1.
Transsexualism is -
1.1.
One of the many possible biological
variations in human sexual
formation
Transsexualism
exists in someone who at birth has
chromosomes, reproductive organs and external
genitals which appear to be typically of one
sex but whose brain, the most powerful of all
the sex organs, proves to be of the opposite
sex.
It most
likely occurs when, at critical stages during
pregnancy, hormonal disturbances or other
interruptions to the process of sexual
differentiation irreversibly cause parts of
the brain of a foetus to develop in a male or
female pattern opposite to the rest of the
body.
1.2. A
medically diagnosable
condition
Diagnosis is
by means of psychological assessments, which
differentiate between transsexualism and
contra-indicating mental conditions, such as
identity disorders or schizophrenia-related
conditions. Transsexualism is
characterised by an overwhelming and
persistent sense of oneself as innately male
or female, despite the opposite appearance of
the body.
Men and women
affected by transsexualism express a profound
wish to live and be seen by their society
according to the sex they know themselves to
be rather than the sex they were assumed to
be at birth, and seek a physical appearance,
which reflects their true sex to the fullest
extent possible through hormonal and surgical
rehabilitation.
1.3. A
medically treatable condition
Transsexualism
is a neuro-biological condition of the brain,
treatable through hormones and surgery under
the care of qualified, experienced medical
professionals.
1.4. A
straightforward problem with a
straightforward remedy
The remedy
for the predicament of transsexualism is
rehabilitative sex affirmation
treatment (hormonal and surgical
procedures) to bring the person's body and
public presentation into harmony with their
innate or brain sex so that this person can
experience sexual unity and peace (ie "fix
the body not the mind").
2.
Transgenderism is -
2.1.
A broad social phenomenon
A person who
is transgender has a core gender
identity outside of to the 'gender binary'
(male/ female). Like other people,
transgender people need to live authentically
according to their own core sense of gender.
Unlike most anyone else, this core sense
tends to cross the gender binary or displace
it altogether.
Transgender
people often find it more comfortable to
abandon the gender binary and live according
to their own core sense of gender which
completely crosses the gender binary or is
outside the gender binary. - hence the
term transgender.
The term
'transgender' was coined in the 1970s by the
famous cross-dresser, Virginia Prince, a
heterosexual male who lived as a woman
without desire for surgery or hormonal
intervention.
2.2. A
human gender identity
variation
While many
transgender people are comfortable with the
legal sex assigned them at birth, and do not
seek sex affirmation treatment, some
transgender people are naturally androgynous
and find themselves able to live comfortably
without any medical intervention at all. Some
transgender people experience varying levels
of discomfort and use a varying range of
hormone treatments and surgical procedures to
reduce this.
Many
transgender people adopt a male or a female
appearance or gender presentation in order to
live in everyday society.
2.3.
Frequently used as an 'umbrella'
term
This word has
developed over the years into a well-meaning
but mistaken attempt to include people with
diverse physical conditions, identities, and
differing issues who may or may not require
medical intervention, into the one basket.
This umbrella term is incorrectly applied to
people with intersex physical conditions and
people with behaviours which span or explore
gender such as cross dressing and "drag"
(both male and female)
entertainment.
Many at the
forefront of social, medical and legal
education and reform consider this umbrella
usage counterproductive.
FTM Australia does not use the
word transgender as an umbrella
term.
2.4.
External to the binary (male/female) gender
system
The gender
binary is a limited construct for transgender
people. Some transgender people recognise the
one gender their whole lifetime, others
change genders over time, and/or can identify
as having multiple genders at the same
time.
Some
transgender people speak of being part of a
continuum of gender. Some transgender people
situate themselves on a continuum between
male and female and often include a third,
fourth or more genders.
3.
A man who experiences
transsexualism:
3.1.
has a medical predicament which can be
medically treated;
3.2. seeks
to undergo the rehabilitation of
sex-affirmation-surgery (SAS);
3.3. seeks
the normalising of his life within the
gender binary
(male/female).
A man
affected by transsexualism, as any other man,
can be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual,
asexual and/or transgendered; these
experiences being different and distinct from
the transsexual condition.
The medically
diagnosable condition transsexualism and the
social phenomena of transgenderism hold
similar and different medical, legal and
cultural significance.
