I honestly have no idea, nor do I really care.
The cashier, whose name was Alice, looked very feminine. If I wasn’t transgendered myself I would never have thought she was trans. The combination of subtle clues (such as her voice sharply dropping in pitch at times) and the pronoun pin, which I have seen at TG gatherings, made me 95% sure she was transgendered. I didn’t ask her myself since I wasn’t 100% sure, and since I was not presenting as female at the time I worried she’d think I was trying to hit on her–she was half my age.
Thirded. I don’t care about the gender of any person I see. Of course, I also don’t care about the sexual orientation, religion, or race of any person I see or interact with on a daily basis.
One of my mom’s next-door-neighbors is trans. I’m over at Mom’s house a couple times a week, but I don’t always see the neighbors… call it maybe every week or two?
The ex of one of my aunts is trans (she was still presenting and I think identifying as male at the time they were married). I see her occasionally at family events involving their children. But, being ex, not much otherwise.
And there are at least a few openly trans students in the public high schools I teach at. I’ve never seen any of the other students give them grief over it, but then, this is an extremely LGBTQ-friendly community.
I’m not especially observant or caring about stuff like that, and I live in an LGBTQ-friendly region, so I have no idea, but I’m sure I do interact with transgendered people and just don’t notice. Which is cool; I can’t think of a single situation I’ve been in where it would matter if the person I was talking to was transgendered.
There is just one person I talk to regularly who I know is trans, and I only know that because her wife told me. If she hadn’t mentioned it, I never would have known.
No idea. I live in NYC so probably daily, but how could I possibly know for sure?
A lot fewer than when I was in Thailand. But probably more than I would see if I lived in North Dakota.
At least once a week. One of my high school freshman buddies from 2nd grade is transgenered. My kid is active in the LGBT community, and has several classmates that are trans.
Since I stopped working with a coworker who began the job as Victor and then transitioned to Vee, rarely. Given how few people are trans statistically, I suppose it’s not surprising. There are about twice as many people with autism and I don’t see that many kids who make me think “Oh, they’re like Josh and Liam,” the two boys I worked with who are on the spectrum, either.
Is that unusual in your area? I see couples at the grocery store all the time, especially on weekends.
I don’t think that being aware that you are living in the real world and discussing real and omnipresent danger is ‘nasty’. The people who know who don’t conform to gender norms get harassment on a regular basis even in a relatively liberal area, and are quite aware that stopping for gas at an out of the way gas station is a high risk activity. And this doesn’t even mean blatant cross dressing; simply having a shaved head is enough to prompt ‘conservative values’ types to do things like peep in the bathroom “to be sure you’re using the right one”. “All the streets” is a stupid qualifier, of course there’s very little that will happen on every street in every state.
There would probably be more people who are ‘out’ as transgender, or whatever the correct phrase is, or who think of themselves as transgender, in an LGBTQ-friendly environment, even if they don’t move. Identifying as transgender is not always immutable, especially in children and adolescents, so social pressure might play a role both ways. I.e. someone who is “really” transgender might be pressured to de-transition, just like someone who is not “really” might explore the idea for a while and then decide the same.
Deciding who is “really” and who is not is, to say the least, a vexed question. Certainly not something you can decide by casual observation.
Regards,
Shodan
Is the word “transgendered” common in the US? Among my friends the words that people use are “transgender” or simply “trans” (adjectives.)
I have several friends who are transmen, transwomen, or non-binary.
And yeah, how can you know some random person you see out in public is trans unless you’re told?
And what is it about making eye contact in the bathroom? I never do, and I’m a cis woman. And although most people in public mistake me for a man, I’ve never been considered a man in the bathroom.
How would I know? There is one I met but knew she was transgendered only because someone told me, although she did have a male physique. We had a grad student who was transitioning and started wearing dresses. They (their choice of pronoun) dropped out before making the final chop, so I didn’t know them as transgendered.
A teacher friend I know has a female-male transitioning teen student. While he/she acts manly she says her writing and artwork still look very feminine.
How would I know?
I know two people who are definitely transmen, because I knew them beforehand. And there’s a guy where I work who’s probably trans as well. And there’s the occasional person in the doctor’s office or the grocery store or on an airplane who gives me such strongly-mixed signals that they’re probably mid-transition. But there are many, many people who pass pretty well as their preferred gender, and without asking intrusive questions I wouldn’t know them from a cis person.
I worked with a TG woman for 2 years but since I left that job I think I’ve seen a few TG people. Last one was at the local comic con.
Probably daily, but I do not make a habit of asking random folks if their genes, genitals, and gender really align with current social “norms.”
I’ve never met an “out” trans person. I might have met quite a few otherwise but who knows. None of my business.