Transgender

A boy who actually feels like a girl, or vice versa. Transgender people are born in the wrong body. The umbrella term “transgender” also includes agenders, gender fluid and other gender variations. In some cases, they want to undergo sex reassignment surgery. How does that transition go? And is the acceptance of transgender people increasing?

Expression

Gender expression refers to the way you express your gender experience: what roles do you take on in daily life? What clothes do you wear? How do you behave towards others? Gender expression is what the outside world sees of you, as opposed to gender identity which is invisible and takes place inside.

Identity

Gender is a social construction and refers to the cultural, social and psychological interpretation of femininity and masculinity within a society. It includes all expectations, values and norms that we associate with a particular gender. This interpretation is highly context- and time-dependent.

attraction

Being romantically and/or sexually attracted to other people is called sexual/romantic preference or sexual/romantic orientation. A distinction is often made between LGB (gay, lesbian, bi) and straight, but there are many more expressions of a person's sexual orientation. Think of pansexuality, asexuality, and so on.

Sex

The sex is determined at birth. It is often based solely on what doctors observe visually at birth, and is recorded as such on the birth certificate. Doctors use standards about what a body should look like in order to register a newborn as a boy or girl. Usually people think that there are only two options: a male or female birth gender – and this is legally registered as well.

What is transgender?

Transgender is a general term used to describe people whose gender identity, or male, female, or other inner sense, does not match the gender they were assigned at birth. The term gender describes people whose gender identity matches the sex assigned at birth.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, there are approximately 1.4 million transgender people in the United States who fall into multiple categories. A transgender woman was identified as male at birth but has a female gender identity. A transgender male was assigned a female gender at birth but identifies as male. Some transgender people don’t identify as a specific gender. For example, their gender identity may contain both feminine and masculine elements, or they may feel neither gender. These transgender people are often described as “non-binary.” Another term sometimes used to describe this category of people is genderqueer.

Transgender people may not be gender-conforming. That means adopting habits and customs not normally associated with your assigned birth sex. This means that you can express your gender identity through the way you speak, act, dress, style your hair, and other behaviors. It is also common to choose a new name that is more suitable for one’s gender identity. Some, but not all, transgender people choose to undergo therapy to make their bodies more compatible with their gender identity. includes treatment.

How did people deal with transsexuality in the past?

“I took the plane, I flew to a country I had never been to, to a doctor I had never seen. I was terrified, but I saw no other way out.” Eighty-year-old transgender pioneer Corinne van Tongerloo talks about her past in an interview with De Redactie. She was born in ’36 as Cornelis and feels at an early age that something is not right. The word “transgender” does not exist yet and the first part of her life is very difficult for her. Until she decides, like many other transsexuals in her time, to leave for the capital of the sex reassignment operation: Casablanca. “Those operations were done by a French doctor who had a maternity hospital in Casablanca. He invented that operation. That was of course forbidden and it cost a lot of money,” said Van Tongerloo. The doctor she is talking about is Georges Burou. He performs more than eight hundred sex reassignment surgeries within the walls of his maternity hospital.

Some transgender people are unhappy with their whole body, others with just a few parts. These are often the genitals such as the vagina, breasts or penis. They may choose to have sex reassignment surgery. But by no means all transgender people are dissatisfied with their bodies. Many feel no aversion to their own genitals and only want to express themselves as someone of the opposite sex. They do this through their choice of clothing, hairstyle, whether or not to wear make-up and other habits that suit the desired gender.

Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

The term transgender does not describe a person’s romantic or sexual orientation. Because gender identity is not the same as sexual orientation. The latter term is used to describe a person’s innate preference for romantic or sexual relationships with men, women, or both genders. attracted to members of Homosexuals (gays and lesbians) are attracted to people of the same sex. Bisexual people are attracted to both men and women. Transgender people can be straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual.

transgender vs intersex

These terms are often confused but do not have the same meaning. A transgender person is usually born with a definite sex characteristic (male or female) that does not match the person’s gender identity. In contrast, intersex people are born with an indeterminate male or female body. For example, a baby with male chromosomes may have genitals and other sex characteristics that make it look like a female. The opposite is true for babies born with female chromosomes. In some cases, an intersex person’s reproductive anatomy may combine male and female features. 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 2,000 babies are born with a variety of sex characteristics.
A transgender person may be intersex or vice versa, but usually not. Intersex people can live according to the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, an intersex baby assigned a female gender at birth can grow up as a girl and behave, dress, and be cared for in traditional female ways throughout her life. Some people who were raised as the transgendered gender later adopt the opposite gender identity and change their appearance, behavior, and body to resemble many transgender people.

Discover your gender

Expression

Gender expression refers to the way you express your gender experience: what roles do you take on in daily life? What clothes do you wear? How do you behave towards others? Gender expression is what the outside world sees of you, as opposed to gender identity which is invisible and takes place inside.

Identity

Gender is a social construction and refers to the cultural, social and psychological interpretation of femininity and masculinity within a society. It includes all expectations, values and norms that we associate with a particular gender. This interpretation is highly context- and time-dependent.

Attraction

Being romantically and/or sexually attracted to other people is called sexual/romantic preference or sexual/romantic orientation. A distinction is often made between LGB (gay, lesbian, bi) and straight, but there are many more expressions of a person’s sexual orientation. Think of pansexuality, asexuality, and so on.

Sex

The sex is determined at birth. It is often based solely on what doctors observe visually at birth, and is recorded as such on the birth certificate. Doctors use standards about what a body should look like in order to register a newborn as a boy or girl. Usually people think that there are only two options: a male or female birth gender – and this is legally registered as well.

Variations

Scientific research shows that gender has many more variations. Sex is after all not only determined by external sexual characteristics (the so-called ‘phenotypic’ sex). The gonadal sex (the sex based on the gonads present) is also important, as is the genetic sex (presence of X and/or Y chromosomes).

Discover

Gender is something everyone thinks they understand, but for most it’s complicated. Gender is not binary, it is not either/or. Often it is and/and. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. People are often hesitant to ask questions about sexuality and gender in surveys. What if I say the wrong thing or use the wrong terminology?

Gender identity

The term ‘gender identity’ (also called ‘psychic identity’) refers to the inner gender experience of feeling man/boy, woman/girl, alternately or (neither) both. Gender identities are usually divided into two large groups: cisgender and transgender.

  • Expression
  • Identity
  • attraction
  • Sex

Have you ever questioned your gender identity?

As gender diversity becomes more visible, individuals have room to explore their gender experience. Cissexism and biases often challenge our preconceived notions. Realizing things can be different can be overwhelming, yet liberating. Gender exploration has no right or wrong feelings. We can question and rediscover gender at any age. It's a lifelong process of self-discovery. Gender is fluid and changes over time. There's no definitive guide or solution. Deliberate self-reflection reveals formative experiences and biases. Thinking allows space for discovery.