There Really Is A Difference

I sometimes identify myself as a "transsexual separatist," mainly to irritate the kooks like Mr. "Cristan" Williams who use that term.  But in truth, the term is something of a misnomer.  It was created as an attack on transsexuals who simply do not identify with the so-called "transgender paradigm."  The term was clearly coined by "gender fascists"  as part of a larger attempt to force those identified as "transsexual separatist" back into line.  We are actually, truth be told, more assimilationist than separatist as the goal is to assimilate into the larger society, rather than, for want of a better term, "sticking out like a sore thumb." 

This was particularly brought home to me when I happened to check out the comments made on the article by Mr. "Autumn" Sandeen (all ready discussed here) where he invents the idea that I am some sort of "activist."  The article that lead to him stalking me on Twitter, and in comments on this blog for a while, in a bizarre attempt to distract me from something I don't even do.  Amusing, but a bit of a bore after a while.

The comment was made by some guy calling himself "dawn1257" and it shows the overwhelming arrogance of some transgender extremists.

It starts off with a semi-accurate opening:

Certainly you are aware that the effectiveness of your and others activism is not what propels their dislike of all things transgender? It’s that your and others activism – they feel -publically beguiles the very term ‘transsexual’.

The use of the term "beguile" is a bit puzzling.  I would not say that that Mr. Sandeen's "activism" (I would tend to refer to it as self-aggrandizing attention seeking) charms or 
enchants anyone, and it certainly does not help time pass more pleasantly.  The term does carry an aspect of being deceptive, and in that sense is slightly accurate.  Well, actually...the deceptive part is highly accurate.

The real problems are in what comes next.  I don't know whether it is arrogantly clueless, or cluelessly arrogant....

Run-ins with Elizabeth are not unknown to me. My first was a result of her blog post entitled something like, ‘I Will Never Understand’. The premise of her writing was two-fold. First she has difficulty in maintaining understanding of why a “man” would wait twenty, thirty, or more years, get married, have children, and THEN transition. Secondly, she simply could not fathom why, after transitioning, anyone would want to remain either in that same marriage, be ‘known’ as the “Town Tranny”, and/or be open to anyone (activist) about what she perceives as only a correctable medical condition which once corrected that individual should just then ‘melt’ into society living forever as the woman, or man they know themselves to be.

Now, I admit, I did get married, for the primary purpose of getting away from my father, and I have one daughter.  I got married because, at the time, I thought I was attracted to women and because, after seriously considering transition in my early twenties, I became convinced, based on bad information, that I would not be allowed to pursue SRS.  I did some research in a university library, and the books available at the time tended to indicate that anyone who was attracted to women was not considered a viable candidate for transition and surgery.  I did not know that this was not true, and since I had no access to a competent therapist, I had no way of knowing otherwise.  And the worse part is, when I later learned that it was possible to transition and pursue surgery, I discovered I was actually a straight woman.  

But this not what we are talking about here.  We are talking about men, generally facing a mid-life crisis in the forties, fifties, even sixties, who suddenly, after showing no sign if having an issue with their "gender identity" (other than being an adult fetishistic crossdresser) suddenly decide that they are "really a woman," and as pointed out, want to stay married, and be "out, loud, and proud."  In another words, someone like, oh...say, Mr. "Sandeen" or Mr. "Cristan" Williams.  In a lot of cases, the wife has the good sense to say, "No way!," but many are financially dependent on their husbands, or feel bound by moral standards and remain in the marriage.

Now, it is not so much a matter of not understanding, as simply not seeing such a person as having any relationship to transsexualism (other than possibly suffering from the delusion that they actually are transsexual...again, we come back to the part about deception).

It is in the next paragraph where things really go off the tracks....

To a large degree her, and the others just like her, do feel animus. They feel threatened. They feel repulsed at the concept, and the coercion, and the corrupting of the term ‘transsexual’ being co-opted in sameness as transgender. It’s their sincere desire to maintain a ‘purity’ for a term that really never even existed before one prominent Psychiatrist coined it some 60+ years ago. Some of them, Elizabeth included, claim that they were in fact treated by this man. And, they may well have been. I believe they feel it to be their collective duty to protect that term with a vengeance because ‘they’ received his blessing as themselves when no one else would even consider their plight. So they have developed an aggressive desire to protect that label for only those who ascribe to, and are willing to follow the protocol enshrined from his research. In that protocol, Dr. Benjamin felt that ‘blending’ back into a normative lifestyle in the sex you believe (know) yourself to be, and have transitioned to, was paramount to being successful and ‘true’.

This shows the sort of clueless arrogance I was talking about.  First off, it is kind of ironic to have someone who I am sure clings to the term "transgender" like a drowning man grasping at a life preserver, making comments about people trying to defend a clearly defined medical term that many attempt to co-opt.  I mean, seriously, in spite of the attempted lies of Mr. "Cristan" Williams, the fact remains that "transgender" in its current usage only dates from sometime around the mid-Nineties.  The term may have occasionally cropped up prior to that, but it was not at all common.  Worse, there is the snarky comment implying that someone might make a false claim to having been treated by Harry Benjamin, and the rather false claim that we feel "threatened."  I agree, I do feel angry at the attempts to coerce me into accepting a label I do not agree with, but I also believe that Benjamin, and other experts are right that blending in is preferable...for true transsexuals.  For transvestites, like Mr. Sandeen, Mr. Williams, and I would presume "dawn1257," the very idea is anathema.  For them, it is all about being as exhibitionistic as possible.

The clueless arrogance continues...

But, the fallacy as I see it in these ‘separatists’ is that they were from a time when the science behind transsexualism, and other labeled gender variances were scattered, essentially unknown, and uncoordinated in cross-referencing. Today, like so many other physiological human conditions, much more is known -professionally. The ‘knowing’ is a resultant factor of availability of information worldwide. No longer are such issues confined for weeks, months, or even decades buried in obscure manuals, or sheltered from even public awareness.

The problem is not so much that science has advanced, it has and it has shown that the differences between transsexuals and those who might well be labeled as "gender variant" are quite wide, but that political pressure has played a major role in how things are dealt with.  A lot of therapists will now pretty much rubber stamp anyone who claims to be "trans" whatever for hormones, and if they are actually willing to give up their penis, SRS, without any real effort to determine if they are really transsexual.

He then asserts...

This is where activism comes to play. Just because something might be verified clinically as true, that doesn’t always manifest to instant recognition and acceptance of what was once thought solely as a “taboo”, a maligned, and misunderstood condition. Without the foot soldiers (activists) who in many cases are the subjects of these issues themselves, how then is a public who is ever so willing to ‘light the torches and grab the pitchforks’ instead of utilizing calm discussion and reasoned thinking on such issues going to be made known the actual truth?

The real irony here is that a lot of so-called "trans activism" involves trying to lie and make people believe that "transgender" people all are all "transsexuals" and that it is not that they are making a choice to "transgress" gender, even though that is clearly what they are doing.

Then we get to a statement that is truly clueless....

Essentially, these ‘separatists’ are and will remain ineffective in their pursuit. Some of their ‘chosen few’ will follow in their foot traffic and their mean-spirited blogging. Some of those who become transitioned will desire not to be ‘known’ publicly. Some will seek the light of determined ambition to reach out and make a difference positively in whatever manner they can. Some of us will also aid that campaign in more quiet ways, just because we can and not because we are afraid or embarrassed.

Actually, we are far more effective than he realizes.  For example, in spite of the best efforts of the transgender extremists to force us into line, including actually outright lying, we are quite able to maintain our separate identity.  In spite of their shrill claims, most simply do not buy the claim that disagreement with their extremism is hate.  Our pursuit is to blend in and live normal lives, and we do it quite well, even as they try, oh so desperately, to force us to do otherwise.

I'm not sure what this person thinks is the pursuit in which we remain ineffective.  Perhaps like Mr. Sandeen, he imagines us plotting to block their extremism.  In truth, we don't have to make such an effort.  The extremists are self-destructive, and their is a backlash coming.  Our goal is more a matter of avoiding being hurt by that backlash.