Transsexuals using the word Transgender

[Valeriedances]

I dont understand why people who have been diagnosed with transsexualism through the SOC use the word transgender. Is it because of shame? Is preference a valid reason?

For those of you who prefer transgender, do you have a hard time accepting your diagnosis and the SOC? Does transgender have less shame attached to it for you?

I just dont get it, I'm sorry. It makes me feel like the condition I was diagnosed with is being erased, which honestly makes me angry.

[AbraCadabra]

Honey, I also do it a times, when a 6th sense tells me the folks I speak to can ONLY take so much. Some just get stumped by any word combination that contains the word sex.

I actually dislike 'Transgender' , dislike it for me, I feel it's NOT appropriate --- but at times it seems appropriate to the situation.

Axelle

[Lisbeth]

I don't get your problem with the word. I proudly wear both labels.

[Padma]

It depends where you are in the world. In Britain the diagnosis is "transgender", and "transsexual" just sounds like something sexual that I don't want hanging off me as a label implying I'm this for reasons of sexual feelings (regardless of me being pre-op and wanting to be post-op - I don't like the word). Emotional associations with terms are necessarily very subjective - mine and yours included .

And given that different people are inevitably going to use these terms in different ways from what you would prefer or be comfortable with, there's a whole mountain/Mohammed factor here - so if you can let yourself feel more okay about it, you'll be happier.

[mimpi]

Maybe wrong but afaik the diagnosis technically is the one in DSM-IV-TR. Says something like "Gender Identity Disorder in Adults" and of course the child equivalent. Think that's the medical/legal expression.

Maybe just me but I much prefer the word Transgender whatever it's origins. It's more actual, more inclusive and has far less baggage with it. Even Google search prefers it, it will blank results if one tries to type Transexual. Everything moves on in this world, hopefully one day there will be no need for any word at all as we'll just be "people" like everyone else.

[Ann Onymous]

Maybe wrong but afaik the diagnosis technically is the one in DSM-IV-TR. Says something like "Gender Identity Disorder in Adults" and of course the child equivalent. Think that's the medical/legal expression.

some of us were diagnosed and in treatment prior to the DSM IV being published.  My letters for surgery specifically reference having been seen in the counseling environment for a transsexual condition circa ~1989. 

Maybe just me but I much prefer the word Transgender whatever it's origins. It's more actual, more inclusive and has far less baggage with it. Even Google search prefers it, it will blank results if one tries to type Transexual. Everything moves on in this world, hopefully one day there will be no need for any word at all as we'll just be "people" like everyone else.

it may help to spell the condition correctly...it is 'transsexual' not 'transexual'  As to 'transgender' being more inclusive, I really don't care to be under that umbrella, was opposed to that umbrella when it first was gaining traction circa 1990-1991.  I don't wear my prior medical condition as a label...I had a transsexual medical condition.  Through medical intervention, that condition was cured many years ago.  I never was and never will be a 'transgender' anything...

[AmySmiles]

Even Google search prefers it, it will blank results if one tries to type Transexual.

Well technically that's because you're spelling it wrong.  If you type transsexual you'll get plenty of results.

As for the word itself, I don't care much either way.  I pick the word depending on my audience because I know the uneducated will get the wrong impression due to the presence of "sex" in the spelling.  While I know transsexual is the appropriate word, my audience may not and I don't always have time to explain (nor do I always care to).

[Ann Onymous]

the way some claim to be so opposed to a term that uses 'sex' in its language, it begs the question of what they would have tried to construct if they had an intersex diagnosis...I don't see anyone clamoring to change THAT term to intergender or some other non-sexual language. 

[Padma]

I think the word would have a very different impact (it certainly would on me) if it were "transsex" instead of "transsexual". Sexual, sexual, sexual. Don't think of elephants.

[cynthialee]

so long as I get my HRT and am ok'd for surgery you can call me a mammblefooze for all I care

[Re: Joyce]

I really dislike labels and I like having to be politically correct even less.

      When describing myself to people who've known me for a long time and haven't seen me in transition, I use the word "transgender" to describe my condition at birth.  When that 3-letter word s-e-x goes into anything, it causes the average person to think of an activity, rather than an identity.  So, I don't often use the word transsexual, as I fear it may create the wrong mental image.

      As far as "what am I now?", I use the words Female and Woman to describe myself.  I am no longer trans-anything, as trans means across and I've already crossed. 

      Even though I was at one time a "trans-something", I find that nit-picking label definitions to be an activity that just doesn't seem to have a productive end.

[cynthialee]

i have ussed both.

Transsexual when dealing with those who are educated.

Transgender when I am dealing with uneducated folks.

I have had a couple of folks completely not understand either word and had to fall back on the old saw...woman in a mans body.

Whatever gets me there....

[Nygeel]

I tend to use transgender over transsexual because I don't share the same beliefs that transsexuals often have. I'm also a bit feminine which some transsexuals have written off as not being trans enough.

[mowdan6]

Valerie and Cynthia....ditto to both.  I do not like being under the transgender umbrella, but it is a term that more people are familiar with.  Unfortunately, the term, transsexual, is seen as a perversion.  And, not looking to pass judgement, it';s just really hard for me to understand folks that only want to go so far in transition and that's it.  I have known since i was 4 years old that I am a man.  Have gone through alot of hardship and loss to get there.  So, for myself, transsexual is a better term.  It does tell the educated, this is a medical---biological --birth defect.  Again, not passing judgement on anyone.  We all transition differently, and, this is my way. 

[Nygeel]

I don't see my being trans as a birth defect, or as simply a medical condition. That implies that being trans is wrong, or that we are some how broken. I feel like that way of thinking is cissexist and can be harmful. I can understand if a person thinks that for themseles but when applying it to everybody else...not cool.

[mimpi]

Let's not get pedantic over the spelling of transexual/transsexual, both are accepted in common usage. Really pointless to get in a "less/fewer" discourse on such a matter.

For the life of me just can't understand all the ill feeling around inclusivity. Does history not warn us sufficiently where separatism can lead society? Tomorrow's date case in point...

Thank God the world has moved on from GID shrinks projecting their patriarchal sexist prejudices on their clients. Not all of us MTFs wish to conform to their '50s Barbie doll, straight suburban housewife fantasies.

And by the way there's no need for some to be supercilious, patronising, exclusivist and rude either.

[Padma]

I don't think it's too pedantic to compare transexual and transsexual spellings -  all that's being pointed out is that in terms of google hits:

transexual - 22,800,000
transgender - 29,900,000
transsexual - 38,700,000

...not that this is exactly "hard science", all it shows is that clearly the double-s version of the word is in way higher usage on the internet than either the single-s or transgender - and that's not too surprising, given than there's a higher proportion of US-based web pages than others, and transsexual is a predominantly US-based term.

Please let's not get too personal in this discussion, I don't think anyone is attacking anyone, and let's keep it that way.

[JenJen2011]

I don't have a problem with either word. I mostly use transsexual.

[mowdan6]

When I say birth defect....I look at my condition as being the same as a child born with a cleft palate or club feet.  A condition that needs surgery to be complete.  Not something that is wrong.  Just something that needs to be corrected medically. 
When I was at the point where most kids start to walk, I could not walk.  My feet were deformed.  Took many years to correct that.  I look at my being a transman the same way.  The way i was born.....and being patient in correcting it.  So, yes, I do see this as another birth defect.  The brain got one message...the body got another.  And, not looking to cause arguements.  This does'nt make me more male than anyone else.  Just my experience. 

[BunnyBee]

I'm not one to say because I don't really use either term to describe myself, or I do so as infrequently as I can get away with anyway.  If people want to call me TS or TG or something else, if it's with good intentions, I'm like, "whatever"  Maybe I'm part of the problem, if it's a problem.