Within the trans* community, the preferred term is undoubtedly “transgender”. The reason that the term “transgender” was created is that the older and more recognized word, “transsexual”, had become overly medicalized. Furthermore, transsexuality was seen as a mental disorder in a lot of places. (It still is in some!) To get away from this vein of thinking, trans people started identifying, not as “transsexual”, but as “transgender”.
Now, I feel differently.
I’m aware that I’m putting myself in an odd camp here. And possibly incurring the wrath of hundreds of “transgender” people, who’d rather I left my opinions unvoiced. But with the term “transgender” rapidly gaining popularity – so much as to appear on my list of medical diagnoses – I feel I need to speak out.
Why would I (or anyone!) prefer an oft-ridiculed, older, and overly medicalized word? I tried to sum this up through a story I published in an Australian human rights magazine, “Right Now”. In the words of my trans female character, “It is my sex that I am trying to change. But my gender is not ‘trans’. My gender is female.”
The bottom line is that, for a binary trans person (female or male, simply born in the wrong body), trans-ness is a medical condition. And it’s a medical condition with, if not a full cure, a lot that can be medically done to relieve it.
So, then, what’s “transgender”? To me, it’s something that encompasses trans-ness as part of your gender. If you identify as “transgender”, you’ll always identify as trans*. It’s not transsexuality, which (mostly) has a cure. If you’re transgender, the only “cure” is the education and understanding of just about everyone in society.
It’s not a problem for those who are okay with always being trans*. But for those of us, like me, who view our trans-ness as a medical problem that needs to – and CAN – be fixed, being labeled as “transgender” is jarring.
When I saw the term “transgender” on my list of medical diagnoses, I’ll be honest. I WAS upset!
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