A trans woman with XY written on her hand, at a protest in Paris, October 1, 2005.

A trans woman (sometimes trans-woman or transwoman) is a male-to-female (MTF) transsexual or transgender person and the term trans woman is preferred by many such individuals over various medical terms. Other non-medical terms include t-girl, tg-girl and ts-girl.^[1][2] Transgender is the more common term.^[1]

Some people labeled and assigned as males at birth feel that this is not an accurate and complete description of themselves. They may desire to transition towards a gender role as a woman. In accordance with their new role, the label woman is preferred, as a label denoting having transitioned would imply that their identity is somehow unaccepted or false.

[edit] Overview

"Transition" refers to the process of adopting a social and personal identity that corresponds to one's own sense of the gendered self, and may or may not include medical intervention (hormone treatment, surgery, etc.), changes in legal documents (name and/or sex indicated on identification, birth certificate, etc.), and personal expression (clothing, accessories, voice, body language).

[edit] Transitioning

Similar to trans men, trans women have a multitude of decisions and choices depending on what culture(s) they are presently in and what gender roles they and their supporters feel they should attain. Every case is unique and options available greatly depend on one's access to medical care providers and on financial support. Some trans women desire hair removal and voice feminization. Likewise facial feminization surgery is not always required but can be seen as advantageous for providing a psychological basis of seeing oneself transform either in conjunction or as a step of genital reassignment surgery for trans women. There is a strong disconnect between the physical identity and the social identity.

Trans women do not follow a universal personal or medical set of guidelines or procedures for transitioning. Those who fall under the queer identity spectrum may not engage in things considered stereotypically feminine. Many do not undergo any form of surgery beyond an orchidectomy, for either personal or monetary reasons.

[edit] Terminology

Even after transitioning, trans women have biological differences from cisgender women. For example, most have XY chromosomes. However, woman does not necessarily refer to biological sex; it can also refer to cultural gender role distinctions or, most importantly for many transpeople, a personal gender-identification choice. Some who still identify as trans women after transitioning may describe themselves as "post-op" (post-operative; as distinguished from "pre-op") trans women. Many transgender people consider that the shape of their genitalia is not relevant to how they interact with most people. Trans women who do not want, cannot afford, or have medical reasons for not having sex reassignment surgery are sometimes described as "non-op". Many trans women consider genital surgery as only a small part of a complete transition and some argue that trans women should not be defined by their surgical status, and reject the terms "pre-op/post-op/non-op". Others dislike the term "transsexual" and prefer to call themselves transgender women. "Shemale",^[3][4] along with "tranny",^[5][6] "ladyboy" and similar terms, are often used in a derogatory manner to indicate a pre-op trans woman possessing both breasts and male genitalia.^[7] Like many potentially derogatory labels (such as faggot or dyke), some have adopted the terms as endearments, as forms of self-empowerment or as reclaimed words, for example San Francisco's club Trannyshack.^[8]

Some trans women who feel that their gender transition is complete prefer to be called simply "women," considering "trans woman" or "male-to-female transsexual" to be terms that should only used for people who are not fully transitioned. Likewise, many may not want to be seen as a "trans woman" owing to society's tendency to "Other" individuals who do not fit into the sex/gender binary, or have personal reasons beyond that to not wish to identify as transgender post-transition. For this reason, many see it as an important and appropriate distinction to include a space in the term, as in "trans woman", thus using "trans" as merely an adjective describing a particular type of woman; this is in contrast to the usage of "transwoman" as one word, implying a "third gender". ^[9]

[edit] Sexual orientation

The stereotype of the effeminate boy who grows up to live as a woman has a very long history.^[10] It is a common misconception and stereotype that all transgendered and transsexual women are heterosexual (attracted to males). However, research on the sexual orientation of trans women in the past has been dubious at best. Many studies on this issue have suffered from reporting bias, since many transsexuals feel they must give the "correct" answers to such questions to increase their chances of obtaining hormone replacement therapy. Patrick Califia, author of Sex Changes and Public Sex, has indicated that this group has a clear awareness of what answers to give to survey questions to be considered eligible for hormone replacement therapy and/or sex reassignment surgery:

"None of the gender scientists seem to realize that they, themselves, are responsible for creating a situation where transsexual people must describe a fixed set of symptoms and recite a history that has been edited in clearly prescribed ways to get a doctor's approval for what should be their inalienable right."^[11]

Some researchers (see BBL controversy) ignore the evidence of self-identification as women and continue to view transsexual women as men, labeling trans women who feel sexual attraction to men as "homosexual transsexuals" and to women as "nonhomosexual". This is seen as disrespectful to the women whom they are supposing to study; developmental biologist and trans-feminist writer Julia Serano labels this as part of a process of "trans-objectification," the reduction of transsexual persons to research specimens and sexual fantasies.

[edit] Libido

Studies indicate that transwomen have a higher incidence of decreased libido (34%) than biological females (23%), but the difference was not statistically significant.^[12] As in males, female libido is thought to correlate with serum testosterone levels^{[13][14][15][16]} (with some controversy^[17]) but there is no such correlation in transwomen^[12] even though they do tend to have lower testosterone.^[18]

[edit] Notable trans women

American activist trans women Andrea James and Calpernia Addams

• Calpernia Addams, actress, author, autobiographer, entrepreneur, activist, fiddle player
• Allenina, model, actress, dancer, and director
• Nadia Almada, Big Brother UK 2004 winner, transsexual
• Alexis Arquette, Actress, Musician, member of the Arquette family of actors
• April Ashley, model
• Estelle Asmodelle, actress, author, dancer, and Australia's first legal transsexual
• Georgina Beyer, the first trans person in New Zealand (and the world) to become a mayor (1995) and a member of Parliament (1999)
• Alexandra Billings, American actress
• Kate Bornstein activist, author, performance artist, playwright
• Jennifer Finney Boylan, American author and activist
• Wendy Carlos, American composer and electronic musician
• Candis Cayne, American actress and entertainer
• Lynn Conway, computer scientist and electrical engineer
• Caroline Cossey (a.k.a. Tula), English model
• Jayne County, American rock singer
• Roberta Cowell, First male to female trans person in the UK (1951)
• Katelynn Cusanelli, castmember on MTV's The Real World: Brooklyn, and the first transgender individual to star on the show.
• Molly Cutpurse, English author
• Lili Elbe first surgically reassigned person, Denmark (1930)
• Bülent Ersoy, Turkish/German singer and author
• Bibiana Fernández, Spanish presenter and actress
• Lauren Foster, Vogue model
• Ina Fried, senior writer for CNET Networks
• Harisu, South Korean entertainer, actress, and singer
• Jenny Hiloudaki, Greek model
• Dana International, Israeli pop singer
• Andrea James, Film-maker and activist
• Aya Kamikawa, Japanese politician
• Isis King, American designer and finalist on America's Next Top Model
• Christine Jorgensen, first male-to-female trans person in the US (1953)
• Members of Lipstick Conspiracy, a transgender rock band based in San Francisco, California
• Leiomy Maldonado, Dancer
• Deirdre McCloskey, American economist
• Jan Morris, British writer
• Ataru Nakamura, Japanese singer
• Judiel Nieva, alleged witness of a Marian apparition
• Kim Petras, German singer
• Renée Richards, American tennis player
• Miriam Rivera, reality television star and model
• Joan Roughgarden, Biologist
• Allanah Starr, pornographic actress and party hostess

[edit] See also

Transgender portal

• List of transgender-related topics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Australian WOMAN Network - The Australian WOMAN Network, a group which lobbies for the rights of Australian women living with transsexualism or of transsexual background.
• Lynn Conway - Her goal is to "illuminate and normalize the issues of gender identity and the process of transitioning."
• Mom, I Need to Be a Girl - a book by the mother of a young trans woman.
• Transsexual Women's Resources - run by Anne Lawrence, a controversial figure due to her support for the autogynephilia theory.
• Transsexual Women's Successes
• TS Road Map - a resource guide for those who are aspiring to transition.
• The Gender Centre Sydney Australia based support organisation