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Another 5 years pass in the life of ‘Transgender’
This is post for those who might share my interest in words and the evolution of the English language.
It seems strange that just 5 years ago we were discussing the death (or otherwise) of the ‘Transgender’ umbrella.
http://forum.tgr.net.au/cms/forum/F319/4147-the-death-of-the-transgender-umbrellaNow barely a day goes by without someone in the media using the term transgender as an elegant alternative to cross dresser/transsexual/gender queer/ or any one of the myriad sub-categories we have created and associate with so territorially.
[attachment=156]terms-graph.png[/attachment]
Transgender is the collective description of choice like it of not, and we aren’t going to stop the transgender media bandwagon and change its wheels any time soon. So perhaps it is appropriate to reflect on its use (or misuse) and ensure it doesn’t die of abuse. Because abuse is out there – and some of it seems to come from us!
Collectively we are transgender, just as others are gay, lesbian, heterosexual.
So my guiding thought is that gramatically transgender is destined to evolve to be like gay or perhaps lesbian.This evolution is not currently supported by the dictionary.
The Google definition of gay identifies it as a noun and adjective::Quote:gay
noun: gay;
a homosexual, especially a man.adjective: gay
(of a person, especially a man) homosexual..But currently transgender is only described as an adjective.
Quote:transgender
adjective: transgender; adjective: transgendereddenoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender.
I’m guessing no one has an issue any more with transgender the adjective. We are all transgender – that is why we are here!
But what about transgendered‘ – are we all transgendered? Other than being gramatically incorrect (you can only add -ed to verbs – we don’t talk about Elton John being gayed) it implies that transgender is something you can do to someone – so they become transgendered.
Most transgender people I know have felt a gender incongruity for as long as they remember, and evolving science says we were probably born feeling like this. The only thing that changed along the way has been our awareness that there are others like us. We didn’t “decide” to be transgender – and so there is no transgendering process that can be applied to us.
The GLAAD transgender media reference guide http://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender classifies transgendered as problematic; recommending that transgender be used instead. I went through the forums editing many uses of transgendered and replacing them with transgender – and guess what, it didn’t make any difference to the meaning!
Although it hasn’t made its way into the dictionary we know terminology does evolve in everyday usage. So can we use transgender as a noun?
In the singular I think the answer is no. Why would we say “I am a transgender” when you don’t hear people say “I’m a gay”. It is more common to hear “I’m gay” or “He is a gay man”. So let’s follow suit with “I am a transgender woman” or “I’m transgender” and give “Being a transgender” a miss.
Things are less clear cut however with the plural noun, transgenders. The GLAAD media guide recommends saying ‘The parade included many transgender people’ rather than ‘The parade included many transgenders’ – which seems sound advice.
But we freely talk about ‘same-sex marriage as a right for gays’, and ‘the bigotry shown towards gays and lesbians’. So perhaps there is a strong case to also talk about transgenders in the same way, saying ‘He urged transgenders to make their voices heard’. This use of a plural noun is also borne out by recent posts in our forums:
Quote:Transgenders fare better in India where homosexuality is still illegalQuote:Eddie Redmayne ….. seemed to empathise closely with transgenders and the transgender causeQuote:an article in the NY Times about transgenders who transition late in lifeIn summary transgender is a widely adopted way of describing the gender diverse – it is here to stay!
We are all transgender and fight for the rights of other transgenders.
And although I’m transgender, I’m not a transgender, nor am I transgendered.Let’s see what the next 5 years brings to the lifecycle of the word transgender.
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5 Replies
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A very thought provoking piece, Adrian. ‘I am transgender’, is what I usually use and it appears that I have been grammatically correct.
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A lot of things happen in 5 years dont they?
I think Transgender is a perfectly acceptable way that we and the rest of society for that matter can describe individuals who were genetically male or female at birth but to a greater or lesser extent identify , now in their lives ( psychologically, mentally emotionally etc ) as somewhat opposite to their birth gender .
The term transgender seems to be gaining greater understanding by the general public and therefore no obvious advantage appears in trashing the term,, inventing another and confusing the general public again!.
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By gum it don’t half get confusing, eh lad! Seriously, transgender is now the preferred terminology and appears to be quite acceptable by all and sundry, except for bigots, nasty buggers and the like. I most certainly term myself as transgender, it’s quite comforting to be transgender; the term denotes we are part of a group, or grouped as a segment of society. Being so involved within the medical profession as a long term patient I’m frequently required to educate and inform nurses, podiatrists on language and terms denoting our community. I only hope some educated silly bugger doesn’t decide to change the language yet again just to confuse everyone. The guidelines for journalists is quite interesting, correct and a sure fire way of inviting bigoted journalists to deliberately misuse the terms, as with the British Daily Mail.
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I hope it sticks. It was getting to be so confusing with all the definitions. Gender Fluid just about threw me. But I suppose someone will come out with another term and inform us Transgender isn’t appropriate for some complicated reason.
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If someone says that he or she is “gay” then there is no confusion as to what is meant; it’s simply a statement of sexual orientation. “Transgender”, on the other hand, is a lot more complicated because of the almost infinite diversity of our kind leading to widespread confusion in the general public about what it really means. This is especially so when members of the media create their own definitions which focus on one end of the transgender spectrum only.
Having said that, I agree that “transgender”, when used correctly, is far more preferable to labels like “crossdresser” which always implied something to be treated with derision and laughed at by the ignorant. We can at least be encouraged by the graph which shows a quantum leap in the use of “transgender” in the media. Raising the transgender profile should help to educate the general public as to who we are as long as the message is correct and unambiguous.
Good article Adrian.
