10 questions for trans-attracted men about “passing”

Pass-ability
Remy (l) and yours truly discussing “pass-ability” on our Facebook show IN YOUR FACE.

[editor’s note: this article may be triggering for some transwomen]

Trans-attracted men and transgender women: “passing” brings with it, under its flabby underbelly, a host of stories deserving scrutiny. Remy and I talked about this recently on our Facebook Show IN YOUR FACE.

We know there are strong currents-of-thought driving both trans women and men, who are attracted to transwomen, to pursue “pass-ability” either as a way to soothe feelings of dysphoria (for the women) or to find that woman who you’re attracted to (for the men) who won’t embarrass you in public. And while we 100 percent support trans women seeking to soothe dysphoria, men who pursue “passable” women to soothe insecurity can benefit from self-examination.

For the women who are NOT suffering dysphoria, but pursue “passing” for social acceptance: Could there be yearning on your part to seek social approval as a way to soothe insecurities of being trans? If so, is it possible to create within yourself a self-referential sense of security, i.e. drawing a sense of security from your own self-image, rather than a self-image confirmed by society through “passing”? Something to consider there.

For the men: if your desire to be with a transwoman who “passes” stems from your own discomfort with being known as a “trans-attracted male”, that’s a story you’re going to have trouble with. For the women you attract, and the dynamics that may ensue will create a lot of drama for you and her. We spent a lot of time in our show  talking about this. It may be worth checking that out, then seriously ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Why am I wanting a “passable” transwoman?
  2. Is it possible for me to enjoy, along with my partner, the eventual unfolding of my partner’s developing feminine beauty as she pursues her transition?
  3. When I see a guy with a trans woman I recognize as trans, how do I feel about him? What is my emotional reaction?
  4. What would being seen with a “non-passable” transwoman say about me?
  5. What am I thinking society is thinking when I’m out with a trans woman who may or may not pass?
  6. What does being with a trans woman, who doesn’t pass, say about me?
  7. If I can see non-passable features of my girlfriend, can society? Does that matter?
  8. What would it take to date a girl in very early stages of transition? Am I willing to invest the time to grow with this girl as she grows into who she is?
  9. What is it about my girlfriend looking like a cis-girl that is important to me?
  10. Am I buying into society’s definition of gender “normalcy” by pursuing a “passable” trans woman, and if so, how is that disempowering me and limiting my choices in love and other areas, such as freedom of expression?

Answering these questions honestly for one’s self can produce illuminating information, information that could shed light on disempowering stories, thereby giving you opportunity to change them. And in the changing of your stories, you will discover new, unforeseen possibilities emerge in your relationship experiences as well as the rest of your life.

We covered a lot of this in our show. Take a listen.

How to prove your stories create your reality

fullsizeoutput_1e07In my last post I wrote about how sucky stories creates a sucky life. You just can’t complain about life and end up happy. All you get is more suck.

“Suck” doesn’t have to be something monumental, such as chronic illness or chronic unemployment. It can be as simple a thing as not finding the love you want whether you’re transgender or trans attracted. It an even be as simple as having a desire for something (anything) and not finding fulfillment of that desire.

That does suck!

Whether you believe it or not, you’re supposed to be getting all you want out of this life. But to have all those things there’s a few other things you need to remember and then put into action.

:Your disbelief can’t be disproved.:

One is that you are creating your life experience as you go. The other is that your emotions clue you in on the process you use (your story-telling) to create your life experience and are constantly indicating whether you’re creating the life you want, or something other than that.

If you don’t believe that, it doesn’t matter because that’s what’s happening. The interesting thing about the stories you tell is (and stories are just thoughts, and “beliefs” are thoughts you think over and over) this: life will always show you evidence of the story you’re telling.

So in this quirky way, if you don’t believe what you’re reading right now, life is…right now…giving you all kinds of evidence to “prove” your thoughts and beliefs are “true”. Including other thoughts consistent with your story that this is not “true”. So your disbelief can’t be disproved.

The only thing you can do to prove to yourself what you’re reading is accurate is to try on new stories consistent with what you’re reading. I guarantee over 30 days, such a test will offer so much evidence you’ll begin to see life in a whole new way.

And from there, the sky’s the limit.

 

When racism and transphobia look the same

racism-transphobiaIt’s an interesting question. This articlearticle takes a good, long look at that question. It begins with recounting the murder of a transwoman, so be forewarned…

The article’s main message is, you’re transphobic if you think a person who is trans needs to tell potential suitors that fact before they engage in a relationship. The argument goes that a person who is not attracted to transwomen will want to know ahead of time who they are getting involved with. Because if that person is transgender, there is a possibility the cis-person (or other variety of human) won’t choose to be with that person.

I guess the same argument could be made for being racist: if somehow black people could conceal their blackness, racists would want to know ahead of time whether the person they find themselves interested in is black, so they can check their interest.

Sounds dumb, right? I mean, in order for a person to want to be sure they aren’t interested in said black person is because they are somehow interested in them, right? Interestingly, we don’t have to worry about that because black people can’t conceal their blackness. Most anyway. As a result, people who make their partner choices based on skin color alone can merrily avoid all us niggers. lol.

Not so with transgender people apparently.

Which is the point, I think, of the article. Not that all transgender people conceal their trans ness…many actually do. Intentionally and unintentionally. But that’s not the point I’m making. I’m saying it’s quite possible that a person who is scared of being with a transgender person can easily find themselves attracted to a transgender person before discovering the person is indeed trans. I mean have you seen Dusty Rose? This of course has happened in many of the trans murder cases in recent years.

But being scared of a person because they are trans is an interesting thing.

The author puts it more plainly:

None of this means it is transphobic to not be attracted to individual trans people. Nor is it transphobic to not be attracted to specific genitals. But it is transphobic to claim to not be attracted to all trans, people. For example, there is a difference between saying you won’t go out with someone for having a penis and saying you won’t go out with someone because they’re trans.

It’s similar to someone saying they aren’t attracted to all black people. So is it a preference? Or is it phobia/racism?

Incidentally, many, many transwomen are racist if held to this same definition. Couldn’t a transwoman’s lack of interest in black men – because of their skin color – or some other aspect of their physical disposition, something they can’t help bing, be interpeted the same way?

You better believe it.

“Oh, but THAT’S a preference,” some will say….Not according to many,  many, many, many people. But not everyone. Some think it’s just prejudice. Others do think it’s a preference. So how is not wanting to be with a transwoman, even if a person is initially attracted to such a person, not a preference then? I think it depends on the story.

Dusty Rose
That’s Dusty Rose. And yes, she’s fine, period

After all, there are a LOT of black people, men too, who are loving, caring people. Just as there are probably similar such people among transwomen.

Here’s a great definition of racism: “people making negative assessments of large groups of individuals that they’ve never met, based solely on the color of their skin.” Replace “based solely on the color of their skin” with “based solely on their status outside the heteronormative binary”, and we start coming to some interesting parallels.

Suffice it to say this is an great example of why I wrote the post recently on why it’s so hard to be the “woke” police. Everyone has a picadillo or two. You’re bound to have yours exposed when you start exposing others. So it’s tough to call people racist or transphobic, especially in the grey areas. If a person is calling people racist slurs, or anti-trans slurs, or demeaning a person, or a group of people in either category on the basis of that alone, that’s one thing. But it gets really slippery when a person starts trying to parse out examples that could be just preference.

It’s far better – if you’re wanting to be happy – to leave all that shit to other people. It’s far better to create stories which create the best reality circumstances for your life and let other people live. If that means sometimes (in the early stages) meeting a dick, or a racist or a transphobe or two, so be it. In the end, those people won’t be able to find you….if you’re telling the right stories.

And you’ll live happily ever after.

 

More people are liking our content

Aaarrrgghhh

And some aren’t. That’s just how society is. Especially the transgender community. We are steadily gaining accolades for our work. More people are beginning to follow what we do, which is great, because there is no reason why the approach we advocate for living can’t be practiced – to beneficial results – by anyone.

But I’m not stupid.

Not everyone is ready for this approach. By that, I mean some folks are just too deeply wedded to their stories, stories which convince them that life (as Remy has put it) “happens TO them”. We’re having a conversation with such a person right now on one of our YouTube shows.

The momentum of one’s stories can be seemingly irresistible. Particularly stories that have been repeated many, many times…to the point they become beliefs. Beliefs are simply hidden stories. They are hidden from the storyteller.

But the results aren’t. Everyone can with relative ease discover what stories they are telling, simply by looking at two things:

  1. What’s happening in their lives.
  2. What’s coming out of their mouths.

There are quite a few illustrious stories in that YouTube conversation. Worth a read.

So while our numbers continue to rise, it’s no surprise there will be those who are turned off by something we publish and stop following our work. That’s ok.

It can be for everyone. But it doesn’t have to be.

The PROCESS called trans attraction

tranny chaserThe term “tranny chaser” is often thrown at men who are attracted to transgender women. Usually by the very women the men are attracted to. We talk a lot about stories here at The Transamorous Network. A story is a thought a person repeats to themselves until it becomes a belief. Beliefs are stories a person repeatedly thinks until it becomes “unconscious” – it becomes so familiar to the person, they don’t have to think about thinking about it. It just is.

When a story becomes a belief, it is very powerful. Long before that point, such stories are attracting to themselves physical phenomena – events, people, circumstances – which match the story’s content. Of course, there is evidence disproving, or not matching, the story. But the storyteller cannot see that evidence. The predominantly only see matching evidence. The more the person repeats the story, the more difficult it is to see contrary evidence. That’s why, for example, some transwomen claim they will “never” find a guy, while pointing to the mound of her failed relationships. So long as she continues to believe that story, she continues to have that life experience.

At some point a story, particularly a negative one, has so much momentum behind it, it becomes automatic or knee-jerk. For example, a woman who happens to be trans can have an experience with a guy who definitely is NOT a “tranny chaser” observe some behavior that “triggers” her “tranny chaser” story and, in no time, that story becomes active in her mind. When that happens, the guy becomes a chaser. Even if he really isn’t one.

There are, of course, plenty of transgender women who do not have such stories. So guys, you’re in luck! For those women who do have such stories, there’s little you can do to defend yourself against them. Other than, of course, changing your stories about transgender women so you don’t encounter them.

What’s fascinating about transgender women who do have this story, or any other which demeans the men naturally attracted to them, is the state of hypocrisy involved. This wonderful Medium story by Julia Serano, which I’ll refer to several times in future posts, characterizes the state of being “transgender” as a process. Serano brilliantly describes how a person who is “cis-gender” could at any time become “trans” as soon as that person decides to coincide their appearance with an already existing or emergent internal identity:

…in discussions about trans identities and trajectories, [the words “transgender” and cis-gender”] often give the false impression that “cis” and “trans” are immutable and mutually exclusive categories, when in fact they are not.

For example, there are many people out there who (at this particular moment) would describe themselves as cisgender or cissexual, but who in the future will identify as transgender or transsexual. And (in the case of those who detransition) some people who self-identify as trans today may not in the future.

In fact, when discussing matters of identity and gender transition, people are by default presumed to be “cis” until they say or do something (e.g., voice a trans identity, express gender non-conforming behavior) to denote otherwise. This point is crucial, and I shall be returning to it shortly.

Furthermore, there is no test (medical, psychological, or otherwise) to determine whether or not a person is “really trans.” The terms transgender and transsexual are experiential — individuals have an internal experience of gender that they can either try to repress, or outwardly express via being gender non-conforming, or transitioning to their identified gender, respectively.

The same can be said for a man who exhibits “tranny chaser” behavior. As I said above, first, just because a guy speaks or acts in a way that looks like “chaser” behavior, doesn’t make him a chaser. And even if he consistently behaves that way and therefore may be accurately called such a person, that doesn’t mean he will remain that way. To the degree the observer continues to refer to that person as a “chaser”, it is impossible to see evidence in his behavior that is not  “chaser”-like.

Got it?

Why am I defending men who “tranny chase”? If you think I am, then you’re missing the point.

The point is, your stories determine the reality you experience. That includes how people behave in your life experience. Giving grace to others (men, transwomen….anyone) is a overt act of countering stories which create realities we prefer not to have.

And in giving that grace, not only do you free others to be human BE-ings, which is decidedly a process rather than some fixed state, you free yourself from a limited life experience where only those things you dislike are your reality.