It's a serious question, though, prompted by reading Leslie Feinberg's book, Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink and Blue.
Does the fact that I, on occasion, deliberately sport 'masculine' attire make me Trans? I wear the clothes...
1. to amuse myself and because I like how I look in them
2. to turn someone else on
3. to try and identify myself to and with others in the GBLT community
4. as a form of Cosplay, connecting with a fictional bisexual character I admire (Ianto Jones from Torchwood).
I used to have two cross-dressing partners. One was heterosexual, and may or may not have been 'bi-gendered', as Feinberg terms it. The other was Bi-sexual and gender ambivalent (he wanted to partially transition, to become a shemale). So I have been the partner of TransPersons too.
Labels, everything seems to be labels! I'm with Captain Jack Harkness (or Harkness-Jones, as he is in my own fanfiction Alternate Universe), we're too hung up on labels. But as humans we inevitably(?)use labels to socialise ourselves, and to separate ourselves from others socially too. We make judgements on which people we identify with and which people we, linguistically at least, vilify.
Leslie Feinberg comments on all of this in Trans Liberation, and I want to share some of the thoughts and ideas Leslie presents here (The following constitutes excerpts from a speech given by Leslie to the Ninth Annual Texas 'T' Party, which I understand is a convention for heterosexual cross-dressers and their partners):
"Misconceptions have been a barrier between our communities. In order to have any real dialogue, it means we must all listen carefully to each other... Many of us have been taught to identify ourselves by what we are not. But it's not a satisfying definition and almost always hurts the people we are defining away from. I believe we should strive for positive self-definition and also defend each other's self-identification as we do our own." (p22)
"We, as cross-dressers--gay, bisexual, lesbian and straight--and our partners, have a stake in challenging restrictive attitudes towards human behaviour and self-expression. And I believe that combating every form of prejudice against lesbian, gay and bisexual love has an importance for us here, as well." (p25)
"...cross-dressing has always been socially synonymous with gayness. I think this misconception is based on the fact that uni-gender lesbian and gay cross-dressers were socially visible and organized at a times when most bi-gender, heterosexual cross-dressers were isolated or members of 'underground' organizations." (p26)
"I understand the rage you must feel when someone claims that your identity is an expression of shame--that you are gay and won't admit it. And I have thought a lot lately about what it must feel like to have one person in the world who loves you. Who you yearn for sexually. And who you fear will spurn you and leave you if they mistakenly think that your sexuality has changed--that you must be gay." (p26)
I find this passage especially interesting. Feinberg is speaking to heterosexual cross-dressers, but the same understanding should likewise be extended to those of us who identify as bisexual, I feel. It is quite common for gays and lesbians to hold the same misconception about us, too.
"...you are revealing twin aspects of your gender expression...your sexuality has not changed." (P27)
Perhaps we bisexuals are revealing twin aspects of our sexual expression...our gender has not changed?
"We have all been wounded in the ways we negotiate sex and intimacy; we fear communicating our needs and desires. Greater freedom to conceive the limitless potential of human sexuality, without shame, is an important and necessary contribution to all of humanity." (p28)
Well yeah, I'd agree with that, except that 'gender' and 'sexuality' seem to have become interchangeable terms in this last passage, which they are NOT. My body is Female, my gender is under consideration, my sexual orientation is humano-sexual (pansexual), my emotional identity is humano-romantic ...and sometimes I cross-dress / cosplay...
Am I Trans? I am HUMAN. That's my biggest subset and I'm sticking with it. Though I don't mean to put barriers between myself and non-humans or hurt their feelings by defining myself away from them, okay? LOL.
Bibliography
Leslie Feinberg, (1998), Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink and Blue, Boston: Beacon Press.
.
.
.
