[...]Bad Questions to Ask a Transsexual: 1,000,000+ Views! | Calpernia Addams Diary[...]…

1. Why can't you just be happy being a girl? Your brother is perfectly fine with being a boy! Well dumb@$$, my brother IS a boy, which is what I want to be.

Other variations could include, the neighborhood girls are happy being girls, and they all ride a bike just like yours, so stop complaining, etc.

2. Well if you would just be more like a girl, you would have more friends! Not a question, but you know what I mean. "Just be what God made you, problem solved" type comments.

At that age, I would call myself "David" or "Derek"; I would say "No, good BOY," when told to "be a good girl" or "act like a little lady". When someone asked me if I wanted to play with a doll, I shouted, "NO! A football!"

As an older child, I would pick out a certain bike, wallet, or watch that I wanted, and be told that I could not have it, because it was a BOY'S bike, wallet, or watch. I could not wear certain articles of cothing that I liked, because they were BOY'S clothes. I could not do certain cool activities, like hunting, crabbing and building go karts, because THAT WAS FOR BOYS.

I felt like a boy trapped inside a girl's body. So consequently, I wanted to be a boy. But you can imagine the consequences from both adults and peers alike, whenever I dared mention that.

But here's the kicker: I'm not attracted to women. For several years I thought that I must be gay, but that's not it. I'm attracted to men. Yet I still wear clothing traditionally considered to be for men; I carry a wallet, not a purse, and wear a guy's watch. I'm in an occupation traditionally considered to be for men (industrial electrician).

And I wouldn't be comfortable any other way. "Girl stuff" just doesn't do it for me. I don't like it. I don't know why; I just don't.

It would be wonderful if transgendered people were free to be who they really are. Sadly, it won't happen in this lifetime I'm afraid.

But, minority races were once hated and ostracized, and that slowly changed over the years. Homosexuals were once hated and ostracized, which is often still the case, but that is slowly changing as time goes on, as awareness increases and society becomes more tolerant, one person at a time.

So we can only hope that one day, the same will happen for transgendered and transsexual people.

So I found it quite helpful, as well as entertaining. Good rule of thumb, if you wouldn't say / ask it to a stranger or coworker, you shouldn't say / ask it to a person who has gone through gender reassignment. (See, "people first language", I'm teachable).