1. What does transgender mean?
Transgender people are people who experience a mismatch between their gender identity or gender expression and their assigned sex. Transgender people are sometimes called transsexual if they desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another. Transgender is also an umbrella term in addition to including people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex. Other definition of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender or conceptualize transgender people as a third gender. The term transgender is defined very broadly to include crossdresser.
2. Have transgender people always existed?
Transgender people exist in the world. The term transgender is no more strange for people, and it is accepted by more and more people now. Research shows that there are hundred of thousands of transgender people in Thailand, 16 million transgender people in the US, half a million of transgender people in the UK. There is a larger number of transgender people in the world.
3. Why are some people transgender?
The reason why some people transgender is different from one to another. For most transgender people, they are not comfort with their birth gender, and they want to live in the right way. There are also some biological factors that lead people to transition. Some people just want to experience something new and special in life, they want to live in another way.
4. What kinds of discrimination do transgender people face?
Discrimination is a big problem for transgender people. Some of them are even afraid of staying in the public place. Low employment rate is another aspect of transgender discrimination. They may get fired one their work partners know that they are trans people. Most importantly, they are not be treated respectful. Some people lack of understanding on transgender people, and think they are different from ordinary people. In addition, there are those who oppose hookup dating transgender people, which makes it difficult for transgender people to find trans date.
5. How does someone know that they are transgender?
The way of experiencing their gender identity is different from one to another, and the transgender people may aware of their gender identity at any ages. Some transgender people may feel uncomfort with their gender at an early age, they wish to live as the opposite gender. For example, a boy likes to dress his mother's clothes to look like a girl. Some people are aware of their gender identity later in life. They have try their best to live as their assigned gender in the early age, and decided to live as they like later. They need acceptance from their friends and family.
6. Is being transgender a mental disorder?
Mental disorder can cause significant distress or disability. Transgender people don't have any physical and psychological discomfort, so being transgender is not a mental disorder. We cannot deny that transgender people are more like to suffer from mental disorder, such as anxiety and depression. Their suicide rate is higher than that of cisgender people. In a word, transgender people need a peaceful, safe, and friendly living environment, and they need to be treated as the ordinary people.