Transgender/Transsexual

[Darrin Scott]

What's the difference between transgendered and transsexual?

[Janet_Girl]

Transgender: 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.

Transsexual: 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.

Basically Transsexual is under the general umbrella of transgendered.

[Alexmakenoise]

So if you are mentally one gender, have the body of the other, but do not have a strong desire to make your body as congruent as possible with the preferred sex, are you transexual?  Do you have to be unhappy with the body you were born with in order to be considered transexual?

[Nygeel]

I disagree with the definition of transsexual slightly and feel as if transgender is slightly different.

I wouldn't say "transcends their birth gender" because...well...you're not exactly born with a gender...it's assigned to you. The word transsexual by that definition could include androgynes, genderqueer, etc people.

[SnailPace]

If we break down the words, we should be able to differentiate between them: (The "trans" definition I copy and pasted, the other two were just improvised by me)

"Trans- (prefix): From the Latin meaning "across, over, or beyond." Medical terms containing "trans- " as a prefix include transcription, transfusion, transplant, transsexual, transurethral, transvaginal, transvestism, etc."

Gender: A mental identity in relation to masculinity, femininity, or lack thereof.

Sex: The biological traits characteristic of male, female or intersex.

Therefore, if we stick these together we get: (loosely)

Transgender: Someone whose gender identity is different than their physical sex. (Their gender is "across")
Transsexual: Someone whose sex is changed to match their gender identity. (Presumably through surgery)

So personally, I think of transgendered people as anyone who is gender variant.  (Androgyne, Genderqueer, FtM, MtF, etc.) Transsexuals on the other hand are those who's bodies are changed through hormones and surgery to change their physical sex.

[Angel On Acid]

I think of it the same way as snailpace, so I would say I'm transgendered, but not a transexual.

[jacob.ayden.averi]

I consider myself transgender and I always will, even after I start testosterone and get chest surgery. Honestly, I just don't really like the negative connotation that comes with transsexual. People tend to think of Jerry Springer and stuff. Transgender...it makes more sense to me. I dunno how to explain it.

[spacial]

From now on, I'm going to try to use the term transgendered.

It sounds less judgemental.

The double s in transsexual puts me off. (I have a terribl time with spelling and need to think each time I type it).

I'm not overly fond of using the term sex, since I don't and have never thought of my need to have a girl's body to suit my soul, as being sexual.

I really resent the implication that this is about wanting to attract people. It's about my own comfort and self esteem.

Edit. Missed a comma, so it didn't make sense.  

[Alexmakenoise]

"Transsexual" is a confusing word because it seems to give people the impression that being trans has something to do with sexuality.  I don't know how many times I've heard "transsexual" ignorantly referred to as a sexual orientation.  But it's hard to blame people for this misunderstanding because most words containing "sexual" do refer to a sexual orientation or other aspect of sexuality.

"Transsexual" makes sense in a medical context, or whenever it's necessary to make it clear that you're referring to a change of sex (physical) as opposed to just gender (social).  But for the sake of casual conversation, I think "transgender" is more useful and accurate.

[lilacwoman]

i'll stick with transsexual for people like me and transgender for all other non-heteros though legally I'm a woman anyway.

[Nygeel]

i'll stick with transsexual for people like me and transgender for all other non-heteros though legally I'm a woman anyway.

What the-
Could you go into a bit more detail because the way I'm reading this is sounds pretty darn screwed up.