I used to think that transvestite, transgender, and transsexual were three different things. Recently, I learned that transgender is an umbrella term for several different sex/gender presentations. The recent blog post about the first transgender mayor in the U.S. brought this back to the forefront of my mind and I thought this would be a great place to discuss it. I think someone commented that the mayor was not a true transgender person but he is, according to the APA. This is an important thing for us to know about as students in a Sex, Sexuality, and Communication class.
According to the American Psychological Association, "Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity (sense of themselves as male or female) or gender expression differs from that usually associated with their birth sex. Many transgender people live part-time or full-time as members of the other gender. Broadly speaking, anyone whose identity, appearance, or behavior falls outside of conventional gender norms can be described as transgender. However, not everyone whose appearance or behavior is gender-atypical will identify as a transgender person."
They also discuss several types of transgender people on their website.
In summary, they say that Female to Male and Male to Female transexuals are transgender, whether they transition to the other sex or not. What I used to call cross-dressers or transvestites are also considered transgender. included in the transgender group. People who dress in drag for performance purposes may or may not consider themselves transgender. The term is used in many ways by many people and does not have a fixed definition.
I have also heard recently that being transgender is considered a disease by the APA. In reading their statement, I found out that they do not consider it a mental disorder in and of itself unless it causes "distress or disability" for the person. Gender Identity Disorder is controversially still listed in the DSM. Some say that this is good because it enables transgender people to access healthcare. Others see this as labeling transgender folks with a mental disorder.
The APA suggests ways that people can be supportive of transgender people, including education, awareness, considering your own attitudes, using the preferred pronoun for the person, don't assume transgender people are gay, lesbian, or straight, be willing to communicate with them about it, and get support for yourself.
They also list the following websites as resources for more information:
www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/transgender
www.hbigda.org
www.ftmi.org
www.gpac.org
www.nctequality.org
www.pflag.org/TNET.tnet.0.html
Source for this blog: http://www.apa.org/topics/transgender.html#whatdoes
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