I ran across this interesting post in Autostraddle Gender section:
Please Stop Saying That Trans Women Were “Born Boys”
I want to make a few things perfectly clear. Trans women are women. Period. End of story. We’re not “women who used to be men.” We’re not “men who identify as women.” We’re not “males who identify as women.” We’re not “men who became women.” WE ARE WOMEN. Stop putting qualifiers on our womanhood. It’s offensive, hurtful and cruel to insinuate otherwise. Our past, present, and futures are ours to define and no one else’s. Even if we didn’t figure out that we were trans until well into our adult lives, it absolutely does not mean that we were ever boys or men. Many trans women feel that they’ve always been girls, or at the very least, that they’ve never been boys. You don’t have any right to tell me, or any other trans person, that they were ever a particular gender, just as I have no right to tell you what gender you are. A trans woman who was obligated to present as male for most of her young life is was no more “born a man” than a lesbian who was obligated to date men for most of her young life “used to be straight.”
I agree with the author. When I was born, the attending physician took a hurried look and declared that I was a boy. 99 out of 100 times the doc got it right, but not that time. I was a girl, and I've had to live with the doctor's mistake for most of my life. So, when people say of me, "She was born a male, but identifies as female." I correct them: I was assigned male at birth, but I've always been female.
Clara
Please Stop Saying That Trans Women Were “Born Boys”
I want to make a few things perfectly clear. Trans women are women. Period. End of story. We’re not “women who used to be men.” We’re not “men who identify as women.” We’re not “males who identify as women.” We’re not “men who became women.” WE ARE WOMEN. Stop putting qualifiers on our womanhood. It’s offensive, hurtful and cruel to insinuate otherwise. Our past, present, and futures are ours to define and no one else’s. Even if we didn’t figure out that we were trans until well into our adult lives, it absolutely does not mean that we were ever boys or men. Many trans women feel that they’ve always been girls, or at the very least, that they’ve never been boys. You don’t have any right to tell me, or any other trans person, that they were ever a particular gender, just as I have no right to tell you what gender you are. A trans woman who was obligated to present as male for most of her young life is was no more “born a man” than a lesbian who was obligated to date men for most of her young life “used to be straight.”
I agree with the author. When I was born, the attending physician took a hurried look and declared that I was a boy. 99 out of 100 times the doc got it right, but not that time. I was a girl, and I've had to live with the doctor's mistake for most of my life. So, when people say of me, "She was born a male, but identifies as female." I correct them: I was assigned male at birth, but I've always been female.
Clara