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.
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