Tracking Transgender: The Historical Truth
Transadvocate contributor: Cristan
http://www.transadvocate.com/tracking-transgender.htmWhy and when did transsexual people begin calling themselves transgender?
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Furthermore, it seems that not many are aware that "transgender" predates the term "transgenderist" – a word whose authorship is almost always erroneously attributed to Virginia Prince.
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We tend to forget that it wasn't until 1966 that the term entered popular culture with the publication of Harry Benjamin's seminal work, The Transsexual Phenomenon. Furthermore, we've all but forgotten that within just 5 years of "transsexual" becoming the new pop-culture buzz word, Christine Jorgensen was rejecting that identity and instead coined a new term to describe her experience. Another nuance that is oftentimes lost in these terminology debates is that "transsexual" was, in fact, designed to be an umbrella term which was explicitly inclusive of both transsexuals and crossdressers.
