I’m an ignorant buffoon who lacks a lot of fundamental human characteristics. There’s a lot of emotional stuff about humans that I just don’t understand.
I would like you guys to explain how being trans works to me (especially trans people who don’t get sex-change surgery), as I’ve never really understood it beyond “some people just hate their bodies”. My current perspective on gender in general is that gender is nothing more than what private parts someone has and that it does not define people. Because of this current (probably flawed) perspective I have, I do not understand why some people feel the need to change their pronouns. Another thing I’m confused by is the fact that I’d expect the type of people who become trans to disregard gender norms, but transitioning and changing pronouns seems to be a practice so heavily entrenched in gender norms. So I’m curious how much of people’s motives to transition is that they feel that they act more stereotypically like the other gender.
If the stuff I said above comes off as transphobic, PLEASE TELL ME. This is your chance to enlighten me. The whole reason why I made this post is because I want to better understand trans people and humans in general. I don’t hate trans people; as stated before, gender means almost nothing to me. I am not making this post to offend people I’m making this post to learn and potentially correct myself on some problematic beliefs.
Also, when explaining, please keep in mind how I struggle with understanding emotions, and I look at the world through a more logical lens. If you were to ask me which gender I’d rather be I’d choose male because men don’t have to worry about covering up private parts on their torsos or having periods; rather than because I feel like I might be a “masculine” person. Don’t worry, I’m aware there’s probably a big emotional component to this, and I want you guys to explain that to me too, but I may have some trouble understanding it.
Once again, I don’t hate trans people, I just want to have a better understanding of this stuff and really hope you guys let me know if I said something offensive on accident.
I don’t quite have the proper background to have a particularly useful opinion, but I do believe that for some people, gender roles do play a part.
As for surgeries, some people might be worried that something might go wrong during it, which would cause major complications, but again this only applies to some people and it is not the reason for all.
Gender as a concept is wide and subjects like this have lots of variables. For some people, their reasons are wholly different to other people, so you might not get one simple answer.
this would be sex, not gender. if it’s difficult to understand these as separate, then think of gender as like your brain and sex as just your physical body, sort of like personality and appearance. transgender people have a conflict between their gender and their biological sex, their body doesn’t match their brain, which is why they often dislike their bodies
this is because pronouns in english are heavily gendered, so transgender people naturally want to use pronouns aligned with their gender, much the same as a cisgender person does
some do, some don’t, that’s just how it is. the commonality of gender norms, among binary trans people at least, is because they are transitioning from one binary to the other, so they often adopt things associated with that binary, just like a cis person would. nonbinary people however are more likely to break gender norms, though i suppose them just existing kind of breaks it
one thing i’d correct though in this sentence is the phrasing of “become trans”, as it is not something you become, and nor can you make other people become it, it is something you start with from birth, though you may (well, usually) realise it later in life
the conclusion for figuring out you want to transition isn’t typically gotten from how you act, but how you feel toward certain things. sort of like having a blue body but knowing deep down that your mind is red. that analogy is probably so bad lol but i hope it works
I don’t know, but I’ve been told that it’s a way for individuals to affirm and define themselves. From another perspective, it’s a logical pursuit as humans tend to have an affinity towards such questions—always wondering what and who they are for a variety of reasons.
I’ve also been told by a few others that this is practically being agender as you wouldn’t be defining yourself with a gender, hence why the prefix ‘a’ (which means ‘missing’) is added to ‘gender’.
what i meant was being born into a body of one type while your brain is a different type, in this case blue and red. tbh maybe it would’ve been clearer if i didn’t try and use an analogy at all lol
yea, being nonbinary means that your gender falls between or outside of the binary of man/woman. it can get more specific, but you can basically think of it as a “neither” or “secret third thing”
I’m not a professional trans person, so I’m likely going to get this wrong, but it might just be a sinking feeling that something’s wrong. The term I keep hearing relating to this is gender dysphoria, which might help you understand it.
it changes from person to person. some people might feel like their name and pronouns “dont feel right”. like if you were called Josaphine and she/her, and you didn’t find this to be right.
some people might connect more with presenting like the opposite gender. not in the femboy/tomboy sense, but in a legitimate sense
theres more than these, but this is a simplification
my belief is that a non trans person cannot really comprehend how it works, similarly to how you cant really comprehend what its like to be fully blind
sooo good luck tryna understand but its a good question
its not impossible to understand, but you need to approach this with an open mind. understanding it from a transgender person’s pov instead of your own
