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Transgendered Support
TACT presently provides an ongoing support group for transgender support
Please contact our Director of Client Services
Jim Downing at 583 1317 ext 15 or
for more information
External links that may be of interest
http://heartcorps.com/journeys/
http://www.transgender.org/
Other information of interest
INTRODUCTION:
Transsexuality, also termed "Gender Dysphoria" is now reaching the point of being reasonably well understood, though many myths and general foolishness about the subject still abound. This document concerns the classic definition of transsexuality, as defined by Benjamin, Money, Green, and so forth. Intersexuality and transgenderism will not be addressed other than obliquely.
DEFINITION:
Gender Dysphoria, literally a misery with regard to gender, is the condition of being in a state of conflict between gender and physical sex. A transsexual is a person in which the sex-related structures of the brain that define gender identity are exactly opposite the physical sex organs of the body.
A transsexual person, born to all appearance within a given physical sex, is aware of being of a gender opposite to that physical sex. This conflict, between gender identity and physical sex, is almost always manifest from earliest awareness, and is the cause of enormous suffering. It is common for transsexuals to be aware of their condition at preschool ages.
This agony can and does lead to self destruction unless treated. The incredible difficulties that surround achieving treatment are themselves often agonizing, the sum total of which can play havoc with the lives of the gender dysphoric. Indeed, it is apparent that some fifty percent of transsexuals die by age 30, usually by their own hand. This morbidity is known as the 50% Rule
Although transsexuality is not the same thing as homosexuality, the two can sometimes occur in conjunction with each other, and there is evidence that both are created by the similar mechanisms, in utero.
Whereas transsexuality is concerned primarily with gender identity and the correction of physical form to fit that identity, transvestitism is primarily a sexual fetish that occurs after puberty, and the transvestite has no desperation to redress a physical incongruity. The transvestite gains satisfaction from appearing as the opposite sex only, and the behavior is apparently not rooted in a biological, pre-natal basis, but is learned. Transvestitism, unlike transsexuality, primarily is the activity of males.
There is tremendous social bigotry and often outright violence expressed towards the transsexual, and this often makes the life of the transsexual very difficult. Some transsexuals who have completely successful in transition to the appropriate sex therefore choose varying degrees of secrecy about their state and history. Other transsexuals never succeed in transforming physically to the point of being undetectable as transsexuals, and tend to suffer accordingly.
Please call TACT for more information and / or support at (757) 583 1317
Ongoing Support Groups and events are available
Success Stories
In our efforts to show support to the community we are providing a link to the website
of a special person who has made a success of her life and is truly an inspiration
MS. Tona Brown
Please click on her photo to link to her site
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