Good, I was hoping for something like this.

First of all, it's not a mental disorder but a physical disorder, strange as it may sound to some. A kind of intersex condition, in fact. As you might know, the brain is what determines your gender, not your genitalia. Essentially, transsexuals are people born with the brain of one sex and the body of the other. This creates a whole lot of mess. GID (Gender Identity Disorder) is what it's called. You probably understand that it's much simpler to change your body than to change your brain, and as such that's the solution for most.

In other words, an FtM (female to male), for example, isn't a woman who wants to be male, but a man who wants to be male.

It has nothing to do with a masculine and feminine side. Nothing at all. Nor is it related to sexual orientation, while we're at it. An MtF (male to female) can easily be very masculine, and a lesbian. Likewise, an FtM can be gay and exceedingly feminine.

As for sex change operations, they're often necessary because the brain disagrees with what's already there. People with GID often have "phantom limb" sensations, in that they can feel what's supposed to be there but isn't there, just like someone who has lost an arm or a leg. The brain knows what its body should be like.

The reason why this is a problem at all is the dysphoria that invariably follows. Suicide rates are high, and most are depressed to some degree. The whole sex change process is there to lessen the dysphoria and let people live their lives the way they feel they're supposed to.


Also... Here are a couple of transsexuals for you.




Note how blatantly clear and obvious it is that they weren't born with their current sexes.