Do Trans People Have Gendered Souls? Depends Which Trans Person You Ask.

One question. Six trans people. Seven opinions. And someone arguing about pineapple on a pizza.

Spend enough time reading Reddit, Quora or any transgender Facebook group and you'll see trans people who don't agree on why we're trans.

I mean you either just are, or you're not right?

Well that bit is true. Because if you're not trans then you're someone else.

A cis-man or cis-woman for example. Or non-binary.

Damn, there are even people who think they're animals.

Hey, each to their own. If some guy thinks he's a jackass, who am I to judge.

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Six Trans People. Six Explanations. One Pizza Argument.

I've seen one trans woman saying she has always known her soul was female, another says souls don't exist, a third says souls don't have a gender, a fourth starts talking about neurology and how our brains are wired, a fifth mentions Buddhism and a sixth is arguing about whether pineapple belongs on pizza.

Which of course it does.

The Spiritual Explanation: When Your Body Feels Like an Admin Cock-Up

But yeah, for some transgender people, the explanation feels deeply spiritual.

They describe an almost instinctive certainty that their true self, their soul, their essence — whatever you want to call it — has always been female, male or something else entirely. Their body feels like an admin cock-up.

Mine was. When whoever or whatever was deciding that day's birth register, they definitely messed up with me.

"Yep, this one's a boy."

I mean it's an easy mistake I guess. There are about 365,000 births every day so the odd few are gonna slip through the net in the wrong body.

Just why did it have to be me.

Anyway, back to the soul part of this piece — they genuinely experience themselves as having an innate gender that exists independently of their physical body.

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The Anti-Soul Crowd. Also Valid. Also Trans.

And for others, this idea makes absolutely no sense at all. "They're having a giraffe with all that spiritual nonsense."

They're transgender because they're transgender.

Nowt to do with a soul, it's a physical thing.

Just plain and straightforward knowing that their gender identity doesn't fit with the sex they were dished out with at birth.

Ask them whether souls have gender they'll look at you like you're some kind of looney.

Do Trans People Have Gendered Souls? Here's Where I Land.

And then there are people like me.

I think I'm somewhere in the middle here.

Okay so one thing is certain. I absolutely know that I should have been born female. That's 100% nailed on.

At three years old I asked my mum why I wasn't born in a girl's skin.

Not why I wanted to be a girl.

Why I wasn't.

That's a big difference.

If you ask me if I have a female soul, then I'll say yes.

Why?

Well because I do believe that we all have a soul and as I know that I'm female, my soul has to be too — right?

Well yeah, if you believe in souls and that they can have a gender.

Lol, this can get a bit mind-mending can't it.

"That's a right melon scratcher" they'd say in Cockney London town.

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Different Journeys. Same Chiringuito.

But you could argue, it's kind of all irrelevant in the end.

A spiritual trans woman may transition.

A materialist trans woman may transition.

A neuroscientist may explain transition through brain development and the way we're all wired.

A religious person may explain it through divine purpose.

The end result is the same.

It's a bit like travelling to say, Spain.

One person flew.

One drove.

One arrived by boat.

One rode a jackass — and later regretted it.

Different journeys. Same chiringuito sat sipping piña colada on the beach.

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We're Not United by an Explanation. We're United by the Knowing.

I sometimes think non-trans people assume there must be a single explanation.

A nice neat story.

The problem is that human beings are not little neat stories are we.

We're all of us messy collections of biology, psychology, culture, memory, belief and experience. We rarely agree on why we are who we are.

Ask ten people why they fell in love and you'll receive ten different answers.

Why should gender be any different?

The reality is that transgender people are not united by a shared explanation.

We're united by a shared experience: the knowing that something about our relationship with gender differs from what was expected of us or we feel.

Everything beyond that becomes interpretation.

And hey that's okay.

Maybe the goal isn't finding one explanation that satisfies everybody.

Maybe the goal is accepting that human beings are capable of experiencing the same reality through entirely different lenses.

Some people see a gendered soul.

Some see biology.

Some see psychology.

Some see all three.

And some are still trying to work it all out.

Honestly, after fifty-plus years of knowing I was born in the wrong body, I'm just happy to be living as the real me now.

I couldn't give a hoot what caused it, no point is there.

It is what it is.

I am a D&I consultant, keynote speaker, Mental Health First Aider, writer and transgender woman with 20+ years of senior corporate leadership experience. I work with businesses across all sectors to build genuinely inclusive cultures whilst also supporting transgender individuals and their families through every stage of the journey. If this piece resonated, you can find more articles on andreaking.net  or  book a free discovery call if you'd like to talk.

The views expressed in this article are my own and are based on personal experience and perspective. They are not intended as medical, legal or professional advice.

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Frequently Asked Questions - Do Trans People Have Gendered Souls? Depends Which Trans Person You Ask

What is this post asking?

It asks whether trans people have gendered souls, and explores why different trans people answer that differently.

Do all trans people agree on why they are trans?

No. Some see it spiritually, some biologically, some psychologically, and some do not believe there is a single explanation.

What is the main idea of the post?

That the shared reality of being trans matters more than having one agreed explanation for it.

Is the post saying one view is correct?

No. It argues that different trans people can understand the same experience in different ways.

What does the writer believe?

The writer believes they were born female and says they do not really care what caused it, only that it is true for them.