[WantAPair]

I ran across this interesting post in Autostraddle Gender section:

Please Stop Saying That Trans Women Were “Born Boys”

I want to make a few things perfectly clear. Trans women are women. Period. End of story. We’re not “women who used to be men.” We’re not “men who identify as women.” We’re not “males who identify as women.” We’re not “men who became women.” WE ARE WOMEN. Stop putting qualifiers on our womanhood. It’s offensive, hurtful and cruel to insinuate otherwise. Our past, present, and futures are ours to define and no one else’s. Even if we didn’t figure out that we were trans until well into our adult lives, it absolutely does not mean that we were ever boys or men. Many trans women feel that they’ve always been girls, or at the very least, that they’ve never been boys. You don’t have any right to tell me, or any other trans person, that they were ever a particular gender, just as I have no right to tell you what gender you are. A trans woman who was obligated to present as male for most of her young life is was no more “born a man” than a lesbian who was obligated to date men for most of her young life “used to be straight.”

I agree with the author. When I was born, the attending physician took a hurried look and declared that I was a boy. 99 out of 100 times the doc got it right, but not that time. I was a girl, and I've had to live with the doctor's mistake for most of my life. So, when people say of me, "She was born a male, but identifies as female." I correct them: I was assigned male at birth, but I've always been female.

Clara

Two points:
A: On one hand I complete understand the reason for this, but, on the other, IF (and I'm NOT questioning that they were born female) they choose to see themselves as female and not "used to be a guy", why do they feel they HAVE to tell any potential boyfriend they may have after becoming "fixed" (as my TS friend, Carla, puts it), that they used to be a guy? What's wrong, if they feel the way quoted above, with just being women, 100%, and if the baby question comes up, just say, "I can't have babies." instead of adding, "because I used to be a guy". And;
2: When you are born, the doctor pronounces that you have this genitalia or that. He has no more to go on than anyone else. Even you have no clue until you can reason that there ARE two genders and they try to force you to fit into the one that suits the item you have between your legs. In this day & age, it'd be best to let the kid choose. Let them have pink stuff AND blue stuff until they can figure which the want to gravitate to! My best friend/surrogate little sister, Kelly, told me a few months ago that her son who is now 8 years old, decided he wanted to wear nail polish and let his hair grow long. She said it's perfectly fine with her, but his father wouldn't approve at all!! She's painted his nails at least once since then! I haven't heard any more about since then.