I don't know any and I am wandering how accurate the portrayals are?
Does anybody have any insight?
Stay Gold
Marty
There's a difference between being transgender and being a cross-dresser. Plenty of cross-dressers are free of having gender identity crisis.
"All in the game..." - Omar Little
I am not a crossdresser or transgender, but I am friends with lots of them. This show was emotionally accurate in a lot of ways, based on my experience. But keep in mind that everyone's experiences and attitudes are a little different. This show does showcase many of the common issues. But, if anything, its a "lighter" touch than what might be realistic. Some people are much nastier to trans people than what is seen on the show. If they showed the way some people really behaved the show would be seen as excessive. Sad but true.
shareIs it anything like "Normal," starring Tom Wilkinson and Jessica Lang?
"This guy just telephoned a psycho-killer to come down and psycho-kill us!"
Yeah, i think you are probably correct. Sad but true.
Stay Gold
Marty
In "Normal," Wilkinson's character decides to have a sex change operation. I don't know if this is the same, but I hope to watch it. "Normal" was very moving.
"This guy just telephoned a psycho-killer to come down and psycho-kill us!"
Hi! I just wanted to put in my two cents as someone who is MtF transgender. Like the first reply said, crossdressing is more like a fetish or a hobby while being transgender means you identify as a gender other than the one you were assigned at birth in many more aspects beyond dressing as another gender (trans* also includes gender fluid individuals who don't "subscribe" to the typical male or female gender identities.
As far as the show goes, I would say it's pretty accurate and some of the things that happen in the show do really hit home (like fear of using the women's restroom in public the first few times). It mostly focuses on lighter and less hateful aspects of being trans* but I would say the script writing and behaviors of the characters is very realistic. Even though I'm only in my early 20s, I can easily relate to many things she goes through in the show (except I can't imagine how painful it would be to not come out for that many years). I still have yet to come out to my family so I can't speak on that aspect but I have come out to my gf and most of my closest friends and I'm very fortunate to have great friends that provide a strong support system. At the same, it's a very daunting endeavor each time I come out to someone even if I have a strong feeling that they will be supportive because... You never know how someone will react.
Sorry this got kind of long winded :) but all in all, I would say (even though I'm only about 4 months into transitioning) that this show is very relatable to someone like myself and its empowering in the sense that you should never be afraid to be who you are despite what others might think
ColGold, thanks for your input, and thank you for sharing your story. I am very glad you have a strong support system. I have several friends who do not and it's quite a struggle for them.
Jeffrey Tambor is fantastic.
Colgold
I guess it is all about being comfortable in your own skin. I hope you find happiness and love. I think we go around many times until we do not have to anymore but, I could be wrong. Enjoy life while you can and evolve. You are brave and honest and you should take pride in that.
Stay Gold
Marty
Transgender is a cover word for all cross dressers, transvestites and transsexuals etc
shareNo that's not correct.
Transsexual can be grouped with transgender (although trans or transgender is a much more accepted term with a better connotation) but it is kind of insulting to group cross dresser, transvestite or other similar terms (like drag queen/king) with transgender. Transgender, in a nutshell, refers to a individual who lives as and identifies as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. Cross dresser, transvestite, drag queen/king, etc. are terms used to refer to an individual who enjoys dressing as the opposite gender but these individuals typically have no desire to transition and live as the opposite gender. They are NOT the same
Sorry but that is hideously inaccurate. Crossdressers are not the same as transsexual people. Please don't generalise. Thank you!! :-)
shareNo. Transgender people specifically feel that their birth gender was INCORRECT. It's beyond dressing up. It's not an umbrella term.
Cross dressers/transvestites are cis people who enjoy dressing in clothes of the opposite sex. At the end of the day they are still the gender they were assigned at birth and they are happy with it.
Think back to the camp scene where they were talking about someone who got kicked out of camp for using hormones because the other men at the camp didn't want to BE women, they just liked dressing up. Remember how sad Maura was about that? Because Maura felt that she IS a woman and wants to live as one permanently. Maura is transgender. The others at the camp were transvestites.
No, it certainly is not! Transgender means just what it says, the opposite of cisgender, that one does not identify with the gender assigned at birth. Trans or Trans* on the other hand is an umbrella term encompassing transgender, gender queer, etc. and also transvestite. A transvesite is in no way transgender, that is they identify as the gender they were assigned at birth but get sexual pleasure from dressing as the opposite gender.
shareYou're probably thinking of "genderqueer".
shareno it's not. cross-dressing is a behavior, transgender is an identity
shareThank you for sharing your view. Good luck to you.
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Basically it comes down to this. The main character on the show, Maura (formerly Maura), is a male-to-female transgender. At first, back in 1994, she just cross-dressed and went to that camp for cross-dressers with her cross-dresser friend. However, unlike him, she actually felt like she was the opposite gender and wanted to live as that gender. There are certain limitations on the show. Jeffrey Tambor is a cisgender man and he's not going to take hormones or get surgery in order to more "realistically" or "authentically" portray a trans woman. So essentially Maura's appearance has stayed the same throughout the show. She looks the same even though her journey is progressing. In real life she would likely look more like the transgender actresses seen on the show after being on hormones and getting plastic surgery. MTF trans women tend to want to do that in order to make their outward appearance match their outer identity. The show is sacrificing a bit of that in exchange for the talents of Tambor and for his ability to portray Mort when Mort still presented as a man.
shareMy father is m to f and about the same age. She did the surgery and takes hormones and doesn't look too different than Jeffery does in the show, so I don't think his look is unrealistic.
shareI am a transwoman and personally know many transwomen none of whom have had plastic surgery or as we would call it FFS of Facial Feminization Surgery, so I don't think the fact that Maura has not gotten it is unrealistic especially considering her age,
shareThis isn't about a cross dresser. It's about a transsexual.
shareAu contraire, the main protagonist was not transitioning or interested in gender change. He just enjoyed wearing woman's clothes and perhaps passing for a woman.
Stay Gold
Marty
Do you mean Maura? The character who says she's a woman and changed her name to what society would deem as a female name?
shareYeah, Maura, the guy who likes to indulge in women's affectations like clothes, name and such. All outward manifestations and only inward in psychological and emotional ways. He is not taking hormones or opting for surgery or even undergoing counseling. He just enjoys the trappings of the female species.
Cheers
Stay Gold
Marty
Being a transsexual is biological. Biologically they have the brain of the sex they identify as. It doesn't matter whether or not they take hormones, get surgery, or even go to therapy, none of that will change that transsexuals were born as transsexuals, it's not a choice.
shareAnd where's the 'biological' evidence for that? It's a mental disorder.
sharehttp://youtu.be/Erexuu8PTo8
http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/22987018
The YouTube video is about how transsexual brains and non-transsexual (cisgender) brains were dissected to find similarities. The article is about how an MRI was used to analyze transsexual brains and cisgender brains.
In both cases the transsexual brain was shown to either match the brain or be nearly identical to the gender of they identify as. So the transsexual female brain matches the cisgender female brain. It's biological, not psychological.
The face that there are physiological correlations does not equal causation.
You can see when someone is in love by MRI scans too but no one says that is a purely biological thing with no attachment to environment. It's a leap to say it's biological rather than psychological (putting intersex people to the side). I get tired of people using correlation as though it is causation, it is not the same. If you identify as another gender psychologically, of course your brain will function differently, but that's likely the effect, not the cause.
Being in love changes the levels of natural drugs in your brain, but the study I linked specifies that brain structures are different. So your analogy is false.
If you identify as another gender psychologically, of course your brain will function differently, but that's likely the effect, not the cause.
The problem with your statement, is that they found lots of straight male brains that had the same similarities to female brains. So what your brains are physically don't necessarily mean you'll identify as female. There's a lot more going on than anyone chooses to admit. So many people feel the need to blame it on someone else. The simple solution is to stop treating people who feel this way as defective. After all, there are plenty of so called normal people who have plenty of mental deficiencies. So nobody's perfect. Until the world can understand that, we'll always have nutcases that want to tell others how wrong they behave, while insisting that they, themselves, are of course perfect. So to those of you who feel the need to insist on butting into other people's lives, all I can say is blow it out your butt. And just leave the rest of the world to live their lives the way they want to. Because it's none of your business.
shareThe problem with your statement, is that they found lots of straight male brains that had the same similarities to female brains.
Many transgender people do not pursue surgery. That doesn't mean they don't fully believe and want to live as the gender they feel they are.
shareEither way there would be exceptions. They won't ALL act and feel the same way. They're human too.
share[deleted]
Please do NOT GO to Canada. Canada is not far enough. I want you to go to Antarctica. Then, maybe, you will chill out..FREAK!
Have a good life....live well and let others live well
Marty
Besides Caitlyn Jenner, who is getting cash for being transgender? Most trans people are everyday folks with a problem most of us can't empathize with. I don't imagine they choose to "pretend to be a freak" where is the advantage in that?
shareNo one chooses their mental illness.
shareNot a mental illness
shareNot a mental illness
Way to state your opinion as if it were fact. Also you can have a degree in sh*t for all I care. Doesn't give you the right to pass judgement on others. It is not a mental illness and I doubt you have a degree in anything besides douchebaggery.
shareSays you. Those of us with degrees in Sociology, Psychology, and Biological Sciences beg to differ. It is most definitely a mental illness.
Aaannnddd you just outed yourself as an idiot. If you ACTUALLY had a degree in any of those fields you would know that it is NO LONGER considered a mental illness. Psychology is a field which has had massive breakthroughs in the last 4 decades. Try to keep up.
See: DSM-V
Really? Are far as i was aware the WHO still considered transgenderism a mental illness. Body dysmorphic disorder or whatever u like to call it, but an illness anyway. Is it really not considered an abnormality now? I would be interested to know if that was so.
shareBDD is a completely separate thing.
Just because it's common in a group doesn't mean it is defining and limited to that group.
Cross dresser is to trans what the f word is to gay people. Don't say it again.
If I don't reply, you're probably on my ignore list for something I forgot already