The Death of the 'Transgender' Umbrella

[Natasha]

The Death of the 'Transgender' Umbrella

http://www.bilerico.com/2011/06/the_death_of_transgender.php
6/1/11
Filed By Mercedes Allen

If you've traveled anywhere among trans or LGBT blogs in the past year or three, you've inevitably come across an ongoing battle over labels, and particularly "transgender" as an umbrella term.  It seems to be a conflict without end, without middle ground and without compromise.

Yet for discourse on human rights and enfranchisement for transsexual and transgender people to move forward at all, at some point that discussion needs to have some sort of resolution, and some thorough dissection of the argument will need to take place. Could an alliance-based approach be a solution? Or more accurately, could enough people on both sides of the argument be willing (that is, to not see their position as immovable) to seek an alliance-based approach for it to make a positive difference in the discourse?

I don't know. But something that has become clear to me over the past while is that the language is changing. And I don't have to like it, but I have to understand what that means.

[Muffins]

"Post-Transsexual

Don't get me wrong: I do believe that a transsexual man or woman who reaches a point of relative "completion" (often seen as when surgery happens, but as far as I'm concerned not always requiring that) and slips into the gender binary is entitled to call themselves a man or woman, and should no longer be "required" to identify as trans in any way. Indeed, my own experience is that trans issues and memories fade as time passes, so it wouldn't make sense to force anyone to continue to identify as transsexual, although that does rob us of role models and pioneers.

Personally, I have no issue with those who do wish to leave "trans" anything behind, as long as (again), it's not done so in a way that invalidates. Transsexual, transgender, trans... there is a serious problem if we start viewing these as rigid boxes that have no escape clauses -- indeed, the whole concept of trans-anything is (at its core) about thinking outside the boxes."


word.

[cynthialee]

Well put. Good article.

Puts it all on the table efficiantly and without malice.

The word wars we are engaged in are literaly tearing this comunity apart at the seams. We have even lost some good members here on Susans lately due to this tiff. I have not been without blame in this I freely admit.

An alliance bassed aproach might indeed work better.

[Muffins]

I've noticed from a few threads I've browsed that ftm and mtf seem to generally have radically differing views on terminology.. no doubt from having different experiences.. trying to share the same words appears to be a headache for some. I haven't delved into too many of those threads as the debates etc are off putting.
As far as I see it sex and gender have definitions that are pretty concrete.. it's perhaps when they get hyphenated and prefixed etc that people start twisting them to mean something different or more narrow. Keep them literal I say!

[Princess of Hearts]

I identify as being transgendered at least according to the Oxford English Dictionary definition.   Some times I quite like feeling male and other times I prefer feeling female.   There is a man, or at least young male that lives in me and a woman.   The woman is the stronger more developed personality.   The pronouns 'she' and 'her' sit very comfortably with me and feminine activities feel comforting and reassuring.  However, my inner young man lets me know when he feels that I have been either too feminine or 'she' has been to long in the ascendant. 
I know that I shall never go down the surgery route as I have come to recognise that the boy inside me has a right to live.  He doesn't ask too much, and he only puts in an appearance briefly once or twice a week.   He gives me a sense of inner strength, drive and vision, so he must never be allowed to die.

OED: Transgender

'Of, relating to, or designating a person whose identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender, but combines or moves between these; transgendered.Although often used (esp. among participants in transgender lifestyles) as a generic and inclusive term which deliberately avoids categorizations such as transsexual or ->-bleeped-<-, in wider use transgender is sometimes used synonymously with these more specific terms.'

[spacial]

I am especially disturbed by the demand for labels at all, especially from people who, generally, would seem to prefer to not be distinguished at all.

There does seem to be tendency, usually encouraged by outsiders, for people in any group to be separately identified from others. The problem with this is the division turns into opposition. The principal is usually called, divide and rule.

I suggest, we are expecting the absolute freedom to express our gender as we choose. That should emcompas those who cross dress, those that can only achieve an emotional transision, for whatever reasons and those that seek or have achieved full transsision.

The objective, on societies level is the same.

The objective on ours will always be personal.

[Arch]

I've noticed from a few threads I've browsed that ftm and mtf seem to generally have radically differing views on terminology.. no doubt from having different experiences..

This is interesting. I'd like to ask you what patterns you've picked up on, but I'm afraid of "starting something."

[spacial]

This is interesting. I'd like to ask you what patterns you've picked up on, but I'm afraid of "starting something."

I would as well Muffin. It really doesn't surprise me, but I'd like to know some more.

I have to confess that I felt some friction from our FtM brothers so decided to back away from that section, as much as I can. There are differences in our experiences, of that, there is little doubt.

[Arch]

Starting something.

I did identify as transgender for a number of years between crossdresser (mostly because I didn't want to be considered mentally ill) and recloseted (because I just couldn't cope). When I came back out of the closet, I used the shorthand "trans" to describe myself. I actively identified as a transsexual and used both "transsexual" and "trans" as part of my gender identity.

Shortly after I started my transition, people began reading me as male. I guess that liberated me. I stopped identifying as trans anything. That is, my identification is male, although I still use the "trans" shorthand and the term "transsexual" to refer to my history and/or body. They are useful terms that way. But I no longer use them to refer to my gender identity and don't really feel a connection to them as part of my core identity. They're more like handy describing words--they refer to who I once was and where I've been, sort of, and they refer to my atypical body, but they do not define my gender. I see them more as terms that describe my condition, not my core identity

I never ever use the term "transgender" to refer to myself anymore, and I confess that I wince when anyone refers to me that way or uses the term "transgender" to refer to someone I think of as a bona fide transsexual (as in "Chaz Bono, a transgender..."). But in the end, it's each person's choice how to label himself or herself--or whether to label at all. So if Chaz Bono (or Joe Blow, for that matter) announced that he considered himself transgender and wanted to be called that, I would respect it. I might still cringe inwardly, though, because I don't want anyone to refer to ME that way.

I do believe that "transgender" is a useful umbrella term and concept, even if I don't particularly like the word or use it to label myself. It would be nice if we could find a different term, but even if we did, some people would be unhappy with it, and some people would insist on deciding how to label other people against their will. So I consider this whole TS vs TG issue more as a problem of human nature, not nomenclature.

[Nemo]

I've always gone with the idea that transgender just encompasses all sorts of "gender deviance", for want of a better term, and that transsexual is just one of them. But that's just me.

Here's a crazy idea, though - dispense with *all* the labels! People can stop worrying where they fit in the picture and say with confidence "I'm ME" and that's that.

Eh, I can dream, can't I?!

[Arch]

Here's a crazy idea, though - dispense with *all* the labels! People can stop worrying where they fit in the picture and say with confidence "I'm ME" and that's that.

It would be wonderful...I guess one problem with that is that, as a group, we are all marginalized and need a political presence. And that means that some labeling is pretty much inevitable. Not to mention that humans tend to like our categories anyway.