Some Thoughts on The Word "Transsexual"
The anger around people using new words to describe themselves has nothing to do with the word itself, and everything to do with who gets to be understood.
Four days ago, I published the article “Why some trans people are reclaiming the term 'transsexual', and why I am one of them”. I wanted to talk about the rise in the new language that many trans people are using to speak about themselves.
While I explained what the word meant to them (and to myself), this was ignored by many readers. They insisted that the meaning of the word “transsexual” is the same as it was back in the day, when it was being used to determine who was ‘truly trans’, and therefore, who had the right to transition. They then assumed that I, and the people now calling themselves transsexuals, held those same transmedicalist beliefs.
This is false. I am not a transmedicalist. I believe that anyone who wants to transition should be able to, and that no one is any ‘more or less transgender’ based on how far they medically transition.
I want to talk about this new definition of transsexual, and how to understand it.
The short answer is this: a transsexual is someone who transitions their sex. This is simple enough. ‘Transsexual’ is a portmanteau of the words ‘transition’ and ‘sex’. Let’s break down the word.
Transition is easy enough to understand. It means to go from one thing to the other.
Sex is harder to understand. It refers to a number of bodily traits that, when combined, are used to classify someone as a man, woman, etc.
In common usage, sex is a euphemism for what is between a person’s legs. This can be seen in phrases like “sex change operation”, which conflate the moment of changing sex with the moment that a person changes their genitals.
In reality, sex is far more complicated. It refers to a great number of biological traits that distinguish a body between male and female. The more we study the biology of sex, the more we understand that the sex of a body can be changed in an incalculable number of ways. Transsexual Medicine replaces the very molecules of the body with those of the desired sex.
By comparison, surgeries to change one’s genitals are downright cosmetic.
Knowing this, to transition one’s sex means to take steps to change one’s sex characteristics. The most common way to do this is to take Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
Therefore, to take HRT is to transition one’s sex.
The action of changing one’s sex is not a single moment in time, as with genital surgery. It is an ongoing, never ending process. Every dose of cross-sex hormones is a concrete action towards that objective. It is how we control our bodies.
There ought to be a word for someone who does this. Thankfully there is. A person who transitions their sex is a transsexual.
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