What does it mean to be a transgender person?

Text by Austen Hartke* published on the website Queer Grace. Encyclopedia for Christians LGBTQ (USA), freely translated by Silvia Lanzi

You heard someone use the word transgender, but aren't you sure what it means? Or do you think you can be you transgender, and do you want to understand how this can connect with your faith? Well, you came to the right place! Let's talk about being trans.

What does "transgender" mean?

"Transgender" is a term-umbrella used for all those people who have an identity or expression of different gender knows that they were born with. This is just a taste: let's try to understand something.

* Thegender identityOf someone is his deepest feeling of being male, female, both, or none of the two! It has to do with how individuals perceive themselves, and is formed thanks to the influence of nature and culture.

* Thegender expressionOf someone is the way in which the subject shows his own gender identity to the rest of the world. It concerns the way we dress, how we comb it, how we speak and how we use body language.

* Theassigned sexIt is the label that doctors give to birth. Think of what doctors always say on TV: "Congratulations - is a child!" Or "You have had a girl!". The sex assigned to each is determined by the external genitals, which doctors look before they announce. The problem is that they are only a part of the person - the doctor does not look at the chromosomes of the child, the hormonal levels, or the internal reproductive organs, and the child is too small to know something of the gender identity that he will develop over the years. While the person grows, it is possible that not all the pieces can easily pigeonhole as "male" or "female".

Both sex and genre are made up of many and different pieces, and, for many people, these all fit. If the person whose doctors have said "is a child!" He continues to identify himself as such, he dresses and behaves in a way that our culture defines male, then it will be cisgender.CisgenderIt means that all birth sex pieces correspond to gender identity.

But when the doctors say about a newborn: "It's a child!" And while growing up, he begins to express himself by preferring male clothes, and tells his parents that a boy feels inside - then this person could be transgender. Being transgender means that the pieces of their gender identity and those of sex at birth do not collide, and everything goes well!
There are many ways of being transgender. There are people whose biological sex is feminine, but who identify themselves as males and people whose biological sex is male, but who identify themselves as females, but there are also people with a certain biological sex that do not feel either nor the other. These identify themselves as agenders, or nonbinari, or genderfluid - all words that mean that their gender identity is something different and is not strictly male or female.

How do you know you are transgender?

Finding your gender identity can be a difficult process, since there are no tests that can give a definitive response.As we said by introducing the topic,The first thing to do if you think you can be trans is to remember to be loved by God - gender identity and everything else! Then you might want to do some research, see or read the stories of other people, and how they understood their gender identity. The way everyone has done it is different and unique!
In the case of younger children, psychologists and pediatricians, they say that there are three key points to understand if a child is transgender: it is very likely that it is if it is consistent, persistent and persists on your gender identity. It means that it is expressed over time, consistently and without fluctuations; That you insist on a certain way of expression, even when you have to face the disagreement, and you are consistent in continuing to choose a certain way of expressing yourself and, even if there are obstacles, you do not forget it. But people do not always understand their children's gender identity - some of us do not reach full understanding of themselves except during adolescence, or thirty years old, or even sixty!

What makes people transgender?

So far, as for sexual orientation, we do not know for certainly the causes of transsexualism. What we know is that these people have existed for thousands of years - practically since the beginning of man's history! For example, the Assyrian King ASSURBANIPAL, he has passed greatly of his life by presenting herself as a woman and wearing traditionally female clothes. Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut also subverted the rules of the genre by wearing male clothes and also a beard, which was the symbol of the pharaohs! Many cultures from all over the world have included groups of people who did not belong to the binary genre: in fact we know ancient groups of the so-called third sex, such as the hijra of India, the two-Spyris of the tribes of Native American and the Fa'Afafine of Samoa . Nobody knows exactly what someone makes transgender, but we know that being it is not new.

Is being a transgender a mental disorder?

Absolutely not! Western medicine is also understanding that gender identity is not something that needs to be determined once and for all. The most recent version of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders has been updated to reflect on the fact that gender identity is not in itself a problem - the problem is the dysphoria that transgender people feel.

How many transgender are there? Are more trans men or women?

Worldwide, trans estimates of trans people vary considerably, because they have never been done enough research to be found to find their exact percentage. In the United States Census, for example, there is no way to identify its own kind; As a result, all the estimates of the US government are based on the number of people who have changed their name of baptism or their own genital attributes at the social security.
It should be added that 71% of transgender tend to hide their state for fear of discrimination or physical violence. Given all this, it is difficult to know the exact number of transgender in the world, but the best estimate is that, at least in the United States they are 0.3% of the population - practically one out of a thousand. However, real estimate could be greater, since studies based on name and gender markers do not include transgender people who have not made these changes, nor the people who recognize themselves in the binary genre that do not choose the hormonal transition and/ or surgical.
When trying to find the percentage of trans men, against that of trans women, research gaps prevent it. It would seem that in the world there are more transgender women (that is, people who have carried out the transition from male to female). This is based on the fact that: 1) Trans women are more visible in popular culture 2) over the years most medical and psychological studies have focused on them and 3) western society accepts a male effeminate and So trans women are forced to reveal themselves in order to express themselves authentically. However, the number of women and trans men is likely to be equivalent.

Do transgender people carry out a social or medical transition?

The transition, both medical and social, is entirely due to the person in question. The social one could include the coming out with friends and family, the change in the name and/or pronouns, that of gender expression and so on, while the medical one could include the intake of hormones or surgery.
Some transgender people only choose the first, others also the second. We must also remember that the transition is different for people from male-a-feminine (MTF) and by female-a-mascchio (FTM) of what can be for Igndererqueer and for non-binary people who choose not to transit from the end of one spectrum to another, but gives from sex and biological to a different one that represents them as they really are.

Does transition or transgender be affected on sexuality?

In a certain way. For example, if a person who everyone believes lesbian doescoming out as a transgender, identifying with the male sex, then that person could be considered straight. His attraction for women does not change - the words with which he describes himself could instead.
Sometimes social or medical transition can have effects on attraction towards others. Some trans people find that, after the transition, their attraction for a certain genre increases or decreases, and this can derive from a change at the hormonal level, or perhaps from the fact that the transgender person is more comfortable with himself, e Therefore they open the possibilities that she herself had not considered previously.
However, it must be remembered that even if sexuality and gender identity can influence each other, they are two very different things. For example, being gay does not lead to transgender.

What does the Bible to say about being transgender?

Surprisingly not much! The two verses that seem to deal directly with trans people and gender identity are:

Deuteronomy 22: 5- The woman will not dress as a man, nor will man dress as a woman; Since whoever does such things are in abominable to the eternal, your God.

Deuteronomy 23: 1- The eunuch to whom the parties have been infringement or mutilated, will not enter the assembly of God.

We must both understand these verses in their context, and, in the millennia, their interpretation has changed drastically. For example, Deuteronomy 22: 5 was once used to prevent women from bringing pants, but now we are not surprised if women get a pair of new jeans. The fact that some clothes are considered male and other female depends entirely on the culture in which we live, so it is practically impossible to give unique meaning to these verses. Many Christians today consider Deuteronomy 22: 5 part of the mosaic law that we no longer follow, such as the prohibition of wearing mixed fibers or that of eating crustaceans.

Deuteronomy 23: 1 is a verse that, if literally interpreted, should not only apply to transgender women, but also amended male person who have been made ineffective or mutilated for accidents or diseases. The ancient Israelites codified this rule during the Babylonian captivity when many of their young people were castrated to serve by eunuchi at court. When the people of God returned from exile, the prophet Isaiah announced a word of the Lord who changed the cards on the table and welcomed them together with other people marginalized by Deuteronomy 23. You can read the entire welcome text of God through the words of the Prophet in Isaiah 56: 1-8.

A friend of mine / family / parishioner is trans. How can I help him?

There are many ways to help the transgender people who know each other:

Use the name and the pronouns that ask you to use. Some trans people choose to change their name and the pronoun with which they refer to themselves. And it may happen that they want you to use them too. Re-educating you in this sense can be difficult: it depends on how much you know the person. Respect their wishes and excuse yourself if sometimes wrong.

Keep their privacy. Understanding that you are trans and coming out as such, it can be a long and difficult process. Many people do not understand it and can also become aggressive towards transsexuals. If someone has confided to you to be, let him/her/her tells others.

Law. Starting from here can be the right thing to do. Take a look at some other resource listed below! Knowing someone who is in transition is a trial in proud, and it is good to admit that he needs to look for and ask questions to understand something more. If you are interested in educating your community of faith in depth, read yourselfTransaction: a trans curriculum for churches and religius institutionsof The Institute for Welcoming Resources.

Be respectful. You may have a lot of questions to ask. Many trans people have to face questions every day on their kind, their sexuality and their body. It may be stressful to answer all the questions that others ask. Conceive yourself to listen to them when they want to share their history, and give them the space necessary to live their experiences.

* Austen Hartke is a shemale boy who loves scriptures.

Original text:What does it mean to be transgender?

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