Defining the Transgender Community: It’s Not Easy to Do

That was quite a discussion on TGForum a couple of weeks ago. Sparked by a mention of the controversy stirred up by RuPaul in distinguishing between drag queens and she-males it highlighted to me that even among the TG community there is not a common understanding of the terms used to describe various members of the TG community.

Does it really matter how we all self-identify? To some people it really does. It reminds me of the discussion I witnessed at one of the founding meetings of a TG support group. When one participant, apparently pre-op TS, declared “crossdressers are not really transgender” all hell broke loose as a few of the crossdressers present took great exception to the perceived insult. It seemed to them it was akin to those racial slurs associated with the old days of racial segregation.

What do we really mean when we say transgender, transsexual, transvestite, cross-dresser (or crossdresser) drag queen, she-male or, hermaphrodite?

What about intersexed, transsexed, gender diverse, two-spirited, pan-gendered.

Are there really such conditions as gender dysphoria, neutrois, androgyny and hermaphroditism?

Where once we were asked to self-identify as male or female Facebook now has a list of fifty, count ‘em fifty, custom gender identity options available for their users.

With nothing else to do during these summer doldrums and with another TGF deadline looming I decided to look up how some popular dictionaries define the common labels used in our culture. I consulted three authoritative dictionaries –Merriam Webster (US), Oxford (UK) and the newer, On-line dictionary, dictionary.com as well as Wikipedia.

First of all I must say that I often see the TG spectrum much like that well-known drawing explaining evolution, the one where we see a four legged creatures walking toward being members of the ape family to prehistoric man until finally we get to modern day humans. There are many different versions of it. My favorite is the one where the prehistoric man leads to someone with a soccer ball at his feet and then finally a rugby ball in his hands. You should guess that I’m a big fan of rugby. But I digress.

My TG version would have a baby boy crawling and reaching for a doll instead of a war toy. Then a young boy would be trying on an oversized dress while looking at himself in the mirror, a slightly older boy would be wearing bra and panties, also looking in the mirror, then he would be looking more secretive with suggestion that he was masturbating while wearing the lingerie. Further along we have fully dressing in private still looking in a mirror, same thing but this time with make-up, then venturing out to a meeting of like-minded people before ‘going public.’ The final stages would involve figures in stages of pre and post operation transsexual. It is not to suggest that everyone moves through all these stages. We all find our own starting and finishing point. What I am saying is that there is a continuum, a spectrum, a rainbow, a diversity of people under the transgender label. In my opinion no one group has an exclusive right to the term transgender.

That is the way the dictionaries see it, too. Merriam Webster explains transgender as “of, relating to, or being a person (as a transsexual or transvestite) who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth.” The other dictionaries I consulted say essentially the same thing. So according to the dictionaries and Wikipedia to put it as simply as possible whether you were born male and now wear a bra to stimulate your penile erection or to support your new breast implants it makes no difference. To the dictionary editors you are considered a transgender person.

So let’s take a look at some other terms that come under the transgender umbrella or along the transgender evolutionary chain, if you prefer.

Transsexual: The Oxford dictionary offers its readers two choices either 1) A person who emotionally and psychologically feels that they belong to the opposite sex: or 2) A person who has undergone treatment in order to acquire the physical characteristics of the opposite sex.

Merriam Webster and dictionary.com are not far off Oxford. It is interesting to me that they all state one simply has to feel he or she should be of the sex different to their birth sex. Preparing for, about to have or having had sex reassignment surgery is not a pre-requisite for having the dictionary editors consider one a transsexual.

Transvestite: Merriam Webster says a transvestite is “a person and especially a male who adopts the dress and often the behavior typical of the opposite sex especially for purposes of emotional or sexual gratification.” Oxford similarly defines a transvestite as “A person, typically a man, who derives pleasure from dressing in clothes appropriate to the opposite sex.” However Wikipedia and Dictionary.com both suggest a transvestite is one who dresses in the manner associated with the other sex, leaving out the suggestion of pleasure or sexual gratification.

Where then does that leave us ‘crossdressers’? Actually it leaves us in limbo. None of the sources refer to the noun crossdresser. Girls, in their eyes we do not exist! They all see crossdressing as the act or practice of wearing clothes made for the opposite sex. The reason for the crossdressing does not matter for them. It makes no difference whether it is for sexual or emotional pleasure or to entertain others. Transvestites and Transsexuals crossdress. Crossdressers by their definitions do not exist! Or perhaps it is that all transgendered persons are cross-dressers.

Hold on there. It has been some 40 years since there has been a fetishistic element to my dressing and while I enjoy appearing as a woman I have no desire to be a woman. I don’t feel comfortable with the term transvestite or transsexual being applied to me. For years crossdresser has been the happy middle ground. Now I find the term does not exist. What is a part-time pseudo girl to do?

Perhaps we crossdressers have some work to do to gain our rightful place in the dictionaries of the world. Do you agree?

Okay now what about the two groups referred to by Ru Paul? Drag queens and she-males?

Drag Queens: The sources vary a bit on this one. Merriam Webaste calls them:  “a homosexual man who dresses as a woman especially to entertain people”.

Oxford says: A man who ostentatiously dresses up in women’s clothes.

Wikipedia: A drag queen is a man who dresses, and often acts, with exaggerated femininity.

Dictionary.com:

male who dresses as a woman and impersonates female characteristics for public entertainment

She Male: The dictionaries ignore the term she-male but Wikipedia has this to say: She-male is a term primarily used in sex work to describe a trans woman with male genitalia combined with female secondary sex characteristics, usually including augmented female breasts, from breast augmentation and/or use of hormones. Many transgender people regard the term shemale as offensive, arguing that it mocks or shows a lack of respect towards the gender identity and gender expression of transgender individuals; in this view, the term emphasizes the biological sex of a person and neglects their gender. Using the term shemale for a transsexual woman often implies that she is working in the sex trade. The phrase is commonly found on porn sites.

So that is it. Here is where I am supposed to come up with a definitive summary of the TG vocabulary issue. That is not going to happen. The labels seem to be what one chooses them to be. My definition of a transvestite is probably not going to be your definition and it certainly will not be as all inclusive as the Brits’ ‘Tranny.’ I certainly don’t fit as a transsexual.

I’m perplexed how I can be a person who does crossdressing but I’m not officially defined as a crossdresser. No matter, as I sit here wearing makeup, a pencil skirt, low cut blouse and two inch heels I think back to one of the favorite characters of my childhood, Popeye, who often said, “I yam what I yam!” That’s good enough for me.

Tags: crossdressing, featured, opinion, Transgender, Transsexual

Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Opinion