A Rant About MTF “Stealth”

[Natasha]

A Rant About MTF "Stealth"

http://www.transadvocate.com/a-rant-about-mtf-stealth.htm
July 23, 2013
By Cristan

The use of the word stealth has lost its meaning in the last decade. I hear people who go to trans support group meetings, activities and who run trans websites claim to be "stealth" now. When I came out, going to trans support group meetings, activities and running trans forums was the definition of being out in a big way! Some now say that "stealth" means one thing and "woodworking" another. I call BS. You can't woodwork without being stealth. It's like saying that the word "hide" and "conceal" are fundamentally different. If you're going to conceal something, you have to hide it; if you're going to woodwork, you've got to be stealth. Some say "stealth" just means privacy. Privacy is not telling my spouse that I had a wart removed years ago; stealth is not telling my spouse that I had testicles removed  years ago. Pretending that being "out" means telling everyone you meet you're trans is BS. Associating with others in the trans community while claiming to be stealth is a mischaracterization of what stealth is.

[Nero]

Interesting. I guess I'm not stealth after all. I'm not sure what being 'out' means either.

[Ltl89]

I don't agree.  You can be stealth and be out to select group of people.   Why the need fir a game of semantics?  I don't know why others feel the need to judge the lifestyle of others.

[Jennygirl]

I thought stealth just meant undetected as a trans person, and I sometimes talk about it in this way. I.e. with some people I wish to remain undetected as a trans person for whatever reason. While some people I do enjoy telling.. i.e. not stealth. And then there are people who are stealth all the time to everyone around them.

Some terminology does occasionally bug me so I understand and appreciate the discussion. At least for me, I want to have a clear picture of what it is I'm talking about / representing.

[Oriah]

Trans lingo is far from perfect....one word can mean different things to different people and a lot of terms are just plain inaccurate.  Terms like genetic girl, or biological male get thrown around all the time, though most people have never had their chromosomes checked.  Most people don't know WTF they are genetically XX, XY, XXY, whatever.  I know I haven't had mine checked.  When someone tries to tell me I'm genetically male, I want to ask them "what makes you so certain?"  Yet it's a widespread term used all over the trans community.

The problems with the language aren't likely to change soon.  The community isn't unified enough to really institute lasting changes to the jargon across the board.  Attempts to change it would likely just cause debate and further splintering of the language.  At least that's my opinion.  Hopefully, I'm wrong