Feature
Trans 101
Trans 101
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So just what is this trans thing anyway?
You’re likely to get as many answers to that question as there are people to ask.
Anyone who has spent time thinking about gender has hir own way of defining gender and transgender. Most people begin with what we all learn growing up in America.
Most Americans are taught to view sex, gender, and sexual orientation as a rigid system of opposing categories, with no in-betweens and little variation.
This traditional model says that each person is one of two distinct biological sexes, characterized by certain physical traits, all of which go together as a single package and exclude any traits from the opposing package.
Thus, a male has penis and testicles, xy chromosomes, and testosterone as dominant hormone. He will grow facial hair, develop a deep voice, and be muscular.
A female has vagina, uterus, and ovaries, xx chromosomes, and estrogen as dominant hormone, and will develop breasts, retain a high voice, not grow facial hair, and be physically weak.
Each of these two sexes are further characterized by certain social expressions, called gender. Male individuals are masculine; female individuals are feminine. Channels of gender expression include clothing, toys, jobs, academic interests, sports and hobbies, social roles, speech patterns, and body language.
Finally, each of the sexes is sexually attracted exclusively to individuals of the opposing sex: males are attracted to females, and vice versa. Further, the model says that all of these things are natural, in-born, morally imperative fixed sets, changeable only by trauma or moral failing of some kind.
To be a “real” man or a “real” woman in this model, there can be no variation from the most rigid definitions of any of the above categories.
It dictates that man with any one of the following would not be a “real” man: a high voice, a vocation in quilting, or an attraction to other men. For women, facial hair, construction work, or attraction to other women makes them suspect.
For gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals, there is no question that, at the very least, the final category of the model, orientation, is not true. Often, GLB folks are able to question the second category, gender expression, as well.
Much less often do we question the first category, sex, or the implicit relationship between gender and orientation, or explore the infinite variations among and between all three.
This is where the “T” comes in.
What is transgender?
The simplest, and broadest answer is any person or type of expression that challenges or does not fit into the rigid traditional model of sex and gender: that which is transgressively gendered.
To some, this includes gay, lesbian, and bisexual people who challenge the orientation part of the traditional model.
To many, orientation is not part of the newer sex/gender models, because who you are attracted to is not necessarily determined by who you are (your sex/gender identity or expression).
For all of us, it is the implication that male and female, masculine and feminine, are not the only choices available to us, and that sex/gender and gender expression are far more diverse than we are used to thinking.
Some basic definitions, courtesy International Foundation of Gender Education and others:
Biological Sex or Biological Gender: categorization as male, female, or other based on the shape of genitalia or other biological features (chromosomes, hormones, secondary sex characteristics)
Assigned Sex or Assigned Gender: sex recorded at birth, usually on the basis of external genitalia, usually M or F; surgery is sometimes performed in order to make an infant’s body conform to the assigned sex (see Intersex)
Intersex: biological sex not immediately identifiable as “male” or “female,” may have combination of genitalia (penis and ovaries), lack “corresponding” organs (penis but no testes, ovaries but no vagina), or have genitals cosmetically out of the norm (enlarged clitoris). Surgery is sometimes/often performed in order to make an infant’s body conform to an assigned sex, male or female
Sexual Identity: self-identification as male, female, intersex, or other
Gender Identity: self-identification as man, woman, both, neither, multi-gendered or other; masculine, feminine, androgynous, or other; social or cultural category as opposed to biological
Gender Expression: behavior, including appearance, through which gender identity is communicated to others
Transsexual (TS):
FTM—female-to-male, transsexual man (assigned female at birth)
MTF—male-to-female, transsexual woman (assigned male at birth)
person who feels their biological or assigned sex and their sexual identity are not in agreement; may choose gender expressions congruent with self-defined sexual and gender identity, may or may not choose (or have access to) medical intervention (hormones, surgery) to bring body into closer alignment with sexual identity
Transgender (TG): umbrella tern for persons who challenge rigid, socially constructed concepts of sex and gender identity and/or expression; can include: crossdressers, transsexuals, drag queens and kings, bigenders, intersexuals, androgynes, gender benders, and many more
Crossdresser: person who, some portion of the time, dresses in clothing traditionally of the opposite sex, but is satisfied with biological and/or assigned sex/gender and sex/gender identity (often self-identified heterosexual men)
Bigender: person whose self-defined sex/gender identity is both man and woman; may choose gender expressions of either or both
Two-Spirit: one of many native American terms for persons who were transsexual, transgendered, bigendered, or non-heterosexual (all of which are modern terms that post-date the original native concept…)
Sexual Orientation: categorization based on the sex or gender of the persons one is erotically attracted to; heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, omnisexual, pansexual, asexual
Sex: (not to be confused with biological sex/gender) a variety of behaviors or activities in which one or more people engage in (most often) for sexual pleasure
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