• Victor@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I thought “trans” was short for transsexual? Could someone bring me up to speed here?

    In what way is it outdated?

    • TheMadCodger@piefed.social
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      6 days ago

      It used to be transsexual, but now it’s transgender owing to the differences between sex and gender.

      • Victor@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        What I’m reading when looking it up is that “trans” is an umbrella term for both.

        Are there any good references for this?

        Also seems to be that you could be transsexual without being transgender. What if you identify as internal male but feel like your body should be female? Is that not possible? Maybe I’m overthinking it.

        • can@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          What if you identify as internal male but feel like your body should be female? Is that not possible? Maybe I’m overthinking it.

          I think that’s probably possible but I don’t think transgender or transsexual would be the way to describe that? I don’t know, I like language and think I’m up to date on terms but I’m probably not compared to those inside those spaces. But then again with threadiverse as my main social media I might as well be lol.

        • TheMadCodger@piefed.social
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          6 days ago

          Eh, sort of. Transvestite refers to someone who wears clothes of the opposite gender (trans = across, vestir = to clothe, to wear), and really that mainly applied to men wearing women’s clothes, because a woman wearing pants is questionable, but a man wearing a dress? There’s clearly something wrong with them!

          As clothing “norms” became more old fashioned, that word fell into disuse.

        • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          6 days ago

          It is correct, but the former has become a slur over time, nor does “transexual” match because it’s not about who you desire, it’s about who you are. Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, finsexual are all about what kind person(s) you desire sexually. It’s a mismatch and it is now a slur.

          So it means transgender. Unless you’re an asshole.

          • Victor@lemmy.world
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            5 days ago

            Huh, I would think the “-sexual” was referring to your sex. Odd. I guess it became guilty by association with those other, similar-sounding words.