Transsexualism is a word that not everyone completely understands. It defines a group of people called transgenders. It occurs when a person feels that they should be a member of the opposite sex, other than the one they are genetically defined as being. Some transgenders feel this way because their physical body at birth made it difficult for doctors to determine which sex they were, therefore operations were done to define their gender. This is a confusing condition for the person going through it, as it is for the people trying to understand it. Some people see it as a mental identity disorder, while others believe the condition only refers to those who went through the medical alterations.

Transsexualism for any group is confusing to deal with, but for the first group of transgenders it can be hard to live with. The ridicule and constantly trying to fit in, while society tries to hide them away begs the question: Did God make a mistake with me? They may never find the answer they are looking for, but some in society may have it right. There is a theory that these type of transgenders feel the way they do because of abuse or rejection from the opposite or same sex early on in life.

The second group of people, those physically altered at birth, tend to be seen as victims. But, this doesn't help with the ridicule for not looking or acting like the sex they were brought up to be. At the same time, the transsexualism problem is easily identifiable, as these people are usually on hormone therapy and have been for quite some time. Some transgender dating leads to marriage and later one person discovers their true gender identity through medical records or a DNA test. With this knowledge, some will have transgender surgery. Though most people can discover their true gender through testing there are a few who even have ambiguous DNA - both male and female.

For transsexuals, the need for transgender groups is great no matter what group they fall into. The first group needs transgender help more, considering they don't know exactly why they feel the way they do. When things happen to us in our childhood we tend to block them out to avoid dealing with any difficult feelings. The second group needs support as well, to understand why they were physically altered. They may harbor immense anger towards those who made the decision for them. Transsexualism is not an easy thing to understand, much less to live with. Understanding is the first step to knowing what to do if you encounter someone who is a transsexual, as well as changing the way you feel about them as people, not defining them by the problems they have.

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