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elcome to the Joann Prinzivalli website's Public Page. Here you will find information geared to the general public (and that includes schoolchildren doing research on the web!). If you are looking for more in-depth information, you might want to go to the Law section, the Religious and Moral Issues section or the Medical Issues section.
So what does the general public need to know about the CD/TG/TS community?
First and foremost, transfolk (a nice broad and general term) are human beings, and ought to be treated like any other people. We may be different from those people we refer to as "cisgendered" (that is the opposite term for "transgendered"), but we are not disgusting freaks. No human being is a disgusting freak.
Some people crossdress for a pleasurable feeling. Often this means that there may be particular article of clothing, or shoes, or something like that, that the CD may feel a need to wear in connection with their having certain types of fun, or just to wear to feel good. We won't get into exactly what different kinds of fun might be involved, because we don't want to offend anyone's sense of morality or decency (though as long as whatever activity it is, if it is limited to consenting adults, it's none of the business of the sort of people who rant about their moral values). Just that you know it exists.
Others dress for "comfort." A person who feels more comfortable wearing clothing which is usually "reserved" for persons of the other sex dresses for this reason. This is because the person who is dressing in this clothing identifies themself with the gender which in a cisgendered person would be the appropriate gender for the other sex.
Related to this, is the fact that people often choose how they dress as a means of Gender Expression. That is, they want to be treated socially in accordance with the way they are dressed.
There is a term called Autogynephilia that is used to explain how many male-to-female (M2F) crossdressers, transgendered people and transsexuals feel - the thought of seeing oneself as a woman can be either pleasurable in that "consenting adult" sort of way or a matter of feeling right about oneself, or both. I can state definitively that I am much more comfortable about myself when I am dressed in feminine attire, and act and am treated like a lady. This ties in with the concept of appropriate Gender Expression of one's Gender Identity. Unfortunately, the term "Autogynephilia" is often associated with having a psychological disorder. I can attest that there is no psychological disorder involved.
While some people might be casual crossdressers (like someone who might, on a lark, wear a dress on Halloween or Purim), many of us have a need, perhaps even a compulsion, to dress up. This need may be satisfied by occasionally dressing up, or by "underdressing" (that is just wearing opposite-sex undergarments beneath same-sex street clothes). Others express themselves in other ways (for M2Fs that could include nail polish, ear piercing, shaving or other depilation of legs, chest and back, eyebrow tweezing, etc.) (For F2Ms, it could include things like letting the leg hair grow, sporting a crew cut, etc.)
Some dress full-time, and present themselves to the public all the time as a member of the other sex. This is called "crossliving" and the practitioners are sometimes called "transgenderists."
Beyond that, there are those who seek to alter their bodies in ways that are more invasive or permanent. Moving from shaving to electrolysis to get rid of those beard hairs is one thing. Another involves seeking cross-sex hormone replacement therapy, which results, over time, in a physical transformation of some of the secondary sexual characteristics of a person's body (For an M2F, skin becomes softer, body hair thinner, the balding process ceases and there is some fat redistribution to breasts and hips (but the voice stays deep!); for an F2M, the voice gets deeper, and perhaps hair starts growing on the chin, among other things).
And there are some who are sufficiently gender-distressed at having the genitals associated with their birth sex, that they seek, through surgery, to have the genitals altered to resemble the gender they feel inside.
There are also different aspects of gender identity that make for differences in experience within the gender-variant community. Some feel cross-gendered, that is, their gender feeling closely matches that of a person assigned a different birth sex. Some are bi-gendered, with strong gender identities, either in separate "personae" (not separate personalities), or in an integrated manner. Some are non-gendered or androgynous, (sometimes called intergendered) who do not associate with either of the assigned sexes.
Physically, some people are born with ambiguous genitals - these people are called intersexed, though the term hermaphrodite is sometimes used. (Friends of mine feel about "hermaphrodite" the way I feel about "transvestite.")
My husband is a crossdresser, and I don't like it at all! What resources are there for me?
There is SPICE, which is the spouse/SO section of the Tri-Ess (The Society for the Second Self) CD "sorority." (Go to my friends page and click on the link for Chi Delta Mu - and feel free to rummage around there!)
One of the best resources for spouses (and telling spouses!), is Shirley Ann Sometimes' website - click HERE! to get there.
People often ask what books are recommended when dealing with, or being, a spouse of a crossdresser. Here is a highly recommended book available from Amazon.com:
Joann Percy,
Why would anyone want to crossdress or have genital reassignment surgery?
That's hard to say. At one time, I felt I was bigendered - that my feminine nature coexisted with a masculine nature (that I now know was really an artifact of my suppression of my true self),and that I have a deeply-rooted, and perhaps innate, desire to express that feminine side by dressing as a woman. I am one of those "autogynephiliacs" who has a need to feel lady-like and be treated like a lady. I would be most comfortable being full time in my appropriate gender role, and am working on that. I have, over the past couple of years, developed the need for electrolysis and hormone therapy, but I am not sure whether surgery is going to be absolutely necessary for me. (I have not ruled it out, but I don't have it scheduled for a definite date, either.)
Those who have those needs often find themselves to be social outcasts. I am learning just how that feels - since my wife has divorced me, I am not allowed to see my children, and I have lost my job - all because of my being transsexual.
That is such a shame.
Isn't it wrong to try to fool people like that?
Oh my! I don't do this to fool people. Actually, Joann is who I really am - it's just that I tried very hard for years to try to fit into the gender role that society assigned for me. And no, it's not wrong, though you will find bigots and persons with little narrow minds who will tell you otherwise. Some of these bigots pretend that they are Christians. You can find more about this in the page on religion and morality.
But my pastor says that the Bible says Crossdressing is an abomination unto the Lord!
Okay, it's all right for you to believe that what I do is morally wrong. (I think your pastor is misinterpreting the Bible, but we'll find out who was right when we are judged.) You do need to be aware that I believe it is all right. I respect your beliefs, you should respect mine, as long as the exercise of the belief doesn't involve either of us engagng in activity that would cause harm to others, or exploit children.
But think about it, aren't I still your neighbor?
By way of example, a belief that abortion involves the taking of a human life is one that requires some believers to oppose abortion, even though the majority believes it is okay, because abortion causes harm (i.e. death) to the fetus. (Some who believe it is morally wrong are willing to respect the moral beliefs of others, though.) Those who believe that abortion does not involve the taking of a human life see the pro-life people as desiring to cause harm to women (i.e. limit their freedom). This is why neither side on the polarized abortion issue is ever going to give an inch.
On the other hand, a belief that homosexuality is sinful does not require the believer to be prejudiced or opposed to giving civil rights to gays and lesbians. What the gay people do with each other as consenting adults behind closed doors is none of our business - that is between them and God. The Bible says, "Hate the sin but love the sinner." And there is nothing that says you get to choose to hate even people you think of as unrepentent sinners.
Yes, that means you ought to be tolerant of and neighborly to gays and lesbians, even if you think they are sinners. Tolerating what you believe to be sinful behavior in others is truly Christian behavior. Persecuting others because they are different is decidedly un-Christian!
And I would hope that you would also be tolerant of crossdressers, and transgendered and transsexual people. Even if you still believe we are sinners. (If you have a pastor like that, I suggest you read chapter 23 in the Gospel of Matthew, and meditate on the attitude that Jesus had for the scribes and Pharisees. Compare that with the way He treated sinners.)
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