1. True Trans Women vs. The Rest: Understanding the Difference
TransForTruth Series, Part 1: What Makes “True Trans Women” Different?
This blog is dedicated to exploring the realities of transmedicalist, male-attracted trans women, what some might call true trans women, and how their experiences differ from other gender-diverse groups.
In this first part, we clarify who these women are and what sets them apart from nonbinary individuals or trans women who are female-attracted. Researchers have long observed that not all male-to-female transgender people follow the same life path. In fact, psychologist Ray Blanchard’s work demonstrated two distinct subtypes of MtF transsexuals.1
One subtype is often referred to as homosexual transsexuals – those born male who are exclusively attracted to men and who typically showed strong feminine traits from an early age.2 These are the individuals we refer to here as true trans women. As the Northwestern University in Chicago professor put it,
Typically, When Something Happens When You’re Young, We Believe it To be Who You Are. If it Happens Late in Life, That’s Maladaptation.
True trans women (androphilic transsexual women) usually report experiencing gender dysphoria and cross-gender identification very early in life, often in childhood.2
They tend to have a consistent feminine presentation or identity throughout adolescence.
The early-onset trans women typically relate strongly to what’s sometimes called the “feminine essence narrative” the classic feeling of “being women trapped in male bodies,” with lifelong feminine behaviors.2
This narrative genuinely describes the lives of true trans women quite well.2
In contrast, trans women who are gynephilic (attracted to women) have often been observed to come out or transition later in life, sometimes after living years as men. Medical research has shown (Blanchard, Bailey, Lawrence and others) that it is their motivation is considered a paraphilia, or sexual deviancy. They are, simply put, turned on by the idea of being a woman.7
Not a good trans.
On the other hand, the later-onset, female-attracted trans women often do not have that childhood history; their transition may be driven more by internal fantasies or the discovery of autogynephilic desires in adolescence or adulthood.
Medical Transition and Dysphoria
The Lie that Someone Doesn’t Have to Have Gender Dysphoria to Be Trans is Dangerous, Harmful Misinformation
Another key difference is attitude toward medical transition. True trans women almost always experience intense gender dysphoria, or, a distress with their male sex characteristics, and seek relief through medical interventions (hormone therapy, surgeries).
They are often eager to undergo hormone replacement and surgeries as soon as feasible, because aligning their bodies with their female identity is critical for their well-being. Trust me, I know.
To the real harm and detriment of true trans women, activists push the narrative that “not everyone under the” vomit-worthy-so-called “trans umbrella will undergo medical treatment.”
Nonbinary people, for example, typically adopt highly-visible, hyper-individualistic performative symbols and no medical intervention at all. That was the academic way of saying that they are doing it for attention because, for whatever reason, they feel the need to feel special and that they can only do so in this way. Truly, I mean this genuinely, that’s very sad. I wish I could help. Maybe someone reading this will realize that if a trans woman agrees with Marjorie Taylor Greene then perhaps we’re both right. In fact, we agree with a lot of what the conservative right wing has to say on the subject because it has gone too far. Please find something that makes you happy. Clearly this isn’t it. And you’re just hurting people.
In fact, advocacy materials note that “not all transgender people can or will take those steps, and a transgender identity is not dependent upon medical procedures.” These advocacy materials are harmful and they need to stop.
True trans women typically undergo hormonal/surgical treatment, whereas some other trans-identifying individuals (be they nonbinary or gender-fluid) might be content with only social transition or minimal medical interventions.
And now because of the nonsense narrative that you can be trans and not receive medical attention, the Supreme Court has effectively laid the road work for excluding hormone replacement therapy and surgeries for people who actually need it because of the antics of a few.8 Again, your boredom is costing lives. So please, again, be happy. But realize that “nonbinary” isn’t going to be it.
Sexual Orientation and Identity
By definition here, true trans women are male-assigned at birth and exclusively attracted to men – essentially, in sexual orientation they are similar to heterosexual women (or gay men, if one considers birth sex).
This shapes their life experience: many seek male partners, may dream of conventional marriages, and generally identify strongly within a traditional binary framework (i.e. they are women, and their partners are men). I
Trans women who are attracted to women (or who identify as lesbian trans women) have a different social experience – often retaining a connection to male-oriented socialization longer, and sometimes navigating romantic relationships with female partners instead. We will explain later how this is dangerous to women, children, and us — true trans women.
Nonbinary people, for their part, may reject binary labels altogether, and their goals often involve expanding or redefining gender categories beyond male/female. And honestly, why are they even part of this conversation.
We’ll discuss this more in Part 5, but it’s important to note up front:
True trans women’s identities and goals tend to align with the traditional gender binary, whereas other groups (like nonbinary individuals) explicitly challenge or step outside that binary.
In summary, “true trans women” as defined by TransForTruth are those transsexual women who fit a well-documented profile in both research and community anecdote: they are transgender women from male birth, who are attracted solely to men, experience childhood-onset dysphoria, and pursue medical transition to live life as women.
They stand apart from nonbinary people and from trans women with other sexual orientations due to differences in early history, motivations, and how they relate to the gender binary. Understanding these differences sets the stage for the discussions to follow in this series.
Blanchard R. The concept of autogynephilia and the typology of male gender dysphoria. J Nerv Ment Dis. 1989 Oct;177(10):616-23. doi: 10.1097/00005053-198910000-00004. PMID: 2794988. ↩︎
Bailey, J.M., & Triea, K. (2007). What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine50(4), 521-534. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2007.0041. ↩︎
Bailey, J.M., & Triea, K. (2007). What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine50(4), 521-534. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2007.0041. ↩︎
Bailey, J.M., & Triea, K. (2007). What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine50(4), 521-534. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2007.0041. ↩︎
Bailey, J.M., & Triea, K. (2007). What Many Transgender Activists Don’t Want You to Know: and why you should know it anyway. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine50(4), 521-534. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2007.0041. ↩︎
Lawrence, A. A. (2004). Autogynephilia: A Paraphilic Model of Gender Identity Disorder. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy, 8(1–2), 69–87. https://doi.org/10.1300/J236v08n01_06
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