A few Transgender terms defined

I've had some requests to give a personal point of view about what it is to be Transgendered, and I'm glad to provide it. There's a lot of mystery, misunderstanding and confusion about what all the terms mean, and who exactly is who. I have to say a few things before I begin writing down my definitions as though they were somehow "the law".

First, these are my opinions, from my point of view in Los Angeles California, U.S.A.; I'm Caucasian and have had the privileges of being white and male. There are Transwomen and Transmen of color in my city who have an entirely different view than me. Second, like the gay community, we Transpeople have diverse opinions and often disagree (especially us Male-to-Females). Third, some in the "Genderqueer" movement would shun almost any definitions as too confining; I respect and even sort of agree with them, but it's hard to explain something that's formless to a world obsessed with outer form and identity.

That said, I'll do my best; I'm purposely not giving you the Wiki definitions, but my own, from my experience. I've identified as a Crossdresser, dressed like a drag Queen, thought I was Gay for a week, lived 45 years thinking I was a heterosexual male pervert and finally watched the ball roll to a stop on the court marked "Transsexual", so I think I have some perspective.

I love what RuPaul said:
"A friend of mine recently did the Oprah show about transgendered youth," said RuPaul. "It was obvious that we, as a culture, have a hard time trying to understand the difference between a drag queen, transsexual, and a transgender, yet we find it very easy to know the difference between the American Baseball League and the National Baseball League, when they are both so similar."


"Admirer/Tranny Chaser": He’s a guy who likes Transgendered women. Some of these guys truly love us and some of them treat us like a fetish object. Some Tranny Chasers (the less respectful term, obviously) think that we offer instant, guilt-free sex 100% of the time and then they can just discard us. A lot them, like a lot of Crossdressers, are married with kids. Most Tranny Chasers prefer Preop Transwomen(see Shemale), because they like the novelty of a girl with a penis. Some guys like beautiful girls complete with their own breasts and other guys like to make it with Crossdressers; the more obviously male, the better. Different strokes....

Some Admirers love us, respect us, live with us and even marry us (if it's legal to).


"Cisgender": A person who identifies with their birth gender, gay or straight.


"Crossdresser": is a term for a person of either sex who gets satisfaction and enjoyment from dressing/acting in the opposite gender role. Crossdressers can be Straight, Gay or Bi, but a large majority is (mostly) heterosexual men. Like everyone on the Trans spectrum, Crossdressers have widely varying experiences; some dress purely for the sexual excitement of it, some feel a sense of peace or satisfaction, some find it allows them to have what are essentially homosexual experiences in one identity and then return to their "normal" life and gender/sexual role. Still others do it as part of a BDSM fetish and some do it just because they find it to be total kick-ass fun. Crossdressers buy corsets, breast forms, wigs and other items to help them create a realistic illusion; some look over-the-top draggy and others look like the girl next door. I know several gay men who fit the term "Crossdresser" much better than the term "Drag Queen". I've done makeovers on powerful men of the business world who go away on conventions for a chance to dress like a slut a few nights a year. I know many Crossdressers who finally, like me, figured out that they were Transsexual.


"Drag Queen": Is a term usually reserved for gay men who love to dress in female "drag" for fun or profit, and usually tend to spoof or goof on being female to the point of caricature. They vary from ridiculous hairy-chested Carmen Mirandas to sublime performers like Charles Busch or Lypsinka. Some are icons, like RuPaul or Lady Bunny. Some Drag Queens may also be Crossdressers, and some genetic women may be Drag Queens, like Madonna, Charo or Cher. Drag culture is waning somewhat with the advent of the Trans movement; it used be a vital part of New York ghetto and barrio gay life, when groups would get to together and compete by "Voguing" in intense fashion shows given on a nearly nonexistent budget (watch a documentary called "Paris Is Burning").


"Drag King": Lesbian/FTM version of the above; they tend to spoof hyper-masculine guys and performers.


"FFS/Facial Feminizing Surgery": Transgendered women go to great lengths to make their faces appear closer to the female "norm" and at great expense. The most common procedures involve shaving down the brow bone, minimizing the chin, making the nose smaller, bringing down the hairline, cheek implants(in some cases), shaving down or reversing the "Adam's apple" and neck and face lifts. One extreme surgery also shortens the vocal chords in an attempt to raise the pitch of the male voice, since voice box size is irreversible.


"Gender Identity Disorder(GID)": In The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders #4(IV), 302.6 and 302.85 are both classified as "Gender Identity Disorder". Remember when gays and lesbians were called "mentally ill?" Transpeople essentially still are classified that way by the DSM IV, and DSM V shows no sign of them backing off. They don't blame us for who we are, but they still lump us in with (well, right next to, anyway) the "Philias" like Pedophilia, Necrophilia, etc. Many of us meekly try and get classified with GID so that we can be eligible for hormone treatment and/or SRS; fat chance since most insurance companies won't pay for it,anyway. What's the problem? Old white guys with no imagination or compassion,apparently. A friend of mine used this example (I'm quoting her) "Why can any woman on the planet have breast augmentation with the signing of a consent form, but a genderqueer person cannot have a mastectomy without extensive counseling and arguably cross-gender living, if allowed at all? Because society is a lot more transphobic than it is large-breast-phobic."


"GG": Old slang term for "Genetic Girl". A woman born physically and emotionally a woman.


"Genderqueer": The Genderqueer movement basically subverts gender by refusing to honor it. Genderqueers are happily anarchic, and simply ignore attempts to classify them. My friend Alex used to be a girl, lives as a guy (with breasts) and loves to Crossdress like a girl; he's also a Leather Daddy. Get it? Don't worry if you don't. Some of us feel that "genderqueer" is a category all of us transfolk fit into and may be more accurate than "Transgendered", even.


"GRS/SRS/"The Operation":(Warning: Graphic) SRS stands for "sex reassignment surgery". GRS is the more politically correct "Gender Reconfirming Surgery"; same thing. The vast Populous call it "The Operation". In a Male to Female Transsexual, the penis is essentially turned inside out and becomes the walls of the new vagina; the scrotal sac is also used to make the new vagina. Surgeons artfully rearrange a portion of the penile tissue at the head and use it to create a Neoclitoris. Recovery is actually rather quick, with patients walking around the day after. MTF women have to keep the new vagina open by using what is essentially a glass dildo or "stent" in a process known as "Dilating". Some surgeries are a two-part process that involves creating realistic labia in a secondary surgery. MTF Bottom surgery can cost over $40,000 in a big US city, or less than $10,000 in Thailand; average price is about $25,000.

In Female to Male Transsexuals, a Neophallus is created using portions of leg muscle (I regret I know few details). Most Transmen also have breast reduction surgery which can create a very realistic looking male chest. FTM Neophallus surgery can cost $100,000.


"Intersexed": Intersexed individuals are often what we used to call Hermaphrodites (or, if you are from a red state in the US, a "Her-morph-a-dite"). Intersexed people may have mixed or non-conforming sexual organs like an enlarged clitoris, or the rudiments of both a penis and a vagina, or, often, internalized ovaries/testes. Some have a rare syndrome like Kleinfelter's where an XY embryo is born looking for the entire world like a perfect little girl, only to begin showing secondary male characteristics in puberty. Some Intersexed people choose a gender, some don't. Intersexed people have suffered horribly under a Bi-gender system that insists on determining a child's gender at birth; many have been disfigured or lost sexual feeling forever while they were days old because some surgeon was trying to 'help" them.

(end part one)

 

"Passing":Means not being "read" as a "man in a dress" or as a "Tranny". Our species is hard-wired to recognize gender differences for the purpose of reproduction, which is why people so easily recognize the physical, facial, vocal and and social cues of someone trying to "pass" as the other sex. Fifteen year old boys are uncanny at spotting us. My guess is that they have raging hormones and incomplete socialization; they often will loudly point out a Transperson to others.

All Transpeople, from the guy who goes out on Saturday night as "Linda" to the beautiful young twenty-year old post-op Transsexual have felt the pain of being "read", and the ensuing ridicule, scorn and weirdness that often follows. People are just f----g rude, a lot of the time;"Are you a boy?" 'Do you still have a dick?","Hey, DUDE!!!", "Who do you think you're fooling?". Sometimes it's more passive-aggressive, like when a waitress in a coffee shop insisted on calling me "sir". I can't count the times someone has screamed "faggots!" when they see us in front of a known Tranny bar. I know women who are more beautiful than the top 10% of Cisgender women who still obsess that "The next surgery will make me REALLY pass....".

I've found that it's actually more of an "inside job": when I am calm, centered and happy, people take me as I am, even at 6'3" with a deep voice. Sadly, a lot of this is just part of being female, since females get such scrutiny anyway.

FTM's have fewer problems because their voices deepen, they grow facial hair and men don't really "scrutinize" other men; male is the species "default". Men do get louder and more territorial with strangers; I tell my transman friends to be standoffish at first and then begin to talk about sports or inanimate objects like cars,stereos, etc...Works like a charm:they always thank me.

I always used to have Crossdressers ask me "Will I pass?" I always asked them "Where? In a dark Tranny bar, on the street in West Hollywood, in bed with a man, at table at Le Cirque or in a crowded shopping mall?" And come on, don't you have straight friends who are read as "gay" and Female friends who get "Sir'ed" in stores? "Passing" is really about feeling comfortable, accepted and happy.


"Post-op, Pre-op, Non-op": Post-op transsexuals have had "bottom surgery" meaning a Neovagina in Male-to-Female TS's and a Neophallus in Female-to Male TS's. Pre-op is usually in reference to MTF women who have not yet had SRS/GRS; it sometimes is a way to refer to whether a Transwoman still has a Penis, which some guys prefer. "Non-op" Men and Women may never have "Bottom Surgery" for a variety of reasons or personal preferences and still identify 100% as Transsexuals in their chosen Gender role. (See also "GRS/SRS/'The Operation'".)


"Shemale":A mainly derogatory and sexist term usually used to describe transgendered women who are sex workers or porn stars. A "Shemale" is a classic "Chick with a Dick", and the men who pursue them want it that way; big breasts and a big penis. Sex workers and Porn Stars often have lots of cosmetic surgery but may lay off hormones so that they can "perform". Shemales are ALWAYS "Pre-op".

*P.S. I am very good friends with two Trans porn stars who are the sweetest and most intelligent people I have ever met.


"Stealth": Getting the surgeries, changing identity and hiding one's male past is called living in "stealth". Many girls find it surprisingly lonely and end up being advocates for Trans pride, like Calpernia Addams and Andrea James (http://www.deepstealth.com).


"T": Alternately, (A) slang among FTM's for Testosterone (B) Overall name for our community, as the "T" community or "T-girl" or (C) a street working girl term for being read/understood, as in "Did he get my"T"? or "Girl, I got your "T".


"Tranny"An originally derogatory slang term for us that can be either insulting or affectionate depending on who's saying it. Basically, if you don't know us or don't know how to use it, you might want to avoid using it around us; would you run through Compton, California, happily calling every black person you met by the "N" word? Didn't think so. Some of us think that it will eventually transform into a pride term like "Queer".


"Transgendered": is a kind of umbrella term for anyone who doesn't fit into the male-female Gender Binary. Some people argue that Crossdressers are on the Transgender spectrum, others would argue that they are not. I think they are, down somewhere in the Infrared part of the spectrum, while we Transsexuals are Ultraviolet.

The way I think of it is that all Transsexuals are Transgendered individuals but not all Transgendered individuals are necessarily Transsexuals. Even the Wikipedia definition will tell you that this is a definition still "in flux". "Transgendered" is a very polite term that is almost always taken as a sign of respect and knowledge when used by an ally, family member or friend.


"Transsexual": Is a term for those of us who feel that we were born into the wrong body and gender identity. Transsexual is a clinical term made popular by the Late Harry Benjamin, M.D. who set up the first compassionate standards of care and validated the experience of those of us who feel this way. Benjamin identified Transsexuals as of two types: early onset (aware and insistent early in life) and late onset (aware or accepting later in life). Most Therapists now agree that many factors influence a person's awareness of being "different" and that it can happen at almost any time or any age. Some Transsexuals (like me) originally self-diagnose as Transvestites or Crossdressers while some of us know at the age of six and insist we are really the opposite sex.

What makes us Transsexuals is a persistent and deeply rooted sense of being uncomfortable in our own skin, and an equally persistent identification with the "opposite" gender. Many of us, both male and female, feel a tremendous sense of relief when we begin to take male or female hormones; we finally feel like ourselves. In my opinion, this is simply a hard-wired fact about us, like sexual preference is with gay and lesbian individuals. I'll often explain it like this, while pointing; "Female brain, male body". I think it's basically that simple.

Sometimes arguments used to break out between post-ops and pre-ops about who really was "Trans-sexual", but that has been fading in recent years with the advent of "non-ops" who identify completely as women but who choose for a variety of reasons not to pursue GRS. In fact, very few FTM Transsexuals ever get "bottom surgery" to create a neo-phallus because of the pain, risk and expense.

"Transvestite": The very first term used to describe the Transgender phenomenon in German men in the late 1800's. Many of the subjects were probably what we would now call "Transsexual". Transvestite is literally the Latin term for "Crossdresser" and was the broad term used by Science up until the early Nineties. I had no idea who or what I was, for example, and when I saw the word "Transvestite" it made more sense than anything, although it was narrowly defined as "One who derives pleasure from wearing the clothes of the opposite sex". There is still a DSM IV* category for "Fetishistic Transvestism" which means wearing the clothes of the opposite sex purely for sexual gratification.

Note:This list is not complete! All of these are my opinion(and it's easy to find lots of opinions in the "T" community) and reserve the right to update and add as necessary. I hope this helps us all understand each other better!


Reading list:

"Gender Outlaw" by Kate Bornstein

True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism--For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals by Mildred L. Brown and Chloe Ann Rounsley

"Stone Butch Blues" by Leslie Feinberg

She's Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband by Helen Boyd

Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman by Leslie Feinberg

Mark 947: A Life Shaped by God, Gender and Force of Will by Calpernia Sarah Addams


Recommended Films:

"Ma Vie En Rose" Belgium

"Different For Girls" Great Britain

"Middle Sexes" HBO documentary

 

Re: A few Transgender terms defined(part one)

I'm assured it will be!! :icon_wink Thanks!

 

Re: A few Transgender terms defined(part one)

Paul posted them both very nicely so Part 2 follows part one...It's "admirer" thru "Transvestite"