Am I Transgender or Transsexual?

If you have a penis and feel male, or if you have a vagina and feel female, then you might not have given your gender identity a lot of thought. But if you are a teen who doesn't feel like your body matches the gender that you were assigned, then you might be wondering if you are transgender or transsexual.

Transgender is an umbrella term that includes:

• drag kings and drag queens

• cross-dressers
• transvestites
• genderqueers
• transsexuals

Transgender individuals may have the genitals of one sex, but a gender identity usually associated with the other. For example, a person born with a penis who feels female may identify as transgender.

Transsexual individuals generally want to surgically or hormonally alter their bodies to match their identities. Pre-op transsexuals tend to have not had surgery and so have the genitalia and bodies of their birth sex. They will usually still live as the opposite sex. Post-op transsexuals have undergone surgery to change their genitals and / or other parts of their bodies.

Some teens know that they are transgender or transsexual from early childhood. For others, the question, "Am I transgender or transsexual?" is one they struggle with for a long time.

Read more about figuring out if you are trans...