Transsexual or transgender

[iris1469]

HHmmm, now I have heard a lot of differing things in terms of definition....but I want to talk about this. I see the word transsexual in a lot of places that i believe should have the word transgender....makes sense right? I mean people are forever confusing gender identity with sexual preference. And because we are transitioning from one gender to another i think that transgender is more fitting...........Is a transsexual basically a gunslinger??? HHmmm

[kyril]

"Transsexual" isn't about sexual preference, it's about sexual identity. In theory, "transsexual" refers to people who have body (especially genital) dysphoria and want SRS, while "transgender" refers to people who have gender role dysphoria or are gender-nonconforming in some way without body dysphoria. (There's a grey area, it's hard to effectively categorize trans people who want physical transition but not SRS)

Now, personally, I tend to call myself transgender because I think "transsexual" is an ugly word. But I'm abusing the language when I do it.

[Janet_Girl]

Transgender is an inclusive umbrella term which covers anyone who transcends their birth gender for any reason. This includes but is not limited to Androgynes, Crossdressers, Drag kings, Drag queens, Intersexuals, Transsexuals, and ->-bleeped-<-s.

Where as Transsexual is a person who is mentally one gender, but has the body of the other. They desire to live and be accepted as a member of the mental gender, this is generally accompanied by the strong desire to make their body as congruent as possible with the preferred sex through surgery and hormone treatments.

While some may feel that they think transgender is a better term, the label that we are given is Transsexual.  I, myself, use them interchangeably depending who I am talking to.

[Asfsd4214]

The general feeling is that transexual is someone who identifies with a gender apart from the one assigned as birth. And transgender is an umbrella term for various forms of gender variance.


In Australia I've found transgender to be more synonymous with transexual.

In real life I don't care and think everyone would be better off not worrying about stupid terminology.

[Cruelladeville]

I have a problem with the 'trans' part... 

As once you be decades post-op, and fully 100% legally female as I be...

Then its a redundant adjunct..... I'm not between anything or traveling somewhere....anywhere?

I arrived long ago baby.....lol

[Fencesitter]

In Germany, we have dozens of very different definitions of the term "transgender", which sucks. Therefore, I use "transsexual" though this gets easily confused with a sexual orientation.

[Angela]

Pretty much the same story here in Greece , they know the meaning of the word transexual but not transgender.  So thats what I go with.

[Nigella]

I have a problem with the 'trans' part... 

As once you be decades post-op, and fully 100% legally female as I be...

Then its a redundant adjunct..... I'm not between anything or traveling somewhere....anywhere?

I arrived long ago baby.....lol

Totally agree Cruelladeville,

I am "WOMAN", legally, emotionally, physiologically and as far as medically possible, physically.

I never liked either word, transsexual or transgender, but if pushed while transitioning I'd say, "transgender" because of the sex bit.

Stardust

[Dana Lane]

I am a transsexual woman. If I were a 'transgender woman' it could mean I was a transsexual or maybe a crossdresser..or maybe a drag king, etc.

[iris1469]

Well me personally, I prefer and refer to myself as a transgender. In my mind a crossdresser is one gender by day and the other by night,,,,a drag king or queen performs on stage, I dont.....but thats just me

[lilacwoman]

if ever the conversation got round to it I'd prefer to be called a transsesxual than a transgender as practically everyone is familiar with the idea of a TS being one sex then changing to the other while transgender conjures up images of things in freak shows or jerry Springer - same thing?

[iris1469]

if ever the conversation got round to it I'd prefer to be called a transsesxual than a transgender as practically everyone is familiar with the idea of a TS being one sex then changing to the other while transgender conjures up images of things in freak shows or jerry Springer - same thing?

I love you, but we are exactly opposite. I believe that the term transexual conjurs up freak shows and/or jerry springer

lol But thats me!!! How are you today?

[Karla]

Some (most?) people honestly don't know the difference between the 2 terms, or don't care to know.

I dislike categories but if your were trying to define me I guess I am specifically TS but that implies TG too, at least according to The definition..

[tracya1980]

I really get tired of being labeled.  For the record, I personally believe that transgender would be correct.  So what does that make me now?  A post op transgender or transsexual???!!  No, I am a woman.  I have always felt like a girl and thought like a girl and now I have the body parts to match.  So out with the labels, they are discriminatory!!!  Except for my fiancé, nobody where I live knows that I used to have male parts and that is the way I intend it to be.

[Kay]

I'll second what Kyril said. 

Because we're all lumped together under the "LGBT" label....or roughly "Homosexual, Bisexual, Transexual"....The third one can get confused with the first two.  (Homo- Bi- or Hetero- being about sexual attraction and the act of sex.  Trans- being about the physical equipment itself with absolutely nothing to do with sexual attraction or the act of sex.
.
I personally prefer Transgender, but I'll use Transexual if I need to...with some extra explanation regarding some of the incorrect associations that have been attached to the term.

[K8]

I believe that transsexual is a subset of transgender, therefore all transsexuals are transgendered but not all transgendered people are transsexuals.  TS is a specific kind of TG.

In the beginning I used TG when explaining myself, because I didn't want to put sex into the mind of the person I was talking to.  I had to explain what I meant a few times, but mostly it worked well.

I have pretty much completed transition, but I am still trans because I have transitioned, moving from living in the world as a man to living as the woman I am and always have been.

JMHO

- Kate

[Vanessa_yhvh]

At this point, I use "trans" a lot. Saves some headaches.

But I've also elaborated in YouTube videos aimed at locals, as well as in conversation, that I am transitioning with the goal of living my life as a woman. In the several months that I have been going through this locally, nobody has ever expressed the slightest interest in which term I use to refer to my situation.

When I deem it appropriate, I elaborate that I identify as a genderqueer individual who happens to be transitioning MTF.

I have more or less gotten over my aversion to the word transsexual, although I found it troubling for quite a while.

[Shang]

My psychology teacher would say a person who is transgendered identifies as a gender that does not correspond with their sex while a transsexual is a person who has undergone surgery so their sex matches their gender (what they identify as).  My psychology teacher uses "sex" as meaning your physical characteristics while "gender" is what's between your ears.  I generally use the terms in that way because it's what I was taught in my freshman year of college so I say I'm transgendered and not transsexual because I haven't undergone the surgery to become male in body.

[glendagladwitch]

I love you, but we are exactly opposite. I believe that the term transexual conjurs up freak shows and/or jerry springer

lol But thats me!!! How are you today?

The word police are saying that "transgender" should not be used as a noun, and I tend to agree.  So "transgender person" or "transgender woman" is more politically correct than "a transgender."  But whatever.  "Transman" or "transwoman" seems to be most common for transitioners to use to refer to themselves, in my experience.

[Jillieann Rose]

I agree with Tracya I'm a women and I don't like any other term.
Maybe I still have some wrong parts, but I'm working on it.
Jillieann