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Trans* Questions
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imdreamingofawhitechristmas wrote: »Is it purely a social construct, or anything more than that? If so, what exactly?
In a world where people with penises could freely engage in what are seen as "feminine" behaviours, people with vaginas could engage in what are seen as "masculine" behaviours, and people with more ambiguous genitalia would not have to conform to either "masculine" or "feminine" behaviours, would transgenderism exist at all?
Sorry if I seem ignorant or patronising, I'm just curious.
It's really important to make a distinction between gender itself, and gender roles. The roles are the cultural and social values and stigmas we attribute or attach to male or female, and those values are what is socially constructed. but a person's gender is their inner sense of self, a person's innate knowledge that they are male, female, somewhere in between, or something else.
I would say that the idea that gender is a social construct is outdated. if it is purely a social construct then the incredibly sad life of David Reimer would probably have turned out very differently, as would the lives of many intersex people who were wrongly reassigned in infancy.
You ask would transgenderism still exist, and the answer is yes it would, absolutely. it's a bit of an old chestnut that transgender people transition to escape oppressive and rigid gender roles, but that's a false presumption that has been made by people in the past, perhaps their way of trying to understand why someone would transition? But it's something people are born with, and there's been a whole load of scientific evidence published in recent years that show how it's a physical condition and that male-to-female transsexuals have brain structures and anatomy that correspond to the brains of women, and the same way that female to male transsexuals have the corresponding brain structure of men. so it's not that a transgender person thinks "I like feminine things therefor I must make myself female" it's that they are female in a physical sense, they just have conflicting anatomy. For me, I wasn't particularly girly growing up, my interests weren't and still aren't typically feminine, but I am absolutely female.
some people don't like that gender is something in our biology, but that doesn't mean that the social and cultural roles that are attached to gender aren't any less contrived and constructed. the roles, stigmas, norms, attitudes, they are the meanings society attaches to gender, and they should absolutely be questioned and challenged.
hope that helps
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I would imagine everybody does that a little differently. I went through a name website or two making a giant list, and then started filtering until I had some names and meanings that I was happy with. Then I cut it down to one from there.How do you go about choosing a new name once you start transitioning?
I detested my old name. My co-workers no longer use it, and good riddance.2. How do you view your new name compared to your old name?
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