A Diversity Of Identities – Being A Transsexual Or A Transgender

In 1953, an American transsexual managed to give transsexuality a worldwide fame by undertaking a male-to-female sex change operation. Her name was Christine Jorgensen. The event had taken place before, in Germany, where a Danish transsexual had opted for a gender reassignment surgery.

However, from the American soil the issue sprang up more vividly than from within German borders. Even if a prior sex change operation had taken place in 1930, it took 23 more years for another similar operation to bring the issues of transsexuality and transgenderism to the awareness of the worldwide public.


Usually, transsexual individuals are those who approach gender reassignment surgeries. Transgender individuals, while approaching the same attitude – feeling that the gender assigned to them at birth doesn’t exactly suit their state of mind – do not opt so frequently for sex change operations. This does not mean they don’t do it. The point is that every transsexual is a transgender person, whereas not all transgender individuals are transsexuals.

In other words, a transgender person is one who wants to be like, dresses like, undergoes surgery in order to turn into or easily identifies with an individual belonging to the opposite sex. Subsequently, transgenderism will include not only transsexuals, but also transvestites and drag queens, for instance.

Therefore, transgenderism is an ample notion: it circumscribes the diversity of manifestations concerning the crossing of gender barriers. When such an individual places significant importance on a gender reassignment surgeries or on the importance of genitalia in the completion of his or her picture as a member of the opposite sex, he or she is a transsexual.

It doesn’t really matter if he or she has undergone or not a sex change operation. The transsexuality/ transgenderism dimensions are still deep-rooted. Apart from the discrepancy that exists between their physical appearance and the gender assigned to them at birth, transsexuals are regular people. Just think about it: what are we all looking for? Are we looking for a sense of equilibrium in our lives? Do we abhor situations that ruin our sense of balance? Are we looking for peace of mind? Well, this is what everyone, and we mean every single human being looks for.

With transgenderism, the issue of equilibrium locates at the level of the body that doesn’t exactly fit the mind. Certainly, we have all experienced, at one point or another, the claustrophobic feeling of a body that does not suit the image we had built for ourselves. It goes the same with transsexuals or with any other member of the transgender community.

Fortunately, such communities become more and more stable. The same, they turn more and more powerful and find suitable means of giving voice to their concerns. In addition, one of the most beneficial aspects of these communities is that members have the opportunity of knowing one another, of establishing contact and of living within normal communication ranges.

In the end, such communities – with the online alternative, they will grow wider and more diverse – are the illustration of a natural need for communication and understanding. Paradoxically enough, diversity can act here as a glue to bring members closer to one another and thus reinforce the entire community.

By: Ken Wilson

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Transgender communities include a variety of people facing gender barrier issues. Transsexual individuals belong to such communities. Whether they opt or not for gender reassignment operations, transsexuals remain an illustration of the individuals searching for a way to fit their bodies to their state of mind.

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