Serious Question: Why are so Many People Afraid/Unaccepting of Transgender People?

originally posted by: Infinitis
a reply to: Cuervo

I see. In your theory the brain is your "god" and could never malfunction.

Makes total sense, we all know there is no such thing as illness that derives from interactions within the brain.

It's not "my" version, it is simply the best and most recent understanding we have on the subject. The brain "malfunctions" all the time. But so does the body.

In this case, since this is a condition that can be observed, proven, and even measured, we know that the brain isn't the main problem.

I do ok either way I suppose, at least according to some. I have shown photos to people while in male form and received surprised wows. Im not quite 100% passable yet but pretty close but give a lil more time for the hormones to fully take effect. a reply to: violet

a reply to: Cuervo

this is a condition that can be observed, proven, and even measured, we know that the brain isn't the main problem.

I just recently read an insightful post from a transgender who states it's a matter of self identity, remember?

You claim the most logical understanding is that a sense of "identity" is derived from the body? Talk about working backward. I have no intention of shattering your reality, but preference and sense of self are controlled by the brain. It's not a conscious choice, but the brain dictates the perception of the body.

Sometimes it's difficult to admit that the problem exists in an area that cannot be cured. This leads people to jump to and cling to false solutions.

seriously gay and trans people

be what u want to be okay

but dont force your propeganda on everyone and try and guilt trip us into being predjice if we are hesitant

a reply to: Phage

You did.

originally posted by: Infinitis
a reply to: Cuervo

this is a condition that can be observed, proven, and even measured, we know that the brain isn't the main problem.

I just recently read an insightful post from a transgender who states it's a matter of self identity, remember?

You claim the most logical understanding is that a sense of "identity" is derived from the body? Talk about working backward. I have no intention of shattering your reality, but preference and sense of self are controlled by the brain. It's not a conscious choice, but the brain dictates the perception of the body.

Sometimes it's difficult to admit that the problem exists in an area that cannot be cured. This leads people to jump to and cling to false solutions.

I also said my situation happens to follow the classic dysphoria textbook example. I don't have any "identity" issues nor do I "feel" like I'm one thing or another. There are a lot of transgender philosophy rhetoric pieces going around and they don't really fit everybody (like me).

There are some transgender folks who don't suffer from gender dysphoria and those are the people who speak about the right to self-identify. I never "self-identified" with anything as it was never a choice just like you never chose. You and 99% of the people out there happen to be lucky in that regard.

Your response is frustrating to me because you (a person who obviously hasn't studied this beyond casual observation provided by pop media) are trying to tell me (a person who lives with the issue and has worked with doctors and researched it for countless hours) that I don't understand it. How is that reasonable? If you had a medical condition that didn't make sense to me, I would at least study it before I suggested you may be wrong about it. And I would certainly leave my preconceived myths I carry with me checked at the door before I did it.

You have shown me that you do not really want to understand it but want it to fit into your "understanding" that you already chose.

I don't know any transgender people ,am i am not sure that i have even met one so i am unsure if i would be afraid if i met one . However that being said im sure if they have been fed and you keep quite and dont threaten them they are quite harmless .

a reply to: Khaleesi

LOL whatever makes your boat float.
Hell I don't involve myself in any type of human relation anymore sex or no sex.
Saying that, I have not noticed any shoving in or down of anyone's sex in my face, what I've seen is people rightly demanding not to be treated like pariahs by society.
Gee where are all the threads & comments about all the hetero sex you see constantly in or on TV, print ads, posters, billboards, my god straights have the audacity to kiss & fondle in public.

All you "people" using the excuse of icky sex is BS anyway, no one is demanding you watch them have sex.
Any sex act that seems to be upsetting all you poor delicate flowers is only created in your filthy little minds.

I'd tell you to grow the Beep up but in a country that has the vapors because someone flashed a titty on national Tv I doubt that's gonna happen anytime soon.

K~

You got ita reply to: hutch622

a reply to: hutch622

I don't know any transgender people ,am i am not sure that i have even met one so i am unsure if i would be afraid if i met one . However that being said im sure if they have been fed and you keep quite and dont threaten them they are quite harmless .

Generally you wouldn't know if they were transgender. I've met a few people who I thought were biologically women then later it was revealed to me that they were men before. I thought it was a joke.

But yes they are quite harmless. Nothing to be afraid of.

im so comfortable being me

a reply to: Deaf Alien

Like all humans.
Mostly harmless.

a reply to: Deaf Alien

But yes they are quite harmless. Nothing to be afraid of.

Yes they probably are but i wouldnt approach them if they have cubs .

You go girl, so glad you are comfortable being who you are.a reply to: Mousygretchen

originally posted by: Mousygretchen
im so comfortable being me

You're doing it wrong! You are supposed to post a hot picture of yourself before you post on a thread about transgender people. Then wait until a bunch of dudes think you're cute, PM you inappropriately, and then you drop the T-Bomb on them.

Don't you know we're supposed to be "traps"? You're screwing up the stereotype, dammit!

Lookin' good, by the way.

I don't think anyone's afraid as such. I really don't care what you do with your parts.

What I find disturbing is the push to allow transgender persons to "choose the bathroom or changing room that best fits their sexuality"

It makes me uncomfortable as a man to have a woman changing in the men's washroom.

I mean, after all, there are bathrooms and changing rooms at most facilities that are already in place for male / female if they choose to use that bathroom.

I've noticed a disturbing trend as well of men bringing quite old female children into the men's changing rooms. It's happened the last few times I've been at the pool, where girls of about 8 or 9 are changing with their parents. It's completely inappropriate. There are family changing rooms at the pools for a reason.

I just move to another part of the changing rooms, but I don't know what sort of thought patterns of parents think it's perfectly ok to take your 8 year old daughter into the men's room.

originally posted by: babybunnies

I've noticed a disturbing trend as well of men bringing quite old female children into the men's changing rooms. It's happened the last few times I've been at the pool, where girls of about 8 or 9 are changing with their parents. It's completely inappropriate. There are family changing rooms at the pools for a reason.

Really?

There is no way I am leaving my 8 year old grandson by himself to make you feel better.

As for the bathroom issue I personally go out of my way not to use public restrooms where I may run afoul of hateful ignorance except occasionally at a club where I have never had a problem. Can't really say if its because I blended in or people were to effed up to care or notice. Either way people need to mature quickly on this issue, I for one if approached by an angry and threatening male or female I would defend myself with extreme prejudice.a reply to: babybunnies

originally posted by: honested3
Hi ATS,

I am a transgender woman (meaning I was assigned a male body at birth but identify as female) I have a serious question for you. In light of some of the transgender topics that have come up I have seen a lot of unacceptance, fear, and downright hatred towards us. Why is this?

My own family in real life has shunned me and do not accept me for coming out as transgender last year, and I am/was the 'good' kid in the family. It has left me flabbergasted that of all my siblings who have been to prison, gotten DUIs and so on, I the transgender child am viewed as the absolute worst. If I may make some things very clear:

-I do not have some agenda, nor do the transgender people I have come to know, I repeat THERE IS NO TRANSGENDER AGENDA! I suppose the only "agenda" we have is to be treated like equal human beings. If there is some other agenda then I don't know about it.

-I am not mentally ill, confused, a sex offender, nor a pervert. Yes there are transgender people who do fit into these categories just like there are for any other types of humans, because we are humans. Being transgender doesn't make one ill, or vice versa.

-I lead a normal life, I go to work 40 hours a week, I pay my taxes, I am happily married and I have hobbies. Granted not everybody is like this nor is this a criteria for anything, but only to help you relate to me. In fact I have thoughts and feelings, dreams and nightmares, likes and dislikes just as any other human would.

-This is not some recent thing that came up and I decided to go with, I have identified as a woman my entire life and brought this up to my family and parents countless times before they shoved the "love and acceptance of Jesus Christ" down my throat to the point I hid who I was and suffered severe depression of which today I still am fighting. Expressing my gender identify and feeling that acceptance helps me heal, or would you feel better if I succumbed to my depression and killed myself because I made people uncomfortable?

-In addition to my above point, I am also a Christian but not a very typical one but more open minded. Transgender people aren't devil worshippers trying to "destroy the foundation of family and home." We are human beings just the same as people of color, people who are queer, people who are straight and are cisgender (identify with their assigned sex) and any other type of human being. We have spiritual needs just like any of you do.

-Yes I have worked harder than you know to "try and just be a guy" and try to take my churches and families advice, but denying who I really am in attempt to keep up a facade only makes it worse. Being a woman and expressing this is what saved me, in addition to realizing that Jesus is and was on my side all along. Yes the church is wrong in their assessment that transgender is a sin. (in my opinion)

-I am not trying to confuse the world or be a special snowflake, I am doing this only for the simple reason of existing in peace. I would rather not have to go this path, I would rather not have to literally stand up among my family, friends, coworkers and even you people of ATS and feel like I have fight just for the right to exist. For those of you who are cisgender, when did you ever have to fight for the right to identify as the gender you are?

-40% or higher of transgender people who attempt suicide, a higher percentage of transgender women (especially of color) are murdered. We have discrimination in the workplace, in social life and even in the media. We are the next civil rights movement and I hope you know what side you are on. This is a real condition and struggle for us, this isn't asking something ridiculous as though you should accept us as giraffes or unicorns etc. We are only asking to be accepted as opposite to the gender we were assigned at birth. (and anything in between for those who are genderqueer/fluid)

So again, I am not some criminal, nor some deviant with a hidden agenda, in fact I would like to meet you face to face so you can see with your own two eyes what a transgender woman looks like, and realize I am just as human as you and then ask what do you hate or cannot accept about me? If you are only here to spew bigotry then dont even bother answering, you only make it clear that you are a neanderthal and eventually you and your breed will die off. But if there is some valid unseen fear or worry or concern that is truly unique to trans people, I want to know it. I dont believe there is anything truly fundamentally different about trans people than from cisgender people that would make us less human.

I do not claim to be the spokeswoman for Transgender people, only that I have been part of ATS for years and have vented all kinds of frustrations and rants on here but this is something that really strikes my heart. I hate seeing the ignorance and hatred from a site that supposedly refutes ignorance. I know most days I feel like people just want me to go away and die, but we are not going away, we have been around since the dawn of humanity and will continue to be around. We are your Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters and so on.

Lastly, if you are not transgender/genderqueer then don't comment like you can understand these struggles, becasue they are real and just like I can't comment on the struggles of certain things, it doesn't mean they don't exist or I shouldn't care.

That is all.

Time is an illusion, and every person alive today has already lived thousands, maybe millions of past lives, both as a male and a female. There are also many more lives to be lived. If you identify as a woman that is likely because you were a woman in you're preceding life experience. Or maybe the majority of your past lives were as a female. There are also thousands, maybe millions, more life experiences we will have during this infinite cycle of life and death. The point is to experience. When you realize the infinite nature of reality and the infinite nature of yourself it becomes easier to sit back, enjoy the ride, and experience your current life with what you have been given naturally. It is not natural to change your physical gender. Our souls are gender less, we choose to manifest as male or female for very important reasons, to learn from both sides. I think individual choice reigns supreme, but the reason transgender are shunned is because it is not natural. In a way it is a matter of patience, or cosmic patience if you will. If you're uncomfortable in your current body, just remember that time is an illusion and you will reincarnate as all possible body types you can imagine. It is an infinite dance of birth and rebirth, of constantly experiencing life from both sides, as male and female.

originally posted by: AnahataN
Time is an illusion, and every person alive today has already lived thousands, maybe millions of past lives, both as a male and a female. There are also many more lives to be lived. If you identify as a woman that is likely because you were a woman in you're preceding life experience. Or maybe the majority of your past lives were as a female. There are also thousands, maybe millions, more life experiences we will have during this infinite cycle of life and death. The point is to experience. When you realize the infinite nature of reality and the infinite nature of yourself it becomes easier to sit back, enjoy the ride, and experience your current life with what you have been given naturally. It is not natural to change your physical gender. Our souls are gender less, we choose to manifest as male or female for very important reasons, to learn from both sides. I think individual choice reigns supreme, but the reason transgender are shunned is because it is not natural. In a way it is a matter of patience, or cosmic patience if you will. If you're uncomfortable in your current body, just remember that time is an illusion and you will reincarnate as all possible body types you can imagine. It is an infinite dance of birth and rebirth, of constantly experiencing life from both sides, as male and female.

That's exactly the same story I told myself for years and it's what kept me from seeking help. It's easy to say when looking in from the outside. A dysphoric person can rationalize it all they want but, in the end, it's something that needs to be confronted on a very practical level.

In fact, a couple of years ago, when I was still struggling with suppression, I told a TG member here on ATS something very similar. I wanted to believe that so badly. And I do, actually but I just can't conclude it in the same manner that you do anymore.

There is a very real side to this that you'll never be able to see clearly unless you either dedicate a whole lot of time researching it or if you suffer from it yourself. But I can tell you this: it's far more than just a spiritual matter.