What is the meaning of the word Transgender?
What is influenced on becoming Transgender?
Transgender is a generic term that encompasses many aspects in which a person’s gender identity may differ from the sex defined at birth. Transgender people practice various words to characterize themselves. For example, sometimes the word transgender is reduced to just trance, trance* or trans man/trans woman. It’s always better to use the terminology and labels people like better.
Some trans people identify themselves as trans male or trans female, while others may define themselves as non-biological, gender-unform, agender, bigender, or other identities that mirror their personal experiences.
History
If to analyze the culture, country, or time frame, you will find the stories of people who we could be now called trans people.
«Transvestite» has its roots in 1910 from the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who later founded the Berlin Institute, where the first-ever surgeries on «gender change» were conducted. The term «transsexual» appeared only in 1949, «transgender» - only in 1971, and «trans» - only in 1996.
It is not a complete terminology complex that people use to designate their identities. Before Hirschfeld, more civilizations formulated terms to designate «transgender». From the Hijra in India to the Fa'afin of Polynesia, to the Ladybugs in Thailand and Takatapui in New Zealand, transgender persons may adopt many words for describing themselves.
How to differ transgender and gay
The definitions of a trans person and gay have different contexts.
The term gay is used in some cultural contexts to represent men who are attractive to the men in a sentimental, erotic, excited sense. Not all same-gender persons determine as gay, so this label need to be used with caution.
The sexual tendency of transgender varies and is not reliant on gender identity. Therefore, transgender people may have any other sexual orientation.
Being transgender is not a mental disorder
Many transgender people search for counseling, but transgender has no attitude to the phycological disorder. Most transgender people are desponded or worrying, but the reason for this is the fear to lose people who love them.
Gender dysphoria, alcohol and drug abuse, or other mental health problems that need treatment are spread among transgender persons because of the same motive.
Click here to take a free Gender Dysphoria Test
In some, this can guide to clinical depression or gender dysphoria, alcohol and drug abuse, or other mental health problems requiring treatment.
For many, the desire to have transformations brings relaxation and self-esteem.
What pronouns are used for describing transgender people?
In some cases, the connection between the name at birth is a great cause of worry or just the element of their lives that they wish to forget. Show respect for the name the transgender person uses right now. Even if you are famous with the name of a transgender person at birth, it is better not to disclose it without the obvious permission of that person.
What problems do transgender people meet with
While transgender people are increasingly noticeable in both mainstream culture and everyday life, they continue to face serious discrimination, judgment, shame, and systemic disparity. Among the particular problems the transgender people meet there are:
- Lack of legal protection – Legal system often fails to protect transgender people from discrimination connected to gender identity. They face powerful degrees of discrimination at almost every point of their lives: in employment, housing, health & care, education, legal systems, and even in their families. Anti-discrimination laws in most U.S. cities and states do not protect transgender people from discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression.
- Poverty – Trans people most live in destitution, and for trans people of color, these rates are even higher. Around 29% of trans adults live in misery, as well 39% of Black trans people, 48% of Latinx transgenders, 35% of Alaska Native, Asian, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander trans adults.
- Career distinction - 30% of transgender people consider that their gender identity became the reason for their dismissing, denying promotion, or abusing in the workplace.
Transgender pride flag
The transgender flag was designed by American trans woman Monica Helms in 1999. It consists of five horizontal stripes of equal width. Their colors, from top to bottom, are: light blue, pink, white, pink, light blue.
How to be sure you are transgender?
- If you feel a gender-nonconforming viewpoint, deep dissatisfaction with the sex you got at birth, physical sex specifics, or the gender features related to that sex, you are probably transgender.
- Think of your gender as a non-binary one: if you understand that your gender identity is neither male nor female, you could be something else.
- Remember your childhood wishes. Maybe you showed powerful signs of gender disappointment as children. More than six months of lasting desires are often recognized as a sign of transgender identification.
- Ask yourself if your social role matches you. Many transgender people feel uncomfortable with the role they need to play in society.
- Pay attention to your feeling, just listen to your given name and pronouns. Think about your emotions when you hear them. If you feel uncomfortable, maybe it is worth making some changes in this aspect.
- Listen to your body. When transgender persons figure out that they feel mismatched with their bodies, they are confused and emotionally conflicted. They can feel like being "caught" inside their bodies. A strong desire to change your sexual characteristics can be a sign of experiencing gender dysphoria.
What are the effective ways to cherish friends or partners who are transgender
This advice can be your guide in the respectful attitude to transgender people:
- Don't make any conclusions about someone by look.
- Don't try to guess their sexual orientation.
- A simple way to see what pronouns someone uses—he, she, they, or something else—is to wait and see if it comes up naturally in conversation. Even something is wrong, it is possible to apologize.)
- Be careful with getting the information about their "real name" or "birth name".
- Don’t use rude expressions like “You would look less trans using more makeup/etc.”.
- Be polite and don't force transgender sharing intimate details about themselves like medical transition, life before the changes, sexual activity.
Trans people may choose different aspects of expressing their gender, which can be influenced by specific reasons. It needs some time to find the most comfortable way of exhibiting their gender. One of the simplest ways to be a strong ally is to improve your knowledge about transgender issues.
Coming out
Transgender people differ in their decisions of what way and time to reveal their transgender status to surrounded people. Living without fear of discrimination and violence and being supported and affirmed in being who they are is critical for helping transgender people to live healthy, safe, and fulfilling lives.
Fear is a very influential factor for transgender people.
Fear of retaliation, for example, when they are evicted from their parents' homes as minors, causes transgender people not to open up to their families until they reach the age of majority. Parental confusion and non-acceptance of a transgender child may lead to parents treating a newly identified gender identity as a «phase» or making efforts to return their children to a «normal state» by using mental health services to change a child’s gender identity.
The Internet can be very meaningful in the process of recognizing transgender people. Some of them first manifest themselves online, providing a virtual and safe way through the experience before making coming out a risky decision in the real world.
Well-known transgender people
Caitlin Jenner (née Bruce) is an American media personality and retired decathlon who won the Olympic gold medal. Most famous transgender American since Laverne Cox. Having received the unofficial title of «the greatest sportsman of the world», Jenner made a career in television, film, writing, racing.
Appointed by a man at birth, Jenner publicly appeared as a trans woman in April 2015, announcing her new name in July. From 2015 to 2016, she starred in the reality show I Am Cait, which concentrated on her gender change. She’s called the most famous transgender woman in the world.
Turkey: Bülent Ersoy, singer
Born in 1952, she rose to fame as a classical singer and actor while living as a man. By the late 1970s, she was appearing on stage in sequinned dresses that showed off a brand-new pair of breasts, and, in 1981, she traveled abroad for sex reassignment surgery.
Denmark: Mianna Bagger, golfer
Born in Denmark and raised in Australia, Bagger is a leader in one of the most conservative sports in the world: golf. After a sex-change surgery in 1995, she returned to the game she loved when the world considered her as a boy.
New Zealand: Georgina Beyer, politician
Georgina Beyer has a few first names, which, by the way, used to be George Bertrand. When a former actor, a cabaret singer, and a sex worker were elected mayor of the small town of Carterton in 1995, she became the first openly transgender person to hold a similar position in New Zealand or anywhere in the world.
China: Jin Xing, dancer
Chinese superstar Jin Xing hosts a TV chat and talent show, which is watched by an estimated 100 million people every week. Before that, she had an international career as one of China’s foremost ballet dancers. And before that, she was a man and a colonel in the Chinese army.
Angola: Titica, pop star
Titica is one of the biggest stars of kuduro, a music and dance style native to Angola and the Angolan diaspora in Portugal that is a collision of trans-Atlantic sounds: techno, soca, zouk, hip-hop, house. Titica has unbelievable experience as a transgender woman in music and collaborating with artists from around the world.
Thailand: Parinya Charoenphol, boxer
Better known by the nickname “Nong Toom,” Parinya Charoenphol took the Thai kickboxing scene by storm when she began fighting professionally in her teens. Toom was one of kickboxing’s famous stars throughout the mid-90s before stopping her career and making gender reassignment surgery in 1999. Nowadays, Parinya is one of Thailand’s most symbolic “kathoey” (transgender women) to this day.
Germany: Balian Buschbaum, former pole vaulter
Back when Balian Buschbaum was Yvonne, he was one of Germany’s best pole vaulters. He represented his country in all the top European and worldwide competitions, including the Sydney Olympics in 2000. In 2003, he set a personal record of 4.70 meters, an achievement that had ever exceeded four of his compatriots.
India: Padmini Prakash, TV news anchor
As a teenager, her family rejected her and saved her from suicide. Prakash first found a job as a dancer and then as an actress. She continued to participate in the pageant pageants of transgender people, intended for the braver members of India’s two million people, the Hijra, or transgender people. Last year, after the Supreme Court of India recognized the «right of every person to choose his or her sex» and ordered the government to provide equal protection and opportunities for the Hijra, Lotus TV hired Prakash.
Australia: Andreja Pejic, model
Bosniak Andrei Pejic was the dream of every fashion designer when she started modeling in 2010. Then the male model still bearing her name at birth, Andrei, was rising rather fast as the favorite of podiums both men’s and women’s clothes. In 2011, she became one of the top 50 male models by Models.com and the top 100 sexy women by FHM.