I don't know. That is pretty whack though

Hil, do you think it only applies to those people who don't conform to the binary? Because my FTM cousin does conform. He was just born at the wrong pole.

Burrell! I ran into Gillian! She saw me, squeaked, and asked if I would sign her copy of my book. I asked her if her name was Gillian, and her eyes got HUGE. She was very sweet.

Oh yay!! I'm so glad she got to meet you. Thank you so much, I know how much it means to her.

I would say trans is anyone who changes the gender they were assigned at birth, even if it's to "neither."

I would say trans is anyone who changes the gender they were assigned at birth, even if it's to "neither."

I think this is the closest definition, although there are always going to be people who use it differently.

I thought trans was used for anybody who didn't conform to the gender binary.

No, there are trans* people who do conform to the gender binary, and those who don't. But there are also cisgender people who don't conform to the gender binary. Which can get confusing as hell.

Jesse! Polgara! Other people! You should start games with me on Lexulous or Words with friends, because I can get there but not Wordscraper.

Eta. On the iPad I mean, which will be my computer access this week.

I am losing all grip on what gender its our what having it assigned or changed means. One of the Thai prettyboys had no surgeries or hormone treatment. They identified as kathoey, though. Are they changing anything?

Reading the wikipedia page on kathoey has thoroughly confused me. Conflation with gay, acceptance of a third gender, use of female pronouns...I don't even know.

One of the Thai prettyboys had no surgeries or hormone treatment. They identified as kathoey, though. Are they changing anything?

Well, it sounds like kathoey is marginally different from the American (Western?) concept of trans*. That said, people who are transgender (in the American [non-Thai kathoey] sense) don't have to have surgery or hormone treatment to be transgender. All that's really "required" is that the person live and present as the gender that he/she was NOT born as.

So, clothes, makeup, other physical alterations (like binding breasts, using fake boobs, etc.) -- and living and presenting as a different gender.

It sounds like Thai kathoey individuals are slightly different -- it sounds like they still identify as male, but also trans*, which is confusing.

Trans* stuff throws me, honestly, because I don't know what it feels like to be a woman. Because I'm just me. I don't "feel like a woman"; I just feel like me. And some people say, well duh, that's because you're cisgender. But my point is, I don't know what feeling like a woman is supposed to feel like. But I know I don't have any desire to be anything other than what I am.

I don't know what feeling like a woman is supposed to feel like.

[link]

Heh. That's definitely not how I feel. Or that horrible song that's still on the radio about feeling like a woman and short skirts and whoa-ho-ho or whatever the fuck she sings (I don't actually even know who sings it, nor do I care).

And that's my point. I don't really conform to those ideas of what a woman should feel like, at least as embodied in song. Short skirts and frilly shit and drooling over dresses made of lace -- uh, no.

But I'm not a man. Confusing. (Well, not really. I mean, I'm not confused about what I *am*, but about what I apparently am supposed to be espousing and living.)