Silentpony said:
I never really understood the term or even the concept behind it.
Trans, from transformation or even transcend.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but even the trans operation is cosmetic. You don't actually change genders. Caitlyn can't bare children and Miss Garrison couldn't have an abortion. They don't produce eggs or have an uterus. So they're not really trans in that way because fundamentally nothing has changed. They haven't transformed into a woman.
But if it's about sexuality and self identification, instill don't see the need for the term trans. Your self identification is just that. How you identify. You don't need to change because your identity conforms to you, not you to your identity. Someone says they self identify as a woman...great. sure. Where does the trans part come in? You don't need to transform into anything because you already identify as that thing!
You're already there!
And if we're saying it's about looking on the outside how you feel inside...then whatever happened to beauty in the eye of the beholder? Everyone is beautiful type.shit, you know? Why the need for a surgery if it's cheaper and easier to simply say "I am a woman and I look like this"?
And and if it's all about wanting to look different, why isn't the term trans applied universally? If I put on makeup, how am I not trans? Because I am changing my appearance to fit how I feel inside(ie better)? Have I not transformed myself? Have I not identified as something different(a prettier person) and transformed myself into that new identity?!
I'm not anti trans, mind you. I just don't understand the semantics behind the words or practices. Anyone wants to do it, hey free country. I just don't get the need for such....pageantry.
I want to respond to your post, but the problem is that you are missing the point so hard I don't even know where to begin. Not saying you are being willfully ignorant or anything. It is just that I am having trouble finding common ground to start on.
First of all, transformation and transcend are examples of the use of the trans prefix, but I think you are getting an entirely wrong idea of what is meant by trans by reaching to those examples. They both imply great change. But the actual meaning of trans can be better illustrated from something like cis?trans isomerism in chemistry. In chemistry it is possible for chemical bonds to be, essentially, identical in all respects except for orientation (the literal direction of the bond). Cis vs trans indicate two different types of the same thing, cis indicating the more common (or default) variety, trans all others. OR it can indicate being on one side or another of an arbitrary division, cis meaning literally "this side" and trans "the other side".
To illustrate this, lets break down trans-form-ation. Form, as in to form something. Trans means, basically, different from the default. ation indicates action or an instance of action. The action of forming into something different. The only part trans contributes is the "different" part. Same with transcend, the change comes from the -scend part. Trans just describes the type of change.
That might seem like a matter of semantics, but I think it is important because everything else you wrote relies on this idea of transformation, as if trans people are trying to change themselves into a different gender, which is a fundamentally incorrect way of looking at it. A trans woman is not a man trying to become a woman, she is in a subcategory of women in general.
So, if a trans woman is a woman already (and extending that to all other uses of the term), why is the term needed? The term trans is needed because we need a word that correctly describes trans people as what they are. We need a word for it for the same reason we need a word for anything. Because we need to be able to talk about it, think about it, and do things about it.
So why is the term only applied to transgender issues, and not anything else? The fact is the prefix trans is used all over the place for all sorts of reasons. Generally when it is applied to people it refers to gender issues. And really the only reason is basically that we used it first. Someone needed a word to talk about it and that person was smart and used a good term which eventually got shortened to just "trans" because of several reasons, including a negative association with the word "transgender" and the fact that transgender is harder to say in conversation. Often language isn't very logical, but there you are.
As for why trans people make the changes they make, many of which are indeed cosmetic in nature, that has to do with a very simple but entirely impossible to explain discomfort that comes from a gross mismatch between how you live and how you identify. What you look like is only a part of it. I say discomfort, but that hardly does it justice. Soul crushing stress is a better description. This is currently typically referred to as gender dysphoria. Unfortunately, there are not words that can describe the feeling in detail, only the result. Your just going to have to take our word for it (and the word of the experts in the field) that it is real.
This isn't something you can wish away or ignore. You can't just will it away by saying "I'm a woman on the inside!" any more than you can will away a broken leg by saying "I can walk on the inside!". Transitioning is not pageantry. It is about dealing with a very real problem.
Now, of course, most people are concerned with appearances. Trans people are no different, we like to look good as much as anyone else, and for all the same reasons. And like all other people, we want to look good as who we are, not pretending to be someone or something else.
But there is another aspect to trans people being concerned with their looks. For trans people it is as much for survival. If people can readily tell we are trans we are going to be discriminated against. This can range from mean looks to losing a job to being brutally mutilated, raped, tortured and murdered. But if no one can tell we are trans we don't have to deal with that. We get to be who we are and live how we want and no one hassles us or beats us to death for being different.
We sometimes call this "passing". I, for example, might say "I am successfully passing as a woman." Some people don't like the term passing, they feel it implies we are pretending to be a gender we are not, and as we use it I can see the problem. Personally, I think it is a good term, one we can use to educate people if we adjust how we use it. To be clear, I should say "I am passing as cis". Passing trans women are not pretending to be women, we are pretending to be cis. We practically have to if we want to be allowed to live normal lives.
