Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Heterosexual

215 (62.7%)

Bisexual/pansexual

66 (19.2%)

Homosexual

16 (4.7%)

Asexual

37 (10.8%)

I'm 12 and what is this?

9 (2.6%)

Total Members Voted: 338

[kaijyuu]

I'm going to need a ten page report on my desk on what trans* is and how it differs from transsexual.

The * is just a wildcard so trans* refers to everything that might start with the word "trans."

Transgender, transsexual, etc.

[Max White]

Ok... So what is the difference between transsexual and transgender?
Sorry if this sounds offensive, because people normally take offense to questions relating to sexuality, but honestly I don't know.

[Baffler]

Don't tell the church!

Too late, this thread is being shut down.

Just kidding, that would be a bit hypocritical of me, as I reproduce by... well, this.

[VerdantSF]

See that is an interesting hypothesis, because looking back it is kind of obvious that my partner was orchestrating things to try and hook up with me. Not that I'm unhappy with the outcome, just that if sexuality is so fluid and dependent on stimuli, it may actually be possibly to convert somebody, although it may very well be the case that some people are more open to it than others.

Bisexuality certainly complicates matters.  I think (and this is NOT a pot shot at bisexuals) that many of the anti-gay closet cases that keep making headlines are not actually gay, but bisexual.  For them, putting forth that it's a choice makes sense, because for them it really has been a choice.  Just like it's hard for people who are mostly straight or mostly gay to understand bisexuals, it's probably quite difficult for bisexual closet cases to understand that for many gay men & lesbians, they really just don't have any attraction to the opposite sex, so suppressing their feelings and entering into heterosexual relationships bring none of the fulfillment that a bisexual may get from such a union.

[Kansa]

Ok... So what is the difference between transsexual and transgender?
Sorry if this sounds offensive, because people normally take offense to questions relating to sexuality, but honestly I don't know.

I believe transgender is someone who identifies with a different gender than the one they were born with and transsexual is someone who has gone through an operation to become that gender.

[kaijyuu]

Ok... So what is the difference between transsexual and transgender?
Sorry if this sounds offensive, because people normally take offense to questions relating to sexuality, but honestly I don't know.

This is the source of some argument among the trans community but the most often agreed upon definitions are:

Transgender: Body of one sex but mind of another.
Transsexual: Body modified through surgery to match the mind.

A transsexual is transgender, but it's not necessarily the other way around.

[VerdantSF]

Speaking of transgender stuff, I think it's really interesting when you have transgender individuals who are also gay, like transgender gay men who were born women, but transitioned into become male and are attracted to men.  It really illustrates that gender and sexual orientation are two separate things, even though they often get conflated. 

[Max White]

Bisexuality certainly complicates matters.  I think (and this is NOT a pot shot at bisexuals) that many of the anti-gay closet cases that keep making headlines are not actually gay, but bisexual.  For them, putting forth that it's a choice makes sense, because for them it really has been a choice.  Just like it's hard for people who are mostly straight or mostly gay to understand bisexuals, it's probably quite difficult for bisexual closet cases to understand that for many gay men & lesbians, they really just don't have any attraction to the opposite sex, so suppressing their feelings and entering into heterosexual relationships bring none of the fulfillment that a bisexual may get from such a union.

Could be somewhat the case. Welp, we ruined it for everybody else. Have fun with that. 
Great, I go from "Straight white male oppressor" to "Bi white male oppressor", just can't catch a break!

A transsexual is transgender, but it's not necessarily the other way around.

Well that doesn't sound to be strictly true from a logical rhetoric point of view, but if you were transsexual and not transgender I imagine you would find yourself very unhappy with the outcome.

Anyway, thanks for the definitions!

[Lectorog]

Here in San Francisco, bears only date bears, though twinks and non-twinks (that are also not bears) do date.  The bear community is very bear-centric here.  I have a lot of bear friends, though I'm not one, and every single one of them is dating another bear.  They go to bear club events, like "Bearracuda" and frequent bear-majority hangouts like the Castro & 18th Starbucks that everyone calls Bearbucks.

Wow this isn't even joking is it?

Re: Trans*:
Wouldn't transsexual be relating to the body exclusively, while transgender would be relating to expression exclusively? Like, an exclusively transgender girl wouldn't feel weird about having a penis, as long as she were treated as female in every other way; and an exclusively transsexual girl would feel very uncomfortable with her body, while (somehow) being okay with not being treated as a girl.

[Max White]

Interesting that terms like 'bear' and 'twink' and whatnot exist in LGBT circles a lot more than otherwise straight circles.

[Ogdibus]

trans*

When did the asterisk get added?  I saw it for the first time, a few days ago.  I've never seen it before that.

I saw it for the first time a few months ago. It basically covers not just transgender/transsexual people, but genderqueer, transvestite, bigender, etc. people too.
(On that note, in case you were wondering what the difference between transgender and transsexual is; transsexual is usually reserved for those who've undergone either top (ftm) or bottom (mtf) surgery. Transgender is mainly used for people who are pre-op, but AFAIK they can be used interchangably.

[VerdantSF]

Could be somewhat the case. Welp, we ruined it for everybody else. Have fun with that. 

Great, I go from "Straight white male oppressor" to "Bi white male oppressor", just can't catch a break!

Well, you, by being out, are helping out .  I really think homophobia wouldn't be as big a deal, especially with men, if more bisexuals (including those in heterosexual relationships) came out.

Here in San Francisco, bears only date bears, though twinks and non-twinks (that are also not bears) do date.  The bear community is very bear-centric here.  I have a lot of bear friends, though I'm not one, and every single one of them is dating another bear.  They go to bear club events, like "Bearracuda" and frequent bear-majority hangouts like the Castro & 18th Starbucks that everyone calls Bearbucks.

Wow this isn't even joking is it?

Nope, not joking at all.  However, there's a reason for it (not necessarily a good one, but yeah).  Here in SF, the reigning body type for gay men for a long, long time was the ultra-muscular, manscaped one.  If you didn't have a six-pack, you were fat and ugly.  When describing someone like me, I'm "straight average" but "gay morbidly obese."  Silly and exaggerated, but there's definitely truth in how skewed the body culture is in some gay meccas. 

The bear body type is in direct opposition to this.  Beer bellies and  body hair are celebrated.  So many bears have been told that they're ugly that they've become very insular.  Unfortunately, this means that the bear community has now created it's own dogmatic rules on what is attractive and what isn't.  It kind of sucks, because I've been attracted to some bears, but because I don't have a lot of body or facial hair, I'm automatically not their type.   

[Iceblaster]

So I've decided to actually post here since everyone else has, I shall talk.

Personally, I identify as a bisexual, however due to growing up in a Christian home, not being able to drive() and not being in a high school, I'm unable to experiment if it's true or just me telling myself that.

Until then though, I've been happy to just go on my current feelings in terms of sexuality.

[Max White]

So far the bisexual/pansexual category is outvoting homosexual at a rate of seven to one, and asexuality and homosexuality are one to one. I'm honestly a little surprised that homosexuality is doing so poorly this poll.

[VerdantSF]

Most gay dudes are too busy on Grindr and Scruff to bother with this forum .  On a serious note, I find it interesting how bisexuals are relatively invisible IRL, but relatively quite well-represented online.  I suppose that's to be expected though, since it's second nature to extrapolate someone's sexuality after they mention a single partner.  I had a past roommate who I just assumed was gay after he mentioned a boyfriend.  And then he brought a girl home one night.  Then I had a coworker who mentioned a boyfriend once.  Didn't even think twice that she was now hetero in my mind until she revealed her bisexuality later.