6 Things This Trans Woman Wants You To Know

“I would love for the female population to be more welcoming to us because we need a little bit more help along the way."

Carmen Carrera has a few things she wants you to know about trans women.

In a new video for Bustle, the transgender model and actress broke down a few important facts everyone should know about trans women. From knowing how not to misgender people to understanding the different struggles transgender people experience before, during and after their transitions and to living as their authentic selves.

Here are six things Carrera wants everyone to know about trans women:

  1. Do not misgender. As the video above explains, to misgender someone means to "refer to someone using a word, especially a pronoun or form of address, that does not reflect the gender they identify with."
  2. She doesn’t date gay men. Gay guys are attracted to... guys. "I'm not a man so I consider myself not only transgender, but I consider myself heterosexual."
  3. You don’t need to have a uterus to be a woman. “For someone to tell me that because I don’t menstruate or don’t have a uterus I’m not considered a woman I feel like that’s rude not only to trans women but also to women in general," Carrera says in the above video.
  4. Trans women are figuring it out as they go along. “I would love for the female population to be more welcoming to us because we need a little bit more help along the way,” she says. Living as their authentic selves also means leaving male privilege behind, which can be a difficult experience for many trans women.
  5. Any person would be lucky to have sex with a trans woman. Sex is sex is sex. Let's not make a big deal of it.
  6. Respect the privacy of trans people. “When it comes to being in public spaces or where you have to show your I.D. like at the airport or at a night club it can get a little uncomfortable for a transgender woman who hasn’t gone through the process of changing her name and her gender marker because it is a process for us," Carrera says.

Well said, Carrera.

Also on HuffPost:

1. Defining Transgenderism

15 Things To Know About Being Transgender By Nicholas M. Teich

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