This is a brief series of common questions asked of trans people, with (what I hope are) the relevant answers. It is strongly biased towards trans women, because I am a trans woman. However, the majority of the questions and answers are relevant to trans men as well.
Q: What is a transsexual?
A: A person who’s birth gender is different to their mental gender. For example, someone who is born female, but identifies as male.
Q: What is the difference between a transvestite, a drag queen, a cross dresser, a transgender and a transsexual?
A: Firstly, someone isn’t “a transgender”. They are transgendered. The terms trangendered and transsexual are interchangeable. A transvestite is a male who enjoys dressing up in female clothing, often for sexual reasons. Drag queens are almost exclusively homosexual men who dress up as caricatures of females for the purpose of entertainment. “Cross dresser” is interchangeable with transvestite.
There are also drag kings, who are the female equivalent of drag queens.
Q: Aren’t transsexuals the ones who have had genital surgery?
A: It is generally accepted that a person can be ‘transsexual’ regardless of surgeries.
Q: What about reverse transsexuals?
A: There is no such thing, though the term has been used to refer to Female to Male transsexuals. This is due to the stereotype that transsexuals are exclusively Male to Female.
Q: Trans women get their dick and balls cut off, right?
A: Wrong. The most common surgery inverts much of the penile and scrotal skin to create a vagina. Sensitive nerve endings in the glans are kept intact to form a clitoris. The testes from inside the scrotum are discarded and the erectile tissue from the shaft of the penis is discarded.
Q: Do trans women have periods? Can they have babies?
A: Lacking ovaries, trans women cannot menstruate. Lacking a uterus, they cannot incubate. Some trans women opt to freeze sperm before they start hormone therapy in case they wish to have biological children later on in life.
Q: They’re still men though, right?
A: As far as chromosomes are concerned, yes. After a prolonged period of time on hormones, a transsexual person’s body appearance and function is more congruent with their desired sex. For example, a trans woman has more in common, biologically, with a cis woman than a cis male.
Q: What does ‘cis’ mean?
A: It means “biological” or “birth” male or female. For example, a cis male was born male and presents as male. A trans male was born female but presents as male.
Q: What do you mean by ‘present’?
A: The gender that your mannerisms, dress and speech point to. If a male dresses in female clothing and makes an effort to speak and act in a feminine way, he is ‘presenting’ as female. The majority of people present as their birth gender.
Q: Why should trans women be allowed into female bathrooms?
A: Because it is an essential part of their integration into the ‘female world’. A trans woman can never fully function as female without all the rights accorded to cis women. It is also a safety issue, as being forced to use the male toilets is dangerous for trans women (as is using a trans exclusive toilet, as it is ‘outing’ them as being trans).
Q: What on earth do you mean by ‘Outing’? Are we going camping?
A: No, we’re not. ‘Outing’ is the act of revealing that a woman is transgendered, not cisgendered. This can be incredibly dangerous as it opens up the trans woman to all kinds of prejudice and hate from transphobic people. Many trans woman try to live in stealth and outing them shatters their protective cover of stealth.
Q: ‘Steath’? Are they spies now?
A: The term ‘Stealth’ refers to the act of hiding all traces of your former gender and former life. There are varying degrees of stealth, from not telling your work colleagues, to not telling your close friends and lover(s). Some trans women will go as far as faking menstrual cycles to maintain their stealth (i.e. leaving bloody pads/tampons in toilets). True stealth is almost impossible to achieve in 2009, due to the extensive records in various government departments which show a person’s previous gender and name.
Q: Why do they do all this to themselves?
A: Because of a constant and unrelenting feeling that they have the wrong body. They cannot adjust to the body they have and psychological assistance fails to solve the issue. The only way to get rid of the feeling of incongruity is to fix the body by surgery and hormone therapy.
Imagine that you woke up one morning and your left hand had been swapped with your right hand. You can still function, but everything you do becomes very awkward due to this. The constant feeling of ‘wrongness’ nags at you while you are conscious and infects your dreams while you are asleep (you’ll be tormented with dreams where your hands are in their correct places, leaving you distraught when you awaken).
Those are the most common questions I can think of at present.
Feel free to ask for clarification on any answer - or pose your own question.
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Thank you for writing this. It is a topic that I probably don't know nearly enough about. In particular, thank you for pointing out that I should say transgendered instead of transgender. I didn't know that and in the future I shall make every effort to be correct in my speech.
Since you asked for questions, could you tell me if there is one term preferred by the community over another (i.e., transsexual vs. transgendered)? Conversely, is there a term in popular usage that is hurtful but the people saying it don't realize it and therefore don't change their language?
The word "transgender" is fine as an adjective IMO, it's the noun use that has skeevy clinical/dehumanizing connotations. To draw a very rough analogy, it might not be as outright rude as calling a disabled person a cripple, but it's offensive for similar reasons.
Transsexual refers specifically to someone who identifies strongly with the gender that isn't their birth sex; transgender, as Rhoanna says below, is more of an umbrella term.
is there a term in popular usage that is hurtful but the people saying it don't realize it and therefore don't change their language?
Yes. The word "tranny" is not cute, it's not hip and ironic, it's not okay at all unless it's being reclaimed by a transperson. (I'm not even going to touch "shemale"/"it"/"chicks with dicks," because realizing how grossly offensive those terms are isn't Trans 101, it's Remedial Not Being an Asshole.)
And wow, I really wish I could go back and edit comments, because the trans/disabled analogy wasn't just rough, it was downright shitty. I was completely blanking on noun forms that reduce a person solely to their membership in a marginalized group, and that was the only thing my brain farted out. :( Sorry. Better version would probably be: you don't say "I saw a transgender on the subway coming home!" for the same reason you don't say "Some gay made a pass at me last night!" It sounds weird and pathologizing and kind of like you're talking about a species of rare wildlife rather than a person.
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Your explanation was really helpful, especially with the use of an analogy.
I wouldn't say that 'transgender' and 'transsexual' are interchangeable. 'Transgender' tends to be broader and include transsexual people, genderqueer people, cross-dressers, etc (for example, the definition on Wikipedia). With the caveat that any individual who fits in one of those categories might not see themselves as transgender.
I agree with what you said, but would just like to add that both "transgender" and "transsexual" definitions do vary a lot between different individuals, communities, or countries.
Where i'm from (central scotland) it seems rare for "transsexual" to ever be used; "transgender" is used either in the same manner as "transsexual" elsewhere, or as an umbrella term; and "trans" is used as an umbrella term.
Ok, i'm struggling to explain that clearly, but my point is that these definitions aren't universal.
Also some transgender people are offended by the words "transsexual" (due to the myth that trans people are motivated by sex) and "transgendered" (because it treats transgender as a verb, not an adjective).
I have a friend who transitioned while we were in grad school and she definitely views herself as transgendered but not transsexual. In some conversations this seems to be linked to whether or not the person desires surgery, but there's some shying away from this because of the cultural assumption that if you don't want surgery you're somehow not legitimate or not real.
Also, I think it helps to flesh out the vocabulary by adding cissexual as the counterpart of transsexual and cisgendered as the counterpart of transgendered. You can see how many varying combinations there are, and that a person could be OK with their sex assigned at birth but not their gender, and vice versa.
And I hadn't heard the objection to "transgendered." I assumed that transgendered was used as an adjective when applied to people (because we talk about how a person is gendered) and "transgender" is the adjective for other contexts, like when discussing "transgender issues." I'd be interested to read more on this topic.
Personally, I wouldn't include Cross Dresser identifying people in the 'transgendered' bracket; as cross dressing most often falls into the category of fetishism.
Knowing little of the genderqueer paradigm, I can't comment on whether or not they consider themselves to be transgendered.
Though I will ask a genderqueer contact of mine next time I see them.
I use transgendered and transsexual interchangeably; though I prefer 'transgendered' as idiots will often conflate 'transsexual' with sexual behaviour (i.e. "I don't care if you are bisexual, homosexual or transsexual; what you do in your bedroom is your own business!)
Cross dressing isn't always just a fetish. Sometimes people just feel more comfortable and happy wearing clothing that society expects the opposite gender to wear. It's not necessarily just about getting off, although for some it can be.
As someone who bigendered and crossdresses...
First off, in the U.S. and Canada. "transvestite" is NOT synonymous with "crossdresser." It's generally considered by crossdressers to be derogatory, akin to the way many gays feel the "homosexual" is derogatory when used outside of scientific contexts. And it's listed as a derogatory term to be avoided by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists' Association and GLAAD stylebooks.
Personally, I'm in favor of reclaiming "transvestite" (because it's allusions to the wider trans communities), but people should be aware that it's still a term likely to offend. (And to point out the obvious, it's only the people who are the targets of an epithet who are the ones get to reclaim it.)
In other countries, as such the UK, "transvestite" has more benign overtones. My understanding in the UK "crossdresser" tends to have more overtones of fetishism, and transvestite is more "respectable."
Second, most crossdressers/transvestites aren't simple fetishists as you assert (I'm happy to cite research if you want to quibble on that point.) For most of us, it's also a matter of gender identity -- it's just that part-time gender crossing is sufficient, and we don't feel the need to transition to full-time living. (Also crossdressers usually don't feel body dysphoria, i.e. the sense of being in the "wrong" body.)
"Transgender" was popularized by folks like Jamison Green as umbrella term that consciously embraced a wide spectrum of people, including transsexuals, crossdressers, genderqueers, drag queens/kings, etc. (though not all people in these groups identify as transgender). As of late it's being conflated more and more with "transsexual" -- in part because a number transsexual don't like the "sex" part of "transsexual."
Consequently "trans" seems to becoming a replacement umbrella term.
I think a broader discussion of gender as a commonly accepted social construction is also important here. We are born with a biological sex, some of us connect with it more strongly than others. The blue or pink aesthetic identity which we are given by society is a social construction. To be a man or woman (gender) in one culture is different in every culture.
A person might chose to remain biological female but identify as (transgendered )man.
I think a broader discussion of gender as a commonly accepted social construction is also important here. We are born with a biological sex, some of us connect with it more strongly than others. The blue or pink aesthetic identity which we are given by society is a social construction. To be a man or woman (gender) in one culture is different in every culture.
A person might chose to remain biological female but identify as (transgendered )man.
I think a broader discussion of gender as a commonly accepted social construction is also important here. We are born with a biological sex, some of us connect with it more strongly than others. The blue or pink aesthetic identity which we are given by society is a social construction. To be a man or woman (gender) in one culture is different in every culture.
A person might chose to remain biological female but identify as (transgendered )man.
Also: re: 'homosexual men' can we try gay, queer, same-sex oriented, anything that isn't so pathlogized.
I think a broader discussion of gender as a commonly accepted social construction is also important here. We are born with a biological sex, some of us connect with it more strongly than others. The blue or pink aesthetic identity which we are given by society is a social construction. To be a man or woman (gender) in one culture is different in every culture.
A person might chose to remain biological female but identify as (transgendered )man.
Also: re: 'homosexual men' can we try gay, queer, same-sex oriented, anything that isn't so pathlogized.
My one thing that I have with this otherwise excellent Q&A is that it doesn't do anything to separate the ideas of sex and gender. Genderqueerness is, essentially, the conflict between perceived gender and biological sex. It was addressed a little bit at the very beginning, but it's really a crux issue as to why genderqueerness is a conflict to begin with.
After explaining that sex is not always matching to gender, the Q&A continues to use the sex and gender terms interchangeably which is inherently problematic to really understanding what's going on.
The topics addressed are great and it's a good "so, you know absolutely NOTHING about genderqueerness" guide, but that's my one thing.
Considering I know next to nothing about genderqueerness, that would be why :-)
Genderqueer is a blanket term for what you've described about trans issues and terminology.
It's like, in some circles, queer is used to describe all things having to do with the LGB part of the movement.
I don't identify as genderqueer. Nor do any of my trans friends.
That's never been my understanding of genderqueer at all; perhaps your personal definition differs from that of the FTM and MTF community?
I do fairly frequent surveys of the literature out there since I teach gender studies, and this is one of those issues where there's no consensus yet. Some argue strongly that genderqueer is a third option, and that cis and trans only include those who are still within the gender and/or sex binary. Others see trans as an umbrella term for transsexual, transgender, and genderqueer. Still others identify genderqueer as the umbrella term and place trans identities under that. It seems like most trans people I've discussed this with either view genderqueer as a trans identity (because you've transitioned from what you were assigned at birth, even though you didn't swap out one for the other) while others see it as the third option.
I'm cissexual but not cisgendered, and I tend to think of genderqueer as the third option. I think this is because my experience as a genderqueer person who took years to sort of "negotiate" my gender identity seems radically different from my cousin who is trans. She transitioned over a fairly brief period, and it was stressful and traumatic in a way that my experience has never been. And there's a sort of clear break from the old life that doesn't seem to occur as much in the genderqueer experience. Also there's the fact that because I'm cissexual and have a fairly feminine body, I benefit from cis privilege in spite of my androgynous behavior and identity. And the privilege aspect of it makes me hesitant to embrace the view of genderqueer as a trans identity.
I agree with Gular - the Q&A seems to conflate sex and gender.
"The gender that your mannerisms, dress and speech point to. If a male dresses in female clothing and makes an effort to speak and act in a feminine way, he is ‘presenting’ as female. The majority of people present as their birth gender."
Please understand in what follows that I am tracing out something that confuses me academically, so to speak, and I do not think transsexuality is somehow invalid, etc.
If we accept that one of the goals of feminism is the deconstruction of gender, how do we understand transsexuality as described above?
What is "female" clothing, what is a "feminine" way of speaking or acting?
Both trans and cis women present their gender differently - are "butch" lesbians not women, since they (atleast in my understanding) tend to reject things like make-up, dresses, and certain hairstyles?
Am I more of a woman when I speak softly? Am I being masculine when I get into raging, high decibel debates about racism with my dad?
It seems to me, with all my cis privilege, that presenting as a certain gender is limiting, and relies on the very stereotypes we, as feminists, are trying to prove false.
So, to make a long story short (too late): how does one reconcile the conflict between gender presentation and the fact that gender is a socially constructed idea with transsexuality?
The idea that social constructionism is inconsistent with transgender is based on a misunderstanding. Breaking down the mandatory binary does not mean invalidating those (both cis and trans) who have a gender identity and presentation that's on one of the extreme ends of the continuum. It just means you're getting rid of the tight little boxes, which nobody completely fit into to begin with. Nobody is completely masculine or feminine as it stands, except maybe fictional characters. So when you loosen the binary the whole range of characteristics and behaviors becomes open to anyone, and you can negotiate your own gender performance and presentation as it feels comfortable for you. For some this will still involve hanging out at one end or the other, and that's OK because the whole continuum is now available for anyone. Over time the various characteristics would lose their rigid association with male/female, but that doesn't mean the identities that have been interpreted and negotiated on the basis of the masculine/feminine vocabulary become invalid. But it would open a space for intersexed and genderqueer people while making obsolete the idea that one kind of gender performance and identity has to go with a specific body type.
OK, that clarifies a lot.
Is it possible that some people don't have a gender identity, or is not feeling gender-identified a form of cis privilege?
Yes and no. Generally speaking, I don't consider myself to have a rigid "man-ness" to myself. I act masculinely and am biologically male, but I wouldn't be offended if someone called me "ma'am" or confused me with a woman on the phone (which has happened). Since gender expression is fluid, then it doesn't matter if you ma'am or sir me.
That does not negate the effects of the cis priveleg in my life. I still present masculinely and it is in line with my gender identity. It does give me a large amount of cis privilege because my outward presentation matches the bits down there (and my beard, but regardless). Being a gender-fluid person doesn't negate that, I still think of myself as overall cis gender because I present in a way which matches the binary, even if it's just how I'm comfortable being me.
I've never felt a strong gender identity. As a kid I felt pretty distinctly that I wasn't a girl, but I wasn't a boy either. I suspect if we were more open about gender and lightened up on all the gender socialization from birth, many more people would also have this experience. But as it is, it's something you're supposed to be ashamed of and in denial about. So I consider myself cissexual (never really had an issue with my body) but not cisgendered. The world considers me a tomboy.
I think in this instance that it is important to recognise that the gender binary still exists and has fingers in multiple facets of everyday life.
Short of walking around naked to display her neo-vagina, a very masculine bodied trans woman (5 o'clock shadow, big hands and forearms, deep voice, broad shoulders) has only gender binary constructs to display her femininity - i.e. skirts, long hair, makeup, heels, stockings, etc.
If she dresses in a gender neutral manner, people will perceive her as a man, regardless of her new genitalia.
You can break down the gender binary construct, but some things will indelibly remain 'male' or 'female' due to biology and basic human perception.
"The only way to get rid of the feeling of incongruity is to fix the body by surgery and hormone therapy"
I think it's important to add the caveat that not all transgendered people choose to have surgery.
I agree. That should have been "surgery and/or hormone therapy".
Even then, not everyone can get hormones nor does everyone chooses to take hormones.
Is it enough to say "most choose to have surgery and/or take hormones"?
No. It's not. Many, many transgender and transsexual people do not do anything majorly to change the ways in which their bodies operate. What's important to many trans people is how well they pass, not what they have going on. It's the passing which can lead to surgery because, for instance, if you're a trans man and have large breasts, that causes an issue with presenting in some clothes.
It's also something which is very expensive, transitioning, and is not covered by health insurance. There's a whole mess of issues involved in that which deserve its own thread on trans rights and activism, so I won't really get into it, but transition can be prohibited by cost as well as desire.
You're speaking form a purely American perspective; in many countries hormones are subsidised or free and surgeries are subsidised or free.
I really peeves me when people do this.
Please consider the rest of the world.
Ok, so with that in mind, how does it change the fact that it still can be very expensive for those people.
Which countries subsidizes hormones and surgeries, by the way? I've not actually ever heard of or known about any country willfully giving their money to sexual reassignment procedures.
Here in Australia - the government pays for 75% of all costs of sex reassignment surgery, as long as each procedure is deemed clinically relevant by the practitioner.
I'm not sure about hormone therapy, but I would be surprised if it wasn't a similar case.
In Canada, some provinces cover sex reassignment surgery under the provincial health plan and some do not.
I think that sex is also a social construction, IE the book The Body and Society by Alexandra Howson. The idea that the sexed body should "match" one's gender presentation is a social construct put upon the body. I think that's where the idea of "cis privilege" comes from and why, as the Q & A points out, affording cis and trans women (and men) the same rights is so important.
"Sexing the Body" by Anne Fausto-Sterling is also a great resource on this topic.
Another issue that has come up here time after time is that many trans people feel very strongly that there should be a space between "trans" and "person" (or woman or man), so that the grammatical emphasis remains on "person" (or woman or man) and not on the "trans" part. "Trans" is used as an adjective, not as a prefix. So:
Incorrect: Transperson, transman, transwoman
Correct: trans person, trans man, trans woman
It might seem like a small issue, but it comes up over and over that skipping the space is insulting to trans people. It's something to be aware of.
Personally, I couldn't care less which people use.
Point of fact: transgender and transsexual do not have spaces.
I think it's an issue of personal preference, but I defer to using spaces, since some people are touchy about it.
I mean, 'trans woman' could be insulting to someone who prefers womyn to woman.
Where do you draw the line?
Well yes, of course there's an element of personal preference. As to your question "where do you draw the line?"--right now, I draw the line at saying "trans person" instead of "transperson." The reason for this is that I have been involved in multiple conversations in which trans people have expressed a very strong preference to have the space there. I have not seen or participated in any conversations with anyone who requested "trans womyn" or any variation thereof. As a cis woman, my job is to listen. I hear you, Vexing, saying that the space is unnecessary- I respect that, and am perfectly willing to nix the space when I talk about you specifically. On the other hand, I hear lots of trans people saying that the space is very necessary, and that to leave the space out when talking in the abstract is extremely insulting and dehumanizing. So it seems to me that this is the safer default. I'm still learning, I could have this totally wrong, and I always defer to individual preferences when talking to or about individuals. I hope this makes sense.
There is a key difference though there. It's the difference between noun and adjective. Transsexual and transgendered are adjectives, so is trans. Transgender (as a noun and it usually is used as one, which is why I personally far prefer transgendered), transman and transwoman are nouns. As adjectives are modifiers they don't erase the main identity of man/woman that is being expressed. The nouns imply an othering. It indicates that women (meaning only cis women) does not include trans women. Transwoman sets up the implication that it is a different type of person who does not equate to a (cis) woman, while trans woman indicates that the person is a woman and the adjective trans tells you something about what kind of female person you are talking about, when that is relevant to do so. Just as lesbian, european, or any other adjective in front of the noun woman does.
"In other countries, as such the UK, "transvestite" has more benign overtones. My understanding in the UK "crossdresser" tends to have more overtones of fetishism, and transvestite is more "respectable."
Er, your understanding is completely wrong.
'Transvestite' in the UK, AUS and NZ is the term with sexual overtones.
Cross dressing is more benign; people 'cross dress' at parties for a laugh.
"Second, most crossdressers/transvestites aren't simple fetishists as you assert (I'm happy to cite research if you want to quibble on that point.)"
Please do. It would make interesting reading.