On Gender Identity and Labels - Educational Thread

[Pix]

I was looking more into CD men and found these sites particularly interesting (btw, it appears most are heterosexual, I knew some were but these suggest nearly all are) which I found helpful (and want to save so I can look at more myself later):

survey of crossdressers

Why men crossdress

Quotes from Christian men who CD

[pellaz]

crossdressing; from female to male, is not taboo but how does it exist in the same way

[pellaz]

is a gender phobic thing relate to one's insecurity about their gender

[SlipknotRlZZ]

Finally I managed to finish reading this thread. Urm,more labels I guess,oh dear. I've never considered the possibility of gender being this complex,I'm just surprised to discover so much more exist. Thanks for this very educational thread.

I'm not rushing into labeling my self,but from my understanding,perhaps I'm androgynous? Still,I'm comfortable with labeling my self as just male.

Whatever you are comfortable with usually fits you best as a label. :]

[Ekwarph]

It's interesting but I wonder though...
Is it necessary to put labels on people who are just who they are? Isn't it dangerous to give medical word for those labels?

It's an open question, I honestly don't have any answer.

[Matty71]

I've always thought myself to be somewhat Androgynous, at least in appearance. Though, I do identify as a Male.

[spencer]

It's interesting but I wonder though...
Is it necessary to put labels on people who are just who they are? Isn't it dangerous to give medical word for those labels?

It's an open question, I honestly don't have any answer.

It's pretty useful if you're going to have to take some medical procedures. And even if everything sorta relates there are big differences between each group. A full blown transsexual probably can't relate and find a whole lot of support from someone who might just be a crossdresser. A lot of times labels can be hurtful but it would be really confusing if we didn't have some way of marking points on the spectrum because a lot goes on and it can be confusing for everyone and it'd be even more confusing if we only had one term and if we had no terms then I probably would have just been left confused my whole life without knowing that there's actually a group of people that feels the same as me and I can actually do something about it instead of just thinking I was weird and going to be uncomfortable and confused about myself forever.

[SlipknotRlZZ]

I agree with spencer completely. Also, as I mentioned in the post itself, you don't have to use any labes whatsoever. These are for convenience and more formal cases. :]

[Ekwarph]

Ok, thank you for your answer and sorry for the stupid question :biggrin:

[SolemnBoy]

I actually thought of a new question in regards to this thread. I have one somewhat close friend who identifies as male even though he's biologically female. Given that this is a secret I usually address him by his biological gender (although there's no need for that here) but this is not the only trans person I've encountered.

A few years ago on a trip to London I met a person who was biologically male but identified as female. I had never really encountered a trans person before but we were at a party and I felt really bad over the way most people there seemed sort of uncomfortable around her. I spoke to her for quite a while though and since I wanted to be respectful I asked how she'd prefer to be addressed. She seemed somewhat offended by my question and the atmosphere got kind of awkward. I've never understood why, it seems like a perfectly reasonable question to ask. After all, it's asked for the sake of establishing a level of mutual respect. Do some trans people get upset when you bring up stuff like that? We had been talking a lot about her biological vs. mental gender so it's not as if the subject itself was taboo. This has been bothering me for a very long time and I'm sort of worried about being unintentionally disrespectful somehow.