Transgender

Forum



What's New?
Main Library
Search
Resources
Nightclubs
Personals
Photos
Pictorials
Chat
Hot Links
Events

Help &
Reaching Us


Towards a New Understanding

By Dana Bourne

I have been an active crossdresser now for two years, and have been meeting more and more of my sisters both in person and on line. The more members of our community I've met, the more I have come to appreciate our diversity. And this appreciation is becoming more important as we try and present a unified image to the rest of the world.

We all know the labels we use to cubbyhole ourselves: crossdresser, transvestite, transsexual, drag queen, and so on. They're useful for quick introductions, and they may have specific definitions among medical, legal and counseling professionals. But I have become increasingly unhappy with the way these terms break us into these few categories. I cross dress, but I have very little else in common with many other men who do the same thing. Yet, that label applies to all of us.

I have often heard the phrase entire spectrum used to describe the variety inherent in the transgender community. That's better than the labels, because a spectrum has no hard borders within it; rather, it transitions gradually through the colors of the rainbow. And the graphic analogy is very useful in explaining our diversity, both within the community and without.

The spectrum analogy held me for quite a while. But it recently struck me that it has a very important shortcoming--it's linear. The spectrum implies that there are two extremes (The obvious interpretation is that these extremes are the occasional crossdresser on one end and the post-op transsexual on the other), and we all fall between them somewhere. That's a situation that just doesn't match reality. For example, if a post-op TS falls at the red end of the spectrum, how do we graphically differentiate whether she is now homo- or heterosexual? Rather an important distinction, don't you think?

Some Categories That Might Work

So, I started working on a new graphic way of explaining our diversity, and I came up with using a Sphere. It works on three critical attributes of our whole Being--our Physical Body, our Sexuality, and our Gender Identity. And it floats in a Universe, which is comprised of all the other aspects of our personality and our environment. To see how this works, let's start with:

Our Physical Body

OK, we're born either male or female. The obstetrician looks to see which kind of genitalia we have, and checks one box or the other. (I have to leave hermaphrodites out of this discussion for now--I have no knowledge in this area, although I imagine most of this article might apply to you, too.) From then on, that checked box is what defines who we're supposed to be, how we're supposed to look, and what we're supposed to do.

But think about that for a moment. Setting the genitalia aside, think of all the other variations that take place in our visible, physical bodies as we grow. Men in general grow larger than women, but I know many women who are taller or bulkier than many men. Women in general don't have as much body hair, but I've met women with hairy arms and men with little or no body hair at all. Women's facial features are more feminine (whatever that means), but we of all people know the incredible affect that judicious use of cosmetics can have, no matter what you were born with!

So what? So, perhaps this black-and-white division between even the most basic attribute of our Being, our physical body, doesn't work as well as we thought. There is a spectrum here, from a small, slender, light, hairless female form to a Schwarzenegger. Each of us can place ourselves somewhere on that spectrum. (If you're a crossdresser, you can almost do it by evaluating the amount of body shaping and beard cover you use when you transform!) The Physical Body gives us our first measurement--an X-axis if you will--to place ourselves in the sphere.




The Physical Body Spectrum (our X-Axis)

Our Sexuality

...or Sexual Orientation, if you prefer.

Once again, there are just a few labels--three, this time. You're homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual. Black, white, or 50% gray. And if that sounds ridiculous, it's because it is. There may be people who are absolutely, 100%, only sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex, or to the same sex. But I doubt it. And, I imagine, most (or all) bisexuals are more attracted to one sex than the other. So we already have some pretty good incentives for adding some more shades of gray.

Things get more interesting when transgenderism is tossed into this mix. If a transsexual was heterosexual as a man, is she immediately relabeled as homosexual the day of sexual reassignment surgery? If that person was loved by a woman, does that person's sexual orientation label suddenly change on that day? Is the Physical Body type that sexually arouses us the only thing that determines the Sexual Orientation label?

One more example. Perhaps you are a heterosexual male. You find yourself sexual aroused by the sight of a beautiful woman who you know is actually a cross-dressed man. You know you are not homosexual, but it would appear that the 100% heterosexual label doesn't apply to you, either.

So it appears that here again, we have at least a continuum from black, through infinite shades of gray, to white. But I would suggest that there are many more variables that haven't even been considered here--shades of gray isn't enough. We have another spectrum, and we can call it our Y-axis. So now we have a circle.


Physical Body on X, Sexuality on Y, forming a Circle.

Our Gender Identity

At last! We come to the area that we all know the most about (or want to, at least). And I think we can agree that, using that spectrum idea described at the start of this article, there is tremendous variety in how closely we identify with that impossible extreme of being 100% male or 100% female. Whether we're talking about the things we like to do, how we feel about other people, or in general how we look at and deal with the world, there are aspects of each of us that are generally connected with maleness or femaleness. Literally everyone I know well (that is, who I can try and evaluate) lands in a different spot on this infinite spectrum.

On this spectrum, in fact, is the only things that actually common among all of us:

1) We are just a bit further away from those extreme ends than some range defined as "normal." I don't know where those ranges start and end. For a particular person, whether their particular placement on the spectrum causes them to become a transgendered individual depends on these next two factors.

2) We we have been fortunate enough to have the intelligence and knowledge to recognize that fact. As I was growing up, who knew about any of this? It is this factor that makes public education efforts so critical.

3) We have had the financial and environmental resources to do something about it. This community tends to be overwhelmingly middle class and above. It takes time and money to dress or to transition, and a relatively small percentage of the world's population has it.

It's our Z-axis, and now we have our Sphere!

Physical Body on X, Sexuality on Y, Gender Identity on Z,
forming a Rainbow Sphere

Everything Else

We often forget about this one. My hobbies, my job, my political affiliations, my history and so many other things all are huge parts of my whole Being. I'm not just a Physically-Male, Heterosexual Crossdresser, I'm an incredibly complex soup of genetic, environmental and spiritual factors (perhaps even what the late Carl Sagan called cosmic stuff). And even as I place myself at a spot within the Physical-Sexual-Gender Sphere, it's very important that I know that sphere is floating in that infinite Universe with all the rest of you!

And That's Wonderful, Because...

...sometimes my sphere bumps into yours. And if the two of us are ready to both recognize our unity of purpose, and to appreciate our differences, then a bit of that cosmic stuff will remain behind as our spheres move off into space again.

© 1997, by the person sometimes known as Dana Denise Bourne.



Back to
TGF's
Home Page