A blog comment on one of my friend’s blogs came up in my email today that touched upon a subject that completely eludes me as to why a certain discussion occurs within the transgender community. The subject of these discussions is the (apparently) never-ending argument of the differences between the meanings of “transsexual” and “transgender”.
I responded with a comment of my own, and am copying it here in my own blog, so I can further state my own thoughts, since it’s my blog, my opinion, and I own it.
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“I recently watched a bout of discussion in one of my online groups between several trans-women who argued the semantics of “transsexual” vs. “transgender”, animosity abounded, and enemies were formed. We are all Trans people. Whether or not we have had surgeries or have taken hormones. We were each born in a body that was not right. We all have our obstacles to overcome, and we all have the inherent need to feel accepted as our true gender. Arguments over words, separating ourselves within our own community – well, I’m sorry, but that’s just plain dumb. I am very open with who I am, and I make it a point to educate the public, even those within the GLBT community, not only reminding them that we exist, but we are human beings who deserve the same respect and equality that any other human being deserves. Without those of us who actually stand up and speak for the trans community, society would still be where it was in the Stonewall days. Those who choose to hide who they once were only serve themselves. Hiding is synonymous with “secrecy”, and although I respect the right of every trans person to make their own decisions in their lives, in the overall scheme of things, I believe it stunts our progress in the community, and affects us all.” |
An interesting side note – I have noticed this discussion usually only appears between trans women, and rarely, if ever, is discussed in the men’s groups. I am not certain of the reasons, but the best I can glean from “listening” in to the women’s discussions, is that once many of them have had their GRS/SRS, they all of a sudden feel they are “transsexual”, not “transgender”. They separate themselves from those of us who have not had genital surgery. I see an air of “pride” among these women, as if turning their penis inside out has somehow made them “better” than those of us who have not had surgery.
I don’t see this same dissention among the men. Whether we have had our breasts removed, or a penis created (large or small, either one), or whether we still have to hide our frontal liabilities and stuff a sock down our pants – we are still transgender men. Those of us who have had either top or bottom surgery still consider ourselves transgender men. We are not “better than” those who have not had a surgery. Nor are we any more or less men.
Isn’t this argument of “transgender” vs “transsexual” as dead-end as arguing that there is a difference between being “homosexual” and being “gay” or “lesbian”?
Being the “need to know” type of person I am, I, of course, spent quite a bit of time researching the Internet to find out if there truly was a difference between “transsexual” people and “transgender” people.
Now, the way one transman described it to me, a “transsexual” is one who has had their surgery. A “transgender” person is one who has not had their surgery. Not ready to accept this explanation, I continued my search.
I did find a survey that asked (presumably) the general public, and found an array of what I personally considered mostly humorous answers (See survey HERE).
If one has taken the time to read through the Harry Benjamin SOC, you’ll find that if we are born with a gender identity conflict, we are all transsexual. But how many of us have actually read the entire document? Most of us use the “Find” and look for something specific to hormones or therapy (thereby skipping the remainder of the document) so we can get that treasured “letter” we all need to begin hormone therapy. Of course, now again, this is a “touchy” subject, as many tran people don’t agree with the HBSOC and are fighting to remove it from existence (or at least that’s the way I perceive it). So there are arguments on both sides with this too. But that’s a whole other issue.
I finally arrived on the GLADD organization’s website, on their Transgender Glossary of Terms page.
On this page, they have described each term regarding gender identity. I will leave it to you as readers to decide what your individual interpretations are, but the way I see it – WE ARE ALL TRANS PEOPLE and who gives a flying fig whether the ending is “gender” or “sexual”?
Seize the day!
Michael
ok I just spent 30 minutes writing a historical approach to why words like transsexual are relevant and such. So I get a mesage that says it was spammy??? and now my entire post is gone. What would have been spammy?
Oliver,
I don’t know why your comment was flagged as spam. I’ve checked the backend, one comment was flagged, and I approved it. But there was no comment to this particular blog anywhere. I’ve emailed for support to find out why a message would not only be flagged, but disappear completely. I’m sorry that happened to you.
I’m writing a Trans 101 pamphlet for school-wide distribution and the hardest part was trying to differentiate transsexual and transgender (I ended up saying that it depends on personal definition).
It isn’t surprising that transgender and transsexual are hard to separate; after all, the sex/gender distinction isn’t as clear as it might seem.
Radha’s comment surprised me: in Argentina, transwomen tend to group together, share experiences and help one another. They’ve welcomed me into their group, even though I’m young and FtM. Transmen, from what I’ve seen, are usually lone wolves, transitioning on their own; but I don’t know enough in person to judge properly.
The transsexual/transgender debate doesn’t seem to come up much over here, either; although there is some disagreement about the word “travesti”, which is a whole other identity we have among us.
I hope I didn’t bore you with the international perspective!
I think she is on to something, but I am also sure no nothing can explain everything.
I thinks some transwomen suffer from that “rugged individualism” that they learned as a child, as she was saying. I have seen that in my support group. They are reluctant to even talk to the new folks and then disappear after their transition is “complete.” One even said to me when I asked why she no longer wanted to come to meetings, “the Vals has done nothing for me.” Even though she met some of her best friends there, this included me. She felt no responsibility toward others. I felt sad.
On the transgender / transsexual debate: So many trans people do not want to use transgender as an umbrella term. Since being transgender has nothing to do with sex, they do not like a word with sex in it to be applied to then.
Then there are those with the made up term Harry Benjamin Syndrome (HBS.) They think they are just women with a repairable intersex condition and don’t even want under the transgender umbrella. I don’t think they even discuss trans-men. Someone it their Yahoo said that “transgenderism is a perversion,” and that we were just “glorified drag queens.” When I complained I got booted from the group.
Vickie
Feel free to reply to me on facebook.
Thanks Radha. That helps me understand a little. (Empasis on “little”).
What I am “hearing” you say, is that because transwomen have been alone in their struggles, and haven’t had the opportunity of belonging to a close-knit, in-person community, then they feel they must continue in their paths of isolation, seclusion, and fears, even to the point of excluding their sister transwomen? I won’t even delve into the separation that many MTFs have instituted between transwomen and transmen. Again, another issue, (another controversial-blog-by-Michael coming up soon ? Time will tell)
Before I react and write more, I will await your wise reply to let me know if I’m understanding you correctly.
As you know, because you actually read things before making statements I certainly agree with you that this “argument” is mostly driven by, for and about transwomen.
I’ve speculated a good deal on possible “whys” and, tbh, I think a lot of it will come down to differences in how we socialize. The majority of MTFs have no support network at all through the “gay community” or any other community. We tend to grow-up dealing with our problems alone and transmen tend to come through lesbian groupings.
I think the difference in socialization and learning is huge. Transwomen often place a great value on “doing this alone.” Transmen seem more inclined to me to historically do it through the support and care of friends. I think the difference is huge.
Transmen often understand the importance of “community” in-person better than do transwomen who have felt we must hide ourselves pretty much throughout our lives. I do see some very hopeful changes in that as younger transfolk seem to haven’t had quite so much the emphasis in many of their lives of being alone.
Just a guess. And being a friend and all, you might’ve just linked the topics!! hahahahaha
Love ya.