17-08-2014, 11:33 PM
This is an interesting subject to many people. On another website I visit this topic is discussed ad nauseum and quite vigorously.
There are various camps in the discussion. There are those who believe true TS are born that way, are always totally uncomfortable in their biological skin, and always know completely and utterly that they must eventually transition. Ironically, in the same camp are those who self identitfy as strictly crossdressers with absolutely no difficulty with their bio male status, whether the dressing is sexually motivated (often) or merely to combat their GID and make them feel better. This camp likes to believe there is no movement but only a binary. Then there is an opposing camp that feels that gender is fluid and changeable and that over a lifetime an identity may change, so that what begins as a fetish may transform (no pun intended) into a full blown transitional TS status and quite rightly so.
In most cases, I find that those on each side are also possibly guilty of rationalizing their own situation, and/or practicing a little ego boosting as in those on the TS side that may be heard referring to others as "just a crossdresser" as though there is some inherent pecking order with transwomen at the top. Conversely one also hears many crossdressers loudly proclaiming that they will never transition and are totally straight heterosexual males who simply like dressing as some kind of hobby. I often wonder if they are afraid their wives may read the board and are covering their tails just in case.
But here's the thing...yes there are people that know the moment they are born that they are TS. And yes there are plenty for whom crossdressing is a pure sexual fetish. But I think, admittedly speaking with some self knowledge and some skin in this game, that there are also many in the middle of this vast spectrum of gender and sexuality, who, for whatever reason, do not know at first but must come to discover their nature. I suspect sometimes it changes over a lifetime, while in other cases, deep seated denial mechanisms put in place to cope when young, prevent full understanding until later in life.
I think there is a lot of room for acceptance of not knowing the answer to these questions and accepting rather that there is some mystery we have not and may never unravel. The human brain is the single most complicated object in the known universe. The thoughts and feelings contained within it are extremely complex and totally beyond the realm of current science to fully grasp, but rather merely guess at.
In the end, Sarah, though both your "camps" certainly exist (and in a reference that includes mention of fetishist crossdressers and by extension possibly drag entertainers, I found the choice of the word "camp" supremely amusing and ironic...tee hee), I have to believe that any attempt to stratify, label or segment the TG world must be folly to some degree. There are simply too many variables, and too many shifting dynamics at work.
Isn't it enough to accept and support and try to love at least most of them, knowing as we do that most of the world does not even share the limited understanding each of us does have of one another within this difficult misgendered community?
There are various camps in the discussion. There are those who believe true TS are born that way, are always totally uncomfortable in their biological skin, and always know completely and utterly that they must eventually transition. Ironically, in the same camp are those who self identitfy as strictly crossdressers with absolutely no difficulty with their bio male status, whether the dressing is sexually motivated (often) or merely to combat their GID and make them feel better. This camp likes to believe there is no movement but only a binary. Then there is an opposing camp that feels that gender is fluid and changeable and that over a lifetime an identity may change, so that what begins as a fetish may transform (no pun intended) into a full blown transitional TS status and quite rightly so.
In most cases, I find that those on each side are also possibly guilty of rationalizing their own situation, and/or practicing a little ego boosting as in those on the TS side that may be heard referring to others as "just a crossdresser" as though there is some inherent pecking order with transwomen at the top. Conversely one also hears many crossdressers loudly proclaiming that they will never transition and are totally straight heterosexual males who simply like dressing as some kind of hobby. I often wonder if they are afraid their wives may read the board and are covering their tails just in case.
But here's the thing...yes there are people that know the moment they are born that they are TS. And yes there are plenty for whom crossdressing is a pure sexual fetish. But I think, admittedly speaking with some self knowledge and some skin in this game, that there are also many in the middle of this vast spectrum of gender and sexuality, who, for whatever reason, do not know at first but must come to discover their nature. I suspect sometimes it changes over a lifetime, while in other cases, deep seated denial mechanisms put in place to cope when young, prevent full understanding until later in life.
I think there is a lot of room for acceptance of not knowing the answer to these questions and accepting rather that there is some mystery we have not and may never unravel. The human brain is the single most complicated object in the known universe. The thoughts and feelings contained within it are extremely complex and totally beyond the realm of current science to fully grasp, but rather merely guess at.
In the end, Sarah, though both your "camps" certainly exist (and in a reference that includes mention of fetishist crossdressers and by extension possibly drag entertainers, I found the choice of the word "camp" supremely amusing and ironic...tee hee), I have to believe that any attempt to stratify, label or segment the TG world must be folly to some degree. There are simply too many variables, and too many shifting dynamics at work.
Isn't it enough to accept and support and try to love at least most of them, knowing as we do that most of the world does not even share the limited understanding each of us does have of one another within this difficult misgendered community?