This article is for people who are interested in transgender people and want to get to know them. There are some basic knowledges about transgender people if you are interested. For people who think they might be transgender or pre-trans, you should know these things as well to help you figure yourself out.
First, what is transitioning? Some people think that transitioning is doing top surgeries and gender reassignment surgeries. As a matter of fact, transitioning covers more than you think it does, including changing pronouns, changing names, dressing differently, wearing makeup if it is a transgender woman and so on. Of course, surgeries are also part of transitioning.
Second, if you don’t know their gender, it is okay to ask. When you want to refer to a transgender person, but you have hard time in choosing pronouns, it is okay to ask. For most transgender people, the worst thing is that people identify them as the gender in which they were assigned at birth. There are many transgender people cannot pass very well in real life. Therefore, if you are not so sure about their gender, you can ask them directly. It is better than using the wrong pronouns and being considered as personal attack which you didn’t mean to.
Third, some insurance company covers surgeries, such as sexual reassignment surgery. If you don’t know whether your insurance covers your surgeries, feel free to call and ask them. Sexual reassignment surgeries are extremely expensive. You don’t want to pay them in full payment and later realize your insurance actually covers them.
Forth, what is FTM and MTF? FTM is the initials for female to male, which is female to male transgender, called transgender men. That means he is born as female and changes to female afterword. MTF stands for male to female, which is male to female transgender, called transgender women. That means she is born male and changes her gender to female afterword.
Fifth, the difference of crossdressing and transgender. Many people think that crossdressers are transgender people. That is totally wrong. Crossdressers usually do not have problem with their gender identity. Crossdressing is just like one of their hobbits. Crossdressing is a form of gender expression, not gender identity. Many crossdressers have their own family and kids. They just like to crossdress for their own pleasure. As for transgender, they do not accept their assigned gender and wish to be their opposite gender.
Sixth, not all transgender people are going to have surgeries. Many transgender people do not need to have surgeries. It depends on their level of gender dysphoria. Some transgender people have severe gender dysphoria. For those people, having surgeries might help alleviate their gender dysphoria. While many transgender people do not have such serious gender dysphoria, they don’t need to do surgeries. SRS, sexual reassignment surgeries are not only very expensive, but also painful. Being a transgender person does not mean that you should definitely have surgeries. It’s all up to you.