A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. The opposite of transgender is cisgender, which describes persons whose gender identity matches their assigned sex. Transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers; it can function as an umbrella term. The definition given above includes binary trans men and trans women and may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer.. "Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identities, gender expressions, and/or behaviors are different from those culturally associated with the sex that they were assigned at birth. Transgender encompasses a wide variety of identities including, but not limited to, transsexual, genderqueer, bi-gender, third gender, cross-dresser, and drag king/queen.""An adjective to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth" (¶ "Transgender"). "Many nonbinary people also call themselves transgender and consider themselves part of the transgender community" (¶ "Nonbinary People").
Being transgender is distinct from sexual orientation, and transgender people may identify as heterosexual (straight), homosexual (gay or lesbian), bisexual, asexual, or otherwise, or may decline to label their sexual orientation. Accurate statistics on the number of transgender people vary widely, in part due to different definitions of what constitutes being transgender. Some countries collect census data on transgender people. Canada was the first country to introduce collection of census data on its transgender and non-binary population in 2021. Generally, less than 1% of the worldwide population is transgender, with figures ranging from <0.1% to 0.6%.
Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria and seek medical treatments such as hormone replacement therapy, gender-affirming surgery, or psychotherapy. Not all transgender people desire these treatments,. "Many transgender people experience gender dysphoriadistress that results from the discordance of biological sex and experienced gender. Treatment for gender dysphoria, considered to be highly effective, includes physical, medical, and/or surgical treatments [...] some [transgender people] may not choose to transition at all." and some cannot undergo them for legal, financial, or medical reasons. Many transgender people desire medical assistance to medically transition from one sex to another; those who do may identify as transsexual.. "The term transsexual was introduced by Cauldwell (1949) and popularized by Harry Benjamin (1966) [...]. The term transgender was coined by John Oliven (1965) and popularized by various transgender people who pioneered the concept and practice of transgenderism. It is sometimes said that Virginia Prince (1976) popularized the term, but history shows that many transgender people advocated the use of this term much more than Prince." Referencing .. "The use of terminology by transsexual individuals to self-identify varies. As aforementioned, many transsexual individuals prefer the term transgender, or simply trans, as it is more inclusive and carries fewer stigmas. There are some transsexual individuals, however, who reject the term transgender; these individuals view transsexualism as a treatable congenital condition. Following medical and/or surgical transition, they live within the binary as either a man or a woman and may not disclose their transition history."
The legal status of transgender people varies by jurisdiction. Many transgender people experience transphobia (violence or discrimination against transgender people) in the workplace, in accessing public accommodations, and in healthcare. In many places, they are not legally protected from discrimination. Several cultural events are held to celebrate the awareness of transgender people, including Transgender Day of Remembrance and International Transgender Day of Visibility, and the transgender flag is a common transgender pride symbol.
Terminology
Before the mid-20th century, various terms were used within and beyond Western medical and psychological sciences to identify persons and identities labeled transsexual, and later transgender from mid-century onward. Imported from the German and ultimately modeled after German Transsexualismus (coined in 1923), the English term transsexual has enjoyed international acceptability, though transgender has been increasingly preferred over transsexual.. "According to the APA Style guide, the term transsexual is largely outdated, but some people identify with it; this term should be used only for an individual who specifically claims it." The word transgender acquired its modern umbrella term meaning in the 1990s.Variously: . "Indeed, it is arguably only since the 1990s, with the coining of the umbrella term transgender, that gender variance has come to be understood, in certain activist and institutional settings, as being ontologically different from homosexuality." . "From signifying a subject position between cross-dresser and transsexual, the meaning of transgender expanded radically in the early 1990s to include them, along with other cross-gender practices and identities."
Health-practitioner manuals, professional journalistic style guides, and LGBTQ advocacy groups advise the adoption by others of the name and pronouns identified by the person in question, including present references to the transgender person's past.
Transgender Although the term transgenderism was once considered acceptable, it has come to be viewed as pejorative, according to GLAAD.. . Psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University used the term transgenderism in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology, writing that the term which had previously been used, transsexualism, "is misleading; actually, transgenderism is meant, because sexuality is not a major factor in primary transvestism".. "According to scholars, the word first appeared in print in John F. Oliven's 1965 book, Sexual Hygiene and Pathology. Oliven writes: 'Where the compulsive urge reaches beyond female vestments, and becomes an urge for gender ("sex") change, transvestism becomes transsexualism. The term is misleading; actually, transgenderism is what is meant, because sexuality is not a major factor in primary transvestism.' Although Oliven's understanding of transgender is not the same as our understanding of it today, his use of it is still significant. As K.J. Rawson and Cristan Williams note in their book, Transgender*: The Rhetorical Landscape of a Term, Oliven didn't use the word in the book's 1955 edition; it was added later, when the second edition was revised and published. Gradually, some members of this marginalized community began to apply the word transgender to themselves. For example, Virginia Charles Prince, publisher of the long-running periodical Transvestia, occasionally used a variation of the word, transgenderal." Quoting , and referencing . The term transgender was then popularized with varying definitions by transgender, transsexual, and transvestite people, including Christine Jorgensen and Virginia Prince, who used transgenderal in the December 1969 issue of Transvestia,. "I, at least, know the difference between sex and gender and have simply elected to change the latter and not the former. If a word is necessary, I should be termed a transgenderal." a national magazine for cross-dressers she founded. By the mid-1970s both trans-gender and trans people were in use as umbrella terms, while transgenderist and transgenderal were used to refer to people who wanted to live their lives as cross-gendered individuals without gender-affirming surgery.. "Virginia Prince pioneered the term 'transgenderist' and 'transgenderal' (Prince, 1976: 145) to refer to people who lived full-time in the gender opposite their biological sex, but did not seek sex/gender re-assignment surgery. Richard Ekins established the Trans-Gender Archive, at the University of Ulster, in 1986 (Ekins, 1988). The term was chosen to provide an umbrella concept which avoided such medical categories as transsexual and transvestite; which included the widest possible range of transgender phenomena; and which took the sociological view that aspects of sex, sexuality and gender (not just gender), including the binary divide, all have socially constructed components. Not long afterwards, the 'transgender community' came to be used as an umbrella term to include transsexuals, transvestites, transgenderists, drag queens, and so on, as well as (in some uses) to include their partners and friends and professional service providers." Transgenderist was sometimes abbreviated as TG in educational and community resources; this abbreviation developed by the 1980s.. . In 2020, the International Journal of Transgenderism changed its name to the International Journal of Transgender Health "to reflect a change toward more appropriate and acceptable use of language in our field."
By 1984, the concept of a "transgender community" had developed, in which transgender was used as an umbrella term. In 1985, Richard Ekins established the "Trans-Gender Archive" at the University of Ulster. By 1992, the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy defined transgender as an expansive umbrella term including "transsexuals, transgenderists, cross dressers", and anyone transitioning.. "Transgendered persons include transsexuals, transgenderists, and other crossdressers of both sexes, transitioning in either direction (male to female or female to male), of any sexual orientation, and of all races, creeds, religions, ages, and degrees of physical impediment." Leslie Feinberg's pamphlet, "Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time has Come", circulated in 1992, identified transgender as a term to unify all forms of gender nonconformity; in this way transgender has become synonymous with queer. In 1994, gender theorist Susan Stryker defined transgender as encompassing "all identities or practices that cross over, cut across, move between, or otherwise queer socially constructed sex/gender boundaries", including, but not limited to, "transsexuality, heterosexual transvestism, gay drag, butch lesbianism, and such non-European identities as the Native American berdache or the Indian Hijra".
Transgender can also refer specifically to a person whose gender identity is opposite (rather than different from) the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth.Variously: . "Transgender: Is a person whose gender identity is different from her/his biological gender. Many transgender individuals are persons who report feeling trapped in the wrong body. These people psychologically identify themselves with the opposite biological gender and desire to be a person of that gender." "especially: of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity is opposite the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth". . "A transgender person was born as one biological sex but feels that her true gender identity is that of the other sex." In contrast, people whose sense of personal identity corresponds to the sex and gender assigned to them at birth – that is, those who are neither transgender nor non-binary or genderqueer – are called cisgender.
Transsexual