The prefix “trans” refers to binary opposition, whether it be in terms of atoms on a longitudinal axis of a double bond, two mutant genes on opposite ends of a chromosome, translation between two distinct languages, transportation between two places, or a “transgender” person. Implicit in the term “transgender” is a conception of discrete, dependent oppositional categories: male and female.
To refer to a person as transgender is to say that this person has “transitioned” (i.e. moved from one identity/type of personhood to another). More specifically, transgender refers to a change in gender, a shifting from one category to another. This inevitably results in two categories: male to female (MTF) and female to male (FTM). It implies a before and an after, an “I was” and an “I am.” It thusly reinforces conceptions of a world of binary genders (male and female) but links gender directly to sex, implying that a person must CHANGE (physically) in order to transform hir sex.
“Transgender” therefore refers to a false, created notion of gender and “otherness:” a person able to transform from one gender to another by changing hir body and/or presentation. Issues then arise of whether a person is transgender or transsexual, of what clear distinctions exist between these two terms, and how one can categorize other people using these two supposedly distinct categories.
Many view their genders as fluid and transformative, but few understand their genders as connected to a transformation of one’s body and appearance. To put on a dress does not mean my gender has changed, just as cutting off my arm does not change my gender.
Therefore, the term “transgender” is a falsely constructed term. For lack of a better term, I put forward the term “trans” as a more inclusive category that includes more people and does not necessarily derive from false binaries. In conclusion, categories like “transgender” are constructed and put on other people’s bodies and identities to re-inscribe them into a socially constructed gender binary system that is falsely linked to one’s biological sex. A trans man is still a man and one need not say men and trans men, as this de-legitimates a trans man’s male identity as less-real than a non-trans man’s male identity.
Instead, simply talk about people, some of whom are “trans” not “transgender” or “transsexual” (unless of course they personally identify that way).
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