I do not accept that I am trans anything much less "->-bleeped-<-." I do not believe that we should, as a community, take ownership of this word like we do with dyke or queer or the N word. It is different, most of us identify with the F word: Female!

Quote from: Jaime on July 09, 2012, 11:46:22 AM
I think the term has enough negative connotation that no matter what context its in, it just sounds bad and I don't think I've ever heard the term used irl where it wasn't in anything  but a negative context and usually meant to ridicule someone, cis or trans.

You hit the nail on the head. Even though I love him, Bill Maher, a misogynist of the first order, often derogatorily uses the term, even to make fun of cisgender beauty contest participants, saying they all look like ->-bleeped-<-s.

Me??  I personally dont care what ignorant ppl have to say. I consider myself a female, since I am post op, so i dont go around tellin the world.  When I was pre-op i did take it personally, because I think most ppl that arent educated will put all of us in one category, and it is not just the people, but much of what the media does to influence and perpetuate this.  We are much like what issues the gay people had to deal with back in the 70's, but I personally think ppl are even less educated when I comes to TG/TS.

The unfortunate thing is transgender can mean draq queens, crossdressers etc, men PRETENDING to be women or even mocking female sexuality as drag queens do. We need another word. One of the first transsexuals was a German MTF named Rudolph Richter. We could start calling it "Richter's Syndrome." In fact, I think I will start using it in situations in which I have to disclose. 

thats what those guys screamed out of their truck to me when i was going to see my bf the other night .......

Quote from: UCBerkeleyPostop on July 09, 2012, 07:37:44 PM
The unfortunate thing is transgender can mean draq queens, crossdressers etc, men PRETENDING to be women or even mocking female sexuality as drag queens do. We need another word.

The problem is that even after srs, many people will always see us as pretending to be women. I don't see another term for it helping any.

Here is the best analogy I can think of. Does someone born with Down Syndrome find it OK to be called a Mongolian Idiot?

Quote from: Jaime on July 09, 2012, 07:43:34 PM
The problem is that even after srs, many people will always see us as pretending to be women. I don't see another term for it helping any.

i defiantly think transgender should be a umbrella term for varience  including androgynes and gender queer people too

but including drag queens as transgender makes no sense to me , its just a show / performance for them they dont live that way

Quote from: mementomori on July 09, 2012, 08:15:05 PM
i defiantly think transgender should be a umbrella term for varience  including androgynes and gender queer people too

but including drag queens as transgender makes no sense to me , its just a show / performance for them they dont live that way

Unfortunately, whether it makes sense to you or not, the academic definition of transgender is that it is an umbrella term that includes all gender variant people including cross-dressers and drag kings and queens. Some definitions include "butch lesbians" as TG. The meaning of the word has changed over the years. Visit
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/reports/reports/TransgenderEquality.pdf

It offers an interesting etymology of the word.

"Before the mid-1990s, the term 'transgender' had a narrower and more specific meaning.
As coined several decades ago by Dr. Virginia Prince, who has published numerous
books and articles on the subject,5 the term originally referred to biological men
who are satisfied with their male genitalia, but who wish to be seen
and to live in the world as women. In contrast to transsexual people,
'transgender' persons (in the older, more narrow sense of the term)
have come to terms with the contradiction between their bodies and
their gender identities and are not troubled by that contradiction, so
they have not shown up in doctors' offices to be diagnosed and documented.
Instead, they are more likely to show up in sociological or
anthropological studies, or to be writing their own stories in the form
of autobiographies, essays or books. As a group, their sexual orientation is predominantly
heterosexual (based on genitalia), but there are also bisexual, asexual, and
homosexual individuals. Sexual orientation or behavior is not the primary issue or primary
motivation for transgendered people; rather, the issue is wishing to live and to be
perceived as a gender that is different than one's biological sex. This is, of course, an
oversimplification because the relationship between gender identity and sexual desire
is highly complex and individual."

Quote from: mementomori on July 09, 2012, 08:15:05 PM
i defiantly think transgender should be a umbrella term for varience  including androgynes and gender queer people too

but including drag queens as transgender makes no sense to me , its just a show / performance for them they dont live that way

Agreed, I wondered why dragqueens were added...makes no sense really..

I've said this before somewhere else, under an old username, but I have some feeling that the word ->-bleeped-<- is more offensive to those who speak North American English than it is to those who speak other kinds.

Certain trans women and men use it amongst themselves in Australia in a jocular way. I think it reflects the fact that there is less prejudice against trans people here generally than what appears to be the case in the US, and so there is less use of the word in an insulting way by others. Also to put a -y on the end of something or an -o to make long words into shorter familiar ones is a characteristic of Australian (and to a lesser extent New Zealand) English.

Sensitivities may be changing though, the old "->-bleeped-<- radio" site I mentioned in  that old post has changed to "Transgender Radio' within the last year.

I don't care who says it as long as they aren't talking about me. 

Maÿlis

 I don't think the word can appropriately be reclaimed yet. Until that time, the T-word should be off-limits.

id rather just be refered to as a human being , not all these other stupid labels when it comes down to it at the end of the day

I don't mind the words transsexual, trans woman / men as that is what were are sentential, we speaking to people I'll will refer to then as a woman or man,
The minute people start saying tr**ny it just throws you in with the rest of the freaks out there the encompass "T" in general no offence to the Androgyny or Intersex people here, that may be a little harsh and may not be politically correct, (this would be the part where people start saying how dare I call people freaks but that's what the general public thinks)
But every thing that we have work so hard for can be brought down in one second with someone saying tr**ny whether they mean it in a derogatory way or not.

I personally don't like the "T" word, only due to the fact that a majority of people who hear it, think of it in a completely negative way. I agree with UCBerkeleyPostop, I don't want to take ownership of such a word, I want to be identified as Female!

duhh of course you can. Try not to give people the wrong impression however. first they need to understand it's a serious problem then they can chuckle at it.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NWordPrivileges

I've also refereed to myself in jest in addition to "->-bleeped-<-"
"Half-Boy"
"Hybrid"
"Infiltrator"
"Mutant"
"Changeling half-breed"

And numerous others, It's fine If you treat me properly and regard me as a female and aren't spiteful about it but I have told certain other people who explicitly refuse to refer to me as female under nominal circumstances that they aren't allowed to joke about the issue.

Personally, I hate the "T" word.  If someone called me a tr***y, they would have to either apologize quickly or suffer my wrath. 

Quote from: Claire25 on July 09, 2012, 04:29:33 PM
...I personally can't stand the "I" word...

what is the "I" word??

Quote from: Natkat on July 10, 2012, 07:03:47 PM
what is the "I" word??

"It"....My mother in law referred to me as that and my heart just dropped..