History UsefulNotes / Transgender

-->-- '''Adam Torres''', ''Series/{{Degrassi}}''

None of this is relevant to whether they are actually "trans enough" or not, despite what [[NoTrueScotsman some may say]]. The five foot one trans man who keeps his "pink collar" job/doesn't bulk up/is gay/doesn't like sports/still has to use the ladies room in some situations/etc is ''just as much of a man'' as the six foot tall one who retrained to a more traditionally "male" job/got into bodybuilding/developed a reputation as a heterosexual [[TheCasanova ladies' man]]/is a huge sports fan/who would never have to fear for his safety in a restroom/etc. The broad-shouldered and deep-voiced trans woman who works in occupations related to her past work in the military/is a lesbian/doesn't have much of an interest in makeup and fashion/is barred by law from using the ladies room is ''just as much of a woman'' as the slight and thin one who became a teacher or nurse or housewife/who got married to a very masculine cisgender man/always has absolutely perfect fashion and makeup/lives in a place where no one or the law would question her right to use the ladies' room.

Some transgender people prefer being "stealth," in that they seek to fully adopt and fit into the cultural role of their gender ("passing") with no traces of having had the body or life experiences of someone who had to live as the other gender. Others prefer to go "stealth" as their assigned gender in public, out of necessity or ease of navigating the world -- they are still transgender. Others again, either out of necessity [[note]]their bodies simply ''don't'' transform well enough to pass completely -- for example, a trans man whose height topped out at 4"11 and can't develop enough muscle mass to look "masculine" in a culture where "manly men" are tall and muscular, or a trans woman whose broad shoulder structure and masculine facial structure cannot be altered via surgery[[/note]] or simple preference for androgyny, choose a more androgynous presentation.

Same goes for behavior in general: some want to blend in, making a point to act more aggressive/more gentle/etc, taking up hobbies and interests traditional to their gender and shunning those that are not, changing the people they spend time with or their line of work, etcetera, while others don't change their attitudes or interests or friends or preferred work. Sometimes this is because they had a relative balance of interests to begin with; for example, a trans man who leaned toward being tomboyish while living as a woman may already have interests and friends and preferred work that tend toward masculine, for example, so there's no need to change much. Other times because people don't wish to be a part of the predominant cultures/subcultures for their gender anyway, for example, the same as cisgender men who don't like "dudebro" culture or cisgender women who aren't interested in "femininity" as it's sold and packaged in general.

Some transgender people prefer being "stealth," in that they seek to fully adopt and fit into the cultural role of their gender ("passing") with no traces of having had the body or life experiences of someone who had to live as the other gender. Otherr prefer to go "stealth" as their assigned gender in public, out of necessity or ease of navigating the world -- they are still transgender. Others again, either out of necessity [[note]]their bodies simply ''don't'' transform well enough to pass completely -- for example, a trans man whose height topped out at 4"11 and can't develop enough muscle mass to look "masculine" in a culture where "manly men" are tall and muscular, or a trans woman whose broad shoulder structure and masculine facial structure cannot be altered via surgery[[/note]] or simple preference for androgyny, choose a more androgynous presentation.

** Transgender people are not exemplified by what you may have seen on ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' or in the more freakish media portrayals, and are no more inclined toward violent or "dangerous" behavior than the common cisgender population. testosterone levels and/or percievedproximity to masculinity have nothing to do with violent behavior. In fact, most transgender people are more likely to be the ''victims'' of violence or sexual assault than the perpetrators of it, or to be capable of violence (martial arts or street fighting skill, carrying a knife or firearm) but only willing to use it in self-defense to stop someone from raping or killing them or someone else.

Since gender[[note]]the innate knowledge of how male and female you are - or not[[/note]] and sex[[note]]physical characteristics seen as male or female (specific), such as chromosomes, genitals and hair distribution[[/note]] are frequently associated or conflated in most societies, including Western ones, babies with penises are designated baby boys and babies with vaginas are designated baby girls. Nature is more complicated than that, of course. But "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to all people whose genders don't match the sex they were designated based on visual factors. This includes (the most commonly depicted) "trans women", women who are designated male at birth; "trans men", men who are designated female at birth; and nonbinary people who don't fully identify as men or women (they can identify as a combination of men, women, and other genders and/or outside of man and woman altogether), and even agender/neutrois people who don't identify as any established gender identity. There are also ''bigender'' people, who identify as two genders at once and are usually included in the "nonbinary" or "genderqueer" category above.

Being transgender is frequently associated with a symptom known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_dysphoria gender dysphoria]]. It manifests differently between individuals, but generally speaking, it involves a sense of dissatisfaction with one's physical body as the result of their biological sex (hence "dysphoria"), and a wish to have a body of a different gender. Some symptoms that can occur but are, once again, not universal, include the feeling of "being in the wrong body", evaluating one's body by the standards of the other side's (even subconsciously), cross-gender dreams, transformation fantasies, and so on.

Accepting one's own gender identity, or even acknowledging its existence, might take a while, going through stages of denial. This period seems to receive the least coverage in mainstream fiction, which is primarily concerned instead with either the start or the end (or near-end) of the path. An interesting phenomenon can take place that's essentially the reverse of gender dysphoria, which one may call [[https://queerkentucky.com/gender-euphoria-the-bright-side-of-trans-experience/ "gender euphoria"]]. It seems under-represented in fiction, if represented at all: ManIFeelLikeAWoman could be considered TheThemeParkVersion, but gender euphoria doesn't require any physical changes to actually occur.

Transition, the transgender "journey", is a twofold process, and in fact not universal -- some choose not to undergo it at all. One side of it is socialization: learning and adopting the social patterns of the target gender, which by itself becomes progressively easier in the modern society as the gender roles themselves become blurred -- however, with it come numerous issues of acceptance versus discrimination, as well as legal issues, of both of which a lot has been written in detail.

Finally: while the operation may be required for a legal identity change (depending on the geographical area), it's otherwise only one of the transition options available which a person may or may not need, and when the person does choose to undergo it, it always comes last, after a period of living under the new identity. Also, keep in mind that there is no one specific procedure. Terms like pre-op and post-op typically refer to genital reconstructive surgery (GRS or SRS), but there are a variety of surgical procedures that trans people may pursue- for example, many trans men find that having their breasts removed is a more important step than getting work done below the belt. EasySexChange only exists in TV Land.

Often these two terms get conflated and confused but with good reason. A common perception is that transsexual people are those who have surgery and transgender people do not. While the former is mostly accurate the latter is not always so. There are people who view the term transsexual as too stigmatizing and argue that it contributes to the conflation between gender and biological sexual organs and avoid it, even if they choose to have surgery. The majority of trans people identify under "transgender", which is a more liberating term for both binary trans people and nonbinary people, who may not seek surgery in the first place, as well as averting the stigmatized term of "transsexual".

However, older transgender people may still use this term. The origins of changing the term was that cisgender heterosexuals used the term with the suffix "-sexual" against transgender people, claiming it was a sexual fetish, and that trans people were not legitimate or deserving of either respect or (transition related) medical care. The term transgender clarifies that it is not orientation (unlike, say, bisexual, which is an orientation) and does not lend itself to corruption of the term for the purpose of excusing bigotry. All in all, what one uses for themselves is their choice and no-one else's, but cisgender people would do well to use "transgender," and it is also the proper term in any sort of public/medical/academic capacity.

Some transgender people prefer being "stealth," in that they seek to fully adopt and fit into the cultural role of their gender ("passing") with no traces of having had the body or life experiences of someone who had to live as the other gender. Others, either out of necessity [[note]]their bodies simply ''don't'' transform well enough to pass completely -- for example, a trans man whose height topped out at 4"11 and can't develop enough muscle mass to look "masculine" in a culture where "manly men" are tall and muscular, or a trans woman whose broad shoulder structure and masculine facial structure cannot be altered via surgery[[/note]] or simple preference for androgyny, choose a more androgynous presentation.

None of this is relevant to whether they are actually "trans enough" or not, despite what [[NoTrueScotsman some may say]]. The five foot one trans man who keeps his "pink collar" job/doesn't bulk up/is asexual/doesn't like sports/still has to use the ladies room in some situations/etc is ''just as much of a man'' as the six foot tall one who retrained to a more traditionally "male" job/got into bodybuilding/developed a reputation as a heterosexual [[TheCasanova ladies' man]]/is a huge sports fan/who would never have to fear for his safety in a restroom/etc. The broad-shouldered and deep-voiced trans woman who works in occupations related to her past work in the military/is a lesbian/doesn't have much of an interest in makeup and fashion/is barred by law from using the ladies room is ''just as much of a woman'' as the slight and thin one who became a teacher or nurse or housewife/who got married to a very masculine cisgender man/always has absolutely perfect fashion and makeup/lives in a place where no one or the law would question her right to use the ladies' room.

The important takeaway here is that unless you are a close friend (and even then be very, very, '''very''' careful) ''do not'' offer "helpful advice" on passing unless it is asked of you. Said advice may be unwanted at best, as well as something already known but ignored or impossible, even if it isn't physically impossible (e.g. changing a stable "pink collar" job like waitressing/waitering or a secretary job for an unstable "man's job" like construction worker or mechanic is a ''bad'' idea in a bad economy), and at worst -- especially if you are not yourself transgender -- a deep and horrific personal insult. Finally, some of the more androgynous transgender persons see fixation with passing as CompensatingForSomething and therefore just another form of closeting (e.g. "what's the point of coming out of the closet if you have to immediately closet your sexual orientation or your interests or your looks to fit in with gender stereotypes?").

** Transgender people are not exemplified by what you may have seen on ''[[Series/TheJerrySpringerShow Jerry Springer]]'' or in the more freakish media portrayals, and are no more inclined toward violent or "dangerous" behavior than the common cisgender population. In the case of trans women, the hormones they are on are actually generally ''less'' conducive to violence or sexual predation. In the case of trans men, the dosage of testosterone most are on is ''not'' enough to induce "roid rage" or violent mood swings and most have lived long enough socialized as closeted trans men (which is very similar to female socialization) to ''not'' seek violence as the first and only solution to a bad day or a mood swing. Most transgender people are more likely to be the ''victims'' of violence or sexual assault than the perpetrators of it, or to be capable of violence (martial arts or street fighting skill, carrying a knife or firearm) but only willing to use it in self-defense to stop someone from raping or killing them or someone else.

* "Transgender people are unstable!" This is an example of what happens when SelfFulfillingProphecy and circular reasoning feed into bigotry. Most if not all of the reasons why transgender people can be ''objectively'' unstable - you know just like everyone else (lack of financial wealth and liquidity, lack of stable dwellings, not being married or partnered or having strong family ties, anxiety ranging from nervousness to paranoia of straight/cisgender strangers who act in certain ways) - are directly due to the way trans people are or recently were treated, especially poor trans people, and the way society is often set up to encourage violence and mockery toward the transgender or androgynous and discourage them, in turn, from participation in society except among themselves, unless [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney they have money]] or they are [[ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful far more beautiful/handsome than even the average cisgender person is]].

** Some anecdotal evidence tends to point to the "invisible physical condition" theory as well: for example, many trans men report having deeper voices, PCOS symptoms, male pattern hair loss, difficult/painful menstruation, mood swings, or severe fatigue even before transitioning at all and/or when having to be off outside testosterone -- which hints at the "natural" state involving a higher amount of testosterone or a different response to it. Or as an alternate theory, a ''lower'' amount when the body's balance would be better with the same amount cisgender males naturally have and is instead functioning on a too-high for the individual level of estrogen and progesterone -- putting the trans man not on outside testosterone in a similar place biologically as a cisgender male whose body didn't produce the proper level of the hormone.

Two myths need to be debunked there. First, hormones aren't AppliedPhlebotinum -- they can only do so much. While they do cause things like breast growth and thinning of body hair for trans women, or on the contrary, growth of body hair for trans men, as well as some voice changes [[labelnote:*]]for trans men only, because testosterone's changes to the voicebox are permanent, and of note that vocal cords "set" around age 30, so men who begin hormone therapy after 30 may experience less dramatic deepening and need to retrain themselves to speak from lower in their throat, much like women who underwent a testosterone-induced voice change before beginning hormones. For both cases, learning to sing can be incredibly helpful--in any sort of traditional style;e.g., traditional Japanese pentatonic scale can be just as helpful as Western operatic training, and so can Cantonese operatic style--the point is learning full exploitation of one's vocal cords, and knowing those abilities enough to be able to apply it to talking, permanently and without damaging the cords[[/labelnote]] and redistribution of body fat -- they don't magically alter the skeleton to adjust body shape, nor do they remove facial hair, which has to be done separately. Some skeletal adjustments do happen -- the skeleton is a living part of the body, after all, and there is increasing evidence that it continues to develop and change through adult life, but more slowly and on a much more subtle level -- but they take years and may never have more than a slight visual effect.

Some transgender people prefer being "stealth," in that they seek to fully adopt and fit into the cultural role of their gender ("passing") with no traces of having had the body or life experiences of someone who had to live as the other gender. Others, either out of necessity [[labelnote:*]]their bodies simply ''don't'' transform well enough to pass completely -- for example, a trans man whose height topped out at 4"11 and can't develop enough muscle mass to look "masculine" in a culture where "manly men" are tall and muscular, or a trans woman whose broad shoulder structure and masculine facial structure cannot be altered via surgery[[/labelnote]] or simple preference for androgyny, choose a more androgynous presentation.

It's common in Japanese to describe transgender people as "[X] in body but [Y] in heart", which is how Kikunojo (a trans woman) describes herself in ''Manga/OnePiece''.

Since gender[[note]]the innate knowledge of how male and female you are - or not[[/note]] and sex[[note]]physical characteristics seen as male or female (specific), such as chromosomes, genitals and hair distribution[[/note]] are frequently associated or conflated in most societies, including Western ones, babies with penises are designated baby boys and babies with vaginas are designated baby girls. Nature is more complicated than that, of course. But "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to all people whose genders don't match the sex they were designated based on visual factors. This includes (the most commonly depicted) "trans women", women who are designated male at birth; "trans men", men who are designated female at birth; and nonbinary people who don't identify as men or women (but can identify as a combination of men, women, and other genders and/or outside of man and woman altogether), and even agender/neutrois people who don't identify as any established gender identity. There are also ''bigender'' people, who identify as two genders at once and are usually included in the "nonbinary" or "genderqueer" category above.

Since gender[[note]]the innate knowledge of how male and female you are - or not[[/note]] and sex[[note]]physical characteristics seen as male or female (specific), such as chromosomes, genitals and hair distribution[[/note]] are frequently associated or conflated in most societies, including Western ones, babies with penises are designated baby boys and babies with vaginas are designated baby girls. [[{{Intersex}} Nature is more complicated than that, of course.]] But "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to all people whose genders don't match the sex they were designated based on visual factors. This includes (the most commonly depicted) "trans women", women who are designated male at birth; "trans men", men who are designated female at birth; and nonbinary people who don't identify as men or women (but can identify as a combination of men, women, and other genders and/or outside of man and woman altogether), and even agender/neutrois people who don't identify as any established gender identity. There are also ''bigender'' people, who identify as two genders at once and are usually included in the "nonbinary" or "genderqueer" category above.

Consider the typical involuntary GenderBender plot (such as in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', or with Roy in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''): the victim often outright hates or is ashamed by their new body, experiencing discomfort with it and seeking ways to remove the "curse". This is how many cisgender people[[note]]those whose gender matches their assigned sex, i.e. a man who is born with a penis[[/note]] might react, while many transgender people would [[CursedWithAwesome consider the "curse" a blessing]]. In fact, transition (see below) exists exactly because there's no convenient way in real life to quickly change a human's physical sex. Yet, anyway. If there was one, transition would largely be limited to social adaptation to the new gender role.

** Similarly, a strong correlation has been found between being Trans and on the Autism Spectrum, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who are on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination can be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.

Since gender[[note]]the innate knowledge of how male and female you are - or not[[/note]] and sex[[note]]physical characteristics seen as male or female (specific), such as chromosomes, genitals and hair distribution[[/note]] are frequently associated or conflated in most societies, including Western ones, babies with penises are designated baby boys and babies with vaginas are designated baby girls. [[{{Intersex}} Nature is more complicated than that, of course.]] But "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to all people whose genders don't match the sex they were designated based on visual factors. This includes (the most commonly depicted) "trans women", women who are designated male at birth; "trans men", men who are designated female at birth; and nonbinary people who don't identify as men or women (but can identify as a combination of men, women, and other genders and_or outside of man and woman altogether), and even agender/neutrois people who don't identify as any established gender identity. There are also ''bigender'' people, who identify as two genders at once and are usually included in the "nonbinary" or "genderqueer" category above.

Consider the typical involuntary GenderBender plot (such as in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', or with Roy in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''): the victim often outright hates or is ashamed by their new body, experiencing discomfort with it and seeking ways to remove the "curse". This is how many cisgender people[[note]]those whose gender matches their assigned sex, i.e. a man who is born with a penis[[/note]] people might react, while many transgender people would [[CursedWithAwesome consider the "curse" a blessing]]. In fact, transition (see below) exists exactly because there's no convenient way in real life to quickly change a human's physical sex. Yet, anyway. If there was one, transition would largely be limited to social adaptation to the new gender role.

* For help writing a transgender character, see [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14594331460A13900800 A Single Unified LGBT Character Thread]] in the forums. Remember the 40% suicide rate hahahahaha

* For help writing a transgender character, see [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14594331460A13900800 A Single Unified LGBT Character Thread]] in the forums.

** Transgender people have the same range of sexuality and sexual behavior as cisgender people. While sex work ''is'' more common among the community (mostly due to the same economic reason that SingleMomStripper exists as a trope -- when you ''can't'' get work or work with reasonable pay anywhere else, sex work is one of the few options left), ''not every transgender person is a sex worker.'' Also, while some may be kinky (from everywhere from the lighter end of BDSM to hardcore highly risky practices), others may not be or may only be in specific settings. Nor do transgender people develop a desire for sex with anything and everything -- in fact, the rate of pedophilia and bestiality is ''lower'' among the community than among cisgender heterosexual males.

Accepting one's own gender identity, or even acknowledging its existence, might take a while, going through stages of denial. This period seems to receive the least coverage in mainstream fiction, which is primarily concerned instead with either the start or the end (or near-end) of the path. An interesting phenomenon can take place that's essentially the reverse of gender dysphoria, which one may call [[http://lightinthecloset.org/Euphoria.html "gender euphoria"]]. It seems under-represented in fiction, if represented at all: ManIFeelLikeAWoman could be considered TheThemeParkVersion, but gender euphoria doesn't require any physical changes to actually occur.

Some activists stretch the definition to include everyone who doesn't conform to gender expectations, whether expectations about anatomy or behavior -- this broader definition would include cross-dressers who otherwise still agree with whatever sex they got asigned at birth. There's also academic and activist debate over whether some non-Western societies' "third genders" or "third sexes" -- categories which are traditional but also not considered "male" or "female" -- should be counted under "transgender", or more likely "non-binary"... but this isn't an Anthropology of Gender course.

** Similarly, a strong correlation has been found between being Trans and on the Autism Spectrum, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who are on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination ''can'' be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.

** Similarly, a strong correlation has been found between being Trans and on the Autism Spectrum, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who ''are'' on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination ''can'' be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.

** Similarly, while people on the Autism Spectrum are more likely to be LGBT+ than allistic people, it has a ''very'' high overlap with being transgender male, with ''many'' trans men and genderqueer people being on the spectrum to some degree, to the point that a strong correlation (although not causation) has been noticed between the two, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who ''are'' on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination ''can'' be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.

** Similarly, while people with Asperger's Syndrome/high-functioning autism are slightly more likely to be LGBT+ than allistic people, it has a ''very'' high overlap with being transgender male, with ''many'' trans men and genderqueer people being on the spectrum to some degree, to the point that a strong correlation (although not causation) has been noticed between the two, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who ''are'' on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination ''can'' be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.

Two myths need to be debunked there. First, hormones aren't AppliedPhlebotinum -- they can only do so much. While they do cause things like breast growth and thinning of body hair for trans women, or on the contrary, growth of body hair for trans men, as well as some voice changes (for trans men only, because testosterone's changes to the voicebox are permanent, and of note that vocal cords "set" around age 30, so men who begin hormone therapy after 30 may experience less dramatic deepening and need to retrain themselves to speak from lower in their throat, much like women who underwent a testosterone-induced voice change before beginning hormones. For both cases, learning to sing can be incredibly helpful--in any sort of traditional style;e.g., traditional Japanese pentatonic scale can be just as helpful as Western operatic training, and so can Cantonese operatic style--the point is learning full exploitation of one's vocal cords, and knowing those abilities enough to be able to apply it to talking, permanently and without damaging the cords) and redistribution of body fat -- they don't magically alter the skeleton to adjust body shape, nor do they remove facial hair, which has to be done separately. Some skeletal adjustments do happen -- the skeleton is a living part of the body, after all, and there is increasing evidence that it continues to develop and change through adult life, but more slowly and on a much more subtle level -- but they take years and may never have more than a slight visual effect.

Being transgender is frequently associated with a symptom known as [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_dysphoria gender dysphoria]]. It manifests differently between individuals, but generally speaking, it involves a sense of dissatisfaction with one's physical body as the result of their biological sex (hence "dysphoria"), and a wish to have a body of a different gender. Some symptoms that can occur but are, once again, not universal, include the feeling of "being in a wrong body", evaluating one's body by the standards of the other side's (even subconsciously), cross-gender dreams, transformation fantasies, and so on.

Since gender[[note]]the innate knowledge of how male and female you are[[/note]] and sex[[note]]all the other innate bits, such as chromosomes, genitals and hair distribution[[/note]] are frequently associated or conflated in most societies, including Western ones, babies with penises are designated baby boys and babies with vaginas are designated baby girls. [[{{Intersex}} Nature is more complicated than that, of course.]] But "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to all people whose genders don't match the sex they were designated based on visual factors and DNA. This includes (the most commonly depicted) "trans women", women who are designated male at birth; "trans men", men who are designated female at birth; and nonbinary people who don't identify as men or women (but can identify as a combination of men, women, and other genders), and even agender/neutrois people who don't identify as any established gender identity. There are also ''bigender'' people, who identify as ''both'' male and female, and are usually included in the "nonbinary" or "genderqueer" category above.

** Similarly, while people with Asperger's Syndrome/high-functioning autism are slightly more likely to be LGBT+ than allistic people, it has a ''very'' high overlap with being transgender male, with ''many'' trans men and genderqueer people being on the spectrum to some degree, to the point that a strong correlation (although not causation) has been noticed between the two, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who ''are'' on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination ''can'' be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.

** Similarly, while people with Asperger's Syndrome/high-functioning autism are slightly more likely to be LGBT+ than allistic people, it has a ''very'' high overlap with being transgender male, with ''many'' trans men and genderqueer people being on the spectrum to some degree, to the point that a strong correlation (although not causation) has been noticed between the two, and it's debated as to whether some of the same genetic or fetal developmental factors are involved. For those who ''are'' on the spectrum, it provides additional difficulties with social integration and achieving a "normal" life, and the combination ''can'' be disabling, especially in societies where "weird" people are heavily discriminated against. It is unknown if this overlap is biological, or perhaps due to autistic people not understanding (or caring to understand) social gender constructs.
* Connected to the above, "transgender people are not real, they are just confused in the head." Dispelling this myth is part of why the DSM is re-categorizing gender identity disorder as ''a physical problem of the body'' similar to intersex. In intersex conditions, the intersex person simply had the hormonal "luck of the draw" to develop physical characteristics of both sexes, whereas the transgender person did not, so their condition is not "visible" even though it ''is'' a physical condition of hormones and fetal development, as opposed to a psychological problem of "this person is messed up in the head."
** Some anecdotal evidence tends to point to the "invisible physical condition" theory as well: for example, many trans men report having deeper voices, PCOS symptoms, male pattern hair loss, difficult/painful menstruation, mood swings, or severe fatigue even before transitioning at all and/or when having to be off outside testosterone -- which hints at the "natural" state involving a higher amount of testosterone or a different response to it. Or as an alternate theory, a ''lower'' amount when the body's balance would be better with the same amount cisgender males naturally have and is instead functioning on a too-high for the individual level of estrogen and progesterone -- putting the trans man not on outside testosterone in a similar place biologically as a cisgender male whose body didn't produce the proper level of the hormone.
** There is a growing suspicion that intersex conditions are actually under-diagnosed, and that a routine check ought to be made, instead of only checking when the external genitalia is ambiguous.
** An alternate mistake is assuming that someone is not/cannot be disabled by anything related to gender identity disorder if it is ''not'' in and of itself a mental disorder, with a "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" or "man up" type attitude. The reactions of others toward it (in societies that remain transphobic at large) ''can'' make it a disabling condition (as in, if no one has hired you because of it, you can't get job experience, hence you can't get hired for "no experience"), and associated issues such as adjustment to hormones (fatigue often being a side effect of the dose adjustment phase before optimal levels are reached), menstrual issues in pre-menopausal trans men who can't do hormones or surgery, development of anxiety or depression, development of PTSD and/or social anxiety post an assault or prolonged abuse/bullying, and surgery preparation and post-op recovery are ''all'' things that can leave someone unable to work or to do some forms of work, and all are legitimate issues that originate as a result of social stigma, of physical problems the disorder itself presents, or of recovering from treatment.
** It has now been [[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan.html#.Uk1rjyTrxD8 shown]] that transgender people possess brain structures similar to their cis counterparts, proving further they are not just mentally ill. A newer study (whose link has sadly expired) confirms the above's results.
!!See Also
* For more information on transgender people and their experience, see [[http://trans.wikia.com/ the trans wiki]].
* For help writing a transgender character, see [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14594331460A13900800 A Single Unified LGBT Character Thread]] in the forums.
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Since gender[[note]]the innate knowledge of how male and female you are[[/note]] and sex[[note]]all the other innate bits, such as chromosomes, genitals and fat distribution[[/note]] are frequently associated or conflated in most societies, including Western ones, babies with penises are designated baby boys and babies with vaginas are designated baby girls. [[{{Intersex}} Nature is more complicated than that, of course.]] But "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to refer to all people whose genders don't match the sex they were designated based on visual factors and DNA. This includes (the most commonly depicted) "trans women", women who are designated male at birth; "trans men", men who are designated female at birth; and nonbinary people who don't identify as men or women (but can identify as a combination of men, women, and other genders), and even agender/neutrois people who don't identify as any established gender identity. There are also ''bigender'' people, who identify as ''both'' male and female, and are usually included in the "nonbinary" or "genderqueer" category above.

** Transgender people are no more "freakish" or the AttentionWhore on average than cisgender people. Again, while there are some exceptions, these do not speak for all transgender people, and there are a lot of transgender people who ''do'' focus on being "normal" and being stealth and not attracting notice of any sort. That said, even the "freakish" people aren't necessarily seeking attention or wishing to start drama with their existence -- it is thoroughly possible to be someone who is seen as "freakish" or "weird" by mainstream society and yet be entirely harmless and non-attention seeking. It is also thoroughly possible to be "different" or "unusual" and only be so to be oneself -- not in any attempt to draw attention for it. Finally, ''even the AttentionWhore'' is generally harmless, if annoying -- not deserving of social ostracism and punishment to "make them normal" or "make them go away and shut up" -- to bully even a confirmed AttentionWhore is also pointless, because a true AttentionWhore ''does not want to be normal,'' and maybe the person isn't actually an AttentionWhore but is just living their own life in a different way because that is what they are comfortable with, in which case bullying and ostracising them goes beyond pointless into cruel and discriminatory.

* "Transgender people are unstable!" This is an example of what happens when SelfFulfillingProphecy and circular reasoning feed into bigotry. Most if not all of the reasons why transgender people are ''objectively'' unstable (lack of financial wealth and liquidity, lack of stable dwellings, not being married or partnered or having strong family ties, anxiety ranging from nervousness to paranoia of straight strangers who act in certain ways) are directly due to the way trans people are or recently were treated, especially poor trans people, and the way society is often set up to encourage violence and mockery toward the transgender or androgynous and discourage them, in turn, from participation in society except among themselves, unless [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney they have money]] or they are [[ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful far more beautiful/handsome than even the average cisgender person is]].