How do you feel about those who are "transgendered"?

[Mr Allen]

I have no problem with it, if they don't cause any problems it's up to them what they do.

It's only the idiot Daily Mail/Telegraph readers who hate the world and everyone in it who they don't see as "normal" (such as the disabled, immigrants, gays, Muslims etc) who are the ones who object to it.

 

[Lena_C]

Being trans means that a person's gender is different than what one would assume from their birth sex. Trans people before transitioning are just as trans as trans people after transitioning. It's really rare for a trans person to not want to transition, but I guess it's possible.

Yes, that's absolutely possible.
I used to divided it into two "transition group"(actually is three, but I want it simple here), one is HRT only, another is HRT and SRS all done.
I think "trans people who didn't take the surgery" is not rare, because these kind of surgery is expensive and high-risk.
Not to mention financial status, I do know some of them who didn't go for the surgery just because they care their loved one.
I can understand the feeling of parents who can't bear the pain if they lost their child due to the surgery.

 

[Datura]

=

After seeing a transgendered person yesterday (it was a large man in transition) I got thinking about this. There is no moral opposition on my part to this as I am not religious or a "believer" and I stigmatize no one but I think for a man transitioning to a woman they have NO IDEA what they're getting themselves into and how hard it really is to be a woman.

They may have wished they had been born female but they have never experienced the turmoil and criticism that goes along with growing up in a female body. I have heard that many men that have transitioned into a woman have ultimately gone back on their decision and it's no wonder. I think sometimes it would be easier for a woman to transition into a man because of our current society.

What is your opinion on this?

What makes you think that trans women don't consider the hardships of being a woman? True, one cannot fully appreciate the difficulties of being something untill they have experienced it for themself, but most trans women enter transition with a keen awareness of what they are sacrificing. Not only are they giving up male privilage but they are also taking on the stigma of becoming a much maligned and often very visible minority. One risks losing friends, family, employment, and in some cases even their lives. And yet we do it anyway because it is the only way we can feel at peace with ourselves.

If one does manage to pass as female then they get hit with the sexism, the wage gap, and the pernicious beauty myth, the same as any other woman. The only real difference (and it is significant) is that a trans woman cannot be exploited through her reproductive system. While many of us wish we could have children the fact is that we don't have to worry about everything that goes with this. Unwanted pregnancies, periods, and the burden of child birth are things we will never have to deal with. Of course, the same goes for some cis women as well, though few would consider this a marker of privilege.

As for female to male transsexuals; in some ways it is easier for them, but not by much. I don't think their families and friends are any more accepting, at least not from what I have seen. They do seem to have an easier time passing though as the effects of testosterone are very obvious and largely irreversable. The surgery is much more difficult for FtMs though, requiring mastectiomies, hysterectomies, and skin grafts if one wishes to make a full transition. At the end of the day I think that trans men have an easier time integrating into society than trans women and that it is more acceptable to a female bodied person to wear men's clothes than the other way around.

 

[apt-get]

At the end of the day I think that trans men have an easier time integrating into society than trans women and that it is more acceptable to a female bodied person to wear men's clothes than the other way around.

There's a scientist named Ben Barres who's a trans man that has talked about his experiences with sexism and unconscious bias against women given his perspective of living being perceived both as male and female: https://newrepublic.com/article/119239/transgender-people-can-explain-why-women-dont-advance-work

I'm moving out of the USA in a few months and will effectively be stealth-ish where I'm ending up. As a trans woman, I'm not looking forward to sexism that I might experience, but it's likely unavoidable and I knew what I was getting into when I started transitioning.