What difference does the APA have in your life?

[Carolyn Marie]

I don't hate myself for being TS, but I'm not marching in a parade over it. It is what it is.

I agree.

Carolyn Marie

[Guest DanD]

BTW, cross dressing isnt crazy at all, Kimberly.

i dont know why people get so hung up on clothing.

who makes the rules that say you have to wear such and such a thing anyway? some clothing designer?

I mean, look at fashion over the years.

Jesus didnt wear pants.

George Washington wore funny tights with knickers and a frilly shirt like from the 70s' disco era and then, those awful white wigs!

Wonder when they stopped the white wigs? i have no idea when they started that idea.. they look silly. Someone sold a bunch of wigs to a crowd of people and it caught on, somehow.

in the early 1900's boys only wore nickers until they grew up, then they wore long pants.

women? they wore the most outragously huge wooden franked hoop skirts, i dont know HOW they managed to go to the bathroom, and how would they get back up if they fell down? you would need a crane hoist on her backside, i think??

powder your nose powder this and that and sniff this little strange suff in a tidy little box and called sniff, or snuff..thats very odd!

and those were our ancestors.

nuns are crossdressers, they always wear crosses!

I dont care what anyone wears, so long as their pants dont fall down when they walk.

And please please,,, dont bring back the white powdered wigs into style.

[Guest ~Brenda~]

Never forget that there are many successful transgendered people in this world.

I personally know people who are now themselves at times long before this question.

As far as I am concerned, this thread is superfluous. The fundamental need to be is what is paramount. The paths evolve in the medical community as they begin to understand. That has no reflection on being oneself.

This is not very complicated, nor should it be.

Brenda

[Guest KimberlyF]

As far as I am concerned, this thread is superfluous.

That's an interesting take. A few people have replied to the topic, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

In my life, I've been so busy lately that I'm behind on my blog and I haven't even started my latest book club book. I don't have the time to reply to topics I find superfluous.

But yeah there are many successful trans people. And it happened with the GID label somehow.

[Cyndee]

That poor soul, she's really not insane, she's dyshporic. Dysphoria is a word that had no meaning to me until I started reading these clinical descriptions. The use of that word over disorder, perhaps might water down perceptions, most people might have to look up what dysphoria means in a dictionary, it's just not in the most commonly used vocabulary I think. In the end it matters little what the APA labels it to me just help me fix what's wrong here.

[Guest KimberlyF]

That poor soul, she's really not insane, she's dyshporic. Dysphoria is a word that had no meaning to me until I started reading these clinical descriptions. The use of that word over disorder, perhaps might water down perceptions, most people might have to look up what dysphoria means in a dictionary, it's just not in the most commonly used vocabulary I think. In the end it matters little what the APA labels it to me just help me fix what's wrong here.

Do people think someone with OCD or ADD are insane? I've never come out to a single person and told them I had GID. I don't connect with either phrase.

The words themselves are meaningless to me. I don't have a problem identifying my gender. So like I stated earlier I'm not sure where I stand on the change itself. I don't think it's going to have the positive social changes people think but if it makes people feel better about themselves why not? Unless it pulls more people to transition because to beat GD, that's how you do it. You were GID for life. Also, validation has to start from inside. If a psych group changing their tag makes you feel THAT much better about yourself, maybe ask your therapist why?

But I do agree. Ultimately I just want someone to fix what bothers me.

[Guest Sarinah]

Why do people assume that the word disorder is automatically associated with insane. Disorder means "out of order". When the DSM uses it, it is essentially saying: things are not following the pattern expected. The "pattern expected" is established by the majority and is typically called "the norm". Therefore a synonym for disorder would be abnormal. I am abnormal. I was born with XY chromosomes and a typical XY phenotype but I feel as though I should have an XX phenotype. Less than .04% of the population shares this feeling. We are in the strong minority, therefore we are abnormal. This does not offend me for two reasons: everyone has something about them that is abnormal, and it is a summation of our normalities and abnormalities that make us individuals. I am not crazy because I have a disorder, everyone has a disorder. Most people pretend they dont but they do.

-Evalyn

[Drea]

Why do people assume that the word disorder is automatically associated with insane. Disorder means "out of order". When the DSM uses it, it is essentially saying: things are not following the pattern expected. The "pattern expected" is established by the majority and is typically called "the norm". Therefore a synonym for disorder would be abnormal. I am abnormal. I was born with XY chromosomes and a typical XY phenotype but I feel as though I should have an XX phenotype. Less than .04% of the population shares this feeling. We are in the strong minority, therefore we are abnormal. This does not offend me for two reasons: everyone has something about them that is abnormal, and it is a summation of our normalities and abnormalities that make us individuals. I am not crazy because I have a disorder, everyone has a disorder. Most people pretend they dont but they do.

I completely agree and accept my "abnormality". I don't need to deny it to feel good about myself. I don't need to convince others I am normal. Attempting such is only going to get some insincere statment "yes you are" while they are thinking I have two heads or they will just tell me I have to heads.

Being able to understand how abnormal they see it, tell them I know it, has been one of the biggest ways I have been able to get people okay with it "yes I know it is pretty weird, I don't understand it myself either, it is what it is and I can't change how I feel". My being able to show I recognize it and don't take myself so seriously and be a decent person has a great effect at gettiing them to relax.

So like you Evalyn, I don't see a problem. There is no reason to assume it is equivalent to insane or mentally ill. It actually is kinda nice to know that the condition is recognized and that there are treatment options.