Transgender, Cisgender, genderfluid?

[okellymx]

I'm not here to start a debate, I'm just a curious as hell. Can someone for the love of all that is artistic, explain these things. I don't really understand them. Are these social constructs or what? I have no idea. #timetolearn #nofighting As a creator I'd like to know about this, and tapastic has awesome smarts people in its community.

[orioniszeta]

Hello!

Gender- is a mental construct within the mind apart of the "indentity" centers of the brain, that tell you certain schema to follow associated to specific "sex characteristics" which is generated as we are growing up.
Sometimes people do not fit the schema that they associate with their given sex; say someone is born with female sex organs but do not fit their personal schema of "female"
This sometimes generates disphoria as they do not identify with what their body tells them that they are while a person feels that they are male and their brain tells them that they are male their body is that of a female.
Or in other cases one can feel euphoria if they are expressing or identifying as a male and feel fullfilled in ways that expressing themselves as female did not.
Someone who is transgender is someone who has this disconnect between gender and sex
Sometimes they can feel both, many, or neither
That is they can feel both male and female or somewhere inbetween or outside of that.
The terms Cis- and Trans- come from chemistry terms of isomers that translate to "same" and "other" if you identify as your sex you are cisgender if you do not indentify as your sex you are transgender.
There are also people who cannot attach themselves to a specific gender or that they feel different genders at different moments and times; these people are known as genderfluid.

[Kayke]

This topic can be really complicated, so I'm trying to find some good introduction info for you. Here's an infographic that kind of starts with the basics:

Basically, over simplifying this a lot, your gender identity is what gender you feel. That could be male, female, both, neither, or something in between. So if someone is born biologically one sex but feel like the opposite gender, then they are trans. If someone shifts between feeling like they're multiple genders they are gender fluid. Cis gendered people feel like the gender that corresponds with biological sex they were born.

[okellymx]

How do you feel like another gender? I don't get. Is that a society thing or is it a biological thing? Personally I don't really pay attention to if what matches my gender, or what's in my head. I could say I understand but I'd just be lying/being ignorant. I just always assumed gender and sex were the same thing, but it still feels like it is. Other than the previous archaic gender roles, in modern society I can't really figure out what makes someone feel male or female. Or is there some other masculine or feminine thing I'm forgetting?

[Kayke]

I agree that a lot of traditional gender roles are a social construct and outdated. Like I personally don't dress or act traditionally "girly" whatever that means... but at the same time when I think of myself, I feel female. Not necessarily feminine, but definitely female.

Sometimes people feel a dysphoria and disconnect when they think of themselves in relation to their birth sex. They feel like they don't relate to it. And since we are all different this can feel really different to a lot of people, so there's no exact way to explain it. For some people it is how they want to be perceived by others and how they would like the present themselves to the world. For other people it is a more internal thing, and they might not even change the way they dress at all when they transition.

The feeling is caused by a combination of hormonal, genetic, and external influences/expectations. So to answer your question, it is a combination of societal and biological factors.

[gateofselidor]

Honestly, I'm a trans man (a female to male transsexual), and I don't even know what it means to "feel like" a man, or like a woman, or any other gender, and I never have. I know that I'm female, and it's not a feeling, it's just a biological reality that's not going to change no matter how much medical treatment I have or how different I look. If I hadn't been stuck with intense discomfort (dysphoria, as it's called) about my own body, that left me unable to function normally in society, I would never have declared myself trans or ended up medically transitioning. Although it's made my life vastly more comfortable to transition, it's not something I enjoy or feel proud of, and for the most part I go about my daily life without telling anyone about my history. I find that much of the discourse around identity that comes out of the trans community has little to no bearing on the reality of my life.

[okellymx]

I think I grasped this now, they really need to teach this in school. Trying to rewire my brain to understand this makes me feel a bit weird. Anyway I appreciate all the responses!

[heterodont]

I was half-way expecting this to turn out like the last thread about this topic, I'm glad to see it didn't lol.

Much like anything else, its subjective. It's difficult to explain how you feel like the opposite gender, you just feel it if that makes sense? When I was super young (think 5) it often upset me whenever people called me a girl and treated me as such, not to mention I always had thoughts like 'i wish i was/had been born a boy'. For me, there wasn't a point where i was like 'i feel like a dude' it's always been a consistent feeling/thought in my mind. I felt a disconnect with my body, as if I had just stolen it from some other soul and it was not meant for me.

I don't particularly go around telling people I'm trans however, even though now I am infinitely way more comfortable with how I present. It's primarily because it's just disgusting knowing people once knew me as a girl. I want people to know me as male and assume I've always been one. I don't like to be reminded of the fact that I was born female, nor do I want people to know about that fact either because it feels like I'm not going to be taken seriously and I'll be dismissed for not being 'legit', as weird as that sounds.

[scythe]

Like almost all extremely complex topics, you'll get people one one side saying gender is entirely a social construct, and on the other you'll get those who say that gender is entirely biologically determined. In my experience, the truth of such matters always lies somewhere in the middle. Where exactly that middle lies will undoubtedly reveal itself eventually, as science progresses and more evidence is uncovered.

[naemeum]

For me I've always felt like I didn't need a label for my gender but seeing other people being so relieved by the term makes me understand that some might need it even though I don't.

I haven't been thinking too much about my gender but there are things that are for sure; I was born to a female body, most of the time I feel not so comfortable with these weird lumps in front of me that are really just pain in the ass and other times I love being in this body just because. So I could say I'm genderfluid? My mindset doesn't really go into either male nor female so then again I could be non-gendee? Eh whatever. As I said I haven't really searched into it that much. I'm just me and I strongly feel like that for sure.

[RewindLabs]

THEY'RE ALL SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS!!!

Just kidding.
The whole gender spectrum etc, isn't something I would want to get into, simply because people are too sensitive in general. You just gotta go with the flow and not be bothered by peoples sexuality and gender.. I mean honestly, Its their personal issue, not something we should be worried about. Try doing community service, you rarely come across people who care about gender.

[okellymx]

I don't like being ignorant. I'm not bothered just curious, I love to learn.

[Vikiro_Hop]

Glad to see you have taken an interest in this and that, in such a social climate we are all able to have a civil discussion about it. I've been sitting here fretting how "certain communities" have made this a topic that everyone is scared to talk about. In the end discussion and education benefits everyone.

First of all I am no scientist, but I have been lead to believe that biologically speaking, that genders are not black and white. Doing just a quick google search I can't really make head of tails of it. So that could be false or it's just a very complex um...thing. It's a very sensitive topic and others could probably educate you better than me.

[Choosybeggar]

How deep into this do you want to go? Do you want to touch on the potential soul/spirit element of all the gender stuff? I don't see people talking about it much, but it's certainly another model that can inform you of people's deeper motivations and why their physical bodies don't always match their self-identities.

If you DO want to hear a bit of my culture's perspective on this, I'll give you a few bits and pieces that come to mind. I'll also try really, really hard not to use "religious" terminology to put everything into a nice little box. People don't fit in nice little boxes.