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We have included short definitions of terms used on this site and in the wider transgendered community, which we hope will be useful to partners who are venturing into a world which may be completely new to them.

A word about personal pronouns. In the transgendered community, it is the convention that a transvestite 'en femme' is referred to as 'she' rather than 'he'. A transsexual person should always be referred to using the personal pronoun appropriate for the gender with which they identify themselves, ie a M2F transsexual is always called 'she'. On our welcome page, and in most of the general articles, we have throughout used the personal pronoun 'he', despite the fact that if you have a M2F transsexual partner, the correct pronoun would be 'she'. This is for the sake of simplicity and because for those towards whom this site is directed, your own personal experience will probably be of your partner as a male. No offence is intended to transsexual people nor to those whose partners are transsexual.

Each section's main page contains definitions relevant to that section. Please note that while we have made these definitions as simple, accurate and representative as possible, and have as far as possible used the definitions most widely accepted within the community, all definitions may change over time and some individuals within the community may not fully agree with those we have used, however we thank them for their indulgence and understanding.

They are, for our purposes, essential terminology.

Transgendered (TG) - this is a general term which has various definitions, but is usually used to refer to anyone who suffers from any degree of gender dysphoria, including transsexual people, some transvestites and some intersex people. We have in places used the abbreviations 'T' or 'trans' to indicate 'transgendered' - these are recognised abbreviations within the TG community.

Gender dysphoria (gender identity disorder, GD, GID) - is a medically recognised condition in which an individual's psychological gender (ie the feeling of being male or female) is at odds with their biological gender (ie the gender into which they were born and brought up). GD may be mild, moderate or severe and is usually present from early childhood. Its exact cause is unknown, although there are various theories relating to hormone levels in the womb, minor brain abnormalities and early childhood experience.

Intersexuality - intersex people are those who are born with sexual characteristics which are neither unambiguously male nor unambiguously female - typically, they have a mixture of both.There are numerous conditions which can give rise to intersexuality, virtually all of which are genetic in origin. These individuals are not truly transsexual, but may be brought up in one or the other gender and choose to transition to the opposite gender in later life.

Dressed/dressing - this is another recognised abbreviation within the trans community which may appear confusing at first - after all, doesn't everybody dress? In this context it should be taken as a shorthand way of referring to the act of wearing clothes appropriate to the perceived gender rather than the biological gender. So a TV presenting as a woman would refer to himself as simply being 'dressed'.

These are the basic terms which are essential to anyone seeking information about the transgendered world. There are others, however, which are often used within the community and which may not be immediately understood by those outside it.

The site is split into sections relating to transvestites, transgendered and transsexuals.

Transvestism and transsexualism are not the same thing, but there is a certain amount of overlap between them. Some, but by no means all, male-to-female transsexual people initially identify as transvestites, before realising that their gender dysphoria is actually too severe to allow them ever to live comfortably in their birth gender. And many of the issues and problems faced by all transgendered people and their partners are common to all conditions within the gender-variance spectrum. So the section headed 'Transgendered' includes information and discussion about these issues, and if you are confused or uncertain about your partner's position on the spectrum, you might find it easiest to begin there.

In each section of the site, you will find a lot of what we hope will be useful information. As well as pieces written by ourselves, there is a cross section of personal experiences from trans people themselves, their partners, their children, other family members and the like. Certain pieces are held in our 'members only' areas for obvious reasons. If you are viewing the site without signing in or being a member certain content will be invisible to you.

We are truly grateful and forever in debt to those people who have been brave enough to contribute with honesty and candour. It is not easy for anyone to write honestly and openly about their life, especially when the course of that life has been rocky or personally challenging. But all those involved have given of themselves, so that anyone who finds their way here will gain an insight.

Some stories are sad, some are happy, all are different and all are relevant.

We hope you will get something out of each of these stories and maybe better understand.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the following people:-

Kimberley W

Sarah G

Trisha D

Joanne K

Stacy N

Stella

Tina Livingstone

Natasha W

without whose help, encouragement and advice none of this would have been possible. So thank you all very much!

All content on this site is copyright of transpartners.co.uk. We have no objection to reproduction of some of the articles, but please ask, as personal pieces and general articles gifted to us by individuals may not be reproduced without their express permission.

  © Transpartners 2008