OK you guys are really sweet.. thanks
I graduated with a degree in Social Work, with a minor in Anthropology (don't ask).
The hooker issue is also in part because, well for lots of us it's the best option for money. Hormones aren't cheep and aren't covered by most insurance (particularly for the younger girls), any feminization surgeries are also VERY expensive and not covered. There is little legally that can be done if you get fired after anouncing you are going to transition, and having the appearance of a woman, but the paperwork of a man makes it hard to get a proper job. So, escorting is a way to get by, particularly for poor women. It's a catch 22, we are thought of as hookers and treated as such, we often have to become hookers because we can't get another job that would pay even close.
Science is actually starting to show some physical indications that gender identity is "hard wired" in the brain. A few years ago a doctor did autopsies on some post-op women and looked at their brains. He found that the structure of the brain was identical to genetic women's. The sample size was too small to make anything conclusive (only 6 people), but 100% of them had the same structural differances from male brains. For example, the portion of the brain that deals with language is larger in women than men, and the connections between the right and left sides are more developed in women. Given that the brain is fully developed well before sex organs are developed, this would seem to confirm that many transwomen are correct when we say we "have always been women".
The more this is studied as a medical condition rather than a "disorder", I think the more we will discover. The more we discover, the more comfortable people will be and the more people will understand that some girls are born with an innie and some are born with an outie.