Transgender



Transgender (, from (Latin) derivatives [trans <L, combination form meaning across, beyond, through] and [gender <ME <MF gendre, genre <L gener- meaning kind or sort]) is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies that diverge from the normative gender role (woman or man) commonly, but not always, assigned at birth, as well as the role traditionally held by society.

Transgender is the state of one's "gender identity" (self-identification as male, female, both or neither) not matching one's "assigned gender" (identification by others as male or female based on physical/genetic sex). "Transgender" does not imply any specific form of sexual orientation; transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, polysexual or asexual. The precise definition for transgender remains in flux, but includes:


 * "Of, relating to, or designating a person whose identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender, but combines or moves between these."


 * "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."


 * "Non-identification with, or non-presentation as, the gender one was assigned at birth."

A transgender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender, identify elsewhere on the traditional gender continuum, or exist outside of it as "other," "agender," "intergender," or "third gender". Transgender people may also identify as bigender, or along several places on either the traditional transgender continuum, or the more encompassing continuums which have been developed in response to the significantly more detailed studies done in recent years.

Evolution of the term transgender
The term transgender (TG) was popularised in the 1970s (but implied in the 1960s ) describing people who wanted to live cross-gender without sex reassignment surgery. In the 1980s the term was expanded to an umbrella term and became popular as a means of uniting all those whose gender identity did not mesh with their gender assigned at birth. In the 1990s the term took on a political dimension as an alliance covering all who have at some point not conformed to gender norms, and the term became used to question the validity of those norms or pursue equal rights and anti-discrimination legislation,  leading to its widespread usage in the media, academic world and law. The term continues to evolve.

Transgender identities


While many people identify simply as transgender, transgender identity includes many overlapping categories. These include transsexual (TS); cross-dresser (CD); transvestite (TV); androgynes; genderqueer; people who live cross-gender; drag kings; and drag queens. Usually not included because it is considered to be a paraphilia (rather than gender identification) are transvestic fetishists. In an interview, artist RuPaul talked about society's ambivalence to the differences in the people who embody these terms. "A friend of mine recently did the Oprah show about transgendered youth," said RuPaul. "It was obvious that we, as a culture, have a hard time trying to understand the difference between a drag queen, transsexual, and a transgender, yet we find it very easy to know the difference between the American baseball league and the National baseball league, when they are both so similar." These terms are explained below.

The extent to which intersex people (those with ambiguous genitalia or other physical sexual characteristics) are transgender is debated, since not all intersex people disagree with their gender assigned at birth. The current definitions of transgender include all transsexual people, although this has been criticized. (See below.)

The term transman refers to female-to-male (FtM or F2M) transgender people, and transwoman refers to male-to-female (MtF or M2F) transgender people, although some transgender people identify only slightly with the gender not assigned at birth. In the past, it was assumed that there were far more transwomen than transmen, but a Swedish study estimated a ratio of 1.4:1 in favour of transwomen for those requesting sex reassignment surgery and a ratio of 1:1 for those who proceeded. There is a school of thought that says terms such as "FtM" and "MtF" are subjugating language that reinforces the binary gender stereotype.

The term "cisgender" refers to non-transgender people, i.e. those who identify with their gender assigned at birth.

Transsexual
Transsexual people identify as, or desire to live and be accepted as, a member of the gender opposite to that assigned at birth. Many transsexual people also want to change their bodies. These physical changes are collectively known as sex reassignment therapy and often include hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery. References to "pre-operative", "post-operative" and "non-operative" transsexual people indicate whether they have had, or are planning to have sex reassignment surgery. Although there are genetic, hormonal, and psychological theories, there is currently no known cause of transsexualism.

Cross-dresser
The term 'cross-dresser' is not exactly defined in the relevant literature. Michael A. Gilbert, professor at the Department of Philosophy, York University, Toronto, offers this definition: "[A cross-dresser] is a person who has an apparent gender identification with one sex, and who has and certainly has been birth-designated as belonging to one sex, but who wears the clothing of the opposite sex because it is the clothing of the opposite sex." This excludes people "who wear opposite sex clothing for other reasons". Also, the group doesn't include "those female impersonators who look upon dressing as solely connected to their livelihood, actors undertaking roles, individual males and females enjoying a masquerade, and so on. These individuals are cross dressing but are not cross dressers." Cross-dressers may not identify with, or want to be the opposite gender, nor adopt the behaviors or practices of the opposite gender, and generally do not want to change their bodies medically. The majority of cross-dressers identify as heterosexual.

Transvestite
A transvestite is somebody who cross-dresses. The term "transvestite" is used as a synonym for the term "cross-dresser", although it has been stated that "cross-dresser" is the preferred term. The term "transvestite" and the associated term "transvestism" are conceptually different from the term "fetishistic transvestism" (a.k.a. "transvestic fetishism"), as "transvestic fetishist" describes those who intermittently use clothing of the opposite gender for fetishistic purposes, and "transvestite" does not. In medical terms, transvestic fetishism is differentiated from cross-dressing by use of the separate codes 302.3 in the DSM and F65.1 in the ICD.

Drag kings and queens
Drag is a term applied to clothing and make-up worn on special occasions for performing or entertaining as a hostess, stage artist or at an event (e.g. Lypsinka). This is in contrast to those who cross-dress for other reasons or are otherwise transgender. Drag can be theatrical, comedic, or grotesque, and female-identified drag has been considered a caricature of women by second-wave feminism. Within the genre of drag are gender illusionists who do try to pass as another gender. Drag artists explore gender issues and have a long tradition in LGBT culture. Drag has been regarded as an area where transgender people can find more acceptance and financial support than mainstream work environments. Generally the terms drag queen covers men doing female drag, drag king covers women doing male drag, and faux queen covers women doing female drag.

Genderqueer
Genderqueer is a recent attempt to signify gendered experiences that do not fit into binary concepts, and refers to a combination of gender identities and sexual orientations. One example could be a person whose gendered presentation is sometimes perceived as male, sometimes female, but whose gender identity is female, gendered expression is butch, and sexual orientation is lesbian. It suggests nonconformity or mixing of gendered stereotypes, conjoining both gender and gayness, and challenges existing constructions and identities. Genderqueerness is unintelligible and abjected in the binary sex/gender system.

People who live cross-gender
People who live cross-gender live always or mostly as the gender other than that assigned at birth. If they want to be or identify as their gender assigned at birth, then the term "crossdresser" may be used. If they want to be or identify as the gender they always or mostly live in, then the term "transsexual" may be used. The term "transgender" or "transgenderist" has been applied to people who live cross-gender without sex reassignment surgery.

Androgyne
An androgyne is a person who does not fit cleanly into the typical gender roles of their society. Androgynes may identify as beyond gender, between genders, moving across genders, entirely genderless, or any or all of these. Androgyne identities include pangender, bigender, ambigender, non-gendered, agender, gender fluid or intergender. Androgyne used to be a synonym for intersex people, but this usage has fallen out of favor. Androgyny can be either physical or psychological; it does not depend on birth sex and is not limited to intersex people. Occasionally, people who do not define themselves as androgynes adapt their physical appearance to look androgynous. This outward androgyny has been used in fashion, and the milder forms of it (women wearing men's pants or men wearing two earrings, for example) are not seen as transgender behavior.

Transgender in contrast with sexual orientation


Gender identity and transgender identity are fundamentally different concepts to that of sexual orientation. Transgendered people have more or less the same variety of sexual orientations as cisgender people. In the past, the terms homosexual and heterosexual were used for transgendered people based on their birth sex. Professional literature now uses terms such as attracted to men (androsexual), attracted to women (gynosexual), attracted to both or attracted to neither to describe a person's sexual orientation without reference to their gender identity. Therapists are coming to understand the necessity of choosing terms with respect to their clients' gender identities and preferences.

Despite this distinction, throughout history the gay, lesbian, and bisexual subculture was often the only place where gender-variant people were socially accepted in the gender role they felt they belonged to; especially during the time when legal or medical transitioning was almost impossible. This acceptance has had a complex history - like the wider world, the gay community in Western societies did not generally distinguish between sex and gender identity until the 1970s, and generally perceived gender variant people more as homosexuals who behaved in a gender-variant way than as gender-variant people in their own right.

In the years following the sexual revolution of the 1960s, transgendered sexuality has often been accepted into the fold of the burgeoning LGBT movement. The nature and degree of this acceptance has not been without controversy, however, and has drawn criticism from GLB and transgendered persons alike.

Mental healthcare
Mental healthcare providers use the terms "gender dysphoria" and "gender identity disorder" for transgender and transsexual issues, although this approach has been criticised. (See below.) Many mental healthcare providers know little about transgender life. People seeking help from these professionals often end up educating the professional rather than receiving help. Among those therapists who profess to know about transgender issues, many believe that transitioning from one sex to another &mdash; the standard transsexual model &mdash; is the best or only solution. This usually works well for those who are transsexual, but is not the solution for other transgender people, particularly cross-gender people who do not identify as exclusively male or female.

Physical healthcare
Medical and surgical procedures exist for transgender people. Hormone replacement therapy for transmen induces beard growth and masculinises skin, hair, voice and fat distribution. Hormone replacement therapy for transwomen feminises fat distribution and breasts. Laser hair removal or electrolysis removes excess hair for transwomen. Surgical procedures for transwomen feminise the voice, skin, face, adam's apple, breasts, waist, buttocks and genitals. Surgical procedures for transmen masculinise the chest and genitals and remove the womb and ovaries and fallopian tubes. The acronyms "GRS" and "SRS" refer to genital surgery. The term "sex reassignment therapy" (SRT) is used as an umbrella term for physical procedures required for transition. Use of the term "sex change" has been debated. Availability of these procedures depends on degree of gender dysphoria, presence or absence of gender identity disorder, and standards of care in the relevant jurisdiction.

Transgender and the law


Legal procedures exist in some jurisdictions allowing an individual to change their legal gender, or their name, to reflect their gender identity. Requirements for these procedures vary from an explicit formal diagnosis of transsexualism, to a diagnosis of gender identity disorder, to a letter from a physician attesting to the individual's gender transition, or the fact that one has established a different gender role.

Criticism
Trans-bashing is the practice of victimising someone because they are transgender and is a form of transphobia. Unlike gay bashing, it is attacking someone based on their gender identity rather than because of their choice of sexual partners or sexual activities.

Characterisation as lifestyle choice
Transgender people face considerable prejudice when engaged in challenges to gender roles considered culturally important. It has been stated (e.g. by Representative John Culberson ) that being transgender is "a choice and a lifestyle". In this context it is seen as an extreme form of homosexuality. This characterisation as lifestyle choice is not shared by the American Psychiatric Association or the World Health Organization.

Characterisation as mental disorder
Mental health professionals deal with transgender and transsexual tendencies and the reaction to their social consequences, referred to as "gender dysphoria", as mental disorders. The terms "transsexualism", "dual-role transvestism", "gender identity disorder in adolescents or adults" and "gender identity disorder not otherwise specified" are listed as such in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) or the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) under codes F64.0, F64.1, 302.85 and 302.6 respectively. This characterisation as mental disorder has been criticised. Those that criticise it state that transgender people have existed throughout the world and human history, transgender behavior is simple human variation not a mental illness, and that the removal of homosexuality from the seventh printing of the second version of the DSM in 1974 provides a precedent. The alternative concept of "gender giftedness" has been advanced.

Characterisation as a sexual obsession
The controversial Blanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence theory characterizes transwomen as having a sexual motivation for transition. This characterization has been criticized by many in the medical and transgender communities alike as being potentially unfalsifiable, unscientific, and transphobic.

Transgender and transsexual
Transsexual people who identify as transgender state that the word "transgender" places the emphasis on gender identity, not sexual orientation. Transsexual people who do not identify as transgender state that an umbrella term marginalises them, or that they do not wish to be confused with other transgender identities. In an effort to respect those transsexual people who do not identify as transgender, the terms "trans", "trans*", or "transgender and transsexual" have been used to describe all transpeople.

People who have transitioned, who do not necessarily identify as transgender or transsexual, are considered simply a man or a woman.

People who criticise the term "transsexual" state that gender reassignment surgery makes people infertile and does not change their chromosomes, rendering the transition cosmetic, not fundamental. This argument has been used to dispute transsexual women's identification and association with other women. This argument is seen as biological determinism and ignores other women who are infertile (e.g. women with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome with XY chromosomes) or intersex (e.g. women with severe Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia).

Asia
In Thailand and Laos, the term kathoey is used to refer to male-to-female transgender people and effeminate gay men. The cultures of the Indian subcontinent include a third gender, referred to as hijra in Hindi. Transgender people also have been documented in Iran, Japan, Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, and the greater Chinese region, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China.

North America
In what is now the United States and Canada, many Native American and Canadian First Nations peoples recognised the existence of more than two genders, such as the Zuñi male-bodied Ła'mana, the Lakota male-bodied winkte and the Mohave male-bodied alyhaa and female-bodied hwamee. Such people were previously referred to as berdache but are now referred to as Two-Spirit, and their spouses would not necessarily have been regarded as gender-different. In Mexico, the Zapotec culture includes a third gender in the form of the Muxe.

Other
In early Medina, gender-variant male-to-female Islamic people were acknowledged in the form of the Mukhannathun. In Ancient Rome, the Gallae were castrated followers of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and can be regarded as transgender in today's terms.