T-Girls.
Not many people have heard the term ‘t-girls’. But most have heard the term ‘transsexuals’ or ‘trannies’. Unfortunately, it is usually said in a negative light (in fact, the term ‘trannie’ tends to be a little offensive to some transsexuals). Rarely do you hear of the terms when the person speaking positively about someone – whether they are a transsexual or not.
A t-girl is a person who is born male, but identifies as female and either chooses to dress and live as a female, or undergoes a process to become female. They like to wear make up (or maybe not – not all females who were born as, and identify with being, female love wearing make up either). They may or may not love wearing dresses, stockings and lingerie. Some might like getting their hair done or their legs waxed, others might just grow their hair out and shave (or not). T-girls are, for all intents and purposes, real women. Whether they are pre- or post-op, they identify with being a woman in every sense of the word. Emotionally and mentally, they feel like a female – having a cock does not mean they are still ‘male’.
Transsexuals like the things that women who were born female like – guys remembering their birthdays (sometimes they celebrate two – when they were born and when they became a female), opening doors and paying the bill at the restaurant, treating them like a lady. Most transsexuals date normally and lead normal lives, as they wish to. Admittedly, it would take a special man to accept a transsexual as his partner, but they are really no different to any other female – they were just born a male.
Transsexual often refers to a t-girl who has completed surgery to become female.
Biological Background.
There is medical evidence to suggest that an area in the brain’s hypothalamus, developed in the womb, governs whether or not a person ‘identifies’ with being male or female, regardless of the sex organs they develop. In males, this area can be up to four times larger and contain over 2.5 times more cells (and larger cells) in general than in females, due to the influence of testosterone – the person will therefore identify as a male. If the testosterone levels are low, the area of the brain does not develop as much and the person (of course when born and grown) identifies with being female. If there is less of an extreme, the area of the brain is (for want of a better term) in limbo and this is thought to result in either homosexuality or lesbianism. The area in question (called the gender dimorphic nucleus) is located in the area of the brain that controls hormone release and sexual behaviour in mammals (of which, of course, the human being is one). So it is possible that even though the baby is developing as one sex due to the influence of hormones, it can be developing a brain that will identify with the opposite sex or prefer sex with people of the same sex. The topic is still being researched, and gives evidence to the claim that gays and lesbians are ‘born that way’ – and therefore, transsexuals are as well.
Gender is different to sex. Sex refers to the organs with which someone is born – a cock or pussy and clit, balls or ovaries. Gender is how the person identifies – either male or female. Gender is sometimes called ‘brain sex’ – that is, the sex your brain thinks you are.
The fact that a person who is born with a cock sees themself as female is a requirement for gender (or sex) reassignment surgery – see sex reassignment surgery below.
Cultural Background.
In many countries, transsexuals are shunned and taboo. They are seen as freaks and abnormal, and sometimes even considered to be suffering from a mental condition. They can be confined to the seedier areas of major cities, or feel compelled to become a public spectacle so they can make a living, or perhaps gain social acceptance. They were not even properly accepted in the gay community as a separate entity until relatively recently, and they were simply labelled as ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ – even though they may still feel attracted to the sex opposite to which they were born (i.e. a male can identify as female and be attracted to females – this could not be considered as ‘gay’ as the male is not attracted to other males). In some countries, they are gradually being seen as their own group of people, particularly within the gay community. Although other cultures have names for them, they are still seen to be freaks and often attacked and discriminated against. In the Indian culture they are known as ‘hijra’ (often considered a ‘third sex’) and kept on the outskirts of society – they are feared as being cursed, and if they appear at your wedding or the birth of your baby it is believed that if you pay them money they’ll bless you – ignore them at your peril for they will put a curse on you.
However in some countries and cultures, transsexuals have long held an important part in the wider community. American Indians have nowadays coined the term ‘two-spirits’ (members of the modern day American Indian and Canadian First Nations peoples in the gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender and bisexual communities use the term to describe a male spirit and female spirit living in the same body – in times long gone, these people wore the clothes and performed the duties of both sexes and held very important roles in the tribes). In some Mexican cultures they are referred to as ‘Muxe’ (these people are more likely to face discrimination in the cities than in the smaller villages). Transsexuals have held esteemed places in ancient cultures – the Romans called them ‘Galle’, they were willingly castrated on special days, and worshipped the Goddess, ‘Cybele’, called in other cultures ‘Earth Mother’. (Interestingly, in 391 AD when Theodosius I made Catholicism the official Roman religion, the worship of pagan Gods and Goddesses was banned and the temples were destroyed and built over – all temples except those of the Goddess Cybele.) Ancient Islamic and Middle-Eastern cultures respected the transsexual and they had special places in the culture; in the Middle East, the men who identified with being women were given a status akin to a priestess, and were the same as a daughter, even with respect to inheritance rights.
Are T-Girls Gay?
There are some men who identify with being female but still enjoy sex with other females. They are known as transbians or trans-dykes. Being transsexual does not affect sexuality. Transsexuals identify with the sex they weren’t born. So, it is possible for a male to be transsexual, feel like they are trapped in the wrong body and want to be a female, but still feel sexually attracted to females. This is different to a male who identifies with being a male and is attracted to females (‘straight’). Or a gay guy who is attracted to other men but feels comfortable in their own ‘male’ skin.
Just being transsexual does not mean a person is gay – as mentioned above, sex is very much different to gender.
Websites.
There are many websites that can be found advertising photos and videos of ‘shemales’. Considered by the transsexual community as a derogatory term, these men still have cocks but also tits – so they’re seen by many in the straight community as sideshow freaks. Transsexuals feel that the publicity given to these ‘chicks with dicks’ only serves to denigrate them (the ‘shemales’ and the t-girls), turning them into moneymakers – not real people with real gender issues.
However, there are a percentage of the community – gay and straight – that have a fetish about these pre-op transsexuals. Whether they be gay men wanting the best of both worlds or straight men wanting to experiment without being seen as (or feeling) ‘gay’, the ‘shemale’ serves a purpose and in some ways can shed light on areas of sexuality and gender that might otherwise remain hidden, taboo and perceived to be ‘abnormal’. Even fascination or curiosity can sometimes be useful if it helps bring topics into the general community.
Pre-Op.
Before a transsexual decides to have sex reassignment surgery there are a number of prerequisites they need to fulfil. A transsexual in the later stages of their journey (close to surgery) is called ‘pre-op’, and if their finances and health permit, they intend on having surgery at some stage in the very near future. This is a huge step (it is very expensive, and the recovery can be difficult) and one that is never taken lightly. The whole process of converting from male to female (or female to male) is a long one, and can take several years. This is due not only to the money required for surgery, but also for the medication and the counselling (not to mention the time the counselling takes as well).
One prerequisite for surgery is that the t-girl needs to have lived as a female for a specified period of time (usually at least a year). This is not cross-dressing, where a guy puts on a dress and some ladies’ underwear – they need to live as a woman. Shop, work, interact and in essence be a woman. For a transsexual this is not always a hard thing to do – they are female, so they don’t really need to put on an act or try to be more like a lady. Being female is literally second nature to them.
Another prerequisite is that the transsexual needs to have undergone some form of hormone treatment. This should be monitored by a specialist (an ‘endocrinologist’, a doctor dealing with hormones) to prevent dangerous side effects that can arise from the treatment.
A third requirement is that the t-girl must have had some counselling. This is usually undertaken by a person with specialist training in dealing with people displaying Gender Identity Dysphoria (also called Gender Identity Disorder, GID – see below).
The t-girl will more than likely want to get rid of their masculine hair. Removal of hair can be done in various ways – waxing is obviously not permanent so must be undertaken on a regular basis. But the hair re-grows softer and, in some cases, less dark. Shaving results in a blunt end growing back, and so the hair appears coarser and stiffer. It is not permanent either, and needs to be done more frequently than waxing (which in effect yanks the hair and root out of your skin – hence the pain).
Electrolysis is where a thin probe is inserted into the base of the hair and uses electricity to kill off the hair follicle, preventing the hair from growing back. It is permanent (although several treatments may be needed) and can be very expensive.
Laser may or may not be permanent –if the hair is lighter in colour the laser light may be reflected and the hair follicle may not absorb enough of the laser’s energy to kill the follicle. This too is very expensive.
Looking more like a female can make a transsexual feel more comfortable before they have surgery – using implants in their pants (to create buttocks that a female has but men rarely have), breast implants in bras and sometimes even special corsets or suits to give a more womanly ‘hourglass’ figure can all help contribute to a male feeling like they pass for a female – very important for a transsexual who needs to be accepted into society.
Vocal therapy can help transsexuals speak in a higher pitch. It can also instruct the transsexual on how to ‘talk’ like a woman.
Other important steps in the journey include the changing of the name and/or sex on a birth certificate, driver’s licence and social security card.
There are many things a transsexual can do in order to make them feel more like the gender with which they identify. Once they feel 100% comfortable with who they are, they may choose to ‘become’ a woman (hence the birthday mentioned above), no longer calling themselves a transsexual, and this may or may not be before surgery or hormone therapy. Each transsexual is different – some may identify with being a woman just by dressing, speaking and affecting the mannerisms of a female. Some might not feel complete until they have had surgery and removed their penis, grown breasts and had plastic surgery to make their features more feminine. It is a slow process with many steps along the way and at any stage the transsexual may feel completed.
Gender Identity Disorder (GID).
This is a condition that presents before the person has surgery. It is a clinically recognised disorder where a person is born with one set of sexual organs but identifies with the gender of the opposite sex – a person born with a pussy and tits might see themselves as male, or a person born with a cock and balls might identify with being female. It presents early on; usually before the child is two years old. Children might not want to dress in the clothes their sex would normally dress in (boys insisting on wearing dresses, girls insisting on wearing ‘boys’ clothes). They don’t like names associated with their sex, or games and activities. In ‘normal’ children this is usually outgrown, but in people with GID this persists and grows worse. As children they grow to dislike their genitals and wish they’d change, they refuse to toilet the way their own sex should (females want to stand up, males want to sit down) and become distressed with changes that occur as a normal part of puberty. As adolescents and adults they hide their bodies and try to be more like the sex they identify with – males accentuate feminine aspects and down play male aspects (hiding or flattening their cock) and females might tape their breasts and dress more male. They only feel truly comfortable when doing this.
In mild to moderate cases it simply presents as being uncomfortable with their body and identifying with the opposite sex. In severe cases it can result in depression, anxiety and even suicide. It has until recently been seen as a psychiatric condition but now, due to research, it is increasingly been attributed to physical reasons. If the condition exists for a long period of time, the person is considered transsexual.
As part of treatment for GID, the sufferer is encouraged to find ways to feel comfortable in their own skin – from dressing as the opposite sex to hormone treatment and even surgery. This treatment (perhaps unwittingly) emphasises the biological base of GID – that the person is ‘born that way’, and it’s not a mental illness that needs to be treated with an aim to eliminating it so the person can be assimilated back into society.
Because of this, a transsexual must be diagnosed with GID before they proceed with surgery. It is, if you will, a prerequisite for surgery.
Medications.
There are wide range of medications transsexuals can take on their journey to become female. The set of medications are known as hormone replacement therapy – or HRT. These help change the hormone balance in the body, whether they are used for a transsexual wanting to look more female, a female wanting to look more male, or older females going through menopause.
A basic biology lesson – testosterone makes a man male. It gives them hairy chests (sometimes balding heads), helps the balls and sperm, gives them larger hearts and greater lung volume, the ability to tolerate pain better and heal faster, and a nice deep voice. Many things a female probably does not want. A female has oestrogen, a hormone that gives them tits, the ability to fall pregnant, the unenviable ability to convert energy to fat rather than muscle, the ability to make antibodies faster (and hence not get sick as often or as badly), soft skin and a nice high voice. Traits sought after in almost all females.
So for a t-girl wanting to be a complete female (tits and all) they need to increase the oestrogen and lower the testosterone levels in their blood. This can be done with castration (see surgery, below) or medication. Medication to increase breast growth needs to be taken for at least 18 months to give the chance for the medication to have maximum effect.
Gender (or Sex) Reassignment Surgery.
After surgery there are many things a transsexual must do – the surgery is a beginning, not the end. Gender reassignment surgery is usually referred to as sex reassignment surgery, as those undergoing it don’t see a problem with their gender – they identify with being female (if they’re male) and so it is their ‘sex’ (sexual organs) that are incorrect.
Surgery includes breast implants to make the chest larger and more female. This goes hand in hand with medications to make the breasts grow, but as mentioned the medication must have been taken for at least 18 months.
Castration to remove the balls (or ‘testes’) will reduce the amount of testosterone and, of course, result in a more feminine-looking crotch area. A pussy needs to be created where there was previously none – this is called ‘vaginoplasty’, and tissue from the removed cock is used to create the vagina. Tissue from the balls is used to make lips for the pussy and the urethra is shortened and moved so it opens at the newly created clit. Their new pussy (also called a ‘neo-vagina’) needs to be tended to, to maintain its shape and to prevent it from collapsing – a dilator must be worn (sort of like a dildo) to help it heal. A dildo of course is used for sexual pleasure but a dilator is for medical purposes and the two should not be confused. The pussy should have the looks and functioning of a real pussy (including sensations) – albeit without the ability to aid reproduction.
Further surgery can be undertaken to make the face more feminine – changing the shape of the face includes reducing the ridges of the eyebrows, changing the hairline and the profile of the nose and chin. Buttocks can be altered with surgical implants (but implants can be purchased that can be slipped inside pants, in much the same way padding can be used in bras). The Adam’s apple can be altered so the throat is more feminine. And with medication and surgery fat can be encouraged to grow in more feminine patterns – around the buttocks and waist, not the belly. The voice cannot be altered with hormones (a lack of testosterone may make the voice less deep) so surgery on the vocal cords and trachea can alter the pitch and make it seem more feminine.
The surgery can be an ongoing process too – breast implants one year, and then castration or vaginoplasty the next (when finances permit, maybe, or after medication has been working for a certain period of time, as in the case of breast construction). Sex reassignment surgery can also take place on infants who have been born with two sets of sexual organs, or underdeveloped sexual organs.
Sometimes when a transsexual has completed surgery and recovered successfully from it, they no longer identify with being ‘transsexual’ but then call themselves ‘female’.
Notable Transsexuals.
Christine Jorgenson was the first person to have sex reassignment surgery and hormone treatment (several people before her had had the surgery but not the hormones). Born George William Jorgenson in 1926, Christine suffered with a very underdeveloped penis and began taking medication on her own when she was older. On her way to Sweden to have the surgery she stopped over in Denmark and met a doctor there, Dr Christian Hamburg, who performed the surgery and it was after him that Christine called herself. She had her passport changed to reflect her new sex and name, and although she couldn’t marry (her birth certificate still listed her as male) she had a very successful life in the public eye as a female.
The first person believed to have received sex reassignment surgery was a male in Denmark. Having surgery to become Lili Elbe, it was reported that the doctor found rudimentary ovaries and excess female hormones (it is commonly believed that Lili had a genetic condition affecting her sex and hormones). She could have easily passed for a female before her surgery due to her feminine features, and often did. Lili died at 40 years of age due to complications arising from her fifth and last surgery – to transplant a donated uterus into her body so she could become a mother.
Estelle Asmodelle is the first Australian transsexual to have gained legal recognition as a female. Born in 1964, she fought a hard battle to have the rights of transsexuals recognised and is now legally a female, registered with the Department of Births, Deaths and Marriages in New South Wales, Australia. She is said to be the most photographed transsexual model in Australia, and in 1986 was crowned ‘Australia’s First Sex-Change Pin-Up Girl.
Renee Richards is a tennis player born in 1934 in America, who won acclaim for transsexual rights after challenging (and overturning) a ruling denying her admittance to the 1976 U.S. Open – as she had been born a male she could technically not play in the women’s matches.
Jan Morris (born James Humphrey Morris in 1926) remained married to his wife after his surgery, which had to be done in Morocco as British doctors refused to do the surgery unless he first divorced his then-wife. He later did divorce her, but they remained very close friends. They now have a civil union.
Other Terms.
Cross Dresser.
A cross dresser is a male who wears female clothes (or a female who wears male clothes) but does not usually identify with being female (or male). Cross-dressing men are commonly portrayed as men putting on their wives’ bras and dresses and prancing around the house. They don’t usually see themselves as female, or ‘trapped in the wrong body’ as t-girls do. They are commonly heterosexual and don’t always adopt the practices of the opposite sex. Another term for cross-dressers is transvestite, but this can commonly be confused with those who cross-dress for fetish purposes (i.e. they get off on cross-dressing; also called transvestic fetishists) so the term ‘transvestite’ is not usually used.
In the early 1960s police used cross-dressing as an excuse to arrest people from the ‘transgender community’ in bars (it was illegal to serve them), as cross-dressing was deemed “indecent”. Nowadays it is not seen to be as inappropriate, helped in part by television and public awareness.
Cross dressers do so for emotional pleasure or stress release, for shock value, to challenge the norms of society, to undertake roles in society not normally reserved for their actual sex (such as enlisting in the military) or to avoid roles (to avoid conscription), comfort (some people find underwear of the opposite sex more comfortable than their own), or style (they simply find the attire of the opposite sex more visually appealing – think back to the 80s where women wore shoulder pads and suits, waistcoats and ties). The term itself does not denote any particular reason for the action, although there is almost certainly some inner motive.
Sometimes calling someone a cross-dresser may imply they do so on a regular basis and that they may in fact be transsexual, so the term must be used with care in order to avoid offence to those who are not transsexual. However, transsexuals are cross-dressers.
Cross dressing has been around literally since the beginning of time – in the Greek mythological tale “The Odyssey”, Athena went to the aid of people dressed as a man. Achilles’ mother dressed him as a woman so he would not be killed in battle. When Joan of Arc was executed, one of the reasons given for it was because she dressed as a man (so she could fight the English with the French armies). And memorably, men played women’s roles when acting Shakespeare’s plays.
Famous modern day cross dressers include Dame Edna and Mrs Doubtfire – and who can forget Tootsie. In a send-up of cross dressers, Matt Lucas and David Walliams from Little Britain fame dress as women – but fail miserably. Walliam’s line (“I’m a lady”) is now part of modern culture.
Transvestic fetishism sees males dressing in typically female clothes – sexy lingerie, stockings and heels etc – in order to get horny or cum. This is no different to other fetishes such as boots and feet, latex, watersports, BDSM/Ds and the variants, or feathers and tickling. It is different to transsexuals, however, as transsexuals don’t cross dress for sexual reasons – they do it for gender reasons. Cross dressers may be transvestic fetishists and wear clothes of the opposite sex for sexual gratification.
Drag Queen.
Drag Queens are men who dress as women for entertainment. They may or may not identify with being female, but identifying as a female is not a prerequisite for being a Drag Queen. Usually, their costumes and make up are gross caricatures of females – large coloured lips, overly made up eyes and huge hairstyles. They are designed to be funny, and you may have seen them mime to songs and do stage routines. Their characters are gauche, over-the-top and uppity. They don’t claim to impersonate women (although they are also known as ‘female impersonators’) – their characters are more female than any female could hope to be – and they admit it’s an act. Their names are piss-takes on their act, their own names changed to reflect their act, or something extravagant and again, over-the-top. Drag Queens are a group of cross-dressers. Their reason for doing so is entertainment.
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was a great Australian film about three Drag Queens. Famous Drag Queens include Lypsinka, Divine and of course Rupaul.
Transgender.
Transgender is a broad term used to describe all people who don’t fit into the stereotypical ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles. This can include homosexuals, lesbians, transsexuals, drag queens and the occasional transvestite (not ‘some transvestites but not others’, but someone who is a transvestite occasionally). It is a rather vague blanket term, and so some transsexuals take offence to it as it includes them in subsections they do not wish to be included in.
The term has also been used to describe people who identify with the opposite sex but opt not to undergo sex reassignment surgery. Sometimes, people who see themselves as transsexuals baulk at the term due to the ‘sex’ part of it, and choose the term ‘transgender’. It makes them feel more comfortable about their identifying as the opposite sex. In this case, it can’t be a bad thing.
Now.
People with GID are becoming more and more prevalent – it used to be that this condition was considered ‘rare’ (it still is, to some extent) but even so, cases are being seen more frequently. Transsexuals, too, are become more widely accepted.
This may be in part due to the plight of transsexuals becoming better known. This in turn could be due to transsexuals being more ‘out there’ and open in televised gay and lesbian pride marches and parades. Now being accepted better by the gay and lesbian community, transsexuals feel free to take place in these parades without fear of being ostracised by the only place they feel they can be themselves. And thanks also in part to television shows such as Oprah and Jerry Springer, where even though they can sometimes be portrayed as TV stunts, actors or freaks, they are still being brought into the public’s conscience. As they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity – and by being seen, the taboo nature can be broken down and people will see that transsexuals are not freaks to be abhorred, but people who need to be understood. And even though transsexuals see those flaunting their pre-op status on websites as being denigrating to themselves and the community in general, it is still publicity.
But, the internet has another function – bringing transsexuals together in a safe manner. Now transsexuals can talk freely with others, and form a community where there is strength and support. This gives them the courage to be more open about who they are without fear of ridicule. In chat rooms and online support groups they can trade secrets and advice, comfort and encourage each other and realise they’re not alone and, more importantly, that they’re normal.
Another reason for transsexuals being less ‘sideshow freak’ and more mainstream is the Stonewall Riots of June 1969. Tensions ran high due to police targeting popular drinking haunts of people from the ‘transgender’ community (it was illegal for bars to serve them as they were seen to be ‘disorderly’), and this boiled over on the 28th of June 1969, resulting in several days’ of rioting. As a result of this, the present day worldwide gay and lesbian rights movement was created and gained momentum and laws were changed, barriers were broken down, and the people from the community were gradually seen as equals – in much the same way the black rights movement saw changes that resulted in them being allowed to drink at white water fountains, attend white schools and sit on the white seats on buses. Admittedly, the battles were different and both still have a way to go in parts of the world, but things are definitely better.
With medication and surgery becoming more of a science and less of a hit-and-miss affair, transsexuals are more guaranteed of a successful outcome (which has been shown to be more successful than attempting to have them live as their born sex through counselling). Transsexuals now can feel comfortable approaching a doctor with their problems, knowing they will be taken seriously, and offered long-lasting and appropriate treatment. What’s more, surgery is now an option, should they desire it. For a transsexual who wants to date and, more importantly live, as their identified gender, this is important. Of course, money is still an obstacle and sometimes transsexuals on their journey take part in activities to raise money for their surgery – it is not uncommon for them to work as escorts or in online sex shows to make enough money to complete their surgery or treatment. Others hold more acceptable jobs, living and working as women or taking financial help from family and friends.
Transsexuals are, and always have been, a part of our wider community. They are not going anywhere and don’t want special treatment, so they should be incorporated into our lives and accepted for the human beings they are. |
