At some point during your time on RedHotPie or in the wider community, you may have wondered what it actually means for a person to be transgendered. What is Transgenderism? Is a transgendered or transsexual person male, or female, or both? Or neither? In Thailand, transgendered (or trans) people are considered the third sex, which might be a convenient label for some trans people but it probably doesn’t suit the individual situation of most others.

Indeed, there is still a lot of confusion around the different terms to identify trans people, along with an overall lack of education and understanding of the issues that trans people face in their day-to-day lives.

One article can’t possibly cover all aspects of transgenderism but we’ll have a go at identifying aspects that are perhaps relevant to the RedHotPie community, dispel some myths, and put some of the basics into a nutshell.

Trans Terminology

One important thing to get clear is terminology. There’s a tendency to use some terms interchangeably when they can mean entirely different things.

Firstly, ‘trans’ itself means to change. So if someone is a transsexual, that person has changed the sex that they were assigned at birth. If a person who was born biologically male (ie – One X chromosome, one Y chromosomes and one penis) but decides later that they feel they should have been born biologically female, they take whatever steps necessary to change their sex (transitioning). Some transsexual people will go as far as gender reassignment surgery, whereas others will opt to only take hormones to effect sex change. Some people may not do anything at all and this brings us to transgenderism.

While largely similar in concept to transssexualism, people who are transgendered are more focused on the change in gender than their bodily bits. Their interest is in being recognised by the gender they identify with rather than by what’s between their legs and any gender stereotypes associated with it. If a transgendered female identifies herself as a man, then she will prefer to be referred to as ‘he’ and use the men’s room. This article’s photo is of Jenna Talackova who was a transgender Miss Universe Canada entrant.

As for transvestites, that’s just another term for cross-dressing which has little to do with transsexualism or transgenderism. A cross-dresser wants to remain the same sex and gender that they were assigned at birth but they get their sexual kicks or other form of fulfillment from dressing up in opposite sex attire. Most cross-dressers are men who like frilly knickers and floral dresses. It’s a fetish as opposed to a complete change in identity and their sexual orientation will vary from cross-dresser to cross-dresser.

Are Trans People Gay or Straight?

Homosexuality means being sexually attracted to someone of the same sex so a transgendered person is only gay if they are attracted to someone who is the same sex to the sex that they identify as. Confused? Let’s take a look at the case of Cher’s son Chaz whose sex change was made into a documentary a few years ago.

Chaz was born biologically female and for most of his adult years, lived as a lesbian and he was in a long term relationship with another woman. Chaz eventually realised however that he identified himself as a man and made the decision to transition which his partner supported. The couple stayed together for some time after the sex change but eventually broke up. Although Chaz stopped being a woman and therefore a lesbian, his partner was still attracted to women and no doubt found it difficult to be with someone who was essentially now a straight man. On the other hand, had Chaz been heterosexual but transitioned into a man then he’d certainly be considered gay.

In short, you should disregard the sex or gender that the transgendered person was assigned at birth. Just ask him or her what their sexual orientation is rather than guess or assume. There are just no black and white answers where sexual orientation and transsexuality is concerned.

Why Is It So?

There are many scientific theories about why some people identify strongly with the sex or gender they were not born with and we can only encourage you to do your own reading if the issue is of interest to you. Transgenderism is quite topical though so it’s worth having some understanding of it, especially if you actually got to the part above about cross-dressing and learned something completely new.

For most people though, there’s no need to get too bogged down in the science of it all. If a trans person simply says they are female then she’s a ‘she’ and no further discussion should apply unless you’d like to get to know that person much, much better. Which leads us to…

Getting Sexy with a Transgendered Person

If there’s anything we’ve noticed on RedHotPie over the years, it would be the growing interest in meeting and playing with transgendered people. While we do appreciate the curiosity factor, we do stress that you approach any trans person with respect as we hope you would with anyone else on RHP.

The best thing to do when you decide to contact a trans person is to ensure that you have read their profile carefully. Most trans people will be fairly open about their situation and state what it is that they are seeking from other RHP’ers and what they want to do. Even so, the key is to never make any assumptions. If you’re not sure about something, it’s best to ask politely to avoid any awkward moments later on.

In terms of ‘how’, again it’s best not to assume that sexy relations with a trans person is a specific sort of experience. You might be hot for the idea of a sexy female with extra fun bits but there are many trans women who don’t include their penis in play or have other preferences that may rain on your sex parade.

Finally, while RHP offers a blanket member type (TV/TS) to cover this diverse group of people, if you do decide to write to someone in this category, please ensure that you note which gender they appear to be identifying with and address them accordingly. Conversely, many trans people choose either a M or F member type which is entirely up to them. If they do pick one or the other, you can take that as a clear indicator they identify as that particular gender and would like others to do so too.

‘Interested in reading some member forums related to this topic?

‘My straight hubby has a fantasy of having sex with a tranny.. is that normal? ‘

‘Feeling a little more educated.‘

‘Ladies, would you play with a person who identifies themselves as TG or TS?‘