Hi everyone, I was reading some of the posts here on Susan's and I came across a comment that said that being transsexual and being transgender is different.
I was wondering what is the difference?  Any comments are welcome, thanks and aloha.

Jennie

If we are getting into definitions, as I understand it, transgender means; happy with the body but identify as the opposite of your birth gender.  Whereas transsexual means wanting to change the body too. 

If I am talking to people who have little knowledge of the subject however,  I actually prefer to start off using transgendered as it gets away from the Jerry Springer type images.  If they wish to go into more detail, then I will refer to myself as TS and explain the difference.

Karen.

Basically, one means the scientific anatomy and classification, and the other means more of a statement on the soul and personality. However, it's confusing to know which term applies to which.

With me, my thing is I care less about having a vagina and the legal classification of being a girl, and more about having at least enough physical representation facially to be able to realistically showcase the softness, kindness, and beauty that comes with being a girl, and being able to "go" with female outfits as opposed to male outfits. I honestly do not think of things in terms of gender, but more akin to what I want to express with my personality traits; I just can't by any extent express the extremely soft and cute personality I have, in a realistic no-laughs manner, with the face and features I was born with (and I do not mean anything against MTF's who don't quite pass, but trust me, so far, I'm the most masculine-looking MTF here - I look identical this and I'm only in my mid-20's: http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee437/RPlace123/ravens-portrait-deborah-allison.jpg ) and that's the face I'm hoping to medically and surgically soften, both to feel more confident in my skin, and to feel natural when I take pictures, look in the mirror, be with friends, and when I truly am myself. There's really no such thing as a "be yourself and people will see you as that" when you look as extremely androgenic as I do, the human mind just isn't able to comprehend such extremities and I've never met anyone who's ever tolerated my real personality for long without laughing or making jokes, even defreinding me all together.

I actually do not have one friend at the moment because I am indeed strong enough to still be myself; people hate the way I look and I've lost every friend I've ever had because all of them have said "I just can't put up with how you act vs. what you look like." I repeat: I do not have one single friend in my life and I am living proof that New Age Therapy Confidence crap does not work in extreme cases.

Now, who knows what I'll care about once I get all that accomplished, I have a strong feeling that once my life improves in terms of confidence, appearance, and literally a social life, that I'll probably move onto feeling that I won't be able to accomplish a romance and sex life without the proper genitalia, but for right now, I feel like my face is what defines my gender to the outside world most of all; having a different genitalia would not make me feel like a girl in the least. I mean really, what does having a vagina prove to the world? Even if you pull down your pants for every person that doubts you, it doesn't stop people from calling me ugly or crossdresser or caveman or whatever if I still do look extremely like a man. And since those particular comments are what hurt me (if someone points out that I have a penis, I give less crap), I want to tackle my facial appearance most of all. Weird situation, but I feel like it's one that reflects the times.

As I recall, transgendered is just an umbrella term for anyone who lives outside of the gender norm. Transsexuals are those who feel they are the opposite gender of what they were born as, and wish to change their bodies via hormones, surgery, or other ways to fit what they feel is their true gender. I'm still pretty new to the whole thing, but from that standpoint I would consider a transsexual to also be transgendered, but a transgendered person would not necessarily be a transsexual.

Of course, a lot of people have very different views on the subject. It's kind of hard to be able to classify anyone as TS, TV, CD, or anything of the like, because people are so different. I find that the term transgendered works quite well for explanations and for just describing anyone who wishes to live or does live, either part-time or full-time, outside of the gender norm.

Again, I'm kind of new at this, but that's the basic gist I got out of the information I collected, from a purely definitive standpoint anyway.

Whilst I accept that the two words are intended to explain two different concepts they are used so loosely and often interchangeably by so many people that I think it's impossible, in practice, to rely on a particular definition for each word as in any given conversation the intention of the other party could be to communicate one of numerous concepts.

Quote from: Fighter on August 25, 2011, 06:37:29 AM
As I recall, transgendered is just an umbrella term for anyone who lives outside of the gender norm. Transsexuals are those who feel they are the opposite gender of what they were born as, and wish to change their bodies via hormones, surgery, or other ways to fit what they feel is their true gender. I'm still pretty new to the whole thing, but from that standpoint I would consider a transsexual to also be transgendered, but a transgendered person would not necessarily be a transsexual.

Of course, a lot of people have very different views on the subject. It's kind of hard to be able to classify anyone as TS, TV, CD, or anything of the like, because people are so different. I find that the term transgendered works quite well for explanations and for just describing anyone who wishes to live or does live, either part-time or full-time, outside of the gender norm.

Again, I'm kind of new at this, but that's the basic gist I got out of the information I collected, from a purely definitive standpoint anyway.

^ This

This is the same as what I've thought/learned.

Quote from: Jennie on August 25, 2011, 04:50:01 AM
Hi everyone, I was reading some of the posts here on Susan's and I came across a comment that said that being transsexual and being transgender is different.
I was wondering what is the difference?  Any comments are welcome, thanks and aloha.

Jennie

it's one of those eternal debates that will not ever be resolved.

When it comes to a medical sense, different countries uses different terms. For example, UK uses transgender. US uses transsexual.

I use transgender as it has to do with my gender as opposed to transsexual as it has nothing to do with my sexuality. But really, it doesn't matter which word you choose.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies, this does help in understanding things a bit more.  I still think "girl" works better for me
Thanks again and aloha.

Jennie

Jennie,
Women or old lady works best for me. 
But yes we are women with birth defects.
Welcome to our confusing world of words (trans this trans that) that don't always mean the same thing when different people use them.

I argue with my friends which are transsexuals.  They say I am a transsexual and I say they are a transsexual and I am transgendered.  My therapist says I play with semantics.

If you fully transition are you a woman or are you a transsexual?  How can you be a transsexual if you never transition?

Transgender is a broader term and all transsexuals are included in transgender.  What defines a transsexual is being debated.

I think (opinion) that transgender is an umbrella term ans transexual refers to a transgender person who wants to, plans to or has changed their physical body (especially external sexual characteristics) to be a different sex (morphology).

Having said that, I also believe that words are artificial labels we stick on concepts that are themselves made up and "in transition" also. We are describing clouds. The phenomena are real, but our ideas and descriptions are limited and changing. Dictionaries often have several definitions for a single word, and all of them are "right" even if contradictory or inconsistent.

So, if you want to be clear, you have to define what you mean with a label, or ask what the other person means, and remember words are only tools and not reality - and my definitions are neither better or worse than yours, but they are likely to be different - so we have to talk about it.

Kendall