The TransGender Identity Protocol

So I have recently been investigating the whole Transgender thing in the hope of understanding what this small section of our society are going through. Recent TV shows like Transparent, I Am Cait, New Girls on the Block and This is Me, shows the entertainment industry pushing the transgender agenda to gain profile so that these folks can gain more protection socially and legally speaking.

With the legalization of Gay marriage and the broader acceptance in pop culture, the gay and lesbian populace has gained massive visibility in the past few decades and with that visibility came a certain measure of protection.

With the Transgender folk this is not yet the case. And that these people need protection is not in question. Out of those surveyed just a few years back by The National Centre for Transgender Equality, over forty per cent had at some time attempted suicide; almost sixty five per cent had been sexually assaulted at least once in their lives and many of them have lost jobs due to their sexual identification.

My own curiosity about this small section of our society is born from the fact that I can't escape the feeling of shock I experience when I consider that someone can be so uncomfortable in their own body that they will actually remove their own sexual organs because they feel so wrong; it's such a profound change to render upon oneself and a huge call to make, claiming that they have been born into the wrong body. I can't help see this physical alchemy as serious violence against ones own body. It feels very sad to me and so I have been reading and watching and generally exploring in the hope of gaining some insights into their world.

I didn't end up with many.

I learned that there are now new pronouns for us to use for the transgender folk. These pronouns were created to avoid referring to someone as "he/him" or "she/her."

• Sie, hir (pron. see/hear) Sie smiled • I called hir • hir cat purred • it's hirs • sie likes hirself

• Zie, zim (like he/him, but with a "z" at the front) Zie smiled • I called zim • zir cat purred • it's zirs • zie likes zirself

• Ey, em (like they/them without the "th") Ey smiled • I called em • eir cat purred • it's eirs • ey likes emself

I have to admit I found this slightly baffling. In my own experience it is not an easy thing to judge whether a transgender person is transitioning from one direction or the other and it would seem like such a very personal question to ask in order to get my pronouns right. And if they are mid-way through their transition... which one to use?

In fact, there seems to be a lot of discussion about vocabulary and the political-correctness of the terms we use. I would say that at least fifty per cent of the articles I found discussing these issues were centred around language.

The expression transgender was first used in the 80's to include any person going against the social norms of their biology. This included people who altered their bodies with surgery or hormones. Now we have a whole array to choose from and God forbid you get it wrong.

I was a little shocked that of all the potential problems the issue that is most considered and presented to the world is of terminology and politically correct words. There are, in fact, a lot of politically correct stances being taken online, short puff pieces being written in praise of the transsexual, but most of them felt to me like PR; like the politician who plasters a fake smile across their face and shakes hands with a bi-gender individual for the cameras and says “Of course I've always been in favour of gay marriage.”

Those weird moments.

The term Transsexual was first defined by the mental health community. However I found very little written regarding the idea that the Transgender folk have what is loosely termed a Gender Identity Disorder.

It's a delicate subject I guess, but seems to me to be a pretty important one. Either we are pointing at these folk and blatantly suggesting they have a screw loose because they express themselves in a certain way that threatens our accepted modes of behaviour – which would be the height of ignorance if it's not true.

Or... it's true and there is a serious issue there, one that is not being treated with proper regard. Because if this disposition is found to be a disorder, there are hundreds of psychiatrists out there giving the go-ahead for sexual reassignment surgeries, which just seems like such a drastic action to take. I can't help seeing it in the same way as someone deciding to cut their hand off, for instance. They have sessions with a psychiatrist for a year and that psychiatrist decides they are of sound mind and yes it is fine for them to have that limb surgically removed. I know it is not so simple, but the principle is the same.

I suppose the issue here is part of a deeper, broader issue:

Who are we to categorize anybody else's experience as a disorder?

Debate has raged for years among psychiatrists regarding how to define and support transgender individuals. In 1973, the term Homosexuality was removed from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. In 1980, the term transsexualism was added to the manual. In a later volume, the term was included as gender identity disorder, which sparked a lot of controversy. In 2013, with the fifth edition of the manual, gender identity disorder, was replaced with gender dysphoria.

So over a period of decades, the esteemed psychiatrists managed to shuffle a couple of words around? Again, we are back to being politically correct rather than addressing the actual concerns.

My own thinking on the matter - an objective, uneducated take - is that whatever someone might be experiencing in their body, however their sexuality wants to express itself... why must that require a specific type of sexual organ? Is it not possible to enjoy whatever body one might find themselves in? There is a strong feeling within this community that they are being judged by society and I'm sure there's a lot of that going around on every level of our society, but it seems to me a lot like self-judgement; judgement of ones of own body.

On a similar note Heteronormativity – the assumption throughout society that everyone is born heterosexual, and that heterosexuality is somehow superior to all other sexualities - is a bone of contention throughout the trans and gay communities and is a fair and interesting point to consider. This predominant attitude has led to the stigmatizing of other sexualities. But surely there is a similar attitude being adopted with trans individuals, if perhaps a little more subtle. For instance - if I feel a softer, more sensual energy in my body than most other hetero men seem to feel, I should have a vagina.

Why?

Isn't this it's own form of Heteronormativity, associating a certain feeling with a specific organ of reproduction.

This line of thought brings me to the most important part of this article.

Why has transgender become a part of our evolution?

It is impossible to say whether or not individuals existed in our society way back in history but medicine was incapable of offering them solutions or if it is an entirely new progression. Or perhaps it is something that has been slowly building through the centuries as imbalances occurred in the masculine and feminine throughout our world.

My own theory – and it is just that, I have no supporting evidence – is that these individuals in our communities are reflecting something very important in our own natures. With the dawn of the age of Neo-Feminism a lot of women seem to be hardening, growing more ambitious and aggressive in demeanour and attitude which seem to me to be more masculine traits, not feminine. And men seem a whole lot more confused about their roles these days. But these are just what we see on the surface.

What of our deeper natures?

For centuries men have been pushed into a certain defined role and the more sensitive, sensual aspects of his nature have been judged as unmanly or unnecessary or even unsafe and therefore have been suppressed by many men. The same was true for women for a long time.

Could it be possible that the Transgender folk are just searching for a solution to this conundrum within themselves?

If that is true, I would suggest that perhaps making such drastic changes to the natural chemical balance in ones body or rendering serious, unalterable physical changes may not be the best solution. The more effective solution may be psychological in nature; removing self-judgement and simply learning to enjoy ones body and express those feelings in any way one wishes.

I suppose the major discomfort I feel with the transgender community are in regards to these radical physical changes; everything else seems like an expression of being and as long as it feels authentic, all power to them. The physical side of things though leaves me feeling slightly disturbed and sad.

I get a similar – if slightly less disturbed feeling when I see guys who have pumped themselves so full of steroids and spent so many hours of every day in the gym to push their body to extremes of unnatural musculature in the hopes – I assume – of boosting their masculine identity. The issue is taken to be physical and the solution, a superficial one rather than with a deeper, spiritual healing.

Social transitions that involve only cosmetic changes in dress, grooming or behaviour, with no medical intervention, seem simply like life choices, styles one might adopt out of preference. I personally like to wear sarongs because I like the way they feel. And why shouldn't a guy feel free to wear make-up to accentuate his facial features in the same way most women do? I suppose this raises the question of whether we would be trying to cover our true self with that make-up or just enjoying the art of expression, but either way, the principle remains, that cosmetic choices carry far less impacting consequences.

One argument for those deeper changes is that hormone therapy has been shown to lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress in at least 400 transgender men (out of how many was not clear). But if those individuals have spent decades struggling with their sexual identities, might any kind of action taken not act as a kind of placebo? What I mean to say is, if I have convinced myself that I need to be a woman, moving in that direction would bring some measure of relief.

There exists in our sub-culture another minority who call themselves Otherkin. These people identify themselves as non-human; as dragons and tigers and monkeys; as werewolves and vampires. They claim that they are, in spirit, connected with these animals and supernatural creatures. The adherents believe this to be a congenital condition and many have taken surgical steps to enhance their bodies to look more like these creatures. The Otherkin are a far younger evolution than the transgender folk, but if we are basing our stance strictly on beliefs and rights, then do we feel the same about the Otherkin? And how far do we allow them to go with their surgical enhancements? And then come the basic rights within society. I do not mean to belittle these people, but one question to consider here is this: Must I – as an employer – hire a gentleman who has red and black fur attached to his face and implanted fangs and whiskers stitched to his cheeks?

These are two very different emergent cultures, but the question of rights carries the same principle. We are setting precedents here in how we treat and embrace the transgender community and I believe great care should be taken as we move forward.

After weeks of researching, I still have no idea about the more specific aspects and consequences of this physical alchemy.

I found a small handful of very brief quotes from transgender folk who have undergone surgery, all stating that now their lives are rosy. But the responses did not feel all that authentic. I can imagine it might be difficult to admit – even to oneself – if such a massive change did not bring the desired result.

For instance, I know from my own personal experience that even a minor surgery leaves scars that hold a residue of energetic trauma . It's not that I feel pain around those scars but there is a deep, unsettling feeling when touched. This begs the question of how it would feel to have sexual intercourse with a vagina or penis that has been surgically constructed? Would that vagina or penis not remain forever uncomfortable to the touch?

At the end of the day it's really none of my business what these folks do or how they feel. We can take the stance that it's their life, their body and they can do whatever they choose; that's their right.

That just feels like a pretty cold stance to take and personally I'd rather get to know them rather than simply take the safe, politically-correct stance.