Research into the transgender community

Research into the Transgender community

What is gender?

Gender is a social construct in which people are categorised into groups of male or female, it's more of a frame of mind over a physical state. The gender someone identifies as is not always the same as their physical sex.

There are hundreds of genders with the two most socially acceptable being male and female, others include; Cisgender (someone who's biological sex conforms with their gender identity), Genderqueer (someone who doesn't conform to standard gender labels, they are non-binary), Transgender (a person whose gender identity doesn't conform to the conventional notions of psychical male or female sex) among others.

Someone's gender identity does not have a direct influence over their sexual orientation for example someone who is a trans-woman and is attracted to men is straight. Other sexual orientations include; Asexual (someone who does not experience sexual attraction, however experience romantic attraction), Demi-sexual (someone normally doesn't experience sexual attraction however it is possible if they become close to someone they like), Aromantic (someone who doesn't experience any romantic attraction to people), Bisexual (someone who is sexually attracted to both men and women), Pansexual (someone whose attraction is not limited to the two conventional genders, or gender in itself) and homosexual (someone who is attracted to someone of the same gender as them) among others. 

What does it mean to be Transgender?

"Trans" is an umbrella term that can cover people with a gender identity and/or gender expression different to their physical sex. The term "Trans" includes but isn't limited to; Transgender, Transsexual, Crossdresser, Genderqueer and Non-gender. [website: belongto "What does Transgender mean"]

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that can function as a phrase by itself and refers to either yourself (e.g. I, you) or someone else (e.g. she, it, this). 

Common pronouns in reference to gender are he and she, however many Trans people are not comfortable with these established pronouns and come up with ones that they prefer.

How would you feel if someone used the wrong pronouns for you?

Elisha 19 Female: "Slightly annoyed, but it's understandable if the person isn't familiar with new pronouns so it would be a misunderstanding. If it's intentional then I'd be angry"

Kirsty 19 Female: "If it wasn't on purpose I wouldn't be angry, we were all taight the pronouns specifically assigned to gender from day one and it takes a lot to adapt and use something that isn't familiar to certain people. It's a generational thing, in years to come it'll be second nature to not get mixed up but right now it's still new and slightly confusing at times. It's like the whole thing with older people and using words for race that aren't considered PC anymore but they still use it because that's what they were taught. I wouldn't expect people to get it straight away, I'd only be angry if someone was deliberately doing it to upset me"

Skye 19 Agender/Genderqueer: "It really depends on the circumstance to be honest. We live in a society that has conditioned us into assuming that feminine presenting people use 'she' pronouns and that masculine presenting people use 'he' pronouns. If a stranger uses the wrong pronouns it doesn't affect me so much because they didn't know and I can just correct them, the real problem is when someone outright refuses to use the correct pronoun because then they are showing me they don't respect my identity or believe me to be who I am (which is especially common with non-binary people like myself). Because I use 'It' and 'They' pronouns, which make people feel uncomfortable as they say that using 'It' pronouns sound disrespectful, even though it is actually more disrespectful for them to refuse to use it. When people refuse to use 'They' pronouns it is considered grammatically incorrect, despite the fact that they actually already use 'They' pronouns for people that they don't know the gender of. If it's a genuine mistake it's cool, if it isn't then I get annoyed."  

Jemma 19 Female: "If it was an honest mistake then I would have no hard feelings, however if it as someone who repeatedly misgendered me knowingly and with the intent of upsetting me then I would feel pretty annoyed"

How do trans people experience gender?

*Various point of view from an unknown website*

Person 1= felt something was "wrong" in their early teens, they joined the military, got married and had kids (all things stereotypically associated with masculinity). They occasionally wore some of their wife's clothes and were careful not to get caught. During the period of coming out they had a negative experience from their wife, they received counselling from a gender therapist.

[website: Bustle]

Started to struggle when puberty hit, "brain was like a Camry someone had tried to fuel with diesel-it wasn't meant to run on testosterone...wished I could be like the other girls in class, something just seemed right about who they were." Sank into depression, couldn't sleep without drinking and often drunk until they couldn't walk. They started hormone therapy.

10 LGBTQ people and their parents discuss coming out [website: LGBT helpline]

G= 1st came out as gay and then trans, they found coming out as gay easier then coming out as trans. Slowly became more and more isolated before coming out, secretive and did not put a lot of effort into making friends. Her mother was very accepting.

G's Mother= 'Be there for your child'

What it feels like to be transgender

[website: Sophia Gubbs blog]

To this person gender dysphoria is a feeling of strong disassociation from them self when they look in in the mirror followed by shock and confusion. Starting the transition they felt as though they were in a dazed state as if a train had hit, they could feel them self get more grounded and closer to reality/sense of self.