Transgender

Transgender is generally used as an overarching, general term for a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups centered around the full or partial reversal of gender roles; however, compare other definitions below.

Overview

The term remains in flux, but the most accepted definition is currently:

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:People who were assigned a gender, usually at birth and based on their genitals, but who feel that this is a false or incomplete description of themselves.

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Another one is: Non-identification with, or non-presentation as, the gender one was assigned at birth.

Related Topics:
Non-identification - Non-presentation

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Transgender people may or may not have had medical gender reassignment therapy, also called sexual reassignment surgery, and may or may not have any interest in such a procedure. In other words, not all transgender people are necessarily transsexual.

Related Topics:
Gender reassignment therapy - Sexual reassignment surgery - Transsexual

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When referring to the two basic "directions" of transgender, the terms transman for female-to-male (which may be further abbreviated to FtM) transgender people and transwoman for male-to-female (which may be further abbreviated to MtF) transgender people may be used. In the past it had always been assumed that there were considerably more transwomen than transmen. However, the ratio is approaching 1:1.

Related Topics:
Transman - Transwoman

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Transgender can include a number of sub-categories, which, among others, including transsexual, cross-dressing, transvestite, consciously androgynous people, people who are genderqueer, people who live cross-gender, drag kings and drag queens, among many others. Usually not included, because in most cases it is not a gender issue (although in practice the line can be hard to draw) are transvestic fetishists.

Related Topics:
Cross-dressing - Transvestite - Androgynous - Genderqueer - Cross-gender - Drag king - Drag queen - Transvestic fetish

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Many people also identify as plainly transgender, although they may fit the definition of any of the previously mentioned categories as well.

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The extent to which intersex people (those with genitalia or other physical sexual characteristics that are not strictly either male or female) are included in the transgender category is often debated. Not all intersex people have a problem with the gender role they were assigned at birth, nor do all intersex people have any problems with gender identity. Those who have, though, are sometimes included in transgender.

Related Topics:
Intersex - Sexual characteristics - Gender role - Gender identity

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Cisgender is the opposite of transgender, and refers to those individuals who identify themselves with the gender associated with their birth sex.

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The terms "gender dysphoria" and "gender identity disorder" are used in the medical community to explain these tendencies as a psychological condition and the reaction to its social consequences. Strictly speaking, gender dysphoria and gender identity disorder are considered to be mental illnesses, as recorded in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the standard for mental healthcare professionals. Unfortunately, many mental healthcare providers know little about transgender life, and persons seeking help from these professionals often end up educating the professional rather than receiving help. Among those therapists, psychologists, etc. who do know about transgender issues, many believe that transitioning from one sex to another — the standard transsexual model — is the best or only solution. This usually works well for those who are transsexual, but often far less well for those cross-gender people who do not identify as plainly male or female.

Related Topics:
Gender dysphoria - Gender identity disorder - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Mental health - Cross-gender - Male - Female

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Other definitions

Originally, the term transgender was coined in the 1970s by Virginia Prince in the USA, as a contrast with the term "transsexual," to refer to someone who does not desire surgical intervention to "change sex," and/or who considers that they fall "between" genders, not identifying strictly to one gender or the other, identifying themselves as neither fully male, nor female.

Related Topics:
1970s - Virginia Prince - Transsexual

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Transgenderists & non-operative transsexuals

Often in older writings (pre ~1990s), but rarely today, the term transgender is used to refer to these "non-op transsexuals" or "non-op transpeople" — transpeople who live as the gender opposite to their birth gender and, though sexual reassignment surgery is possible, have chosen not to undergo it; sometimes they also choose not have other medical gender reassignment therapy. However, sometimes, for example in the Netherlands (but not in the rest of Europe), the term transgender is still in use for this particular group instead of being used as such an umbrella term.

Related Topics:
1990s - Sexual reassignment surgery - Gender reassignment therapy - The Netherlands - Europe

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This group is also sometimes known as "transgenderists" or "non-op transsexuals". Many point out that the term "non-op transsexual", however, is very far from ideal, in that it seems to be an oxymoron (people who want to become the other sex yet don't) or a case of defining people by what they are not rather than what they are. Unfortunately, there seems to be no perfect term in English for this sort of person as of yet.

Related Topics:
Transgenderist - Oxymoron

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Transgender as "in between"

Transgender is sometimes also used specifically in an "in-between" sense, rather than as an umbrella term.

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A newer related term is "genderqueer", which refers to the mixing of qualities traditionally associated with "male" and "female," and can also refer to the "in-between" sense sometimes associated with transgender or transgenderism.

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