Transgender Identity!

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Is "transgender" a gender?
No, transgender is not a gender category per-se. Rather, it is a status that a person has (or doesn’t have) that describes whether or not there is a mismatch between their gender identity and their assigned birth sex. If a person is not trans, they are cis, although there can be some gray area of people who are not sure of whether or not they are cis or trans or people on the border of being trans for whom people with different definitions of “transgender” might not agree about whether or not they are trans.

At birth, nearly all people are assigned a binary gender, female or male, based on their anatomy. There are quite a few intersex people out there (at least 0.05% of the population but by many definitions as much as 1% or more) but in practice, these people are usually “assigned” one of the binary sexes too. So, at most, the options for assigned birth sex are female, male, and intersex, although in practice it’s usually just female and male.

Gender identity is subjective and internal: it refers to the way a person self-identifies and sees themselves. As such, there are nearly endless genders, although in practice most people identify as either female or male, and the other genders can all be described as “nonbinary” (by definition).

If a person’s gender identity matches the assigned birth sex, then the person is cis. If they don’t match, then the person is trans.
 
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No, it is not. It is an adjective that describes a person who needs to express gender differently from normal expectations. It implies a change or transition.

About 0.6% of the population, about 1 in 167, are believed to be transgender. As a fetus develops in the womb there are a number of biological signals that direct development. One of these sets the path of genital development, and a second and subsequent signal sets the path of brain development. Most of the time these signals are aligned. Occasionally they are not and a transgender person is born. Signals can also become mixed and produce clearly ambiguous genitals as is the case in some intersex people.

I was born appearing to be a boy, but I became conscious as a very young child that my true self was feminine. It took a great deal of time and effort for me to accomplish my transition. It is complete now and in retrospect the entirely right decision. Being female brings me joy. Life as a man did not.

The underlying discomfort of being of the wrong gender is called gender dysphoria. This is a medical diagnosis of a condition. It is not in and of itself an illness. It is a condition that can be extremely distressing. Most, if not all transgender people have some gender dysphoria. It can be mild or severe. Some can manage it or suppress it; others need to take action either sooner or later. The exact action is the only decision most trans people can make with regard to their nature. Those who state being transgender is a choice are mistaken.

For some trans people, complete sex and public gender expression change are needed. For others, a less aggressive medical intervention leaves them satisfied.

Most trans people are binary and will express their gender as masculine or feminine. A few fall in between expressing fluidity or ambiguity or rejecting the entire concept of gender.​
 
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Is "transgender" a gender?​
I think so. I have frequently been attacked by trans activists and called a transphobe (a meaningless term by the way denoting someone who simply disagrees with them). But I do believe the term transgender is an entirely legitimate gender identity. It identifies someone born with the physical attributes of either male or female but genuinely believes that this is the wrong gender for them and that they were supposed to be the other gender. I sympathize completely. A lot of the heat and angst would immediately be taken out of this issue if we simply embraced the term “trans—”, a trans man or trans woman.

It acknowledges that while someone is not biologically aligned with sex, it is the true gender that they feel most comfortable in and choose to live as. It should be respected as such. The only people who would resist it are genuinely hateful transphobes who won’t allow trans folk any degree of legitimacy and respect at all, and on the other hand, the extreme type of trans activists who won’t accept any differential between birth gender and a later acquired one (i.e. “Trans women are real women” - well, actually not). Most people are neither of those and would accept transgender as a completely valid and accurate form of gender identity. It’s only the fanatics at both ends who prevent this from happening.​
 
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Is "transgender" a gender?​
Yes and no. Transgenderism is an ISM or ideology. There is no universal interpretation of it. Instead, there are many different sects with many different points of view. Some people insist transgender women are women and transgender men are men. They believe there are only two binary gender identities and so being transgender cannot be a gender of its own kind.​

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They may ignore the existence of those transgender people who are neither men nor women, who are genderfluid, and who don’t fit in their binary model. Some people believe transgender people are neither men nor women. They believe transgender people are somewhere between men and women. In other words, they form a third category of their own.

Some people say transgender women are men and transgender men are women. They are determined to be politically incorrect. All of these people have good reasons to support what they believe or have faith in. Since transgenderism is an ideology, there cannot be any standard model answer.​
 

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