Have you ever felt misunderstood?
Sadly, there’s a lot of ignorance out there! That’s why in this blog post, I want to debunk common myths about crossdressers and transgender women.
Let’s start with one of the biggest misconceptions that’s unfortunately still hanging around:
Myth: Transgender women, crossdressers, and drag queens are all the same.
While all these are valid ways of expressing one’s gender, they represent distinct groups, and it’s important not to use these terms interchangeably.
To clarify, here’s how the GLAAD Media Reference Guide defines some common transgender terms:
- Transgender women – People who were assigned male at birth but who identify as women. Many transgender women are prescribed hormones or undergo surgery, but transgender identity is not dependent upon medical procedures.
- Crossdressers – Men, typically heterosexual men, who occasionally wear clothes, makeup, and accessories associated with women. This activity is a form of gender expression and is not done for entertainment purposes. Crossdressers do not wish to permanently change their sex or live full-time as women.
- Drag queens – Men, typically gay men, who dress like women for the purpose of entertainment.
- Gender non-conforming – A term used to describe some people whose gender expression is different from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity. The term is not a synonym for transgender or transsexual and should only be used if someone self-identifies as gender non-conforming.
- Non-binary and/or genderqueer – Terms used by some people who experience their gender identity and/or gender expression as falling outside the categories of male and female. The term is not a synonym for transgender and should only be used if someone self-identifies as non-binary and/or genderqueer.
Now that the record has been set straight, let’s look at some of the most common myths about crossdressers and transgender women.
7 Myths About Transgender Women
- Being transgender is a choice.
- Transgender people are gay.
- Transgender women aren’t “real” women.
- Your sex is defined by your chromosomes and/or hormones.
- You have to have surgery to be a “real” transgender person.
- You aren’t transgender until you start hormone therapy.
- Kids and teens are too young to know if they’re really transgender.
7 Myths About Crossdressers
- Crossdressers are gay.
- Crossdressers are perverts.
- Crossdressing is a psychological problem.
- Crossdressing can be cured.
- Crossdressers want to change their sex.
- Crossdressing is a destructive addiction.
- Crossdressers can’t be good husbands or fathers.
Have you heard any of these myths before? They’re frustrating and hurtful, aren’t they? It’s time for the world to wake up and realize this truth:
Your gender is who you are on the inside. There are countless ways to express your gender, and all are completely valid!
To help spread this truth, check out these excellent resources from GLAAD below. They’re a great way to increase awareness about transgender issues.
Recommended Resources from GLAAD
Now let’s hear from you…
What’s the truth that YOU’D like to set straight? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments below!
Love,
Lucille
Hit the nail on the head. I started at 24 and would have identified myself as a CD. Been at this for over 30 years and somewhere along the line my true feelings rushed out to the point where I identify myself as a TG. Never feel right unless I am dressed.
My reaction to this is that the terms homosexual and heterosexual seems obvious at a first glance for most people, but when they begin to learn about the trans world, everything turns upside down. If you are a cis guy who fall in love with a GG, you are straight in other’s eyes. But, if that GG defines himself as a man, are you still straight? And if that GG change juridical sex too, or do HRT, are you still straight? Its still the same person as before you love! The words suddenly means nothing at all. The words “androsexual” and “gynosexual” (for what gender you prefer) are better, but if you are in love with a GG who defines as a man, are you androsexual or gynosexual then? I’d rather say, throw all these meaningless words away, and love whoever you want to love, and that relation does NOT need to be classified! I am femandro and lives with a ciswoman, well, she has some male traits in my eyes but I still judge her as female, and I’ve told her that I am androgyne, she didnt leave me because of that, but I wish she could accept my femininity more than she does. It works, I am accepted, as long as I don’t go too far… but I wish I could both keep her AND go a bit further!
“If you are a cis guy who fall in love with a GG, you are straight in other’s eyes. But, if that GG defines himself as a man, are you still straight? And if that GG change juridical sex too, or do HRT, are you still straight?”
I have a friend that married a FtM transgender, and he identified himself as straight. I once asked him that if his husband would achieve transexuality would he love him as much. And he answered with a sound yes, he told me he will still be straight, but he loves him so much and don’t care if has a penis or vagina.
I think it’s a complex matter, but at the end of the day, your sexual orientation stops mattering once you found the love of your life.
Lucille,
Thank you for posting these myths.
As for transgender being a choice or that I’m gay, that is pure myth and accepted by those ignorant of both us and gays. God, how I wish being TG was a choice. Then I would not have had to suffer the guilt and depression and uncertainty that has been my burden since well before puberty. I would have changed long ago.
As for being gay, that is pure bullshit. Gay guys don’t dress to get sex or have a partner. I believe they find dressing as a woman demeaning and embarrassing. They, like us, are who they are. This idea that TGs are gay and may only dress to get sex shows a total ignorance of not only us but of the entire gay population.
I believe a lot of these myths exist and persist because weak minded people don’t want to think for themselves or find out the truth.
God, how I could go on, but, I’ve said enough.
Again, thank you for posting these mistaken ideas that some people have about us.
The one “myth” I wish would be totally dispelled (actually it is fundamentalist anti-trans propaganda) is that I use the woman’s room to get some voyeuristic thrills. Bluntly, I use the women’s room for one purpose only. to empty a full bladder so that it does not empty itself at an inappropriate time or in an inappropriate place. (everyone knows that girls don’t poo 😉 ) and it has to be the ladies room. for me to enter the men’s room when I am presenting myself as the woman I am would be to place myself in immediate danger.
Hi, Now a thank you for you to break down some walls. Even though not heard very far from here, they are important to many of us. From within us we want to extend ourselves and portray ourselves as we are. Not in anyway other than to just say “I am”. We have begun. Thank you.
It is sad , that there are so many uneducated people out there that do not have a clue as to what a crossdresser or transgendered person is in life. Thank you Lucille for pointing out the myths associated with our lifestyle, maybe someday in school , it will be a required reading topic instead of some boring shakespear crap they make you read. Keep up the good work Lucille, I love your website,girl, you rock.
I was in Desert Hot Springs a few months ago wearing a short dress and sandals when this girl in the pool with some other children pointed at me and said aloud that’s a man. One of friends a young boy admonished her for her outburst. I could see the awkwardness of the moment for all so I interjected and said to the group that she was absolutely right in her observation, that I am a man and that no offense was taken <3
I can’t say with my hand on my heart that I would do the same, but I know that if someone pointed out that I’m a “man”, I would answer darily “yeahh, and a happy one while we’re at that”
I tend to react that way when someone pisses me off 🙂
My wife is disabled and I need to help her out to go to the bathroom. One time I was in a theater with her when a manager challenged me about using a restroom because someone said there was a man in there. I ended up telling her that regardless of what you or anyone else thinks what sex I am, the Americans with Disabilities Act allowed me to assist my wife in the handicap stall of the restroom. She backed down, but it showed me how ignorant people are. They assumed my gender, in which I was able to prove with my drivers license, and they didn’t know that a disabled person who needs assistance is allowed to take someone that they trust into the restroom to assist them. I’ve since moved from that area into of all things a more conservative area and I’m never questioned about my gender, but I’m always ready to show proof short of a strip search.