Sports reporter to undergo sex change

I'm a male. If I date Mike when he becomes Christine, does that make me gay? I ask that because I feel if you are born a male, you are a male. If you are born a female, you are a female.

 

Wincing at the subtitle under your name, I'll take a stab at this.

No.

Looking at it more basically, Christine will look like a woman, talk like a woman, dress like a woman, smell like a woman, feel like a woman, and, if she has the surgery and turns out to be androphilic, screw like a woman.

Because she's not *like* a woman, she *is* one.

What defines "man" and "woman"? Its certainly not genitals. Its not even chromosomes. Both of those fail the test of universal applicability. There are more physically intersexed people in the world than there are transsexuals (who many consider to be brain intersex).

 

I understand your logic. I just can't bring myself to feel the same way.

 

So what would your reaction be if you had a karyotype and found you were one of the 46xx males? OK, so you'd be genetically female, does that suddenly make you Lesbian? This is assuming you have normal male anatomy of course. Or supposing your parents told you you were born "in between", but a kindly surgeon altered you to male when you were only a few days old.

I understand you have little control over your feelings, only your actions. It's OK - it's just as perplexing for those of us born IS or TS.

The point is, many people who are IS don't know it. You may be one of them, especially if you are infertile.

What would your reaction be if your partner told you that she used to look in-between, but was surgically corrected when young? Or that she has CAIS, and is genetically male? Or maybe Kleinfelter, 47xxy, and one of the few that look female rather than male? Is she any different? Or is she just a woman?

Supposing your partner was a refugee who had had to pretend she was male for years to avoid kidnap and slavery? Would that make her less female?

Just remember that the surgical statistics show 1 in 2500 American women used to look like men. And remember that for every one like me, who doesn't hide her condition, there are 10 in "stealth" who don't tell. Sometimes not even their husbands.

Think about these questions I asked. But if at the end of the day, you know something intellectually yet feel differently on an instinctive level, don't worry about it. We're all human.

 

Damn. That was a helluva answer. Thanks and again, we weren't trying to be a wise ass about a delicate subject.

 

What makes it more difficult is that thee are two sets of ideas about the whole concept of sexuality, as well.

If you note in my earlier posts, I used the term androphilic. The compliments to that are gynephilic and bisexual. The reason I use those terms is that they are more accurate for us.

Heterosexuality means, simply, that you are attracted to the opposite. Well, the opposite of an MTF, like me, is actually an FTM. If you go by the scientific definitions.

The colloquial ones are a lot more fast and loose. She's a girl -- if she likes other girls, then she's gay, and if she likes men, she's straight.

The reason I mentioned that you can't use genitals is becuase there are a LOT of people who started out with genitals that doctors couldn't tell what they were. Some estimates run as high as 20%. And that'ts not dealing in intersexed people -- that's just every day people.

And you can't use chromosomes because of the other issues noted above.

But all of that is intellectual knowledge, and most folks go by gut instincts. And, truly, if you were around a "passable" ts for any length of time, unless you knew outright that they were TS, you couldn't tell the difference.

If you live in a large city in America and have come in contact with at least 1000 different women, odds are good that at least one of them was TS.

 

It looks like the thread has quieted down, so I'm going to go ahead and say that if anyone has further questions, or more private ones, they can feel free to email me at gynesis@gynesis.biz. I'm presently located in Flordia, should be in Arizona (phoenix) by the middle of next month.

 

It came out "more jocularly" because that's how Christine Daniels writes. On every beat she's had: Angels, sports media, etc., she's always written with a tongue-in-cheek, conversational style. It's one reason she's been one of the best writers in that section for quite some time -- because outside of the every-four-year preaching about why soccer is the greatest sport on the planet -- she doesn't take things too seriously.

With that, we shouldn't expect Daniels to write any other way. It's who she is, professionally.

 

Please don't worry about it! TS people of necessity have a thick skin, but I don't see how your remark could have been treated as out of place. It was honest, respectful, and showing insight into your own mind, a quality few have.

I just hope I've helped.

 

Pretty interesting special on MSNBC about the whole subject right now.

 

Not this particular (Penner) case, but the subject of gender dysphoria (or whatever you call it) in general.

 

rom

Gender Dysphoria is the condition of being unhappy with the body/mind gender mismatch. Gender Identity Disorder (the psychiatric condition in the DSM-IV) is caused by GD, and it's when the unhappines interferes with functionality.
"Unhappiness" though is a bit of an understatement. From Anne Vitale, a professional psychologist specialising in the area:

That brings tears to my eyes, even now. I was 47, only one child, but yes, the number of times like this was increasing for me too. But still tolerable, I was still able to function. As was she - but the trend was obvious. So she sought help. As you do. As any scientist would, when confronted with such a problem.

I don't know why it feels so awful. My time in an Oncology ward watching friends of mine die around me, and expecting to go the same way myself wasn't exactly Fun, but it didn't feel as bad. I think it's something to do with the hormonal and neurotransmitter mix in the brain. Anyway, a hormone regime, sometimes in conjunction with surgery, not only cures it but allows the patient to be truly happy for the first time since early childhood.

Oh and by the way, once you've been through an experience like that, it's really difficult getting too worked up about it if someone calls you a pervert, or he/she. I mean, it's trivial! What is important is duty, honour, children, that kind of thing. Justice too. Kindness above all.

And that Australia retains the Ashes.