What does transgender mean?

Transgender is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide variety of  gender variant people, i.e. people who in some way or the other do not follow the traditional and stereotypical norms of what it means to a man or a woman, given the gender they were assigned at birth. Indeed, some transgender people do not feel at home in terms like "male" or "female" at all.

We can identify several categories of transgender people.

1. Transgender as a mismatch between assigned and experienced gender.

Transgender may refer to individuals whose gender identity differs from the gender they were assigned at birth.

This means that a person's internal sense of being male, female, or another gender does not align with  the gender assigned to them when they were born. 

For example, a transgender woman is someone who was assigned male at birth but identifies as female. Conversely, a transgender man was assigned female at birth but identifies as male. 

2. Transgender as being outside the gender binary of male and female.

Some transgender people may not identify exclusively as male or female, instead falling under nonbinary or genderqueer identities.

A spotlight on transgender and queer issues from the Crossdream Life forum

Crossdream Life is a forum for discussion of gender variance where members can explore their own identities, discuss transgender and queer issues and in general take a look at whatever it is that interests them.

This sometimes leads to very interesting discussions that will also be of interest to others. Here are some topics from the last 12 months or so.

Should you be offended if someone calls you trans?
Brigitte Macron sues people who call her trans. Is that transphobia?

Sampling and Blanchardianism
Ray Blanchard and the followers of his "autogynephilia" theory do some wild statistical acrobatics in order to find the facts fit a misleading theory. See also: Bailey on autogynephilia and AGP as a zombie theory.

Strong American support for the LGBTQ-community, but trans people do not get as much love as the rest
A debate on the mixed signals from American surveys of attitudes towards trans people.

The Cass Review heralds how all trans medicine will die
The British Cass review on transgender health care is a mess. See also the thread Cass Says Transition Should Be Measured By “Employment," Not Satisfaction

The Crossdreamer Newsletter for transgender content

The Crossdreamer blog and the Transgender World site have a common newsletter which can be found over at Substack.

All the separate newsletters are published over at Substack, and the Crossdreamer Newsletter site therefore serves as a separate gateway into our transgender and nonbinary content.

This is a slow tempo news-service, as we do not send out a email newsletter more than some 10 times a year. The point is to present you only with the most important content from our sites.

We include content related to gender variance, transgender and nonbinary issues and on people's understanding of gender.

You can sign up for the newsletter here! It is free.

If low frequency is not what you are looking for, we also have daily updated channels for transgender news. You can follow them here:

• X-twitter Transgender News Curation
• The Transgender World Telegram Channel
• Bluesky Trans News
• Transgender World on Mastodon

More selected discussions from the Crossdream Life forum on gender variance and trans issues

Over at Crossdreamers we presented some selected discussions from the Crossdream Life forum for gender questioning, queer and trans people. 

In this post we are sharing some more discussions of general interest, for you to read and the search engines to find.

Thanks to Terrie for making this list.

SELECTED DISCUSSIONS ON GENDER, TRANS AND QUEER ISSUES

Porn is not addictive, Psychology Today argues.
porn-is-not-addictive-psychology-today-argues-t247.html

Are men who are attracted to trans women with penises gay?
are-men-who-are-attracted-to-trans-wome ... i-t14.html

A review of Felix' new ebook on crossdreaming and the art of transgender erotica
a-review-of-felix-new-ebook-on-crossdre ... -t360.html

"How Blanchard nearly killed me"
how-blanchard-nearly-killed-me-t843.html

Anne Lawrence rises from the dead
anne-lawrence-rises-from-the-dead-t913.html

The transgender relevant terms used by the DSM-5-TR, the revised version of the American psychiatric manual

The DSM-5 is published by the Americal Psychiatric Association and includes all kinds of diagnoses relevant to mental health. 

Being transgender is no longer considered a mental illness, but the manual does contain a chapter of gender dysphoria, which is a possible effect of gender incongruence (a mismatch between someone's assigned gender and their experienced gender.) 

The manual also have an interesting introductory chapter, which presents the gender relevant language of American psychiatry right now.

I am taking the liberty of republishing the revised 2022 introduction to the chapter on gender dysphoria here, as it can serve as useful reminder in a time where all kinds of transphobic activists claim that "science" is on their side.

I have reformatted the text to increase legibility. The headlines are mine.

Note that I do not necessarily agree with the use of all of these terms ("disorders of sex development" should have been binned in the same way as "gender identity disorder"), but all in all I think the APA has managed to develop a terminology that encompasses gender variance in both a scientific and socially respectful manner.

Note also that:

• The term “desired gender” is now “experienced gender." 
• The term “cross-sex medical procedure” is now “gender-affirming medical procedure." 
• The term “natal male”/“natal female” is now “individual assigned male/female at birth.”

Finally: The American Psychiatric Association should publish the whole volume for free online, in the spirit of open science and open access. Asking for 170 US$ for a text that has so many ramifications for so many people represents a serious democratic problem.

Here's the introduction to the DSM-5-TR chapter on gender dysphoria.

---

Gender dysphoria

In this chapter, there is one overarching diagnosis of gender dysphoria, with separate developmentally appropriate criteria sets for children and for adolescents and adults. 

Biological sex

The area of sex and gender is highly controversial and has led to a proliferation of terms whose meanings vary over time and within and between disciplines. An additional source of confusion is that in English “sex” connotes both male/female and sexuality.

All you need to know about autogynephilia

Some (relatively) easy to read articles on the autogynephilia theory of Ray Blanchard.

The autogynephilia theory has been debunked by both science and the lived lives of real transgender people.  However, since this "theory" fits well with the prejudices of transphobes and homophobes world wide, it is still referred to, in the dark backwaters of social media, and increasingly also elsewhere.

The autogynephilia theory – which argues that trans women who love women are straight men who are in love with their inner female – might easily confirm the internalized homophobia and transphobia of transgender people. Because of this I have had to spend a lot of time debating and deconstructing the theory.

Blanchard's theory is really traditional transphobia masquerading as science. However, since it is presented as science, this give the model much more power than it deserves. It is really bad science.

It is important to note that Blanchard is in no way a disinterested observer of gender identity. He is actively helping TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) and right wing extremists by writing for the web sites and taking part in their podcasts and videos. This tells us that his real motives are based on bigotry and not a desire to help trans and queer people.

If you, for some reason, find "autogynephilia" or "AGP" mentioned in the transgender debate, here's what you need to know about this and similar beliefs:

The autogynephilia theory explained and dissected

• All you need to know about "autogynephilia"
• "I feel pretty!" (On the "Autogynephilic" Woman and More)
• The Autogynephilia Theory Debunked by New German Study
• New Study Dismisses the Autogynephilia Approach to Transgender
• Julia Serano gives us the perfect antidote to transphobic pseudoscience
• New research shows that gender variance does not follow sexual orientation
• On Moser's critique of Blanchard's autogynephilia theory
• Kourtney Kardashian on "Autogynephilia" in Non-transgender Women
• On women who have sexual fantasies about being men
• The Pseudo-Science of Autogynephilia
• Women's Health Debunks Transphobic Autogynephilia Theory
• What the sexual fantasies of non-transgender people tell us about the dreams of those who are trans
• More than one third of non-transgender people have had crossgender dreams and fantasies
• What Transphobic Norwegian Doctors can Teach Us about the Diversity of Transgender People

On using "autogynephilia" as a transphobic tool of oppression and invalidation:

• What Dr. Zhana Vrangalova Taught Me About Transphobia in Science
• Blanchard and the DSM-V, redefining paraphilia
• Science and Transphobia: Ray Blanchard is Now Assisting White Supremacists. Why?
• Ray Blanchard lied when including autoandrophilia in the DSM-5 proposal
• Ray Blanchard and the Missing Trans Men (The DSM-5)
• The word "paraphilia" does indeed mean "sexual perversion". Don't let the transphobes whitewash their transphobia.
• A Short History of the Roots of Transphobic Science
• How radical feminists are using the autogynephilia theory to persecute trangender people

• For articles on AGP by others, see this list!

What Judith Butler Said about TERFs

Here are the censored paragraphs from Guardian's interview with feminist philosopher Judith Butler:

Gleeson: “It seems that some within feminist movements are becoming sympathetic to these far-right campaigns. This year's furore around Wi Spa in Los Angeles saw an online outrage by transphobes followed by bloody protests organised by the Proud Boys. Can we expect this alliance to continue?”

Butler: “It is very appalling and sometimes quite frightening to see how trans-exclusionary feminists have allied with rightwing attacks on gender. The anti-gender ideology movement is not opposing a specific account of gender, but seeking to eradicate "gender" as a concept or discourse, a field of study, an approach to social power.

Sometimes they claim that if “sex” alone has scientific standing, but other times they appeal to divine mandates for masculine domination and difference. They don't seem to mind contradicting themselves.

The Terfs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) and the so-called gender critical writers have also rejected the important work in feminist philosophy of science showing how culture and nature interact (such as Karen Barad, Donna Haraway, EM Hammonds or Anne Fausto-Sterling) in favor of a regressive and spurious form of biological essentialism. So they will not be part of the coalition that seeks to fight the anti-gender movement.

The anti-gender ideology is one of the dominant strains of fascism in our times. So the Terfs will not be part of the contemporary struggle against fascism, one that requires a coalition guided by struggles against racism, nationalism, xenophobia and carceral violence, one that is mindful of the high rates of femicide throughout the world, which include high rates of attacks on trans and gender queer people.

The anti-gender movement circulates a spectre of "gender" as a force of destruction, but they never actually read any works in gender studies. Quick and fearful conclusions take the place of considered judgments. Yes, some work on gender is difficult and not everyone can read it, so we have to do better in reaching a broader public.

As important as it is, however, to make complex concepts available to a popular audience, it is equally important to encourage intellectual inquiry as part of public life. Unfortunately we are living in anti-intellectual times, and neo-fascism is becoming more normalized.”

See: Feminist philosopher Judith Butler goes up against anti-trans and anti-gender feminists and conservatives