Myths About Transgender Identities

Transgender people are more visible than ever before. That's great, but it leaves many of us confused. We've seen and heard, often, just enough to get the wrong end of the stick. When actors like Laverne Cox or celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner come onto our screens we don't get the chance to ask them the questions that come to mind (which may sometimes be for the best!).

What Does "Transgender" Actually Mean?

Transgender means someone whose gender identity, their sense of who they are, is different from their biological sex. Most people's gender identity is close enough to their biological sex that they're "cisgender." Trans people often feel about their bodies the way you would feel if you woke up one day as the opposite gender, a feeling that extends to the rest of their lives and leads to crippling depression and a feeling called "gender dysphoria," a sense of being deeply uncomfortable or unhappy in your own body. 

While the most visible transgender people are MtF (Male to Female) trans people, or trans women, there are trans men and nonbinary trans people who don't identify as either men or women. What all trans people share is deep emotional dissatisfaction with the gender they were assigned at birth. If you don't want to come across as a jerk, don't refer to someone as "a transgender"; it's an adjective, not a noun. Don't "misgender" a trans person: refer to them as their target or identified gender. Not sure? It happens. Ask politely. No-one is an "it," though some genderqueer people prefer "they/them." 

1: Trans People Have Crazy Lives

About as much as gay people do. There are trans sex workers, their number increased by the lack of affordable medical care and the difficulty many trans people face in finding employment rather than by an intrinsic desire for sex work on the part of trans people as a whole. And there are trans people who spend their lives in feather boas. Why not? The vast majority of trans people, like the vast majority of gay, bisexual and lesbian people, are ordinary people. There's a strong statistical likelihood that you've seen them in your daily life and not noticed!

2: Transgender People Are So Gay They Went Over To The Other Side

Hmmm. This one only really makes sense if you think being non-gender conforming is the same thing as being gay, and also the same thing as actually being another gender. Plenty of swishy gay men and butch lesbians could put you right about that one. You might also notice that there are some very masculine, very gay, gay men around. Sexuality isn't someone's whole identity and it doesn't determine gender identity. This one also breaks on the fact that about a third of trans women, for instance, identify as lesbians. Unless you think they were so gay they became women so they could then become gay all over again, because the gay was just that strong with them, I think we can lay this one to rest.

READ Could My Child Be Transgender? Exploring The Signs And The Future

3: Transgender People Are Mentally Ill

A high proportion of transgender people are mentally ill, with depression, anxiety and other issues resulting from the way they're treated. Is being transgender associated with being mentally ill if your identity is respected and your family is supportive? I don't know. Ask Kim Petras. Most of the time when people say this they mean "being transgender is a mental illness." In some places it's officially classified as a mental illness. Some trans activists have hit back by saying that being trans is biological, based in a different "male" or "female" brain. It seems likely that the consensus view will eventually be one that mirrors the Kinsey Scale-based "spectrum of human sexuality," and the evidence for the idea that being trans is a mental illness in and of itself seems to rest on either the fact that it's unusual, or that it implies a difference between the body and the mind, or finally from the "argument from personal incredulity": "It can't be true, I don't believe it!"

More Myths About Trans People

4: Trans People Are Confused

Some trans people are confused. Gender is a strong part of who we are and there's tremendous pressure on everyone to conform to gender expectations. Feeling that these somehow don't fit for you can be confusing, though it doesn't mean you're trans. The majority of transgender people are as certain of their gender as anybody else is. 

5: Trans People Are Transitioning To Maintain Gender Roles Or Not Deal With The Fact They're Gay

If you like "girly" things and you're biologically male, that doesn't mean you're gay, "effeminate" or transgender. If you like "blokey" things and you're biologically female, it's the same. A lot of trans people come from the gay community because gay clubs are one of the few places where people can present and behave in gender non-conforming ways and not face stares, threats and violence. Coming out as trans and transitioning is considerably harder than coming out as gay for most people (if you can even compare two things like that) and while some binary trans people are strongly emotionally invested in gender binary ideas, many more are not. 

6: Trans People Only Feel The Way They Do Because Of "Gender," Which Is A Social Construct

Why can't we all be people?

Why can't we? Well, you don't have to believe in a gender binary to find this one a little iffy. And you don't have to look very far to find this "gender essentialist" accusation being thrown by people who turn out on closer analysis to be biological essentialists themselves. The issue boils down to something trans people tend to vocally insist upon. In fact the first time you read the term "lived experience" is likely to be in trans discourse. And it's the point at which trans people insist that others stop theorizing their identities for them: they insist on the primacy of their own lived experience over what others think their lives ought to be like. 

7: I Shouldn't Have To Pay For Trans People To Transition

Trans people's transition costs are expensive, especially for cosmetic procedures. It's a luxury we shouldn't have to pay for.

This one is located in the middle of a broader argument over who should pay for healthcare and how it should be delivered. Pausing only to observe that the developed country with the most privatized healthcare has both the worst outcomes and the highest per-treatment and per-patient healthcare costs, I'd like to step around this one and get into the specifics of trans-related healthcare. The cost of a medical transition is high, in the sense that it's a lot of money. It's between $25,000 and $75,000. Not pocket change, I grant you. But in terms of the costs of medical interventions, it's low: treating heart disease costs an average lifetime $109, 500. 

READ Is Binary Transgender Acceptance Another Trap For Non-Binary Trans People?

If you think I've hit the nail on the head, or you'd like to pick me up on something, get in touch in the comments section below.