MadMabel

Has it occured to anyone here to actually ask someone who is transsexual to comment?

I am a military veteran (22 years worth) who is herself transsexual. I made the male-to female change in 1986 and have been surgically complete since December 1987.

First, the word "tranny" is considered rude and insulting by most of us. I take it that way though others do not. Lets use more accurate and less offensive words to keep the discussion civil.

Point 1:There are both male to female and female to male transsexuals. There are no reliable numbers on the ratio between the two and none that can be relied on about the proportion of transsexuals in the general society. My own best guess is about two MTF (Male to Female) for each FTM (Female to Male). But this is a guess. It is safe to say that there are more transsexuals than you might imagine. Combining the numbers from various surgeons shows that there are many thousands of us.

I have lived and worked as a woman for over two decades without indication that anyone had any questions. That is hardly a unique expeience.

Point 2: Estrongen and testosterone are very powerful hormones. Feed estrogen to a genetic male and that person will lose a great deal of strength. The opposite for genetic females on testosterone.

For convenience I'm going to use MTF TS in examples from here on in. In general the opposite is true for FTMs. I am also generalizing a lot. You know how it is. Pretty much any human characteristic can be plotted onto a bell-shaped curve. Using strength as an example, a graph of the strength of women in the general population and one of men will overlap quite a bit. A lot of women are stronger than many men but the center of the bell curve will be shifted some toward the weaker side for women compared to men.

The loss of strength caaused by estrogens is very dramatic. It shows up in many ways ranging from difficulty opening pickle jars to lifting heavy lifting. When I and another TS helped a friend move later on we were told that she and I acted the same way. We would go to lift a box, get a surprised expression, then put our backs into lifting it.

As an estimate its probably safe to say my strength declined maybe 40% from what it was within a year of starting on estrogen. That's a lot.

In the case of MTF athletes they are competing with a women's musculature but a man's heavier bones. Because of this skeletal weight MTF TS are actually at a competitive disadvantage to genetic women.

Point 3: As to there being no transsexual athletes, actually there are quite a few.

Rene Richards competed in women's tennis competitions for years and had a legal fight to be recognized as a woman by the governing agency. She is not the only one who had that experience.

Mianne Bagger, an Australian, is a successful competitor in golf. She has competed at the top level in tournaments around the world.

Michelle Dumaresq was Canada's women's downhill mountain bike champion.

These are only the most famous athletes that come to mind. Google would turn up many more. There is no shortage of examples.

In addition to the pros many "women of transsexual experience" compete in amateur events such as company softball teams.

MadMabel