Trans*According to current standards, the "T" in LGBTQ stands for trans*. The asterisk is especially important because it no longer only stands for transexual or transgender, but now is an all inclusive term for anybody that is gender variant (Green & Peterson).
According to the Colette Chiland, the first academic acknowledgment of the trans community came in 1910, with the use of the word transvestism in a study done by Magnus Hirschfeld (2003). The use of the word transvestite for the trans* community, however, is problematic. Strictly speaking, transvestism is what we commonly call cross-dressing, and does not necessarily denote a person who feels that their sex and gender don't match up. Thus, the term transsexual came into popular use in the 50s (Chiland, 2003). A transexual is any person who identifies psychologically as a different gender than their biological sex. A fair majority of transexuals will peruse hormonal and surgical means in order to transform their bodies so that their sex and gender match (Green & Peterson). Transexual is not an all inclusive term, however and has left others feeling ignored. Thus, the term transgender has come into popular usage as an umbrella term to include anyone that lives as a member of the gender other than the sex that is assigned to them at birth (Green & Peterson). Where does that leave agendered, bigendered, intersexed and anyone else that falls into their own gender non-comforming category but doesn't fit the definition of transexual? Thus, it is now becoming popular to refer to the trans* community with an asterisk to be more inclusive. Additional terms associated with Trans* Agendred: A person who internally does not have a gender. Bigendered: A person who internally identifies as both male and female. Cisgender: Any person who feels comfortable with the gender identity, and gender expression assigned to them through their sex. Often referred to as cis!male or cis!female (Green & Peterson). Cross-dresser: Anybody who wears clothes that traditionally belong to another gender. Drag: Performing in a theatrical setting in the clothes of another gender. Gender Binary: The idea that there are only two genders and one must be strictly one or the other (Green & Peterson). Gender Normative: A person who conforms to the gender presentation society expects of each sex (Green & Peterson). Gender Variant: A person who's gender identity or presentation does not conform to societal norms (Green & Peterson). Hermaphrodite: Derogatory term used to describe intersexed people. Intergender: A person who has a gender identity between genders or is a combination of genders (Green & Peterson). Intersexed: A person who cannot be easily identified as either male or female due to them biologically possessing chromosomes, gonads, hormones, internal sex organs, and/or genitals that differ from the two standard patterns (Green & Peterson). |