Terminology: Trangender Woman vs Transexual Woman

[OCAnne]

Hello Everyone, not comfortable being labeled a transgender person, which I view as incorrect to describe me.  Often find myself correcting misinformation GLADD puts out there to my colleagues.  I am not a cross dresser, ->-bleeped-<- or gender fluid.  I suffered from transsexualism, which is a medical condition that can be cured in some with HRT or surgery.
Although I would like it if people just looked at me as just a woman, I am comfortable described as transsexual version of one...but still a woman.  Although post SRS I do use transsexed (changed my sex) woman/female when describing myself to media colleagues and the public, trying to distance myself from the label transgender or transsexual woman.

Thank you,
Anne

[BenKenobi]

I don't understand how anyone can think that transsexual is for orientation to trans people. Like following that logic asexual means that someone is attracted to As or pansexual is someone attracted to cookware or bread.

Personally I'd use transgender as an umbrella term and transsexual as someone who has the SEX reassignment surgery. Hence trans-sexual.

[Beth Andrea]

A man would never trade his "junk" for a vagina. They cringe at even the idea.

Yet some people who were born with a male body want--or NEED--a body which closely approximates the female body.

The term for these people is transexual. MtF or FtM merely indicates the direction of transition.

Yes, you will always have XY chromosomes...but hardly anyone (including yourself) actually checks for them...unlike what happens when you look in the mirror or get into bed, with or without a lover. They only see what kinds of bits are between the legs.

If "you", that which makes up your Being, says you are supposed to have a penis, and you have been born with one....great! If you haven't, then the doctors can fix what you have into one. Or, when you get into bed and need a "cooter", but don't have one...again, the Drs can fix it.

They are changing the bits--the details--of your body to more accurately match what your self-image is of how your body should be.

All that being said....labels can be useful for communication with others and sometimes to help you understand yourself...but don't imprison yourself in them.


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[stephaniec]

trans, transsexual, woman , beautiful , Stephanie, whatever.

[Joi]

Have enjoyed reading all of the different replies.  I know it's a labeling thing and I'm not much into labeling, but they can be useful at times. As I am early in transition, I find that I need to use some kind of terminology when trying to explain myself to family and friends.

Once I have some time in my "public" feminine persona, it's likely that how I present to others, as a woman, will diminish the need for explanations.

My first exposure to the term "transsexual" was in the 1960's when I learned about "Christine Jorgensen."  I didn't know or understand the term "transgender"  until last year.  It's a good fit for me.  Think I'll keep it, that is until some wordsmith comes up with something better. .

[paula lesley]

This whole ( or should that be hole  ) thing really gets to me  I am not changing my " sex " how on earth can I  XY is all that I was born with. I can only round off a few sharp edges and hope for the best. I really do not like the terms at all. I am expressing the inner me. Not living in some fairy tale.

[cathyrains]

I will add something, my personal opinion about myself has changed. Yes I was a transgender or a trans sexual woman (makes no difference to me). I referred to myself as a transgender female.

I'm now post-trans*. Which means; I'm just another woman who deals with her issues as every single woman on this planet does.

Surely you have to accept that you do have a different life experience to natal females? That didn't suddenly change  post transition. Pregnancy and menstruation are obvious examples. On the flipside, there are unique aspects to our own M to F transgender experience that natal females will never share. While we may wish for equivalence, we do a strong disservice to ourselves to blindly embrace that ideal as if it were reality.

[Beth Andrea]

Have enjoyed reading all of the different replies.  I know it's a labeling thing and I'm not much into labeling, but they can be useful at times. As I am early in transition, I find that I need to use some kind of terminology when trying to explain myself to family and friends.

Once I have some time in my "public" feminine persona, it's likely that how I present to others, as a woman, will diminish the need for explanations.

My first exposure to the term "transsexual" was in the 1960's when I learned about "Christine Jorgensen."  I didn't know or understand the term "transgender"  until last year.  It's a good fit for me.  Think I'll keep it, that is until some wordsmith comes up with something better. .

I had the same thing happen early in my transition...I'd look at the skin on my arm and think, "No matter how much makeup, hair removal, etc this will always have been a man's arm, and there's simply no changing that!"

Not exactly true, that. Our bodies replace all the cells every few years, so once I got on hormones and allowed my mind to perceive "me" as "myself", soon followed by a generous softening of the skin (omg, that was sooo arousing, to feel a woman's arm where there was once a man's arm...) It's now been 3 1/2 years and I simply am unable to see myself as having a male body. I do have vague memories of that, but it's...well, it's difficult to explain.

I am a woman. Sure, I still have the danglers (not for long--65 days and counting!), but do I have a male body? Not anymore! Give yourself time. Do what you can to feminize, what you need to feminize, and over time...things do get better.

When someone asks me what I'm doing, I say "I'm transitioning my body from male to female." When they ask why, I say, "I am a woman in here *points to temple* and need my body to fit with my sense of who I am."

Sometimes they ask how/why etc, and I use the "genitals form in the womb in the first month, but the brain does not develop until the 3rd/4th month...sometimes it happens that a person gets a brain of a woman but the body of a man (or vice versa). Obviously that is very disturbing to you--imagine how it feels for us! We can make things better now!"

[MugwortPsychonaut]

Keep the "sexual" in transsexual.

I like the term. It's provocative. I use "transgender" when referring to the general trans population, but I like to call myself a transsexual. To me "transgender" can feel listless, or like it dances around the issue. To say that I am a transsexual is right to the point, like "Oh, this is for real." It has no reservations about who I am, and it makes polite company uncomfortable.

But when I fill out a gender form, I answer "female."

[topit]

uh, this is coming from more of an observational standpoint; it seems that nowadays mostly people say Transgender and I personally do not want to be called transsexual but that seems to be the terminology of the older generations so idk.

[Zoetrope]

What I do notice is that, even within trans circles, people perceive and use the words differently - depending on how they feel about them.

Words are just words. I think it would be great if we could agree to treat them that way, and get on board with set definitions, rather than take offense to them. I am far more interested in the intention behind what someone says, than how good their language is.

The terms can be very useful in describing who were are, and where we are along our journeys. But as it stands, because of the emotion people attach to the words, many of us feel like we are walking on eggshells.

[stephaniec]

it can get pretty crazy with words.

[Ms Grace]

The only term I accept...

[kelly_aus]

I am a transsexual, it's the accepted term for the medical condition that I have. Do I also fit under the transgender umbrella? Apparently so. But I am, and to some extent, always will be a transsexual.

Hanging out online in some trans spaces that are not US dominated, I find the use of the word transsexual to be more common.

[iKate]

Surely you have to accept that you do have a different life experience to natal females? That didn't suddenly change  post transition. Pregnancy and menstruation are obvious examples. On the flipside, there are unique aspects to our own M to F transgender experience that natal females will never share. While we may wish for equivalence, we do a strong disservice to ourselves to blindly embrace that ideal as if it were reality.

I mean honestly, even though I haven't had SRS yet but I am fulltime, being trans is not something I dwell on much.

[Zoetrope]

I am a transsexual, it's the accepted term for the medical condition that I have. Do I also fit under the transgender umbrella? Apparently so. But I am, and to some extent, always will be a transsexual.

Hanging out online in some trans spaces that are not US dominated, I find the use of the word transsexual to be more common.

Bingo.

[FrancisAnn]

I do not like the word "trans" anything. It's such an ugly kind of word. I never use it. I tell people I'm a M to Female person, a nice person & a nice woman. My $.02 worth.

[Zoetrope]

They are just words.

Nonetheless, real words, with real definitions.

How we feel about them is our own responsibility. Nobody else's.

[Serena]

I prefer transgender, I do think transexual is dated, but I also think that anyone should be able to identify themselves with whatever term they find appropriate, without feeling less of a woman, I am a binary trans woman who wants to have the surgery and after the surgery if I want to keep the transgender instead of transexual, I'll keep it.

Mod Edit: Please be mindful of others on the forum, the comment removed is covered by ToS 10

[Zoetrope]

Trans-gender = across gender = a non-cis gender identity.

Trans-sex-ual = across biological sex = one who has transtioned. It's a clinical term - which is not going away.


That's all there is to it.

And by the way - sex is not a dirty word ;~)