Is it a person loving the opposite sex so much as to want to become that very thing they love?
Is it a sexual driven interest?
How can for example a man know he is a woman on the inside without ever having been a woman?
What is so important about appearing as a woman even if you really are a woman on the inside, why not just be gay?
I would think that it is a disorder of sorts, a combination of things. That it can be linked to sexual attraction to the gender you want to be. That it can be that they have other disorders like borderline personality disorder that makes them see themselves as an invaluable person and thus they seek to change that by changing the physical self. As i have read that many transsexuals are diagnosed with borderline personality disorder this makes since. Basically I think in many cases of Transsexualism they are thinking there personality is one way when it is not as a result simply of being dissatisfied with there present personality. And because we are often locked into the way people view us such a drastic change such as a sex change unlocks peoples view of you to a degree thus allowing a personality shift. However i think it would be healthier to attempt a personality shift without changing the body as I have read that something like 1 out of three TS people are dissatisfied after the transition.
But also I think that really it doesn’t matter if you want to change your body and you can be happy with that change, you should, we are coming to a point in time where the body is becoming like clothes that you can wear such as to better reflect your personality as you see fit if you are actually clear as to what your personality is, as I imagine some may not be due to various disorders or conflicts of thought.
In many cases for male-to-female, it’s early identification with the female role (wanting to be a female) that triggers it. It usually begins in early childhood.
I think they feel like one, emotionally.
For many completed transsexuals, I believe being gay is just a transitional point. Most transsexuals are gay first.
Most evidence shows that it has more to do with self-identification. It has to to with self rather than other.
I don’t know what the passing psychological criteria is for a sex change, but I believe it is a requirement to go through an seet of psychological evaluations before anything is chopped off permanently. What criteria is used, I do not know, but it may become more lenient as society becomes more permissive and as time goes by.
The problem is, many choose to start changing their bodies before the onset of puberty, for optimal results. My worry is, once the stigma is lifted and legal rights are granted, society may become more open to letting people change their sex before puberty. But is that enough time to fix or correct the psychological problem? Can the mind form before the body has? I doubt it.
Anyways, you might find these interesting and educational (from the world-pros of transsexualism):
Yet couldn’t that identification be because they do not at such a young age see themselves as fitting in and thus choose to identify with something else in an attempt to over come their differences with “normal” people?