Transgenders

[myapple]

Why are they looked down upon, even by the gay community? They're probably showed the least amount of respect ever. Straight men get freaked out by them because they were once men and consider it gay when another straight man is attracted to a transgender female. I don't think it should matter that they were once a man. They're a female now so what's the problem? Maybe it's the fact that they can't get pregnant or whatever. It just angers me that people look down on them. I hate when people offend them by saying "I'm a real man/female."

[mrk2010]

Why are they looked down upon, even by the gay community? They're probably showed the least amount of respect ever. Straight men get freaked out by them because they were once men and consider it gay when another straight man is attracted to a transgender female. I don't think it should matter that they were once a man. They're a female now so what's the problem? Maybe it's the fact that they can't get pregnant or whatever. It just angers me that people look down on them. I hate when people offend them by saying "I'm a real man/female."

I have no idea, I think people just find it really hard to get their heads round, myself included. See what gender your attracted to is one thing, but changing your gender is a massive thing and more complicated issue. I don't look down in transgendered people but I find it really hard to get my head round and find it a bit weird.

[myapple]

I have no idea, I think people just find it really hard to get their heads round, myself included. See what gender your attracted to is one thing, but changing your gender is a massive thing and more complicated issue. I don't look down in transgendered people but I find it really hard to get my head round and find it a bit weird.

I really believe gender is a social construct that we're all blinded by.

[Nick9]

I have no idea, I think people just find it really hard to get their heads round, myself included. See what gender your attracted to is one thing, but changing your gender is a massive thing and more complicated issue. I don't look down in transgendered people but I find it really hard to get my head round and find it a bit weird.

hi mrk,

try this. Close your eyes so that you don't see your body. Are you a man, or a woman?
When a TS who looks like a female closes his eyes, he knows he is a man. Just like you.

If someone told you, change the way you feel and be a woman, you wouldn't be able to feel that way. TS can't do it either. He can pretend, just like gay people can pretend that they are straight. It's exactly the same thing. He will be equally unhappy.

[OrphanPip]

Ignorance is part of the reason.

Part of the problem is that we live in a society that is hesitant to think of gender in any critical terms. Most people conflate gender identity and biological sex without understanding exactly what gender means. Gender is a social and cultural understanding of how our behaviour and position in society relates to our biological sex. Gender is connected to biology, and it is certainly influenced by biology (despite the claims of the most ardent of constructivist), but it is also built out of cultural assumptions that don't stand up well under scrutiny.

[Pix]

A lot of people want to make themselves feel better by putting others down. Many exotic dancers love to look down on prostitutes, the different military groups in the USA look down on each other, there was East Coast vs. West Coast rap, and also Texas Country vs. Nashville, and Texans vs. Oklahomans. Baptists and Pentecostals usually look down on each other while both look down on Jehohvah's Witnesses (unpatriotic scum) and Catholics (idol worshippers). Having mixed with the Russian Orthodox I found that not only do the various sects of Eastern Orthodox sometimes clash, but the Russian Orthodox in Russia often looks down on RO abroad (and sometimes vice versa). Then there's people who look down on others for what they like (such as Harry Potter vs. Twilight, Selena vs. Miley, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, etc) and endless other things like mom vs. child free or vegetarian vs. vegan to even the pettiest of issues (Sig vs. Glock, Paper vs. Plastic, etc).

In all the examples I cited people make themselves feel better (smarter, more refined, more godly, etc) by their choices by looking down on someone else. I imagine this is more of the same.

In the case of transgenders, at least for MtF, you also have the violation of the Boy Code which is no small thing and bound to stir controversy. Though I don't know if it's true, it's possible that some gay men feel defensive over being thought of as feminine and instinctively lash out at a guy who is literally becoming a woman out of misplaced hostility against those hets unable to tell the difference between sexual orientation and gender roles. Again, that's just a guess.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Fear is the underlying cause of bigotry/hatred.

We humans appear to be 'hardwired' for dividing ourselves up into two basic groups: Us and Them.

Us includes all the people who are 'like us' - Them is all the other people.

Human history is full of instances where this primary division is enhanced by picking some feature of 'Them' which is unlike 'Us' in order to justify the hatred. In justifying the hatred Us becomes better than Them.

EXAMPLE:

Drug Users (All pretty bad characters right?). Pot Addicts will 'justify' that they are somehow better because their drug of choice grows on plants. Crack-Smoking addicts will make themselves 'better than' their Needle using counter parts because they are not using needles.

"Us" is better because of ________________. Some justification, some minor point which makes it OK to be Us but not OK to be Them.

Humans have a need to be accepted and to be 'better than' other people. We draw fictions boundaries, and make up rules of social and moral acceptable behaviors (not the same as ethical behaviors) all in an attempt to make our selves look 'better than'.

We are very much pack animals, in that we seek to run with people who are similar to us. Thus in high-school we have the jocks in their circle, the goths in their circle, the geeks in their circle.

Few accept the basic premise that we are all books of blood, when we are opened up we are red . Meaning we are all the same on the inside, with the same needs and desires, hopes and dreams and we all bleed red blood.

A mixed fortune exists in that humans are such a diverse bunch when it comes to packaging, a near rainbow of colors, features, personalities and other things which has made the whole 'I am better than you' easier.

TG/TS are isolated and picked on because their appearance, their 'differences' are obvious and easy to isolate and fixate on. It takes extraordinary people to see the sameness in all people. I fear that humans have few extraordinary people, most are pitifully ordinary.

Why are they looked down upon, even by the gay community? They're probably showed the least amount of respect ever. Straight men get freaked out by them because they were once men and consider it gay when another straight man is attracted to a transgender female. I don't think it should matter that they were once a man. They're a female now so what's the problem? Maybe it's the fact that they can't get pregnant or whatever. It just angers me that people look down on them. I hate when people offend them by saying "I'm a real man/female."

[dfiant]

Orphanpip says what I was thinking. Those that don't understand something tend to fear it or feel threatened by something that is 'different'.

Men tend to be the greater of bigots because they are so protective of their sexuality and are usually the first to feel threatened. Men have the biggest problem taking 'sex' out of 'sexuality' and dealing with people as a human being.

[zeon]

It is to do with lack of education in this department... Maybe if people are educated properly this whole judgemental attitude will be wiped but not in our lifetime or next but maybe if someone took appropriate steps to combat it it may help i dont judge then because as a gay man im judged in some countries

[mrk2010]

If I could get my head round it I'd probably accept it more, but who knows