Transsexual Road Map Notes

Sunday, October 14, 2007

New Zealand transsexual resource

A reader notes:

Your site is a great resource and we refer people to it all the time. Thought you might like a support group link for New Zealand for your International page. So........ Here goes:

TRANS CARE TRUST
Trans-Care is a charitable trust and TG support group based in Auckland, New Zealand. We are non-membership based, offer support, advice and a chance to meet others. Meetings last Friday of the month at a private residence, Mangere Bridge, Auckland. Social functions organised various times and places usually arranged at the meetings Everyone welcome to meetings and social functions.
Contact:
phone: 649211663709 (free call in NZ 0800 872 672)
web: http://www.transhelp.net.nz/transcare_trust.html
email:
mail: PO Box 68402, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand

My reply:

Thanks! Added today!

Related information:
* International resources for transsexual people

Friday, October 12, 2007

“Incongruent gender identity,” part two

Continuing our discussion of the term “incongruent gender identity” from yesterday, a reader notes:

Now with respect to IGI, I started to use this term in a book I am writing (see comment below).  I found that each time I used the term gender identity disorder or gender identity problem I felt like I was just hurting the image of transsexuals.  I started looking for a replacement and I came to the conclusion that by using “gender identity” as an adjective, the noun which it describes would almost have to be some pathological term such as condition, issue, problem, etc.  I think this is why most people have been unable to find a replacement term for GID that isn’t in itself disparaging.

I realized that the only way to have a non-disparaging term would be to use “gender identity” as a noun, which as you point out is not pathologizing on its own.  So I needed an adjective that would as explain in a single word that the gender identity was not consistent and not in harmony with the physical gender.  After a bit I settled on incongruent, which is a variant of incongruous.  Incongruous has the definition:

adj.
1. Lacking in harmony; incompatible: a joke that was incongruous with polite conversation.
2. Not in agreement, as with principles; inconsistent: a plan incongruous with reason.
3. Not in keeping with what is correct, proper, or logical; inappropriate: incongruous behavior.

Other adjectives I considered included discordant, inconsistent and conflicting, among others.  Discordant isn’t a bad choice.  I like using inconsistent when I use gender identity and gender together in a sentence, as in the definition for IGI.  I don’t like conflicting that much because I just feel it has a negative undertone associated with it.

I understand your position that incongruent gender identity when said without context or explanation does not clearly identify that the inconsistency is between the gender identity and birth gender.  I do some public speaking and lobbying.  I think if I say “I have an incongruent gender identity.” and someone questions what this term means, I can simply reply “Oh, that just means my gender identity is inconsistent with my birth gender.” This pretty much sums up being transgendered very quickly and there are no negative psychiatric terms or pathologies involved.

My first impression of misassigned is that it implies something went wrong and I’m defective somehow.  I really hope to use an adjective that has the least negative connotations as possible.  Maybe you, Lynn Conway or others in the community with a better command of the English language than I can find a more appropriate adjective than incongruent.  To me, though, whatever word is used it has to have as minimal negative connotations as possible, primarily due to the need to get public acceptance for transgendered people so we can obtain equal rights in states and at the federal level.

By the way, earlier tonight I got an email from someone else questioning how the defintion could be better tailored to intersexed people.  I proposed the following:

Incongruent Gender Identity (IGI) - 1) Having an innate sense of gender that is inconsistent with one’s gender assigned at birth. 2) Having an innate sense of gender that is inconsistent with one’s gender as a result of having an anatomy that is not considered typically male or female.

If you have any thoughts on the second clause, specifically any way of simplifing / shortening it, I would appreciate your feedback.

My reply:

You inadvertently made part of my point when you wrote:

I like using inconsistent when I use gender identity and gender together in a sentence, as in the definition for IGI.

I believe “incongruent” has a connotation of “inconsistent” that many would conflate when discussing it. Some might even interchange the words as you did. The use of “inconsistent” in the proposed definitions raises the same problem. It’s very important that any terminology clearly denote that gender identity is a consistent, even persistent force. But this raises some hard questions about how it “feels” to be male or female.

The proposed definition helps clarify that the issue is the disconnect between feelings and phenotype or feelings and categorization by society. However, the word “innate” also raises some issues, since it’s not definitively established that these feelings are present at birth. Some evidence points to this, but since the categories are socially constructed, it’s hard to say that the feelings were present before we were made aware of the differences.

This stuff is all very complicated, and any proposed definition raises a number of interesting issues that need to be thought through carefully. It’s great that you are seeking feedback from a variety of sources. Thanks for the interesting follow-up!

Related information:
* “Incongruent gender identity” vs. “gender identity disorder”?

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Transsexual resources and role models in Brazil?

A reader notes:

First of all, I don’t speak english very well since I´m from Brasil, so Í apologize for any grammatical mistakes. I am 18 years old and I live in a small city in Brasil. I started my transition when I was 13, by taking spironolactone and feminizing hormones, but I am not living full time yet, because my family is very conservative. My biggest problem right now is that I am not sure if I´m gonna get I job once I go full time, because I never heard about TS people in Brasil that had successful careers and are integrated to the rest of society. So my question is: have you ever heard about successful transitions in my country?

My other problem is that I look very androgynous, so people are often confused about my gender ( I use male clothes and I don’t do things like wear make up, or painted nails), and I just dont know how to deal with people reactions. I am going to college next year, and I am studying a lot, because i really want to have a normal life once I go full time, but I`m afraid that my looks get in the middle of all my goals. How should I deal with this issue?
obs: your web site is great, is has been realy helpful.

My reply:

You have asked an important question, and I will try to get a better
answer than the one below.

I know of a few people like Bárbara Graner:

http://mixbrasil.uol.com.br/id/trans/barbara/barbara.shtm

Most people I know are activists or entertainers in the public eye, but I am sure it is possible to live a quiet and productive life.

As you may know, the government in your country has just approved funding for sex reassignment surgery, but I am not sure how the program works. I will try to have more information soon!

Any readers who have suggestions or information about South American and Brazilian resources, please comment in this thread or emal me. We are working to expand the English and Portuguese information available online.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

New book on transgender workplace diversity

Jillian T. Weiss, J.D. Ph.D. has just published Transgender Workplace Diversity: Policy Tools, Training Issues and Communication Strategies for HR and Legal Professionals.

Related information:
* Transgender Workplace Diversity

Friday, October 05, 2007

Your info on FFS, financing, and DIY electrolysis was a turning point

A reader notes:

At the risk of sounding gushy, finding your website was a turning point in my transition. Besides reading the newsgroups, what I found at your site has influenced my transition more than anything else on the internet, and even more than a lot of real life experiences. There are three issues that have been especially important to me:

1) Facial Feminization Surgery. Until I got internet access early last year, I’d =never= heard of anything like that. Since early puberty, I mostly avoided looking in the mirror, I hated being photographed and all that. I had resigned somehow and thought I just had to live with the male features of my face, as almost a year of HRT hadn’t made any difference at that time.

Hearing about Dr. O. was like a dream coming true when I expected it the least. When I saw your pictures, I was totally amazed and I cried. On the one hand, there was a real possibility to finally become =me=. On the other hand, it had taken years for me to save only for that part of SRS costs which health insurance here wouldn’t reimburse. I thought it would be completely impossible to gather such a large sum (but see below . Posting “before” images is definitely no fun, but it’s absolutely helpful when it comes to assessing what is possible. Thank you for sharing that.

2) Financing Transition. I =am= a thinking and planning kind of person, but with regard to my transition, my horizons were limited by getting my name changed, starting estrogen HRT, and finally going to a local SRS surgeon. I had =way= too little knowledge. The emphasis you placed on information, planning, and consciously deciding roused me into action. It hit me that I had to rethink what I was doing and =how= I was doing it. After some months on the internet, I realized that with the knowledge I’d gained, I couldn’t go on transitioning on the cheap.

I wanted the best possible outcome, so I had to invest a lot more money =and= work, and I had to take responsibility for the decisions which affected my life. Although I’d made a lot of the changes in headspace since starting my gradual transition, I was still much more re-acting to circumstances and other people’s decisions, than acting myself. Your way of approaching transition was exactly the catalyst I needed, and I’m deeply grateful to you for that change in my attitudes.

A whole variety of issues has profited from that, including my voice, a kind of breakthrough in HRT, and finance. I consider myself a thrifty person, but working through your finance section was a pain sometimes. I =had= to do something on the income side, and being a student, that’s not so easy. However, by working a lot I’ve been able to save a monthly sum which I’d never thought to be possible before. I plan to visit Dr. Ousterhout this year (at least for a part of his procedures), and I’ll very likely go to a US surgeon for SRS later. I’ll have to pay that entirely out of my pocket and I’m saving on a shoestring, but to me, it’s worth it now.

3) DIY-electrolysis. There were several reasons for me to do it myself, besides money. Probably the most important point is that I’ve been living full-time for years, plucking every morning (yeah, =please= laugh, it’s absurd, but I started that when the first facial hair appeared in puberty, and then I didn’t know anything about electro). So it’s difficult for me to let it grow without other people noticing. In addition, my working hours are extremely variable, so a regular electro schedule would be difficult, but occasionally there are several days without work.

When I started, I’d never heard of anybody’s experiences. I made some mistakes (beginning on the upper lip, ouch), but I was determined enough to get rid of my facial hair that I didn’t give up. The reports on your page are the best advice I’ve ever found on that issue. It helped me a lot to improve my technique, and it was so encouraging that I increased the time for electro whenever possible. Until now, I’ve definitely removed more than 80% of my facial hair, and as far as I can see, without any permanent scarring. I don’t know whether you’re still interested in “success stories” and I don’t know if you’d prefer them from people who are completely finished with it, but if you like, I could write a bit more about my experience. I’ve also posted about that a little bit on usenet and a mailing list already.

Altogether, I just want to thank you for the incredible work you’ve put in your website. I don’t know which direction my transition would have gone if your site didn’t exist, but I’m definitely glad about the influence it’s had on me.

My reply:

I get a few thousand letters a year, but there are always a few touching standouts. Thank you so much for writing! As you may have guessed, I wrote my site exactly for women like you. It was similar success stories that helped me, and I’m pleased I was able to help you.

Related information:
* Facial Feminization surgery
* Financing transition
* Do-it-yourself electrolysis