The Long Way Around"

Androgyne vote, though I like the term genderqueer more. And yet I don't know if I could explain myself for this answer. Although, if it was not for other people in my life putting me (purposely or otherwise) into this one specific gender box and no other I would have never had a problem with my own identity, i.e. questioning what who I felt was.

In a similar way it was how I had to slowly realize I was bisexual. When I was young I simply thought of who I liked, not what their gender was. But when I tried to share that, right now, I like John, Johnny, and Jane...that was just how I felt...it couldn't be left well enough alone. People would tell me I can like him but I can't like her, or if you like her you are bad. Everything was boxes, defined, absolute. And that directly related to people viewing my gender as this one thing and ever fixed. Bah!

Just as I have no internal understanding to how someone can not be bisexual, because people are people are people to me, I can't see how people have an absolutist thinking for their own gender. It seems quite queer thinking that because a body curves this or that way and has hair over here but not there you are now one gender but not the other. Why the combinations, and it is the combinations not any one attribute in my opinion which make a gender, matter so much. Why the combinations matter so much. At least, that is an attempt to put my thoughts into words.

Personally I don't care much for how I present myself as one of the two well known genders. I wear all types of clothing, but I do have a blast whenever I borrow one of dad's suit tops and a tie to wear. I don't even care whether the male or female pronouns are used with me, so long as I know you are talking to me I'll respond.

What I want to say is it is not important to be a gal or guy to me. But it is important people don't put into a labeled box for their convenience or comfort. Pronouns are one thing, it's a function of grammar. But how to treat me, to tell me how to live my life, to question the me I feel and know...that is invasive and inappropriate! Yet that is what people repeatedly do ever so often. Purposely or otherwise they do it.

MTF

Pre to post op woman

Good question;
Just like some others here; I don't want to label myself, but if others want; I think I have the most in common with the " large " label androgyne
Let's do a try to clear myself why it's for me difficult to label me;
This is not all but a few examples;

1 I have fantasies about having a penis and do what's is possible with it , but on the other side I don't wanna miss my femine thing, as you know what I mean

2 I feel male / female at the same time

3 I feel a lot of times mor male than female

4 sometimes I don't feel either

5 I feel even when I'm more masculine inside to express myself outside with high heels and stuff like that, sounds freaky maybe

6 I have problems in what a others expects from me in behaviour, just on judging the outside

7 I can feel so mad, when men threating me like a lady

8 some men give me the feeling I'm more masculine than them

9 I can feel really uncomfortable by girls too

10 How more girlie I feel , how more I'm attracted by them

11 Always feeling in between or someting............like I miss the boat/ship......cause I feel disconnected with others , by what I'm feeling

12 sometimes when I wear clothes I like feel like a drag queen

13 a lot of side effects of what I wrote above this..........

About the name question and androgyne; just my name is okay, don't have feelings to change that at all

I am currently M2F-transsexual but my gender identity is female. After SRS I will be just a woman with a special type of personal history.

Transwoman, here.  For your poll however, MtF TS.

It will be interesting to see the results.

Androgyne... /non-transitioning FTM.