"woman Who Was Born Transsexual" And Why This Is An Inaccurate Phrase

[Guest praisedbeherhooves]

I've been hearing this phrase increasingly often and I find it rather offensive. There probably is a parallel phrase for transmen but I haven't heard it used yet so I'll address mostly referring to transwoment.

First of all, no matter what you do with the technology we have now if you were born transsexual you will always be transsexual. At the moment we do not have a way to change someone's chromosomes. Hopefully someday we will, but we can't right now and as horrible as that feels it is the reality. Transsexuality is normally defined as identifying as the gender opposite to your genetic sex. In other definitions transsexuality is identifying as the gender opposite to the one you were assigned at birth. No matter what you do you cannot change an XY into an XX and you can't travel back in time to tell the doctor si got it wrong. Lord knows most of us wish we could but we cannot and denying reality will not change that. However, this does not mean that transwomen are not women and transmen are not men simply because we have a birth defect that caused our bodies to not align with our brains.

A transwoman was born a woman, she just happened to not have the genitals that happened to match her mental gender. Saying this phrase implies that she magically became a woman when she has genital surgery. This is not true. Your gender is what is in your head not what is in your pants.

Furthermore, the implication that there is a conflict between being a woman and a transsexual is false. If you feel like a woman deep down inside then you are a woman no matter what your chromosomes are or what your genitals look like. You may have been raised as a man, you may have been born with genitals that do not match how you feel about yourself, but you will always be and always have been a woman. Whether you get surgery or not is irrelevant to whether you are a woman.

The another problem I have with this phrase is that it seems to imply that a transwoman who does not get surgery is not a real woman. There are so many reasons why a transwoman would not have surgery. A very common reason could be money. Surgery is extremely expensive and with the high unemployment rate of transsexuals many transwomen just can afford it. Another reason could be an intersex condition. With very severe cases of micropenis there may not be enough tissue to invert and sometimes genitally ambiguous infants are mutilated at birth in order to make them conform to what society says genitals look like. As most people in the transgender and intersex communities, sometimes the doctor gets it wrong. Vaginoplasty also isn't exactly perfect from what I have heard and some women might want to wait until the surgery is improved.

In other cases, perhaps a transwoman does not really want female genitals. Some genetic women have said they would enjoy male genitals so why is it so strange that a transwoman might too? Not to mention that many transwomen are lesbians and any lesbian can tell you that some femmes are tops. If they were born with the equipment to top then for some lesbian transwomen who are tops it may seem illogical to spend money on a surgery to remove an organ that they find useful so they can have an imitation of one. There are also transwomen who want children and don't have a lot of genital dysphoria. I have a friend of mine and she isn't having hormones or surgery yet because she and her girlfriend want children.

When it comes to transmen it is even more complex because frankly our surgery is unbelievably expensive and has very poor results. I resent the idea that because I am not rich I am not a real man. I will never be able to afford surgery unless I suddenly become very rich and furthermore while I would really like to have male genitals I am not dysphoric about them very much. A good example of the degree of dyphoria would be that I also hate being short. I don't like it and if I could go back in time and change my future height I would but I am not going to spend my life savings in order to get taller, especially if it would come at the expense of my health.

This phrase is more than just hurtful and inaccurate though. It actually damaged the transgender rights movement. When people hear this it reaffirms their belief that you aren't your mental gender until you get lower surgery. This causes problems for non-op and pre-op transsexuals because it follows that until you have genital surgery you should not be called your preferred pronoun and if you are unable or do not want to have lower surgery you are not a real member of your mental gender. Many transsexuals have heard this argument. I have been told many times that until I have lower surgery I will not be a man, I have no right to call myself a man and I am being dishonest by "posing" as a man. I have heard, even among some transsexuals, that transwomen who do not get lower surgery must be fetishists or gays who can't deal with being gay. Luckily among transgendered people this is not a common position but you do hear it quite a bit from the public at large. As long as we reenforce this belief we will to be able to get equal rights for all transgendered people. Even the people who would fit the "Harry Benjamin Syndrome" profile would not get equal rights simply because when one group is discriminated against then no one is safe from hatred. We need to stop using this phrase and call out people who use it so that they will stop using it. If we don't we will doom our own movement.

[Guest Kaitlyn88]

I've knew used that but to me it never implied the way you use it as. To me it just means that you were born a woman that is transsexual. I don't really get how it could mean that you are only the real gender after SRS because it says nothing about SRS or about being a real gender other then stating that you were born a woman just with a medical condition. To me I always took it as the opposite meaning, reaffirming that you were born a woman, you just were also born with the condition.

Katie

[Guest i is Sam :-)]

Where I've heard people use the phrase, they've used it in the context of as if their transition is all but over and they no longer think of themselves as anything other than female.

[Guest Kaitlyn88]

I've knew used that but to me it never implied the way you use it as. To me it just means that you were born a woman that is transsexual. I don't really get how it could mean that you are only the real gender after SRS because it says nothing about SRS or about being a real gender other then stating that you were born a woman just with a medical condition. To me I always took it as the opposite meaning, reaffirming that you were born a woman, you just were also born with the condition.

Katie

That was supposed to say I never used that, not I've knew used that. Sorry about that.

[Guest Justme]

I do get what you are saying. Unfortunately, for alot of us, state and federal laws play into the idea that a persons genitals, say who you are...male or female. Many of us live in states that...until we have genital surgery, we are not allowed to define ourselves for who we are. They refuse to see a person that is transgendered as a person that was born with a birth defect. They look at the genitalia....define us...and if we look to change that...see us as defiants. People to be feared and fought against. In my state of NH, we fought last year for anti=discrimination rights....and it turned into a 'bathroom issue'. Instead of dealing with the real issue That trans people could'nt have equal rights in housing, work etc. It turned into .. men would be allowed to enter female bathrooms and vice versa. We were put on the same list as sexual predators. And it seems like, with all the info out there. that people would wake up. and come to an understanding about trans issues. We were born this way. Does'nt make us defiants. We are good people.

[Guest ricka]

I find the phrase "woman who was born transsexual" to be ambiguous and it seems it could be interpreted in any number of ways, and yes, some which strike me as offensive. That said, you make some very good points in your post and one which I would underscore that our gender identity has nothing to do with the genitalia we were born with for a great many of us. When I was able to make that disconnect it was a watershed moment which liberated me to be myself.

Ricka

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Maybe I never understood any of this.

I was born the way I am. I was, am now, and always will be a female person. That's my gender - and I tried to pretend it wasn't for a long long time. Didn't work.

Then over a year ago my therapist said I was transsexual. I always thought that was my condition - gender dysphoric to the point I could not reconcile who I am with the body I am in.

ITS THE BODY that is the problem. I am fixing that. I am losing that dysphoria soon as my body WILL match what I am. I consider the condition mainly resolved - and I am no longer transsexual, but rather a T-Girl. I say that because technically I know the XY and lack of reproductive organs keep me from being 100%.

BUT

To me the 'T" in T-Girl is a "transitioned"-girl, not 'transsexual' - girl. I don't consider myself transsexual anymore. Really that condition has been fading ever since I started transition!

So 'woman who was born transsexal?" I never used that phrase. Doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. Perhaps I was a person who had a transsexual condition through being gender dysphoric - BUT my gender - female. Does that make me a woman? Define 'woman?" Most people look at the body for a guide.

I am fixing the body.

Lizzy

[Guest Donna Jean]

I agree with Lizzy.......

I was born a woman....The transition is from male body to the best female body possible...

I was born in a pickup truck body with a Maserati V-12 under the hood! Not compatible.

Now I'm running it on 100 octane (Estrogen) and changing out the truck body for a sleek, aerodynamic new shell that will let that engine scream like it's supposed to..

I was born a woman that was meant to transition...

I don't think that any of us are so naive as to not understand the chromosomal differences will never change...

It's sad that society labels us as to what we appear...but, remember...gender is between the ears...not the legs!

Love.....

Donna Jean

[Guest viv]

I was born a woman ,,just an unlucky one . Nature or whatever was unkind

to me . All I ask of society is ,,will you please leave me and my brothers/

sisters be so we can make the best of a bad hand , luv,viv

[Guest EmilyA]

Fortunately for me I live in the great state of Minnesota and we have laws that prevent discrimination for transsexuals. Also, MTFs only need an orchie to change their birth certificates. Which for me will save a lot of money and make the process much shorter. Maybe ten or twenty years down the road they'll have the technology to change me on the genetic level. At least I hope so.

I would have to agree though that society needs to stay the heck out of our lives and ESPECIALLY our bedrooms.

As far as dealing with people who tell me that I'm not a woman (especially genetic women), I simply tell them, "I may not be a woman in your eyes but I know what it means to be a lady".

Emily

[Guest praisedbeherhooves]

I do get what you are saying. Unfortunately, for alot of us, state and federal laws play into the idea that a persons genitals, say who you are...male or female. Many of us live in states that...until we have genital surgery, we are not allowed to define ourselves for who we are. They refuse to see a person that is transgendered as a person that was born with a birth defect. They look at the genitalia....define us...and if we look to change that...see us as defiants. People to be feared and fought against. In my state of NH, we fought last year for anti=discrimination rights....and it turned into a 'bathroom issue'. Instead of dealing with the real issue That trans people could'nt have equal rights in housing, work etc. It turned into .. men would be allowed to enter female bathrooms and vice versa. We were put on the same list as sexual predators. And it seems like, with all the info out there. that people would wake up. and come to an understanding about trans issues. We were born this way. Does'nt make us defiants. We are good people.

Oh, god, the bathroom issue. They pulled that in Massachusetts too. Why people have such a strong objection to people being the same room where they do their business I do not understand. I mean, you just go in there, excrete, wash your hands and leave. Why would you be uncomfortable because someone who you won't talk to, won't socialize with, and will barely come in contact with happens to be in the same general area?

[Guest Joanna Phipps]

I agree with Lizzy.......

I was born a woman....The transition is from male body to the best female body possible...

I was born in a pickup truck body with a Maserati V-12 under the hood! Not compatible.

Now I'm running it on 100 octane (Estrogen) and changing out the truck body for a sleek, aerodynamic new shell that will let that engine scream like it's supposed to..

I was born a woman that was meant to transition...

I don't think that any of us are so naive as to not understand the chromosomal differences will never change...

It's sad that society labels us as to what we appear...but, remember...gender is between the ears...not the legs!

Love.....

Donna Jean

Add me to this, I dont cosider myself transsexual anymore. I am what I am, that is a woman who happened to get some spare parts when she was assembled. I am a woman and always have been, now I can live the way I should have been living for the last 50 Years. Yes there are things I've missed but you know what, I wouldnt be the me I am if I had those things since Id be a natal female.

[Guest Nicodeme]

There probably is a parallel phrase for transmen but I haven't heard it used yet

There isn't. Because to WBTs there's virtually no such thing as transmen. I've written about their elitist BS twice now. I'll link you to the first one (only because it's SO long) and I'll copy-paste the second one here...

First...

http://notrevieenpourpre.blogspot.com/2009...et-used-to.html

Second...

What’s “WWBT”?

Yesterday, I read a post by Monica Roberts in her blog “TransGriot” entitled “If you WWBT’s Hate Trans People So Much…” It’s an angry post, but I’m not sure who she’s mad at, or why. I usually avoid reading Ms Roberts’ tirades, but that headline caught my eye on “T-Central”.

What, I wondered, are “WWBT’s”? So I Googled the term. And then tried again…

Finally I saw it means “White Women Born Transsexual”. … Huh?

I’d call the labeling confused, but that would be understating the case. I know Ms Roberts has a tendency toward racism, a casual approach to the English language, and her apparent disdain for logic, but this one takes the prize. What the heck is a white woman born transsexual? And why is it important to note their race? Isn’t it impossible to be born transsexual? Don’t you have to undergo quite a lot of surgery and other treatments to be considered “transsexual”? If she has in mind a more casual definition, all I can do is point to her apparent disdain for logic. But beyond that - why would a transwoman hate trans people? I could understand some transwomen hating the transgendered community, or members of that community, but Ms Roberts doesn’t seem to be discussing them. It’s so nonsensical, it’s impossible to make sense of, let alone refute! It is quite a lot of nonsense. Even for Ms Roberts.

A couple of other confusions from Ms Roberts’ post: why does whomever she’s mad at need Jesus? No one needs Jesus. And why is someone’s Technorati rating so important?

Like I said, I’m not sure why Ms Roberts is mad at WWBT’s, but she is quite mad at them.

Uh, there’s already a blog called Women Born Transsexual, full of women who…claim to be born transsexual.

(Actually, it’s very much possible to be born transsexual, as in having a gender idenity differing from your sex at birth. But if your definition of transsexual requires that someone go through the transitional process…then of course it won’t make sense.)

As for why she adds the extra W at the beginning for White? Most of these “Women Born Transsexual” ARE white.

The problem with WBT is that there’s this elitism, this notion that you absolutely must go through every available step in transition to be a “real” transsexual, that you absoultely must have “the surgery” or else you don’t count. And it annoys other trans people immensely because not only does it “justify” the assumption by many non-trans people that you have to have “the surgery” to really be a woman (obviously to WBTs there’s no such thing as transguys), but it brings it back to us and rubs it in our faces like it’s the trans gospel even though we know it’s BS. (I’m sure you know what that stands for.)

And it’s not that her definition of racism is at all incorrect. Yes, racism is, in the dictionary, merely a belief that one’s own race is superior to others. But in a social context, nobody really sees racism as a problem (or sees it at all) unless the idea is acted upon. And you need power to act on something, even if it’s on a very small scale.

Also:

I could understand some transwomen hating the transgendered community, or members of that community, but Ms Roberts doesn’t seem to be discussing them.

We can hate the idiots among us for being idiots. Especially if they insist on it.

And these elitists certainly do insist.