Transsexuality - Transsexual orientation

Trapped in the wrong body? Transsexuals and Transgender
Transsexuality is the desire to live and to be accepted as a person of the opposite sex as the biological one. Usually those affected feel uncomfortable in their male or female bodies and wish to get a body with surgeries and hormones as close as possible to their preferred sex.

contents

• How common is transsexuality?
• Transsexual or transgender?
• Causes of Transsexuality
• Transsexuality in childhood
• Body image and transsexuality
• depressions
• Transsexuals under Islamic law using the example of Iran
• Transsexuality as a spiritual phenomenon
• Transsexuality in cultures
• Hormone therapy
• Transvestite
• Links to transgenders in different cultures

This definition also applied historically and today stands for a possible use of the concept of people who define themselves as transsexual. Others, who take the term broader, mean that everyone and everyone who lives socially as a member of the opposite sex, regardless of whether those affected have undergone medical procedures or want to undergo medical intervention.

Transsexual. Image: visivasnc - fotolia

The affected person sometimes appears as though he is physically compliant with his innate gender identity. Only in his thoughts, feelings and perceptions does he feel a powerful pressure to be misplaced.

To date, there is no conclusive theory as to why this condition arises, however current research hypotheses focus strongly on a biological basis that develops before birth in the developing fetus.

How common is transsexuality?

In 1983, an investigation in the then FRG revealed around 6,000 to 8,000 transident people in Germany. But these numbers covered only those who were treated with chirugics. They do not consider people who operated abroad or people who found other ways than surgery.

Today's estimates assume that around 170,000 people in Germany have a transgender identity. However, as many of those affected live in anonymity, the number of unreported cases is probably much higher.

Transsexual or transgender?

John Olives coined the term transgender in 1965. In the 1990s transsexualism prevailed, but transgender is more prevalent, and many who call themselves transgender reject the term transsexually.

Transsexuals are still in use, especially when it comes to biological definition. People who want to change their gender through surgery often reject the term transgender, but gender can also refer to the social gender.

Many who have undergone surgery also reject the term transgender because they have changed their biological gender but their social gender has remained the same.

There are also historical reasons why some sufferers call themselves transgender rather than transgender: from the 1950s to the 1980s, the medical community discussed the difference between transsexuals who sexually transform their sex and others who do not want these physical interventions Both groups are completely different.

This view is still controversial, and today many doctors assume that there is no clear distinction between those who want to change their bodies medically and others who are not interested.

Many sufferers reject the term transsexual because they are not concerned with sexuality, but with their gender identity.

Transgender means that this person does not identify with the gender with which he was born, as a woman or a man. Someone who sees themselves as transgender, for example, was born with a vagina, but feels like a man.

Causes of Transsexuality

Many transsexuals, therapists, sexologists and others think that transsexuality is innate. Some suggest that the concept is contained in the DNA of those affected, but so far there are no studies. Others say that fluctuations in the fetal hormone level are what make it special.

The root of transsexuality is not found yet. Comparable with other states, it seems to be a variety of factors that work together, making research difficult. In transsexuality genetic factors probably play a role, as do prenatal hormones and additional environmental conditions.

At present, there are many possible explanations for the phenomenon, such as the brain structure, the functions, psychological causes, and behavioral patterns.

A post-mortem study from the Netherlands identified a region in the hypothalamus that is significantly smaller in women than in men. The brains of transsexuals who transferred from men to women showed a brain development similar to that of other women. This has led to the theory that this region of the brain is responsible for the gender identity that forms before birth in a way that is not necessarily associated with the physical shape of the body.

This cerebral inference is unrecognizable when the baby is born, and so the child gets his gender identity attributed to his genitals. For the Hypothalamus thesis speaks that many transsexuals report that she felt already at a very early age in the "wrong body", thus not only with the search for a sexual identity.

The feeling of living in the wrong body rather set in the time in which toddlers become aware that they have a self that distinguishes them from others. Since at this age the social imprint on social and gender roles still does not play a role, the thesis of the innate transsexuality gains weight.

Transsexuality in childhood

Most adult sufferers remember that they understood each other differently in their childhood than their peers. Long before they had any sexual experience, they knew that they belonged in the "other camp". Such knowledge can be terrible if the environment demands conformity and rejects diversity.

"Atypical" behavior of children is not uncommon. Girls who play the role of a youngster are usually tolerated more often than boys who take on the girl role. Many boys playing with girl toys grow up as heterosexual men; some become gay; and a few never ever consider themselves men, but often fear for their safety when other children brand them as "fags.".

Childhood compliance and peer pressure are the first problems that transgender people experience in their journey to transition.

Body image and transsexuality

The body image is the inner representation of the physical appearance of an individual. People with a gender identity disorder who call themselves transsexual are unable to develop a satisfying body image because their biological gender and their gender identity diverge.

Affected people have a bad body image, because being trapped in the wrong body is their basic feeling. Body image does not just mean how one perceives one's body, but also how that person feels with that perception. Therefore, the body image is an important part of the self-concept that a person has.

The transsexual is unable to develop a body that satisfies him because of the dissonance between his or her anatomical gender and gender identity. The reality of the body of the transsexual does not conform to the desired body image. The result is a chronic disorder in the development of a consistent self-concept.

Affected individuals try to reduce this dissonance by approximating their appearance to the desired gender concept. Male transsexuals wear women's clothing, remove facial hair or cover it with make-up, use padded bras or paint their nails to change the unsatisfactory body image.

Outsiders often confuse them with homosexuals, which is not right. Thus the mostly negative terms "Tunte" and "Transe" are almost interchangeable.

They cliché refer to homosexual men who behave feminine behaved, dressed shrill feminine, behave exaggerated ladylike behavior, so for example, the little finger while drinking coffee, speak with a high voice and scare fright in old films easily with lutes like "Huch "Or" Ui "express. Tunics weigh the hips, giggle and use obscene terms, so the cliché.

Drag queens have developed this dullness into an art form. When homosexuality was suppressed, Tuntigkeit was a form of protest. Thus, Rosa von Praunheim wrote in 1971: "The majority of homosexuals resemble the kind of unobtrusive son of a good family, who attaches the greatest importance to appearing male. His biggest enemy is the showy Tunte. Tunten are not as mendacious as the stuffy gay. Tunten exaggerate their gay qualities and make fun of them. They question the norms of our society and show what it means to be gay. "

Exaggerated or not, the "tune" stands for a homosexual man who takes on the role in the relationship, the "female", passive role. Their counterpart is the macho leather guy, often with a mustache, leather harness and a bodybuilding center body that fills the "male" role.

However, taking on a gender role is not the same as the need for transsexuals to change gender. A homosexual man is a man who desires men, a transsexual man is a man who feels like a woman.

Conversely, afflicted women wear men's clothing, for example, cut their hair short, flatten their breasts, and place their crotch so that it looks as if they have a penis. Ultimately, they seek to transform their gender, be it through medical or surgical methods, to bring the body into harmony with the preferred body image.

Affected persons quickly affect lay people like lesbians who take on the male role in relationships. Here, analogous to homosexual men: A lesbian is a woman who desires women, a transsexual woman a woman who wants to be a man.

depressions

The situation of people being trapped in the wrong body leads to physical and mental discomfort. Many problems appear when coming out. The stress of hiding a truth that changes lives is a factor in stress-related illnesses such as high blood pressure or migraine.

Depression is very common. Image: fizkes-fotolia

Long-term stress often manifests in chronic anxiety and depression. The level of mental overload can be so bad that those affected in work and school no longer work.

Depression to a certain degree is extremely common among transsexuals, especially when they have suffered rejection or loss. Some religious, cultural and ethnic groups do not accept young transgender people. Young people in these communities are more susceptible to stress and this ultimately leads to suicidal thoughts.

Suicide behavior employs transsexuals continuously. There are three phases in which transsexuals are at greatest risk of committing suicide: the first is childhood, when the young person becomes desperate because his peers dislike him and fail to adapt to gender-specific interests.

The second phase is when human beings accept their transsexuality but try to lead a "normal" life. More and more, he now feels like someone wearing a mask. To accept him now takes the suicidal thoughts of their sharpness.

The third phase of high suicide risk begins with the sex change. Man may now have a high expectation of success in the chosen sex, and some of it will be bitterly disappointed.

Most "changed" find their place in society, continue their careers or start new. However, some lose their jobs and are unable to find a new job where they earn enough to pay their living expenses.

Family and friends may continue to reject transsexuality until they break family members. Most frustrating, however, is when the victim does not find a partner who loves and accepts him.

Not necessarily a reason for thoughts of suicide, but for depression, if the feeling of life after the conversion into the desired sex is not really better, that is, if the man retains the problems he had previously as a man as a woman.

Psychological counseling should consider all these hurdles and well plan the transition process with those affected. In particular, psychologists should address problems that may arise, then the transsexuals can better deal with it better in an emergency.

Transsexuals under Islamic law using the example of Iran

In Iran, homosexuality is under the death penalty under Islamic law. Ironically, sex changes through surgery are not only legal, they are even demanded by a society that accepts male or female, but nothing in between. Iran's sex-change industry is booming.

Attracted by members of the same sex, but forced to deny their sexual identity, a young generation of men and women chooses the only identity they are allowed to have - homosexuals become transsexual by operation.

Transsexuality was first discussed by the Iranian government in the mid-1980s. Before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the phenomenon had never been an issue for the government. In 1963, Ayatollah Khomeini wrote that there were no religious prohibitions on surgical corrections made by hermaphrodites or intersex people.

On the other hand, in Iranian society, stigma for cross-dressing is one of the main reasons for social restrictions. In 2008, Iran had more sex-changing operations than any other country in the world except Thailand. The government pays half of the cost to those in need of financial assistance, and a gender change is evident in the birth certificate.

Despite government support, the cost of the surgery is the main problem for people who want to change their gender: A sex operation in Iran is about $ 7,000, and most sufferers do not have that money: first, there is no help from the families, and on the other hand, they have problems finding jobs.

Iranians with a transsexual tendency get the necessary medical treatment and new passports. In order to obtain a permit for a plastic surgery, applicants must submit a medical certificate for a gender identity disorder.

Iran is an Islamic society in which sexual difference is not easily accepted. Families of gays and transsexuals usually fear losing face and reject transsexuals in their family.

A woman who became a man of man says: "My mother said I could do what I wanted - I just had to go out of the country." Another person said, "My mother said, if you change your gender I hope you die. "

Even siblings have problems with the changed gender. The 15-year-old brother of a victim says: "For 15 years, I call him brother. How am I supposed to call him sister now? "

The third gender - Image: Karen Roach Fotolia

Ali Askar is a 24-year-old man whom other men molested because he dressed and behaved feminine. He does not want to be a woman biologically, but sees no other options for him in Iranian society. He decides to tackle his operation, although his father threatened him with death.

Al sag: "When my father made life unbearable for me at home, I ran away and through the city - in women's clothes. Everyone thought I was crazy. My father screamed, "Why do you want to change your birth certificate?" He wanted to kill me, he tried to keep me at home so he could kill me there. That's why I ran away. "

The day he found out I had surgery, he tried to poison me with rat poison in tea.

20-year-old Mehran talks about his experiences when a boy was, "I had many problems back then. If I did not drive to school but walked down the street, either the police, the Revolutionary Guards or the religious police arrested me. They humiliated me hard. There was no way to defend my rights.

Transsexuality as a spiritual phenomenon

Transsexuality has been handed down throughout history. In Rome, Canaan, Turkey, India, North Africa, "their sex changed" to worship deities. The literature on this phenomenon usually reports "castration". However, testimonies show that this was a change in sexual identity.

In India, this ritual practice lives on today. The hijras do not operate on their own, but have a local guru they both despise and respect. They treat this "eunuch" like a woman.

Greek mythology was also devoted to transsexuality: Teiresias got his supernatural power because he magically transformed from man to woman. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, the most feminine of all goddesses, rose when Kronos sacrificed male genitals to the sky god and threw them into the sea.

A nobleman served Louis XV of France and spied as his non-existent sister in Russia. When he returned, Louis ordered that the nobleman should dress like a woman, and he lived in that role until his death.

Most Christians and Muslims consider transsexualism reprehensible, but some religions embrace transsexuals with open arms.

Shamanism is associated with transsexualism, and most shamanic religions see a transsexual as a person with the potential to become a shaman. The initiation of a shaman involves a change of sex; a shaman is considered a wanderer between the worlds - the people and spirits, humans and animals, men and women.

When a shaman has visions, he often means that spirits would command him to give up his identity and accept the opposite sex. Shamans report that this experience scares them, that they can easily resist it. This is reminiscent of many transsexuals who feel overwhelmed by the transsexual impulse.

Almost all American Indians knew a "third gender". The Ojibwa called it nisomanito, the twigist. Those affected should carry two souls, one female and one male.

Boys and girls who favored "opposite sex" behavior before adolescence were considered two-spirits. The sexual attraction had nothing to do with it. A man who dressed like a woman took a special position and was often considered a healer. They then married men and took over the role of women.

However, they were mostly not homosexuals. In contrast to the transformation of the body through operations such as transsexuals, they did not change their gender biologically. Two-spirits in a male body that had sex with a man were not considered homosexual. They were a third gender.

Transsexuality in cultures

Thailand is considered the country with the most sex changes. Kathoey refers to biological men who have characteristics of women. This ranges from cross-dressing to the identification of being a "woman of the second kind".

Homosexuals can also be Kathoeys, as are people who change their gender with hormones or surgery.

However, many Kathoeys do not see any contradiction between their gender identity and their body, and some even consciously refer to themselves as shemales or ladyboys.

Japan has an abundant tradition of gender crossing in myths and literature. Gods, the Dosojon were as male as female, and humans should be able to change their sex in the moon phases. Such gender converters were called Crescent.

Japanese clothing did not make a clear distinction between men and women, and gender crossing was easier than in European cultures.

In the Middle Ages men dressed as women danced at the imperial court to amuse the monarch.

In Oman there is the Chanidh. They are biological men, but assume the role of women. They are traditionally treated like women but are not considered women.

They wear men's and women's clothing, but the women's clothes have unusual colors. These transgender do not cover their head and wear half-length hair, unlike the women and men.

They behave like drag queens, use strong perfume, speak with an exaggerated high voice and go overdone female.

The Omanis do not see these transgender as the third sex, but more like castrated men. When the voice of those affected deepens, they can be accepted as men.

Hormone therapy

Sex hormones are responsible for the changes in human bodies that produce male and female characteristics, namely the male hormone testosterone and the female hormone estrogen.

Hormone therapy is an important part of transition for some transsexuals. Male transsexuals use estrogen to nourish the body while hormone blockers push male hormones back. In female transsexuals, testosterone brings many of the secondary male sexual characteristics.

Changing the body shape is a serious decision, and it requires a lot of preparation. Most doctors recommend 3 months to 2 years of life experience in the chosen gender before those affected should change their bodies biologically.

As with any medication that lasts a lifetime, a healthy lifestyle, physical training, and a balanced diet are important; sufferers should not excessively drink alcohol, nor take drugs or smoke. Reputable doctors will not start hormone therapy if the sufferer is in poor physical condition.

Testosterone can be administered by injection or gel. If the therapy starts, physical changes are the result: The voice gets deeper, the clitoris grows, the facial and body hair grows.

The hormones for male transsexuals cause female puberty, but without menstruation, the hormones reduce hair growth, but do not stop it. The following changes are to be expected in a therapy with female hormones: The breast grows, the erection of the penis diminishes, the testicles shrink, and the proportion of body fat grows in comparison to the muscle mass.

Transsexual operations have been possible since the 1930s. However, the hormonal and surgical techniques have only been discussed since the 1950s. Thanks to institutions such as the Erickson Educational Foundation, transsexual treatment and surgery has become a recognized medical field.

Transvestite

Transvestites wear the clothes of a different sex, heterosexuals as well as homosexuals.

Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term 1910. He wrote about "all people who, for whatever reason, voluntarily wear clothes that are usually not worn by the gender to which they are physically assigned; both men and women. "

Transvestivism and the transsexual need to belong to the opposite sex are not identical. But there are flowing transitions.

Transvestites include women's laundry wearers, ie men who wear women's underwear under their visible clothing. Women's laundry wearers are often fetishists.

Drag queens and drag kings, on the other hand, are an exaggerated way of portraying the other sex. Male drag queens, for example, put on make-up, wear out-of-the-way clothes, and female drag queens put on cylinders and wear ties.

Finally, travesty refers to an art form in which actors play the role of people of the opposite sex.

Transvestite fetishism is considered a mental disorder, but only if the affected suffer from it to a high degree.

But most transvestites do not suffer at all from their inclination and so are not a case for the psychiatrist.

Swell:

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/gender-variant-2.pdf

http://www.ucdenver.edu/life/services/studentlife/WRC/Fact%20Sheets/trans.pdf

https://books.google.de/books?id=UHymAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA593&lpg=PA593&dq=body+image+for+transsexual&source=bl&ots=VB6rVJgX9b&sig=87pfNwjydrkYh6POgCmocM3mldM&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzw-C0nILNAhVCEywKHXJtCo04ChDoAQggMAA#v=onepage&q=body%20image% 20for% 20transsexual & f = false

https://books.google.de/books?id=E20HsuKHxaEC&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=stress+and+sadness+in+transsexuals&source=bl&ots=8MhwRvqfn1&sig=hzMDIzYKce0-jbX1s8h40qtrsYo&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr19WV4pLNAhXIOxQKHbSmANcQ6AEIaTAI#v=onepage&q=stress% 20and 20in% 20sadness%% 20transsexuals & f = false

Be Like Others: Transsexuals in Iran

http://hrmars.com/hrmars_papers/Social_Representations_of_Iranian_Transsexual_People_in_the_Media_A_Thematic_Analysis.pdf

http://www.angelfire.com/home/theshow/ut_research_paper.html

http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/assets/media/17-15-02-A-Guide-For-Young-People.pdf

https://autogynephiliatruth.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/the-transsexual-empire.pdf

Links to transgenders in different cultures

Two - Spirit of North American Indians.Hijara in India and Pakistan.Chanith or Khanit in Oman.Kathoey in Thailand.Futanari in Japan.Fa'afafine (MzF) and Fa'atama (FzM) in Samoa.Fakaleiti in Tonga.Mahu in Hawaii .Akava'ine and akatāne of the Cook Islands.Femminiello in Naples (Italy) .Mukhannathun in Islam.Transsexuals in Iran.Muxe in the Culture of the Zapotec in Mexico.Bissu in the culture of the Bugis in Indonesia.Cogender in the indigenous cultures of South America. Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan.Bacha Poshin Afghanistan.Transgender in China.Köçek in Turkey.Maknyah in Malaysia.tobelija, tybelí, ostajnica, muskobanja, virgjineshtë, burrnesha in the Balkans.Takatāpui near the Maori. (Somayeh Khaleseh Ranjbar, translated and supplemented by Dr. Utz Anhalt)
Specialist supervision: Barbara Schindewolf-Lensch (doctor)