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Trans For Doofuses

New, Improved, Expanded!
Version 2.5, February 2003

According to the Trans Activist Network:

In simplest form, "trans" refers to transgender, transsexual, intersex, cross-dressing, drag, butch, femme and all other forms of gender variance. Trans individuals seek gender rights allowing them to present their gender identity as best suits them. "Trans" is not limited to individuals who change their "sex" or their bodies, but includes everyone who desires a greater freedom of gender expression.

Here are some basic trans definitions. Hopefully most people can agree on them. If not, please send me your definitions and I might try to incorporate them into my next edition of this document.

• transgender - This is a used to signify someone who transgresses the man/woman dichotomy and rejects the binary gender system. Transgender in this way can mean cross dressers, butch/fem, transsexual, third genders, androgynes, queergenders, genderbenders, genderblenders, and whatever other terms folks prefer. The following terms fall under the umbrella of "transgender" at least for me...
• transsexual/transexual - Someone who is going through surgery and/or hormones to become the "opposite" gender. Kinds of transsexuals include MtF (male to female) and FtM (female to male).
• butch - A term for masculine gender expression. Has nothing to do with gender, sexuality, or sex.
• femme - A term for feminine gender expression. Yet again, has nothing to do with gender, sexuality, or sex. However, as I’ve discovered, lesbian femme, bi femme, and straight femme are very different things.
• crossdresser/transvestite - Someone who wears the clothing of the "opposite" gender. Transvestite is the older, less acceptable term, coined in the nineteenth century.
• third gender - There’s a growing number of people who reject the either/or binary gender system and prefer to consider themselves the "and" of the gender world. You could almost say, historically speaking, that berdaches were third gendered.
• androgyne - Someone who combines the characteristics of masculine and feminine gender expressions.
• genderqueer - Someone who rejects the gender binary.
• genderbender - Someone who expresses their gender in nontraditional ways.
• genderblender - Someone who blends the characteristics of traditional gender roles.
• gender binary - The social rules that state that one must be a boy or a girl, a man or a woman. It enforces the outdated and repressive concept that there are only two genders. Also includes rules of conduct, dress, and biology for the two roles.
• SRS - Shorthand for Sex Reassignment Surgery. I.e. gives a bio-male a vagina and removes the breasts of a bio-female. For FtMs, the breast-removal surgery is referred to as "top surgery" and the lower area procedure is referred to as "bottom surgery." I’m gonna assume the same terms are used for MtFs, but I’m not sure.
• bio-male/bio-female - The complex distilled into the simplistic. Basically, for those who are anatomically considered "male" this means having a penis at birth, and for those who are anatomically considered "female" this means ovaries, womb, vagina, etc. at birth. Also refers to chromosomes. The terms are used to refer to what gender roles people were assigned at birth.
• intersex - Term for those who were born sex-ambiguous and violently recrafted by the medical establishment into "male" or "female". These surgeries are usually painful, non-consensual, and destroy all feeling in the genitals. They are also surgically unnecessary, as most intersex infants can grow up quite healthy without intervention. For more on the intersex community, go here.
• drag king - A woman identified bio-female who takes on the role of a man for personal or entertainment reasons.
• drag queen - A man identified bio-male who takes on the role of a woman for personal or entertainment reasons.
• bi-gendered - Someone who identifies as both man and woman.
• transman/transboy/trannyboy - A bio-female who identifies as a man or boy. May be pre, post, or non op.
• transwoman/transgirl/trannygrrl - A bio-male who identifies as a woman or girl. May be pre, post, or non op.
• pre-/post-/non-op - This refers to the level and/or stage of physical transition an Ftm or MtF transexual might go through. A pre-op person has not yet had any surgeries to alter their body to fit their gender. A pre-op may also be not yet or not on hormone therapy to change their secondary sex characteristics. A post-op person has had operations. A non-op person does not intend to surgically alter their body, but rather live in the body they have as the gender they are.

Well, all these definitions are nice and tidy. But what is it like to question one's gender? What is it like to question something that is so easily taken for granted, thanks to the medical profession and law? The best explanation can be found here, where one young trans person I know, Cam, has described what it's like to question the gender you've been assigned.

Does that clear things up a bit?

So... how do I define myself? Well, my name is Alex and I'm an FtM, currently on hormonal therapy (testosterone injections) and pre-surgery, as well as a genderqueer. I am a female-bodied man who identifies as a genderqueer guy. I used to identify as a dyke, but now I view my sexuality more as queer than anything else, and never call me straight. I was a dyke too long to abandon my roots. I'm a boy who considers himself just your average queer. There. Does that answer your questions, Mom?

If you have any comments, additions, or suggestions for this guide, please send them to me.

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