We all have told stories about ourselves either always knowing or perhaps not knowing till late in life of our Transgender Status; many like me knew but buried it and reburied it unlike the genie out of the bottle not to return!
But setting aside our feelings just for a moment, just as a matter of interest when did you first hear either "Trans" or "Transvestite" or "Transsexual" or "Transgender" and from what source please? Obviously I mean hear from a normal event or discussion - not from derogatory or insulting comments.
I first heard "Transvestite" when I was 11 in 1966 and would you believe from my grandmother who was ahead of her time!
To my knowledge the current umbrella term "Transgender" has only been in regular use in UK since around 2005.
Thanking you
Pamela
Totally not sure. Renee Richards story was big in 1976 when I was 14. The term then was transsexual. Pretty sure I was aware of Christine Jorgensen before that but not sure why or how. Probably had heard transvestite by then also but again don't know why.
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Quote from: TonyaW on February 09, 2018, 08:45:41 AM
Totally not sure. Renee Richards story was big in 1976 when I was 14. The term then was transsexual. Pretty sure I was aware of Christine Jorgensen before that but not sure why or how. Probably had heard transvestite by then also but again don't know why.
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Oh My .... This is the exact same text I was going to post. I remember trying to read everything I could get my hands on about Renee Richards. I too just starting puberty at the age of 14 (although I thought i was younger, maybe that was the Munich games... unrelated, sorry).
It's hard to recall. I know I'd heard all of those words along the line but I never paid them much attention. I didn't connect them to my own condition too strongly until about 6 years ago when I found some information online. Probably a blog or a forum. Can't remember where exactly, it might even have been this place linked somewhere. The term "trans" as a modern version of transsexual I only noticed about 6 years ago, online.
Something must have stimulated my interest to look into it more at that point and then I went looking for psychology books and papers on it, not just anecdotes.
I heard them so long ago that I have no recollection where or from whom. Probably in news media of some sort. I had heard of Christine Jorgensen, of course, and Renee Richards was in the news when I was a teenager. At that time, the word 'transgender' didn't exist. I certainly heard the words 'transvestite' and 'transsexual'. But the most common term by far was 'having a sex change'.
I learned it in 1975 from a Hustler magazine when I was 15. I already knew what I was but that put a word to it and told me I wasn't the only one.
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I first heard about 'having a sex change' from the film "Carry on again Doctor" sometime when I was little. I loved (and still do) the Carry On films, in fact my mum went into labour when pregnant with me laughing so hard at them. Explains a lot really!! ;D
Transvestite and Transsexual I heard when I was 16 from the VHS of the Rocky Horror Picture Show that I became OBSESSED with!
Transgender about 8 years ago when my friend transitioned MtF.
i'm going to be completely honest, i spent my childhood occasionally hearing people use words like '>-bleeped-<' and '>-bleeped-<', but i didn't pay it any mind, as they weren't saying it to or about me and i didn't know what they meant. the first time i heard the word transgender, and had it actually resonate with me, was after the death of leelah alcorn. i read the articles about her and looked up gender, and i saw how people spoke about SHE and HER, and for the first time i really felt like i knew what they were talking about. i googled the word transgender, went through a couple of websites, and a light switch went off in my head.
Transvestite? Probably the rocky horror picture show. Trans people in general? They were present in the clubs I went to in my teens / early 20's. Not that I was ready to acknowledge the truth then. I was there for a different purpose...
Transgender was not a word in the mainstream until 1985. The first transwomen that piqued my interest was Caroline Cossey. She is so beautiful and I thought I should be beautiful too. At the time I was crossdressing at every opportunity. But when people found out Caroline was trans, she was subjected to incredible scrutiny and I personally could not have taken it. So I remained in the closet.
No idea exactly! I know I'd heard the term 'transvestite' long before I'd heard transgender or transsexual. I know I was aware of sex changes back in the 80s. I actually distinctly remember an episode of 'Night Court' where the horny attorney (Dan?) was trying to get yet another beautiful woman in bed, and he freaked out when she told him she used to be a man.
Quote from: Sarah_P on February 09, 2018, 05:45:07 PM
No idea exactly! I know I'd heard the term 'transvestite' long before I'd heard transgender or transsexual. I know I was aware of sex changes back in the 80s. I actually distinctly remember an episode of 'Night Court' where the horny attorney (Dan?) was trying to get yet another beautiful woman in bed, and he freaked out when she told him she used to be a man.
I saw that episode too. The Transwoman was considered a freak, a punchline for the episode. Milton Burle dressed in women's clothes, Jonathon Winters too. Even Tom Hanks, Mrs Doubtfire and Tootsie were comedy relief. I've never really looked at it as comedy. We need representation in the real world as real people with real aspirations, and real problems and a real desire to just live. I've learned how diverse Susans audience is and we have Doctors, Lawyers, scientists, teachers, mayors, and others just starting out and will be the voice of the future. I want a better future for my kids.
The first time i heard about transgender aside from being a punchline on tv and in movies which I didn't think was real just another made up hollywood thing was the Jerry Springer show I was fascinated but with 4 small children to take care of I quickly buried any such thoughts about myself but it left the idea in the back of my mind and led to my self acceptance 35 years later
bobbisue :)
When I knew transgender wasn't a term
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I got dial-up internet in 2001 and before that I never heard the world transgender.
I heard transvestite when I was a kid in the 60s and sex change and >-bleeped-<.
Even as late a 2001 tho I don't remember the word transgender. The sites I visited used the word Tgirl pretty commonly tho. I'd say after YouTube got going and people started posting videos that's when the word transgender started gaining traction.
Transsexual would have been around 1964 in the Arizona Republic where I saw an article about John Hopkins starting their gender program.
Transvestie would have been in the early 1970's in the college library while I was reading books to learn more about transsexualism.
Transgender would be in the late 1970's in my therapy group though the definition didn't include much if any of the non binary.
Dena and I are probably of similar vintage. I knew when I was 12 yo that I wanted to be a girl, but thought I was the only pne. I was riding home on the school bus in February 1966, when a friend showed me an article in Newsweek magazine (the paper stuff back then) about the a Johns Hopkins program and Christine Jorgensen. Immediately the lights came - I knew what I was and knew that there was a solution. It's just taken all those years for me to come to terms with it and to accept that I can't be what others expected me to be.
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i had to come back and make an addition to my previous answer, because in the past few days i just found it again - when i was about 9 or so i played a video game about a trans girl who died and had to watch through her memories on television screens so she could cut off all ties with life and move forward into the afterlife. it was called i'm scared of girls - i'll send anybody who's interested a link - and even though the word trans was not explicitly used, it was the first time i'd been exposed to the idea of changing genders and/or wanting to be perceived as another gender. i played it again today, and it was just as awesome as i remembered! ;D
I think about 5 years ago, a friend of mine told me that a girl he chatted with regulary and whom he had sent a selfie for the first time, had asked him for how long he'd been on hormones (thinking he was mtf) because his phone always applied some subtle femenizing filter on his photos. Yeah, I think that was the first time I heard the word and the connection with hormones.
I was pretty young, maybe 12 or so. Sitting in the middle of a very "hellfire & damnation" Baptist church. It was an entire sermon on alternate lifestyles. Lots of stuff came up (not all LGBTQ related). But at one point the word "Transsexual" was used. This would've been around 1998 or so.
I'm not hating on religion in any way. Just stating facts.
I would have to say either middle or high school, so mid to late 90's. I know I was fascinated with women's clothes since about age ten when I was accidentally gifted a dress that was meant for my step-sister. I didn't know why, but it felt "right" to receive such a gift and I was extremely disappointed when it was taken from me. Not long after that I had heard the term 'crossdresser/crossdressing' when my mother had found out I had been occasionally wearing her clothes... though they weren't used in a positive way. That was at about age 11 I think. As for "trans" words, around 15/16.
Quote from: anne_indy on February 10, 2018, 05:39:30 PM
Dena and I are probably of similar vintage. I knew when I was 12 yo that I wanted to be a girl, but thought I was the only pne. I was riding home on the school bus in February 1966, when a friend showed me an article in Newsweek magazine (the paper stuff back then) about the a Johns Hopkins program and Christine Jorgensen. Immediately the lights came - I knew what I was and knew that there was a solution. It's just taken all those years for me to come to terms with it and to accept that I can't be what others expected me to be.
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Yes Anne I think you are just a year older than me and we both seemed to have stumbled on it in 1966. Christine Jorgensen first US and Roberta Cowell first UK citizens to have GCS in 1952 and 1951 respectively but both before we were born of course!
Thanks to everyone for your memories and replies
Pamela