Labels

We like to stick labels on everything and person and the only labels that count are the ones we give ourselves.

So when we say we are trans what does it mean?

We got a grant to come up with a survey (Henceforth to be know as the instrument.) to study the trans community for AIDS. one was pretty straight forward. Cut and pastes the standard HIV/AIDS questions, but... the meaning of words was the big issue that held us up. We asks question like you were playing "20 Questions" or "I Got A Secret"

Okay, think of this. When a person says they are trans, what does it mean?

A. They crossdress.

B. They are drag performers.

C. They live full time in their chosen gender.

D. They have transitioned all the documentation.

E. They have had GCS.

F. All the above.

You can see the problems that we faced. So we asked: Do you ever dress in the cloths of the opposite gender? Do you do it as part of an entertainment act?

So we asked a series of question to determine what the labels meant to them.

But why do we even need labels... Hi, I'm Diana

We like to stick labels on everyone and everything, but the only labels that count are the ones we give ourselves. So, when we say we are trans, what does it mean?

We got a grant to come up with a survey—henceforth to be known as "the instrument"—to study the trans community regarding HIV/AIDS. That part was pretty straightforward: we cut and pasted the standard HIV/AIDS questions. But the meaning of words was the big issue that held us up. We had to ask questions like we were playing 20 Questions or I've Got a Secret.

Okay, think of this. When a person says they are trans, what does it mean?

A. They crossdress.

B. They are a drag performer.

C. They live full-time in their chosen gender.

D. They have transitioned all of their legal documentation.

E. They have had gender confirmation surgery (GCS).

F. All of the above.

You can see the problems we faced. Because of this, we had to ask: Do you ever dress in the clothes of the opposite gender? Do you do it as part of an entertainment act? We asked a whole series of questions just to determine what those labels meant to them.

But why do we even need labels at all?

Hi, I'm Diana.