APA Defines “Transgender” & “Transsexual”
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, August 28, 2015 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Last week I mentioned that activists have transitioned in recent years from the term transvestite, which meant cross-dressing, to the current term of “transgender.” Both terms defy the fact that God created male and female and formed their bodies differently for specific purposes. The emergence of the term “transgender” is another effort to deny the Creator, the One True God.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), transgender is an umbrella term for anyone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to the typical associations with the sex they were “assigned at birth” (APA’s term), which is a misnomer, since the sexual identity of males and females is a built-in feature of the body.
Let me further interrupt the APA with this question. If it were possible that sex were “assigned at birth,” who “assigns” it – the obstetrician or the baby’s father or mother, friends and relatives or population control officials? Of course not! Sexual identity is not an assignment; it’s an organic physiological fact determined at conception.
APA says gender IDENTITY refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female or “something else” (their term); gender EXPRESSION refers to the way a person COMMUNICATES gender identity through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body. Remember this. Sex is a biological fact evident by internal and external bodily structure of males and females. Gender is not a biological fact. Gender is a psychological construct manifested in behavior.
The term “transsexual,” is another term referring to people whose gender identity is different from their biological sex. The prefix “trans” means to cross over or to change thoroughly. “Trans” is shorthand for transgender. Biological males or females who identify as transsexual may behave or dress or express themselves as the opposite sex “or something else.” APA does not define “something else.”
Some transsexuals may alter their body through medication or surgery. Others may simply change their appearance and sexual expression. The altering process formerly called sex assignment or gender reassignment, is now referred to as “gender affirmation.” Maybe that term was changed because “gender reassignment” is a misnomer, as well. Gender not “assigned at birth” cannot be “reassigned after birth,” but can be individually adopted, since gender is a psychological construct manifested in behavior.
A woman born female, but identifying as male becomes known as a trans-man, or female-to-male. A man born male, but identifying as female, may become known as a trans-woman, or male-to-female. If I’ve offended your sensibilities, I apologize, but strange times require us to be aware of strange and disturbing things! For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.