![]() The penis is basically split into three pieces. I hope I don’t squick you all out too much, but I’ll provide a really rough, basic explanation of one of the common forms of MtF lower surgery (aka SRS, sexual reassignment surgery, aka GRS, genital reconstruction surgery, aka vaginoplasty), using the “inversion method”. So you’re going to get your penis cut off? Which is why there are such things as gay, lesbian and bisexual people in the first place. Short answer: sex / gender and sexuality do not have a deterministic relationship to one another. She continues to be described even by her supporters in male and masculine terms. Such as how this ad that ran in the Canadian newspaper The National Post was largely decried for being homophobic rather than transphobic despite being almost entirely based around promoting fear of transgenderism, and how the narrative of PFC Manning has been written as the story of a gay man in the military, despite the fact that the evidence clearly shows she had been planning to transition immediately upon return to civilian life. It also often leads to trans issues being swept aside or subsumed within broader discussions of LGBTQ stuff. This myth is damaging to both trans women and gay men alike. Such as the widespread assumption by men that women dress nice or stylishly or sexily primarily as a means of attracting men, rather than simply an expression of their own identity and feelings that day. This misconception is amplified by our overemphasis of sex and sexuality when thinking about gender and what gender means, so we can end up regarding any expression of gender as being about sexuality. They become regarded as female-like or transgender simply by engaging in a mode of sexuality that is more common amongst women than men, even though many gay men express themselves in an almost hyper-masculine way. The cultural assumption of heterosexuality is so intrinsic, we see gay men as being somehow in defiance of what it is to be a man. I think a lot of this confusion stems from how strongly we associate behaviour with gender. My own preference in addressing it is to simply point out the existence of trans lesbians (that is, trans women who are attracted to other women). ![]() ![]() ![]() A fairly common adage used to address this misunderstanding is “sexual orientation is about who you want to go to bed with, gender identity is about who you want to go to bed as.” The truth is fairly simple: gender identity and sexual orientation have nothing whatsoever to do with one another. It was even pulled out recently while Lance Bass, an openly gay man, was guest-hosting Access Hollywood. This one is impressively persistent, and unbelievably common. Trans women are just really, really, REALLY gay. (my triskaidekaphilia isn’t showing, is it?) Myth 1. Cis readers, please note that much of this can be applied to transsexuality in general.ĭebunking myths is one of those things that us skeptics are supposed to do, right? It is not my intent to contribute to the ongoing cultural erasure of trans men, and I believe their voices, experiences and identities deserve to be heard and understood. Originally published in two parts at Skepchick and Queereka and cross-posted here with permission.ĭisclaimer: I’ve chosen to focus this article on trans women only for the sake of brevity and clarity.
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