Reading Mike: The Annotated Bailey: Chapter 8, page 146

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Bailey Commentary

[146] 8 Terese and Cher

  

want to replace their penises with vaginas—that it prevents us from noticing more subtle, though also more fundamental, differences. Another reason is that the two types of transsexuals rarely show up side-by-side, when they are easily distinguishable. In the United States in 2000, they do not use the same "gender clinics," and although they often associate with other transsexuals, this is nearly always with their own type. The most interesting reason why most people do not realize that there are two types of transsexuals is that members of one type sometimes misrepresent themselves as members of the other. I will get more specific later, but for now, it is enough to say that they are often silent about their true motivation and instead, tell stories about themselves that are misleading and in important respects false.



The two types of transsexuals who begin life as males are called homosexual and autogynephilic. Once understood, these names are appropriate. Succinctly put, homosexual male-to-female transsexuals are extremely feminine gay men, and autogynephilic transsexuals are men erotically obsessed with the image of themselves as women. When most people hear "transsexual" they think of the homosexual transsexual, who fits the classic pattern. From soon after birth, the homosexual male-to-female transsexual behaved and felt like a girl. Unlike most feminine boys (such as Danny, from chapter 3), these transsexuals did not outgrow, or learn to hide, their femininity. Instead, they decided that the drastic step of changing their sex was preferable. They unambiguously desire and love men, especially heterosexual men, whom they can attract only as women. (I recognize that using the term "homosexual" to describe a type of transsexual is confusing. Transsexualism terminology is often confusing. I often have to think hard about whether to write "he" or "she," for example. In this case, there is both scientific precedent—"homosexual transsexualism" was proposed by the scientist who first discovered that there were two types of transsexuals, and conceptual accuracy—one type of transsexual man is a kind of homosexual man. Read on; you’ll get used to it.)

 

 


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