We, at Silicone Body, are delighted when we hear from our customers. It doesn’t matter whether the feedback is positive (which still makes our day), or negative, we’d take it for what it is, and use it to improve our products and customer service.
About 30% of our customers live alternative lifestyles. That’s why, when our customer “Anna” emailed us, to point out an error we have made when describing alternative life styles, we not only fixed the error, but (with her permission) are posting her comment (in its entirety). Many, including us (prior Anna’s email) don’t understand the difference. We figured, you’d benefit to know. Here is her email, uncensored:
Message:
You may wish to remove “shemale” from your website as it’s a slur. We’re not shemales we’re women with Y chromosome. Pretty much junk DNA after it’s served its purpose of converting gonads to testies etc, just as the second X chromosome is junk after serving its purpose of ovary etc creation . From there on its pure hormones and that’s changed through HRT.
Transgender is an umbrella term that includes all significant deviations from the norms of gender and sex. Drag queens, transsexual people, cross-dressers, transvestic fetishists, people who identify as trans-masculine or trans-feminine, people who are genderqueer, etc. are all included.
Transsexual refers specifically to people who permanently transition from one sex to another, usually through one or more medical treatments such as hormone replacement therapy and/or genital reconstruction surgery, usually along with legal and social changes such as change of legal name and documentation, alternate gender presentation (clothing, make-up, etc.), voice training and so on.
The adjective “trans”, as in “trans woman”, usually means transsexual but sometimes means transgender. It’s usually clear from context.
Drag queens are men (typically, but not always gay) who dress in an exaggeratedly, camp female way for the sake of performance or entertainment. There is typically very little emphasis placed on actually passing as female but instead on having a particularly ostentatious and fun outfit. This is an act of playing with gender roles, not an act based on expression of a deeper internal sense of self. A drag queen adopts a female persona but will (almost always) have a male gender identity.
Cross-dressers are men with a male gender identity who, for a variety of possible reasons, choose to occasionally dress in women’s clothing and accessories and present as female. The acts of cross-gender presentation are temporary and do not reflect their “true self” that being what they identify most as.
A transvestic fetishist is a cross-dresser who does so for sexual motivations, due to being aroused or getting an erotic thrill from the cross-gender presentation. They also maintain a male gender identity and the cross-gender presentation is temporary.
These distinctions are important. Seriously.
Thank you so much, Anna, for making it simple and clear. Lesson learned!
