What's in a Word?: Crafting Transmasculine
As I worked to develop a greater and more connected transgender community, I quickly recognized the need for stronger understanding of the language that has been used to define us, and the need to develop new words that reflect our history, experiences and identities. In several posts I delve into the history of some of the language used to define transgender people and will attempt to develop definitions for words crafted within the transgender community.
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The language for trans and gender-variant people has changed quickly over the last several decades. But as people continue to revolutionize gender identities, language, too, must evolve to reflect the growing complexity of gender.As the gender-variant people continue to fight for civil rights, we must begin by removing labels put upon us by doctors, therapists and ‘professionals’ who study trans people from the removed perspective of the ‘other’. The fight for trans rights begins with asserting the right to self-define ourselves and our communities.It is in this spirit that I, with the help of organizers and advocates, worked to craft a definition for the term transmasculine.Although transmasculine is starting to appear in trans discourse, its meaning is vague and its usage varies from person to person, community to community. The word typically is used to identify transgender people with a masculine gender presentation. However, the definition I establish is more broad and suggests self-identification. Instead of reviewing the history of this nascent term, I will analyze my definition by breaking it down into its core elements.
Transmasculine: Any person who was assigned female at birthbut feels that is an incomplete or incorrect description of their gender.
Trans-: As defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, the prefix “trans-” means “across, through, over, to or on the other side of, beyond, outside of, from one place, person, thing, or state to another.” While there are other prefixes that are likely more representative of the community's identities and experiences, trans now has a historical connection to the community which is important to recognize and reflect.
Masculine: Masculine is used because socially perceived masculine behavior, identity or expression are trans or gender-variant elements when attributed to a female-assigned person.
Assigned: This emphasizes that gender roles are not chosen by us but for us, and that the nature of breaking, stretching, or transgressing gender norms stem from a societal assumption of what a person’s gender role should be.
Assigned female: Other terms often used to describe trans people are female-bodied or female-born. However, many people who would be included in this definition of transmasculine may not feel they were ever born female. There are many people who believe that, despite societal assumptions, they were born male and, therefore, have never been “female”. Likewise, female-bodied can be offensive to masculine-identified or male-identified people who feel that their bodies are not incongruent with their gender identity. Biological or bio female have also been used, but these terms imply that people who were assigned female at birth are true or real females and others are non-biological or fake.
Birth: This indicates when societal gender assignment is first determined.
Feels: This is to emphasize that a person must choose to self-identify with this term. There are many female-assigned people who express their gender in a way that is understood by others to be gender-variant, but they may feel as such. Only any person who chooses to be identified as transmasculine is.
Incomplete: This is for those who identify as female and/or recognize and associate with elements of femaleness or femininity in their gender identity, but do not believe that their identity or expression is solely or essentially female.
Incorrect: This is for those who do not identify as female and/or do not recognize or associate with elements of femaleness or femininity in their gender identity.
Their: I use the plural their as a conscious gender choice. While he/she is the commonly accepted gender-ambiguous pronoun usage, it only recognizes two pronoun options and reinforces the gender binary. Currently gender-neutral pronouns like ze (pronounced zee) and hir (pronounced heer) are unfamiliar to most.
While many terms referencing the transgender community are identity-based, transmasculine was crafted to reference an individual's historical perspective. Gender-variant people divide themselves many subsets of defining identity labels: transwoman, transman, bigender, unigender, androgynous, two-spirit, genderqueer, male, female, MTF, FTM, F2F, M2M, transfag, tranny dyke, etc. All these terms indicate a shared identity or gender destination. Transmasculine, instead, references any person along the wide spectrum of gender expression, so long as they were assigned female at birth.Transsexual in its definition and historical use implies a destination – the transsexual seeks to become the “opposite sex” through a series of medical treatments, the focus on physically becoming the other gender. Transgender references the journey rather than the destination – movement from one gender assignment or identity to a different or additional gender expression or identity.In contrast, transmasculine represents a history. Its limiting element is the assigned gender at birth, which creates similar or shared historical narratives. Any gender journey (as in transgender) or destination (such as the identity transman) are by-products of that shared past.This definition of transmasculine was developed to reflect a community need. As a community organizer working within the transmasculine community, our group found a need to create concrete language that reflected our open and diverse community. We saw how identity-based definitions could exclude community members as their identities shifted and evolved--from dyke to transman to genderqueer, as a person's identity changed they were often forced out of one community group and into another, making it difficult to maintain ties and community cohesion.Our result seemed to accomplish other community needs. It establishes a language-affirming identity group among people who share a similar narrative of being assigned female at birth. In our culture, breaking or expanding the “female” gender role is fraught with unique oppressions, which are different from those imposed upon a gender-variant person who was assigned male at birth. It also allows for gender-variant people who do not identify or associate with transgender an opportunity to connect with an identity label that reflects their history rather than their intended gender expression or journey.Language will continue to morph to reflect a dynamic gender movement. As gender-variant and trans people continue to break and blur gender boundaries, we are certainly going to break and blur the boundaries of society’s imposed definitions. By redeveloping the words that define us, we are able to redefine ourselves and reshape our identities, our communities, and our world.
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The essay above reflects the ideas, dialogue and work of several people within the transmasculine community of New York City and surrounding areas, as part of the TransMasculine Community Network. The first version of this essay was published in 2006.