The excellent URNotAlone site has some really good regular columnists, including the lovely Alice Novic, author of Alice in Genderland. I’m way behind on my reading, but she has a very interesting article in two parts that she did a while back describing what she sees as the two “types” of MTF trans people. She talks about those of us who “love to be femme” but for whom it often doesn’t come naturally, and this can often include crossdressers and some late-transitioning transsexuals. On the other side, she talks about those who “act femme,” or who are naturally effeminate from the beginning and who, she suggests, often grow up to be early-transitioning transsexuals, drag queens, or effeminate gay men.

She credits Ray Blanchard with his concept of autogynephilia as one of the first to recognize this distinction. It’s an interesting idea and one that to me seems to make sense, though it could definitely be threatening to someone very much invested in the “usual” three-way breakdown: crossdressers / transsexuals / drag queens. It’s funny, but friends and I have often noticed the same thing that she points out about the local TG clubs: There always seem to be the young and fabulous transsexual girls who pull it off so effortlessly, and the rest of us crossdressers for whom it’s a lot of work and for whom it never feels completely perfected. Of course, some might disagree with the distinctions, but it’s an interesting way to look at things, and in a way could help relieve some of the internal self-judgments that so many of us have. If you haven’t read Alice’s column before, I’d highly recommend it. By the way, Alice is also a real dear in person, a total babe, and quite active in the local L.A. TG community.