Learning About Transgender People

Ruthanne

Ruthanne

Caregiver
Location
Midwest
Recently I have made friends on Facebook with some transgender people. I am rather naive about them. So, I thought I'd look up some information on transgendered folks and share it with you. I hope no one pulls out the bible about this and if so I will not respond to it. I think we all can learn about transgendered people and they have been around a long, long time. Here is a really good article with a questions and answer section, too, that is very informative.

http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender.aspx
 

I'm not sure I understand, it sounds kind of creepy to me that you feel the need to learn about transgender people.

To me people are people and friends are friends, you accept them the way you find them.
 
Aunt Bea said:
I'm not sure I understand, it sounds kind of creepy to me that you feel the need to learn about transgender people.

To me people are people and friends are friends, you accept them the way you find them.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry you feel that way but I am trying to understand them because I didn't before I read this article.
 

Good for you for wanting to learn more about transgender history and issues. There was a story today in the NY Times that in a recent poll almost 20% of high school students identified as transgender. That surprised even me!
 
Lethe200 said:
Good for you for wanting to learn more about transgender history and issues. There was a story today in the NY Times that in a recent poll almost 20% of high school students identified as transgender. That surprised even me!
Click to expand...
I appreciate your post Lethe200. That's a pretty high number and it surprises me, too.
 
Falcon said:
I read the whole thing. Much I already knew but appreciate some of the details of which I wasn't aware.

Thanks for the enlightening post.
Click to expand...
I wasn't aware of the genetics part of it and the hormonal part, too. I like to try to understand more about people I know. When my mom had breast cancer I researched that, my brother has MS and I researched that and I have researched about the things about myself, and about my other brother and many others who I just want to know more about; I have an interest in them because I care.
 
I think that's a good thing for you to do Ruthanne, and especially if you are getting to know someone who is like this. It's certainly a changing world that we live in isn't it? We keep learning and understanding things continually and we become more accepting of differences through that.

I once watched a short documentary about a doctor in Europe who was researching about transgender people and he came to the conclusion that transgendered brains are actually different then the brains of the rest of us. Through examining the brain tissue, he could see that the part that controls sexuality is actually different in them. I can't remember whether it was bigger, different shaped or structured or what (it was a number of years ago that I saw it), but yes, not a choice, not mental illness, but actual physical differences in brain structure. I found that really interesting.
 
NancyNGA said:
You are a good-hearted person, Ruthanne. :rose:
Click to expand...
Why thanks Nancy! :)

Ruth n Jersey said:
Very interesting Ruthanne. I never really gave it much thought.
Click to expand...
I didn't either at other times.

Sassycakes said:
Thank you for posting that Ruthanne, I learned some things that I didn't know about someone being Transgendered. I found it very interesting.
Click to expand...
I found it very interesting too. There are a lot of things to learn about transgendered people that can be useful in helping/befriending them.

Debby said:
I think that's a good thing for you to do Ruthanne, and especially if you are getting to know someone who is like this. It's certainly a changing world that we live in isn't it? We keep learning and understanding things continually and we become more accepting of differences through that.

I once watched a short documentary about a doctor in Europe who was researching about transgender people and he came to the conclusion that transgendered brains are actually different then the brains of the rest of us. Through examining the brain tissue, he could see that the part that controls sexuality is actually different in them. I can't remember whether it was bigger, different shaped or structured or what (it was a number of years ago that I saw it), but yes, not a choice, not mental illness, but actual physical differences in brain structure. I found that really interesting.
Click to expand...
I believe that! Physiological differences are significant in many people who are different in different ways.
 
What happened to the alleged percentage of people who are now claiming to be "born in the wrong body" before it became fashionable to "come out". How many spent lives of abject misery by having been institutionalised.

Homosexuality is normal in nature and there are many examples of same sex intimate relationships amongst humans, one of the most blatant and furiously denied by TGS being David and Johnathan, not to mention Alexander the Great and of course Alan Turing of codebreaking fame.

I often wonder how many of the most rabid of the people who howl about the "sin" and "immorality" not to mention "perversion" of homosexuality or people genuinely are mentally mismatched with their physical gender are in reality terrified because of their own sexuality.

Fred Phelps, the originator of the (in)famous Westboro bunch of loonies certainly struck me as being a prime candidate in this respect.
 
Debby said:
I think that's a good thing for you to do Ruthanne, and especially if you are getting to know someone who is like this. It's certainly a changing world that we live in isn't it? We keep learning and understanding things continually and we become more accepting of differences through that.

I once watched a short documentary about a doctor in Europe who was researching about transgender people and he came to the conclusion that transgendered brains are actually different then the brains of the rest of us. Through examining the brain tissue, he could see that the part that controls sexuality is actually different in them. I can't remember whether it was bigger, different shaped or structured or what (it was a number of years ago that I saw it), but yes, not a choice, not mental illness, but actual physical differences in brain structure. I found that really interesting.
Click to expand...

Yes they are different "physiologically"

Up until a few years ago, males who "wanted to wear dresses" or at least if it got to the medical side were treated with chorionic gonadatropin to make their testes come down.

but some background, for the curious. Most of the males have normal or even high testosterone levels, but even higher conversion to estradiol, which in males is high in late age and protects against cardiovascular events. The gonatropin was stimulating more test. and converted to even higher estradiol. a vicious circle duplicating the menses, cramps, as estradiol is a strong stimulant. females who "wanted to wear comfortable shoes" were ignored. females have higher levels of testosterone but its protein bound typically, in the comfortable shoe category, free testosterone is higher. causing the hair on upper lip, and premature alopecia.

hormones can change genes and "reprogram" the proteins and other stuff in the body, thus the differences in brain structure, body etc.

the main reason for this becoming a major issue in this day and age is because the world is "estrogen toxic"

Many chemicals released in the environment have SARs (structural activity relationships) similar to estrogen and mimic their biophysiological chemistry.
releasing agents in plastics, pvc, etc.

aromatase inhibitors can be used today to block the estrogen in males, but it is usually to late, as the socialoloical behavioral patterns have been ingrained for several years and besides its acceptable.

from the eugenics point of view its a really good solution to over population
 
The woman in question is an activist on the issue so I guess her hyperbole is understandable. But, honestly, how much can it hurt to use a different toilet than your girlfriends as a child. He had the necessary medical procedures and now used the ladies room. Situation resolved.

Granted, not being in that position I cannot understand the emotions - nor can anyone else not a transvestite. So, I think we just have to take the words of an activist for a cause with a grain of salt and continue the practice of keeping randy 16 year old boys out of the girls shower rooms.
 
Ray said:
The woman in question is an activist on the issue so I guess her hyperbole is understandable. But, honestly, how much can it hurt to use a different toilet than your girlfriends as a child. He had the necessary medical procedures and now used the ladies room. Situation resolved.

Granted, not being in that position I cannot understand the emotions - nor can anyone else not a transvestite. So, I think we just have to take the words of an activist for a cause with a grain of salt and continue the practice of keeping randy 16 year old boys out of the girls shower rooms.
Click to expand...
Activist?

I see her not as an activist but as an educator.

As for the toilet issue how would one feel if as a girl one was being compelled to use the boys lavatory? And what about the pain of the years of having to live being compelled to put up with a literally unnatural life?

That sort of thing leaves serious damage to a person.

I know this. If I had been forced to live as a girl during my formative years I'm far from confident that I could have survived. So for a transgender person to be forced to live the "wrong" life just to satisfy the expectations of "normal" people is incredibly cruel especially when the "normal" people are too bigoted to even try to empathise with them. Just to not understand a thing does not make it nonexistent.
 
Yes, I should have mentioned that I was referring to Janet Mock although the line between "educator" and "activist" is often blurred. As to bathrooms, they are built "plumbing specific" so I really can't see the problem - it is a body function, not a social statement.

And "forced to live a life" goes far beyond the "which toilet" to issue. Now, it may be a sacrifice (I have no way of knowing) but compared to turning those randy 16 year old boys loose in the girls showers, it is a small sacrifice to ask.
 
its not just humans.

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. — Meet Tracker, a five-year-old, sixty-pound Belgian Malinois and a graduate of the Military Working Dog School at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. He’s also one of the Army’s first five openly transgender military police dogs, assigned to the 42nd Military Police Brigade at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

“We took to each other pretty quickly,” said Spc. Jeffrey Grassley, a military policeman and dog handler partnered with Tracker. “I mean, it’s a little weird that they tell me to call him a ‘him,’ since he’s obviously a female dog, and there was that time last month when he was laid up for a few days after he gave birth to a litter of puppies, but we’ve really forged a close working friendship.”

Tracker, who was raised as a female dog under the name Regina, first identified as a male during the initial breeding and selection process the military uses to screen potential military working dogs.

During play time, Flaherty said, Tracker would consistently engage in behavior normally associated with male dogs, and whenever he would go into heat, would go after the females pretty aggressively, almost totally ignoring the male dogs.

Paws Across The Rainbow, the nation's leading advocacy group for LGBT animals, hailed the move, calling it a "landmark achievement for all military working animals, no matter what their sexuality."

"We hope that this will serve as an example throughout the military that being transgendered is simply not a reason to discriminate against competent and talented military working animals of all species, said spokesman Pat Riley, while also calling on the Army to provide no-cost gender-reassignment surgery for the dogs "as a gesture of tolerance and recognition of the diverse nature of today's military working animals."

Some of the more traditional, conservative elements within the Army might not be so ready to embrace such a radical change, however.

The all-male caisson horses of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, or "The Old Guard," long entrusted with the solemn honor of bearing the caskets of fallen warriors and deceased U.S. presidents, have drawn fire for refusing to allow female or openly LGBT horses within its ranks, and the regiment's command team is unapologetic about that fact.
 
Ray said:
Yes, I should have mentioned that I was referring to Janet Mock although the line between "educator" and "activist" is often blurred. As to bathrooms, they are built "plumbing specific" so I really can't see the problem - it is a body function, not a social statement.

And "forced to live a life" goes far beyond the "which toilet" to issue. Now, it may be a sacrifice (I have no way of knowing) but compared to turning those randy 16 year old boys loose in the girls showers, it is a small sacrifice to ask.
Click to expand...
If the physical "boys" are prospective transgender young people or are homosexual being "let loose" as you so quaintly put it in the female showers would be as significant as letting boys "loose" in boys showers or girls "loose" in girls showers.
 
tnthomas said:
How did "Learning About Transgender People" degenerate into the thoroughly farcical debate over public restroom usage???
Click to expand...
Because it's where the issue rises above the surface for people who are transgender having to deal with public perception and strictly defined gender facilities. Best would be to adopt the growing trend over here and have unisex facilities. Issue solved.
 
rt3 said:
Yes they are different "physiologically"

Up until a few years ago, males who "wanted to wear dresses" or at least if it got to the medical side were treated with chorionic gonadatropin to make their testes come down.

but some background, for the curious. Most of the males have normal or even high testosterone levels, but even higher conversion to estradiol, which in males is high in late age and protects against cardiovascular events. The gonatropin was stimulating more test. and converted to even higher estradiol. a vicious circle duplicating the menses, cramps, as estradiol is a strong stimulant. females who "wanted to wear comfortable shoes" were ignored. females have higher levels of testosterone but its protein bound typically, in the comfortable shoe category, free testosterone is higher. causing the hair on upper lip, and premature alopecia.

hormones can change genes and "reprogram" the proteins and other stuff in the body, thus the differences in brain structure, body etc.

the main reason for this becoming a major issue in this day and age is because the world is "estrogen toxic"

Many chemicals released in the environment have SARs (structural activity relationships) similar to estrogen and mimic their biophysiological chemistry.
releasing agents in plastics, pvc, etc.

aromatase inhibitors can be used today to block the estrogen in males, but it is usually to late, as the socialoloical behavioral patterns have been ingrained for several years and besides its acceptable.

from the eugenics point of view its a really good solution to over population
Click to expand...

Hmmm, not sure what you are trying to say?
 
Ray said:
Yes, I should have mentioned that I was referring to Janet Mock although the line between "educator" and "activist" is often blurred. As to bathrooms, they are built "plumbing specific" so I really can't see the problem - it is a body function, not a social statement.

And "forced to live a life" goes far beyond the "which toilet" to issue. Now, it may be a sacrifice (I have no way of knowing) but compared to turning those randy 16 year old boys loose in the girls showers, it is a small sacrifice to ask.
Click to expand...

But what if they are 'not randy boys' but are actually 'randy girls stuck in the wrong body'?

I just had a thought that human sexuality and identity are maybe more a matter of 'degrees'. Like what do you do then with children who are born with parts of both reproductive organs. It's called ambiguous *******ia. If the physical organs can be 'confused', why not the mental identity that the children grow up with, i.e. being inappropriate to the physical exterior?

So yeah, I think learning to understand transgender people does require a little bit more than simply going for coffee and asking 'what are your hobbies'. Not obviously that you're going to sit there and opine on all of this with them, but to simply make you aware of the possibility that their perspective on issues might be coming from a different place than mine or yours Ruthanne or yours Ray.:rolleyes:
 
I am a mother of a transgender son whom I adore for his courage and strength. He is not a transvestite. Transvestites simply dress in the opposite gender's clothing. Someone transgender needs to have a physical body change to feel comfortable with life. My son genuinely wants a normal life such as you and I in a body that he can relate to. He has gone through surgery to become a man. He has changed his gender marker on his birth certificate. He is a man now...my son. He does not live a flamboyant life. He is not looking for attention. He is a normal male in every sense and a thousand times happier living comfortably as a man because emotionally and mentally he has always been male inside. I saw my 'daughter' grow up very shy, withdrawn and downhearted. Now 'she' is a man and living very happily about to be married. Finally found his comfort zone to live normally. If I had not mentioned he was transgender you would have no idea. What he went through to become a man took amazing strength and courage...hormones, surgery, facing family (the whole family loves him unconditionally), friends, legally with all the paperwork and proof to be a man now. This is not something done on a whim. He is a man inside and out now. The packaging changed to make him whole. All the worry I had are now gone that he is now happy..truly happy feeling complete.
 
aeron said:
If the physical "boys" are prospective transgender young people or are homosexual being "let loose" as you so quaintly put it in the female showers would be as significant as letting boys "loose" in boys showers or girls "loose" in girls showers.
Click to expand...

That is a good point. I've always wondered why, for example, the military assigns barracks by gender but mixes homosexual with straight. I guess there just isn't an answer to all possible permutations.

Once you open the door to anyone can be anything he/she wants on any particular day you throw out all standards. That is why (particularly with regards to toilets) I prefer to apply the KISS principle - "plumbing appropriate".
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top