What transgender activists don't want you to know...

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http://transgendersurvivor.wordpress.co ... it-anyway/

I thought this was a pretty good article. It knocks down pretty well the feminine essence theory of transsexualism.

Meh. The trouble with psychological theories is that you can make up whatever explanation you want because there's no way to falsify it. I.e. "Gay people are gay because they didn't bond enough (or bonded too much) with one parent or the other." You can't stick a meter in someone's brain to measure their bondedness, and if people try to figure it out from history there's going to be huge amounts of confirmation bias, i.e. "he didn't watch football on TV with dad on Sundays because of lack of bonding," when it was actually due to finding sports on TV incredibly boring. So, physical brain stuff (which I think is suggestive but inconclusive at this point) is easier to take seriously.

As far as "female essence," I agree that it's crap since you can find (born) women who don't like children, hate the color pink, have a low EQ, are good at math, and contrary to endless other stereotypes. Helen Boyd (her partner is trans) had a list like that of BS reasons that people give for being (MTF) trans: liking to cook, liking to give BJs, etc., but rather than concluding that that means that only femme MTF's are really trans she concluded that people can be trans and that those stereotypes of femininity have nothing to do with it.

And, for males inventing theories that say that other people's motivations are about sex -- it's almost comically reminiscent of Freud and his "penis envy," Oedipus complexes, and blah blah. Guys just generally have sex on the brain (especially when they're coke heads) and ought to be more careful about projecting that when making up theories.

The article makes perfect sense to me.

Some men want to become women because they hate their male bodies. Other men want to become women because they want to become attractive to straight men.

It's all in their minds (imo).

Is there any evidence for these claims? Merely claiming that MTF transwomen transition because they're sexually aroused by it does not make it so, and also fails to explain why they have troubles with their gender identity from an early age. Unless, of course, you really do subscribe to Freud, and think that everything humans do, no matter how old they are, is rooted in the desire for sex...

Oh god, here we go.

*reads*

Huh. That was surprisingly not ignorant. At least not as much as I thought.

It's a tricky issue, to be sure. How do you sort those who need that change in lifestyle from those with a severe fetish? Should they be sorted at all? But still I believe that there are definately those who were "born in the wrong body", and that they're likely in the majority.

But it still needs to be considered. Sex change surgery is a messy, long, expensive process, and while it can be reversed, it's not exactly easy. At the same time, the priority must always be the wishes of the patient.

Tricky indeed.

Oh goody, my favourite TV show is on again! And beneficii returns as our illustrious host!

It's a brand new episode of the multiple award-winning Let's get back to bashing and harassing an extremely marginalized group of individuals in society, because - after all - they get off the hook way too easy when they only need to deal with widespread discrimination, stigmatization, ostracism and a ridiculously high suicide rate™

This statement alone deserves an Emmy:

I couldn't even read past the second paragraph the person who wrote this is just an ignorant discriminatory conservative who loves picking on poor minorities who are already oppressed.

many mtf's are experiencing their gender dysphoria since pre-pubescence, which knocks for six the idea that it is a mere sexual fantasy.

Conservative cultural conditioning forces them to rail against the dysphoria which is why they end up in marriages with children under the guise of heterosexual cis-men.

To the OP:

What precisely is your problem with transsexuals?

TL;DR: Page full of transphobia.

I dunno, I think separating MtF into autogynephiles and homosexual transwomen is too simplistic (and homophobic.) That said, I do think autogynephilia exists (in a broad sense, I have trouble with the way it's theorised) BUT I don't think it's a bad thing and I get annoyed at how often radical feminists and other people questioning the current thinking on transsexualism portray autogynephilia as being purely about sex, being perverted (in so many words) and always leading men to a sense of entitlement.

Basically, I did a thought experiment where I reversed the genders and applied it to FtM and autoandrophiles. I am mildly autoandrophilic myself, but I'm not trans (I might be sort of genderqueer, though.) I don't fit the mould of butch lesbian who transitions to male. I wouldn't fit that mould even if I did transition because I'm a fairly feminine bisexual woman (with a boyfriend who I have a lot of sex with - not bragging, honestly ) who sometimes likes dressing up in men's clothing and doing 'male things'.

I have that key component of autoandrophilia in that I sometimes masturbate at the idea of myself having a penis and I would like it if someone admired me in men's clothing and enjoyed doing male things with me. I don't have that desire that some autoandrophiles have, which is to act like stereotypical dominant/rapey cavemen with their imaginary penis,;I like to imagine myself as a sensitive male lover and I like the idea of playing my partner's body like a conductor does with an orchestra. And it is mostly in my imagination and I'm not even particularly attracted to the idea of wearing a strap-on. However, it's not ALL about sex and I do think there's psychological element going on with me that is deeper than that - and in some ways my gender identity IS different to the majority of ciswomen.

I think autogynephiles probably experience something similar in that their experience isn't all about sex, either. I even think there's something of a spiritual element to it, but you can ignore that if you don't have time for that sort of thing (I don't mostly, I'm very sceptical of stuff like that, but I have always felt like my feelings about how gender relates to myself have a 'spiritual' element to them - for want of a better way of describing it.) I would find it insulting and inaccurate if someone said how I felt was a paraphilia and nothing more.

That said, I'm not transsexual because I have zero desire to really change my body to make it more male. I just want a partner that will accept/like that side of me. I think this is easier for me to do because I'm a woman and in some ways the gender boundaries are a bit more flexible for me. I think men who are 'autogynephiles' (the ones who don't fit the hyper-feminine homosexual mould) are under more pressure to transition because society doesn't tolerate in any way men behaving in a feminine way unless they are easily categorised as passive homosexuals. If you're not a particular type of gay man, then you're expected to be 100% manly. It's insulting to both homosexual men and men who aren't homosexual but have feminine traits.

It's also transphobic (obviously) because some people (of all sexual orientations) do have terrible dysphoria about their physical sex. I'm not one of them and that's why I'm not trans, but I can only imagine how terrible it must feel to have really bad dysphoria about your sex. Those people should be allowed to seek whatever medical means they like to help them to feel better. That's why you shouldn't feel guilty about it, but I get the feeling from reading your posts that you do feel guilty. I worry about you - it's one thing reading about different ideas about gender like you are doing, but it's another thing to neglect your needs because the people who write those blogs and articles have a problem with the way you are. You're NOT a pervert, dirty penis-packer, invader of women's spaces, etc...you're a human being that wants to be a woman. That's not a bad thing.

While transsexuals deserve the same respect as everyone else and should not be marginalized, biologically speaking, MtF transsexuals are not "real" women per se. Idolizing Johnny Cash and wishing that I was a legendary southern rock / country singer, does not mean that I am a famous country singer.