Transgender
Transgender is a term used to describe any person whose appearance and behavior does not fit easily into the known categories of male or female. Often, this person feels true and comfortable with a gender identity that is the opposite of the body they were born with. This person lives in transition between the male and female experience. Cross-dressers or transvestites like to wear the clothing and hair styles of the opposite sex, (most famously, drag queens), while many transsexuals, (described by some experts as having the brain of one sex, in the body of another) commit in a big way: they undergo surgery and hormone therapy to actually become the opposite sex, 24 hours, 7 days a week. The chicly androgynous (and at times, bi-sexual) are so perfectly poised between male and female as to appear to be without clear gender.
Synonyms: Boy/Girl, Cross-Dresser, Drag Queen, In Drag, Transvestite
See Also: Bisexual, Fantasy, Fetish, Gay, Lesbian, Taboo
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| In many ancient cultures, including Native American tribes, human societies have held a special place for the transgendered children. When a boy showed an interest in weaving or cooking, if a girl wanted to hunt and train for battle, parents were delighted, for they had given birth to a "Berdache". These were honored souls whose job was to create bridges of understanding between the male and female camps. |
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