Pride in Plymouth

Trans is an umbrella term and is difficult to pin down in a neat definition one of the best we have found is from the Scottish Equality Network

People whose gender identity or gender expression differ from the ‘norms’ expected by the society they live in, including transsexual people, cross-dressing people, intersex people and androgyne/polygender people.

A person’s gender identity is their internal sense of where they exist in relation to being boys/men or girls/women.

A person’s gender expression is their external gender-related clothing and behaviour (including interests and mannerisms).

TRANSSEXUAL PEOPLE

Transsexual people are usually distinguished from other transgender people by their strong desire to live completely and permanently as the gender opposite to that which they were originally labelled at birth. Transsexual people seek to bring their body into accordance with their gender identity so that the man or woman that they really are finally becomes clearly visible.

When people complete their transition, they may no longer regard themselves as being under the trans umbrella. They might consider having been transsexual to just be an aspect of their medical history which has now been resolved and so is no longer an issue in their life. In such cases, they simply describe themselves as men or as women and it is most disrespectful to insist on calling them trans, transgender or transsexual against their wishes.

ANDROGYNE PEOPLE
POLYGENDER PEOPLE
THIRD-GENDER PEOPLE

Some people find they do not feel comfortable thinking of themselves as simply either male or female. Instead they feel that their gender identity is more complicated to describe. Some may identify their gender as right in the middle between male and female, while others may feel mainly male but not 100% male (or vice-versa not feel 100% female). Alternatively, they may entirely reject defining their gender in terms of male and female in any way. As their gender does not conform to traditional ideas of gender as binary, they have created new words to describe themselves, the most common are androgyne, polygender or third-gender, although other terms are also occasionally used. However, some people will prefer not to define themselves using anything more specific than just transgender or trans.

It is commonly agreed within these communities that self-definition is the most important criteria. Due to society’s expectation that all people, including transgender people, will identify as just either male or female, it can be very difficult to work out how to express a gender identity which is neither simply male nor female. Some people may therefore experience a long period of uncertainty about how they relate to the highly gender-stereotyped world around them.

CROSS-DRESSING PEOPLE

Cross-dressing people dress, either occasionally or more regularly, in clothes associated with the opposite gender, as defined by socially accepted norms. They feel a strong recurring desire to cross-dress for emotional satisfaction, erotic pleasure, or just because they feel more comfortable doing so. Cross-dressing people are generally happy with the gender they were labelled at birth and do not want to permanently alter the physical characteristics of their bodies or change their legal gender.

Often the cross-dressing provides a pleasant outlet for them to explore feelings and behaviours associated with the opposite gender and therefore they may use opposite gender names and pronouns while cross-dressed.

Although they enjoy the actual periods when they cross-dress, some people can initially find it difficult to come to terms with their desire to cross-dress and may spend a period of time struggling alone with feelings of shame or fear. In due course, most are able to move beyond these negative feelings and simply enjoy cross-dressing with others at supportive social evenings and occasional weekend events.

Most often those people who are using cross-dressing to explore feelings and behaviours associated with the opposite gender will self-identify as transgender people. It is relatively rare for people to self-identify as trans or transgender if their cross-dressing is purely erotic rather than gender motivated.
Cross-dressing men are sometimes referred to as transvestite men, however this is becoming an increasingly out-dated term and may cause offence.