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Can Someone Explain To Me

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lankeela | 10:13 Wed 15th Feb 2023 | Society & Culture
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what exactly transgender means - Scotland's proposed bill aimed to allow people to change gender from sixteen - yet the recent tragic murder of the sixteen year old in Warrington describes her as transgender - so how could she be if she was only sixteen? Can anyone call themselves transgender just by choosing to and dressing in the manner of the opposite sex? I thought being transgender meant you had undergone procedures to alter parts of your body to that of the opposite sex.
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Not so, transsexual and transgender are interchangeable but some consider 'transsexual' to be outdated and offensive (I don't know why). https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/transgender-vs-transexual
10:38 Wed 15th Feb 2023
yes i find it confusing. Even the term transgender girl i use to misunderstand what it means. I'm not sure why they are referred to as a she unless its as a matter of respect to her and families feelings. but maybe we're all learning
Transgender means the person believes and feels that their gender is opposite to their biological sex, it is as simple as that.
Some transgender people choose to have gender realignment surgery, some don't.
To me someone who is transgender means that they consider themself to be of the opposite sex to their body. They could be anywhere in the process of transitioning to that sex. Taking meds, changing their hairstyle, wearing clothing or just starting the process. At 16 clothing and hairstyle, maybe hormone therapy and psych evaluation comes to mind
Someone who has had surgery to alter external sexual characteristics is a "transsexual".
Transgender is as stated above.
Not so, transsexual and transgender are interchangeable but some consider 'transsexual' to be outdated and offensive (I don't know why).

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/transgender-vs-transexual
Not sure its that clear cut
This might help but I'll need to reread it
https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/difference-between-transgender-and-transsexual#transsexual-defined
Like I'm not sure what 'something else altogether means here "Those who are transgender can identify as a woman, man, a combination of both, or something else altogether.".
sorry barry, mine was in reply to ickerias post not your's
Why don't you ask on the end of the very long 'woman rapes women' thread? You will then get some extremely rude people not only explaining it to you but also giving you a right mouthful for even asking in the first place.
Transgender should mean a person whose brain won't accept the reality of the sex they clearly are, and insists it is the other sex. In practice it means anyone who wants to claim they are the sex that they're not; nor, in this lifetime, ever will be.
lankeela: "Can anyone call themselves transgender just by choosing to and dressing in the manner of the opposite sex?" - yes and they'll have an entire army of woksters to back them up and lie for them.
9 times out of 10 it's a bloke who has realised that he can gain some advantage by pretending to be a woman. Essentially exploiting the gullible fools who'll support his every move without question.
eg: https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1825109.html
when transgender folk have operations etc to become what ever they want to be, how do they get over the chromosome issue of Y equates to male ?
Just ignored.
Transsexual implies it's about sexuality, when sexual identity is so much more than that. Unfortunately it's an issue where people tend to take very fixed positions, and some of those positions can be unthinkingly cruel to those genuinely having a chromosomal\ psychological mismatch. I have a friend, born female but mentally male from before we met (age11)The options were very limited back then but believe he has the right to be true to himself, ( partial surgery, completion not possible due to age and previous assaults) He gains nothing from his situation other than peace of mind and he would probably be the first to speak out against the current trend for unsupported self identification.
It's completely unhelpful to throw around made-up statistics like how "9 times out of 10" it's about trying to gain some advantage. There's simply no evidence for that, and rather a lot more evidence that gender dysphoria is genuine, and beneficial to diagnose and accept.

Setting that aside, the definition of transgender is, I think, helpfully outlined in the links above. Generally, but not always, transsexual also might say something about medical interventions.

What I'd like to add is that it is, at the very least, problematic to attach too much weight in the definition to whether or not a trans person has had surgery, or any other direct medical intervention. For example, the waiting list for even a first consultation at an NHS Gender Identity Clinic, while it varies regionally, easily exceeds three years in most places. Following that first consultation, there can still be a significant delay for diagnosis. And remember that by the time someone has taken the decision even to start this process, they are already sure within themselves that they need at least that first consultation. After that, there can of course be a long delay before being approved for treatment, be it hormonal or a surgical procedure. It's possible to seek treatment via private routes of course, but in that case you'd still have the barrier of potentially large expenses to pay for any operations.

None of this is particularly unique to transgender care -- the NHS is overstretched in multiple ways, especially related to issues that intersect with mental health -- but it still raises the question about what to do in the interim. Also, all of this is technically a private matter anyway. It's up to an individual what they share about any medical procedures they've had or are planning to have. How we then interact with those around us is a matter about who we are as a person, not about what changes to our bodies have taken place.

All of which is to say that being transgender implies nothing about medical procedures. Brianna Ghey was transgender.

// Scotland's proposed bill aimed to allow people to change gender from sixteen //

Just to answer this point specifically, the bill aimed to lower the age at which one could *legally* change gender, by obtaining a gender recognition certificate. Again, it's hardly specific to transgender people, but the law is often slow to catch up on these sorts of thing. A piece of paper doesn't make you transgender, it's just about the State agreeing with you.


https://www.cntw.nhs.uk/services/northern-region-gender-dysphoria-service-specialist-service-walkergate-park/waiting-list-waiting-times/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-lgbt-transgender-idUSKBN2IM0FQ

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Interesting replies, thank you all.
Welcome back clareTgold

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