Gender 101: An A-Z Handbook & Exploration

By Savannah Hauk

Gender diversity is an umbrella term used to describe gender identities that demonstrate a diversity of expression beyond the binary framework. It refers to how a person's gender identity, role, or expression differs from the cultural norms prescribed for people of a particular sex. Ms. Savannah Hauk, as a person on their own continuing journey of discovering what it means to express themselves in a way outside their binary birth sex, explores the mythos of the established Western Culture view of gender and what has been set as determinable as socially acceptable when it comes to proper gender presentation.

In Gender 101: An A-Z Handbook & Exploration, Ms. Hauk tackles the following:

• How our gender identity is based on more than our biology or genitalia.
• How there is so much gender diversity in the rest of the animal kingdom.
• How gender dysphoria can be tied to existing scientific evidence.
• Where researchers got gender diversity right and where they got it wrong.
• How descriptive gender labels became stigmatized, and how we are 'taking them back.'
• How what we wear and how often we express ourselves is reflective of our authentic gender identity.
• How our concept of self is critical in defining true authentic gender identity.

Gender 101: An A-Z Handbook & Exploration is a study of how one's gender-diverse presentation and persona is one shining star in a galaxy of options, a lesson in breaking down pre-conceived notions about gender, and how the concept of our ideal and authentic self is informed and influenced by both external forces and internal struggles. For anyone looking for a culmination of ideas concerning how one sees one's gender and how to develop a stronger and prouder sense of self, this book is for you!

 

Detroit-born Savannah Hauk is an author, podcaster, LGBTQIA+ advocate and two-time TEDx Speaker. She lives a confident, visible and successful male-to-female dual gender life. Through a lifetime of experience and research, Savannah has come to understand the many reasons men need to express a more feminine persona, the struggles and fears they face, and the weight of the transgender labels they accept but may not truly or fully understand.

Her eLit award-winning Living with Crossdressing book series was written to demystify and destigmatize the dual gender experience for both crossdressing men and the people who love them. Savannah also co-hosts the weekly The Fox and the Phoenix Podcast, reinforcing the same positive and inclusive message of diverse gender identity and multiple expression.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Savannah Hauk
• Release date: May 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224808380

Savannah Hauk

You know more about my life from reading this book than many people I interact with on a daily basis. Although I do live a dual life when it comes to colleagues, co-workers, and friends, I am an open book to the right people. I hail from Detroit, Michigan, where the climate of acceptability in the 80s and 90s was less than stellar for crossdressers and other transgender folks. More than twenty years ago, I moved to the big city of Manhattan Island for work-related reasons and discovered a world (or a couple of boroughs) where alternative lifestyles were much more socially acceptable. Eventually, I moved out to Long Island where I have continued to live, work, love and explore both my masculinity and femininity. I hope my journey is of value to all readers, both for the crossdresser in understanding themselves and for those partners, friends and families that need support to foster their acceptance of a person whose lifestyle may be foreign, misconstrued, and scary. Live well, love well, and be the most beautiful creature you can be.

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Crossdressing Is What You Do, Not Who You Are

A Fairy Tale

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Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.

~ Alexandre Dumas

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, a solitary crusader named Magnus lived in the far-off forested kingdom of Weimargard. Was this man an armored knight who had sworn his sword in the service of a king and queen? Was he a sorcerer with inherent arcane knowledge? Was he a guardian of a sacred spell book which he kept at the ready to combat the territory's foes? All we need to know for this tale is that his personal experiences and professional training would lead him on a treacherous and epic quest.

During one of his many adventurous journeys through the Realm, he encountered a particular group of people who were unilaterally pointed at as cast-offs by members of the court and the local constabularies. Wherever these clans caught the notice of the kingdom's authorities and some land owners, they were labeled a scourge and considered to have a powerful pox upon them. While mostly they did not behave differently from other folks, they did have the ability, through glamour magicks, to periodically take on different appearances.

Magnus pondered their situation, thinking, Were these shapeshifters dangerous to the prosperity of the lands or peasantry? Based on their observed behavior, Magnus didn't believe them to be a threat. In his knowledgeable estimation, the shapeshifters were like any other persons, mainly keeping to their quiet lives. But, that personal understanding did nothing to quell the authorities and the citizenry's growing fear and mistrust of the shapeshifters.

Magnus named these shapeshifters Ceridwens, continuing his studies of their behavior and needs. He built a small estate as a refuge for them, keeping them under his care and within his charge where possible. The attempt to understand the Ceridwens' motivations—not dissimilar to some of Magnus' own—was not enough. The local patrols, watchmen, and constables were still people in authority with whom to contend. So, Magnus used the power of his political influence in his advisory station to the King to create travel documents for the Ceridwens. If the authorities stopped them anywhere throughout the Realm, the papers would keep them from being further accosted or detained when in their glamoured form.

This documentation program continued for several years in Weimargard under Magnus's purview. He researched the Ceridwen community and took his scholarly scrolls abroad to educate the general populace about the Ceridwen clan and their shapeshifting abilities, all to allay their misplaced ignorance and fears. While Magnus was confronted by many impassioned naysayers during his tours to discuss the Ceridwen clans, he did make some headway when sharing his findings with other scholars and authority figures. As information spread and education grew, support and acceptance for the Ceridwens grew.

That is, until the kingdom of Weimargard was suddenly overthrown in a coup by dissidents from within the royal government. His opinions were considered progressive dangerous and heresy by the new government progressive. His work was stigmatized by the more conservative citizenry and, as a result, Magnus became hunted for his now unpopular views and was forced to escape to the safety of foreign lands. All of his research was forcibly abandoned, his sanctions and travel documents outlawed, and his estate and libraries were burned to the ground.

The Ceridwens were forced back into hiding for their own physical safety. They kept their shapeshifting private to avoid persecution by those now in positions of power and authority. Underground communities sprang up from the ashes of the old regime, allowing them to, at least, find a sense of belonging and camaraderie in secretive, tight-knit groups.

Unfortunately, while the kingdom's new rulers only held the seat of power for a decade, Magnus's advancements and discoveries were lost from the annuls of research and eventually forgotten to history. The Ceridwens continued to hide away for fear of retribution and the penalty of harm or death, no longer able to obtain legal documents for safe travel. A century later, ‘cerids’ would become a negative slur used by people in polite society to label and ostracize anyone with shapeshifting abilities. Now, only the most outspoken few Ceridwens braved the public eye, possibly facing scrutiny and harassment and becoming cautionary tales for others hoping to live more general and integrated lives.

Rooted in Reality

What you just read above borders on fantasy fan fiction. You may think I have been streaming too much Critical Role on YouTube or delving too deep into the mythos of too many movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe you expected me to write about a dragon reigning terror with its fiery breath and leathery wings as it flew aerial sorties across the singed farmlands. Hmm, perhaps I’ll save that for next time.

The above story, like so many others in the genre of science fiction and fantasy, has a grain of truth to it. Whether as part of a morality play or cautionary tale, the stories that have been told, scribed, and passed down from generation to generation serve the grander purpose of teaching lessons and remembering history. In this case, the story of Magnus and the Ceridwens is based on actual occurrences.

Magnus Hirschfeld[1], born in the spring of 1868, became known for his outspoken career as a German physician and sexologist. He was educated primarily in Germany and based his practice in what we know as Berlin during the Weimar period (before the rise of Nazism and the advent of the Second World War). He founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee and the World League for Sexual Reform. His efforts were categorized as part of the first activism for homosexual and transgender rights.

At the end of the first decade of the 1900s[2], during his career and outspoken advocacy for a better understanding of human sexuality and what we now label gender identity, Hirschfeld investigated and cataloged many varieties of sexuality, not just homosexuality. He developed a system that categorized sixty-four possible types of sexual intermediaries. The system ranged from masculine, heterosexual males to feminine, homosexual males. Within that spectrum, Hirschfeld included those he described as ‘transvestite’, a term he coined in 1910. He also described and coined the term ‘transsexual’ in 1923.

Just as the wizard Magnus supported and helped the Ceridwens with their traveling documents, Hirschfeld and other members from the Institute for Sexual Sciences issued a number of transvestite passes to people to protect them from police harassment. The transvestite passes[3] were essentially doctor’s notes recognized by the Imperial German and the Weimer Republic government. In Germany, between 1908 and the 1950s, dozens of these passes were granted. These passes were given to middle-class heterosexual, male–to-female transvestites to avoid an association with gay and lesbian culture in Weimar-era Germany. The certificates stated the document holder was allowed to wear clothing that corresponded to their gender identity, not their biology.

But, while he sought to revolutionize how the public and medical professions thought about sexuality, he became a target by the Nazi regime for his radical views on human sexuality and gender, for being Jewish, and for being homosexual. His institute was sacked, his books were burned, and he was forced into exile in France, where he died in 1935.[4]

Recognizing Research

The term transvestite, during its inception, referred to all individuals whose gender identity and preferred clothing were discordant to that associated with their assigned (or birth) sex. So, this description included both who Hirschfeld considered to be crossdressers and those considered to be transgender people—something we in the modern LGBTQIA+ community sometimes struggle to recognize as being under the same inclusive umbrella.

The term has undergone such a descriptive transformation over a century. Its original intent seems to have been somehow lost. Based on my own research of Magnus Hirschfeld—all in preparation for an episode of The Fox and the Phoenix Podcast where we were set to discuss people’s reaction to the word transvestite—I finally admitted that for years I was in the same camp as so many listeners and responders who voiced their own distaste for the word, who considered it a slur, and/or who felt a sinking feeling whenever they heard the word uttered.

But why? How did the term transvestite become such a word to be avoided? Well, like the etymology and semantic change of many words over the years—like how the word ‘awful’ (literally ‘full of awe’) originally meant impressive—cannot be contained nor restrained by their intended origins.[5] At some point, the shortened term, ‘tranny’—originally an affectionate nickname originating within the community—became a slur in newsprint, television, media, and entertainment. Somewhere between the 1960s to the early 2000s, those considered or labeled as trannies became demonized as socially defective and personally undesirable.

From movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho to Brian DePalma’s Dressed to Kill to the NYPD Blues season 10 episode 15 Tranny Get Your Gun[6], the stigma of the intent and meaning of ‘tranny’ morphed from a plot device of an unhinged and traumatized son to a murderous serial killer, to finally a general use slur. In the mid- to late-aughts, news outlets started recognizing that the word tranny was as much a negative slur as the gay-labeling F-word. And, within the same era, the word tranny was (and still is) slowly being reclaimed by the LGBTQIA+ community, most notably via RuPaul’s Drag Race and Project Runway. In 2011, Lance Bass from N’Sync wrote an op-ed for Huffpost.com, apologizing for his misunderstanding of and inappropriate use of the word.[7]

When growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, I was very aware of both of the terms transvestite and tranny and their textual context and public intent in that era. I understood them both as derogatory because of their use in general conversation and entertainment. Added to that understanding, all of the written references of the words (remember, there wasn’t such a thing as the internet) came from adult magazines hidden away behind the purveyor of the newsstand or in the more sexualized sections of the local magazine Classified Ads. And, as I have mentioned in the other Living with Crossdressing books, my only exposure to crossdressers and transvestites was through the media and literature of the day.

There were few channels to choose from in the pre-cable access television days. So, even older movies such as Some Like It Hot were outside my purview until Blockbuster became a national video store rental chain. I watched Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies and Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie. Even a movie like The Rocky Horror Picture Show was something of an underground overtly-sexualized cult film I didn’t get a chance to watch until late into the 1990s.

In 1996, when I finally accepted myself as the gender-fluid person I knew myself to be, the term transvestite was not the label I wanted to saddle myself with. However, gender fluidity wasn’t a common thing yet. So, with hesitation, I accepted the label of transvestite for myself. But I quickly jumped the proverbial ship from that moniker to that of ‘crossdresser’ as soon as I could. The word crossdresser didn’t have as much of the heaviness and stigma of the term transvestite, so I was drawn to it much more readily as a label I identified.

Of course, the term crossdresser still carried as much baggage, stigma, and misunderstanding as the label I had replaced. In the thirty or so years since accepting it as my label, I have found it to be as much a misnomer as an apt description. In fact, the word crossdresser seems to have lost its true intent through some warping of its meaning by those who seem hell-bent on misappropriating it for their own maligned use.

I researched Magnus Hirschfeld for the podcast episode, and I learned of his coining of the word transvestite and the official travel documentation he and his colleagues created to afford transvestites some protection from police harassment. With each new bit of information consumed, my appreciation of the term transvestite significantly increased. As clinical as the term always was for me, I realized I was proud to be associated with such an outspoken medical practitioner, with his advocacy for those like me, and with the words he created over a hundred years ago to best describe folks like me.

Words have power. It is inherent in their nature and in the development of language. They are how we most often communicate with each other. It is why libraries and Amazon.com are filled with volumes and tomes of our history, philosophy, humor, and fiction. In each person’s heart and mind, the words spoken can take on unique meanings based on their own life experiences and exposures, their religious dogmas or cultural indoctrinations, and their upbringing and viewpoint of the world.

How many stories have we heard about people admonishing those labeled as homosexual, only to recant and adjust their worldview when they discover that their own child comes out as gay? How many politicians adamantly oppose and vote down all bills and acts concerning the LGBTQIA+ community, only to be outed by the paparazzi when photos are taken and reveal their canoodling with a person of their same-sex once they have left elected office? How many religious leaders have spouted the word of their god and their positions of righteousness, only to be found to have had inappropriate relationships with young parishioners or circumvent funds assigned to good works projects?

As we progress in this book, I hope to use my command of the English language ... you know, words ... to start breaking down how we see these specific words and their meanings. So many of us don’t investigate words and language when we do not actively have an invested reason to do so. We rely on what we have heard in passing from others who sounded like they were authorities on the matter. We rely on what our religious elders have told us, what our parents have taught us, what the internet’s algorithms have presented as relevant, and what the news entertainment outlets have reported as facts.

The terms crossdresser, transvestite, and tranny were rooted in a specific truth once upon a time when originally conceived and uttered. Much time has passed since those moments in history. Let us not forget the past and condemn ourselves to repeat all our errors in the present and irrevocably alter the future in the wrong ways.

Breaking It Down

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Madness need not be all breakdown. It may also be break-through. It is potential liberation and renewal as well as enslavement and existential death.

~ R.D. Laing

How Did We Get Here?

Many of us label ourselves as crossdressers, either privately or publicly. I mean ... I now have three books with the word somewhere in the actual title! Since the publication of Living with Crossdressing: Defining a New Normal, there grew a subtle itch in the back of my brain, slowly ebbing and flowing with various degrees of intensity and distracting annoyance. When I started co-hosting The Fox and the Phoenix Podcast with on-air partner Julie Rubenstein from FoxandHanger.com, I was slowly moving away from the self-describing label of crossdresser to a term more specific to my gender identity identification.

It was not an issue of escape like when I had swiftly abandoned the label transvestite for the safer and softer label crossdresser in the 1990s. This time, my journey of self-discovery was proactive instead of reactive. My shift in perspective was intellectual instead of emotional. It was more of an evolution of understanding language and its origins versus the commonly accepted consensus around me in everyday life. If you have interacted with me through my social media or podcasts within the last couple of years, you will have heard my self-description as being of a dual gender identity.

Don’t get me wrong. I still call myself a crossdresser. I have been drawn to it since my first acceptance of the label. Yet, it always seemed to