If in fact being transgender is a biological trait, like having blue eyes or blond hair, does that relieve us of this heavy load?
What if it came to light that you really weren’t a woman in spirit? That none of this transgender life is about “being” a woman in a man’s body, but rather just thinking you were? And what if that thought (of being and feeling female) was biologically “hard wired” into your brain? How would that make you feel? Are you happy that this can no longer be considered an action of choice, or does it make you sad knowing that “being wired biologically” means it is likely something you will never be able to change?
Most of us have spent our entire lives wondering, “What’s wrong with me?” And then after decades of purge and repeat behavior, mixing shame, guilt and the need to search our soul for the truth of these internal feelings of self identity, some of us have slowly learned to accept in ourselves that which society often mocks, or worse, condemns. If in fact being transgender is a biological trait, like having blue eyes or blond hair, does that relieve us of this heavy load?
Transsexuals, prior to GRS, have often described themselves as woman trapped in the body of a man. And although I feel the same way -- and used that explanation as the best analogy to explain what being transgender felt like -- I still could never reconcile what that really meant beyond theory in my own mind. When we say, “I am a woman,” are we referring to the current essence of our soul? Or perhaps we have the memories from a previous female life existence? Or is our (societies) notion of life and existence simply wrong, and gender expression merely another form of experience as I suggest in “And They Burned Witches Too!”
Abstract thoughts like these fascinate me, and I actively participate in “what if” scenarios all the time. But beyond the rhetoric of the conversation, what does any of it mean in the practical sense?
I have friends that have transitioned and currently live the fulltime lives of the woman they have become. But were they woman all along? Some say yes, while others say no. Transsexuals (often thought of as those that have graduated transgender camp) are split in two on the issue and have drawn a line in the sand. There are two common positions that have been recited to me repeatedly:
1) Some say that they were transgender woman when they were women living in a man’s body, but post-op no longer are, suggesting that now they are simply women, no different than any other biological woman, and therefore, no longer trans.
2) Others identify as women, but recognize that the mere fact that they were born into a male body makes them different from a biologically born female.
For the sake of this article let’s refer to them both by the acronym “WODO” (Woman of a different origin).
A biological female has lived her whole life female. Beginning from early childhood she evolved through adolescence into adulthood. Many WODO’s on the other hand simply “become” woman midstream. Does this make a difference? Some WODO’s will argue that they have been women since birth, just trapped in a male body due to a cosmic mistake. Did being predominately male (even if they were just pretending and playing the part) have an impact on the woman they are to become?
Another position by some WODO’s is that they can never really be 100% woman (even though they have an almost exact replica of a female body to accompany their female mind and spirit), because they didn’t have the life experience of a woman. They certainly are no longer male and therefore, by default, are transsexual women.
It has been theorized for some time that being transgender and/or homosexual, is something you are born with, not something you learn, or acquire a taste for (no pun intended.) Recently, scientific reports are emerging that support these theories, linking transsexualism to biological conditions that occur during the “hormone spray,” in the womb. In 1995 Dutch researchers discovered that a structural difference existed within the brains of men and (M>F) transsexuals. A small cluster of cells in the brain -- the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) – is smaller in transsexuals (as it is in women) than in men.
Researchers also announced links between certain genes and sexual orientation, which it says is also hard wired into the brain. Perhaps with the advances of medical sciences, we will come to know for sure the reason for our actions. So in the future when people say, “How come you are transgender, we can simply say, “Because I was just born that way.”
As always, be happy, be safe, and think pretty.
Brianna Austin
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- On March 23 At 19:18 -pennyjane- said
and, just a bit more on the ts content thing. i am very often disparaged for being something of a labler. i just happen to think that conversation, or any communication, depends on labels. it's all metaphorical so why try to avoid it? at any rate, we are victims of this avoidance, we victimize ourselves by refusing to recognize, much less celebrate our differences. the best we ever seem to muster is to "admit" some from time to time. we all want to claim the same label, i guess it's because of all the shame and guilt in our pasts, everyone wants to be among the least offensive of labels. thus we agree on none. that's how we continue to victimize ourselves, by keeping understanding us impossible for non-tg's. if you keep everything all conveluted enough maybe no one will notice that you are tv and not ts or ts and not cd or tv and not shemale and so on and so on, we all seem to think we're at the bottom so any label but the truthful one is a step up.
bunk! the grass ain't a dang bit greener over there then it is over here. we keep it as brown as we can by painting it grey. we are not all one community, i know this because i am ts and i know who and what i am and i know i am not a shemale. i know i am not a transvestitie or a crossdresser. it wouldn't change who and what i am no matter who sat at the top of the "acceptable" tree. a rising tide lifts all boats, that's true, but if the tide lifts where it isn't supposed to it'll crash all the boats onto the shore. truth is the tide, it is not a variable, it is what it is. if one lifts their boat up on the tide that goes to an unfamiliar shore they will crash and burn in the end. everyone must live there own truth and rise with their own tide, not someone else's.
so, when i talk about ts content, i am speaking about things that are of interest to transsexuals, not crossdressers. there is plenty of exclusively crossdresser content here. content that is of little to no interest to the average transsexual. all the glitz and glamour, the obsession with physical appearance are not things that most transsexuals i know, and i seem to be getting to know quite a few, spend much time dealing with. perhaps you could call us "mature" once we've gotten past all that, but then where do we go? what happens to us, why are we so terribly underrepresented in the tg community? when our thoughts and aspirations take on a serious note, when we see more to life then dressing up and appearing female? where's that voice? passing. that seems to be the only goal for so many of us. we judge each other by how well we pass. how shallow! one can be a total bimbo but if she passes well her voice is held in much higher esteem then the genius who doesn't pass at all. no wonder we are seen as simple minded, immature, rather lurid people who don't deserve any respect. if that's all the respect we have for ourselves, then why should we be respected by others? just my opinion. but what do i know? i'm just a girl. lotsa love and hope, pj
- On February 12 At 23:52 -pennyjane- said
ok bri. so there is some ts content over here. i note you use the transgender term. gosh, i wish we'd all just figure out a language and stick with it. anyway, i'll go with wodo. <giggle> don't know why i did that. anyway i believe that we wodo's are born and we are hardwired. and i don't believe we'll ever be "just another woman". i don't see very many of us who have that exact replica you speak of, and those who do, have exact replicas, not the origional. and we were never under the impression that we could become mothers. that's no small matter at all. it is one big deal that seperates us out from our gg sisters. you can chalk that up under history. not many little girls don't plan on being mommy's when they grow up and it's a huge part of their upbringing, we miss all that. even after surgery that new and wonderous piece of anatomy between our legs has to be "maintained", and not in just the usual feminine ways. most of us will never look gg unless we completely rebuild our bodies surgically. we are not "just another woman". as you say, we are transsexual women by default.
now, after all that i believe the time will come when we can be..."just another woman". we're not there yet but we have a chance. the big monkey wrench out there waiting to be tossed into the wheel is medical progress. what??? you say. yup. as these times and places of the hormonal splashes in the womb occurr, we are going to be awfully tempted to figure out a "correction". i visualize mommy taking a pill at these times that prevents the spash, or move it or something that stops the transsexualism for ocurring in the fetus. <poof> the end of us all and the whole discussion is moot. and on that happy note, much love and hope, pj
