Trans woman

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 some individuals over various medical terms. Other non-medical terms include t-girl, tg-girl and ts-girl.^[1][2] Transsexual is the more common term.^[1]

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Overview

See also: Transsexualism

"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).

Terminology

"Shemale",^[3][4] along with "tranny",^[5][6] "ladyboy" and similar terms, are often used in a derogatory manner to indicate a 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.^[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 be 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 not to 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]

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 transgender 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]

Libido

In a 2008 study, trans women had a higher incidence of decreased libido (34%) than cisgender females (23%), but the difference was not statistically significant and may have been due to chance.^[12] As in males, female libido is thought to correlate with serum testosterone levels^{[13][14][15][16]} (with some controversy^[17]) but the 2008 study found no such correlation in trans women^[12].^[18]

Notable trans women

See also: List of transgender people

American activist trans women Andrea James and Calpernia Addams

• Marja-Sisko Aalto, Finnish former Evangelic-Lutheran priest
• Calpernia Addams, American actress, author, autobiographer, entrepreneur, activist, fiddle player
• Aderet (singer), Israeli pop singer
• Allenina, Chinese-American model, actress, dancer, and director
• Rebecca Allison, American cardiologist and incoming President of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA)
• Nadia Almada, Portuguese-British Big Brother UK 2004 winner, transsexual
• Barbra Amesbury, Canadian singer-songwriter
• Enza Anderson, Canadian media personality and political activist
• Anna Anthropy, American video-game designer and critic
• Patricia Araujo, Brazilian actress and model
• Alexis Arquette, American actress, Musician, member of the Arquette family of actors
• Nina Arsenault, Canadian writer, actress, columnist and sex-trade worker
• April Ashley, British model
• Estelle Asmodelle, Australian actress, author, dancer, and Australia's first legal transsexual
• Mianne Bagger, Danish-Australian professional golfer
• Jenny Bailey, British politician and mayor
• Christine Beatty (activist), American writer, musician and transgender activist
• 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
• Maddie Blaustein, American voice actress
• Kate Bornstein, American activist, author, performance artist and playwright
• Marci Bowers, American gynaecologist and sex-reassignment surgeon
• Jennifer Finney Boylan, American author and activist
• Wendy Carlos, American composer and electronic musician
• Candis Cayne, American actress and entertainer
• Roberta Close, Brazilian model
• Coccinelle, French actress, entertainer and transgender activist
• Raewyn Connell, Australian sociologist
• Joanne Conte, American politician and activist
• Lynn Conway, American computer scientist, electrical engineer and transgender activist
• 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, cast member on MTV's The Real World: Brooklyn, and the first transgender individual to star on the show.
• Molly Cutpurse, English author
• Michelle Duff, Canadian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer
• Michelle Dumaresq, Canadian downhill mountain bike racer
• Lili Elbe first surgically reassigned person, Denmark (1930)
• Choi Han-bit, South Korean model
• Kim Coco Iwamoto, American politician
• Amanda Lepore, American model and performer.
• Bülent Ersoy, Turkish singer, Ottoman classical music
• Bibiana Fernández, Spanish presenter and actress
• Ina Fried, American journalist and senior writer for CNET Networks
• Chiya Fujino, Japanese fiction author
• Harisu, South Korean entertainer, actress, and singer
• Ai Haruna, Japanese singer and television personality
• Rebecca Heineman, One of the founders of Interplay and long time video game programmer.
• Jenny Hiloudaki, Greek model
• Dana International, Israeli pop singer
• Andrea James, American filmmaker and activist
• Aya Kamikawa, Japanese politician
• Isis King, American designer and finalist on America's Next Top Model
• Victoria Kolakowski, American lawyer and judge
• Christine Jorgensen, first male-to-female trans person in the US (1953)
• Jennifer Leitham, American double-bass musician
• Chen Lili, Chinese singer, model and actress
• Alicia Liu, Taiwanese model and television personality
• Deirdre McCloskey, American economist
• Micheline Montreuil, Canadian lawyer, teacher, writer, radio host, trade unionist and politician
• Jan Morris, British writer
• Parinya Charoenphol, Thai muay thai boxer, actress and model
• Ataru Nakamura, Japanese singer
• Judiel Nieva, Filipino alleged witness of a Marian apparition
• Jessica Orsini, American politician
• Kim Petras, German singer
• Veronique Renard, Dutch author and Free-Tibet activist
• Renée Richards, American tennis player
• Miriam Rivera, reality television, Mexican television personality and model
• Martine Rothblatt, American lawyer, technological theorist, author and entrepreneur
• Joan Roughgarden, American biologist
• Amanda Simpson, Senior Technical Adviser to the United States Department of Commerce
• Bell Nuntita, a Thai freelance singer, entertainer and radio D.J
• Kayo Satoh, Japanese model and television personality
• D. C. Simpson, American cartoonist (Ozy and Millie)
• Allanah Starr, pornographic actress and party hostess
• Sandy Stone (artist), American academic theorist, media theorist, author, and performance artist
• Margaret Stumpp, American executive
• Lea T, Brazilian fashion model
• Audrey Tang, Taiwanese free software programmer
• Manuela Trasobares, Spanish artist, opera singer and politician
• Ayana Tsubaki, Japanese television personality and fashion model
• Kelly van der Veer, Dutch celebrity and singer
• Sophie Wilson, British computer scientist
• Marie-Pier Ysser, French entertainer and academic
• BB Gandanghari, a Filipino actress and commercial model

See also

Transgender portal

• Trans men
• List of transgender-related topics
• List of transgendered people

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Kenagy, Gretchen P. (2005). "Transgender Health: Findings from Two Needs Assessment Studies in Philadelphia.". Health and Social Work, Vol. 30. http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=HnmVQy25D6Zqw2JGwMTw67vQQlR1cj6m641WLV1TKJXkcJ6DHCLC!-2108353609?docId=5009236504. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
2. ^ Novic, Richard (2005). Alice In Genderland: A Crossdresser Comes Of Age. iUniverse, page 77, ISBN 0595315623. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XHm9s79izEEC&oi=fnd&pg=PP10&dq=%22t-girl%22+transgender&ots=-hf-7xDOEz&sig=AlXE1Rdq9TNA8p3BaJMCZWOKw7A. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
3. ^ Blanchard, R (Spring 1993), "She-male", Journal of sex & marital therapy 19 (1): 69–76, ISSN 0092-623X, PMID 8468711, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/she-male, retrieved 2007-10-26  Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English
4. ^ "Shemale", WordWebOnline, http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/SHEMALE, retrieved 2007-10-26 
   "(sometimes offensive) a form of transsexual, esp. one in the sex industry" WordWeb Online
5. ^ "Transgender Terms & Definitions", ETransgender.com, http://etransgender.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=188, retrieved 2007-10-26 
   Term comes from the pornography industry
6. ^ "Glossary of Transgendered Terms", Transsexual Road Map, http://www.tsroadmap.com/start/tgterms.html, retrieved 2007-10-26 
7. ^ (PDF) Trans@MIT: Allies Toolkit, http://web.mit.edu/trans/TGterminology.pdf, retrieved 2007-10-26 
8. ^ Herbst, Philip H. (2001), Wimmin, Wimps & Wallflowers: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Gender and Sexual orientation Bias in The United States, Intercultural Press, pp. 252–3, ISBN 1877864803, http://books.google.com/books?id=8rgUeEpWfbsC&pg=PA38&dq=shemale+empowerment&sig=heIoin691HMnIucKQBuK1_4mbWE#PPA253,M1, retrieved 2007-10-25 
9. ^ Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping girl: a transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. pp. 29–30. ISBN 1-58005-154-5. 
10. ^ Julia, Dudek (April 20, 2003), Playing with Barbies:The Role of Female Stereotypes in the Male-to-Female Transition, Transgender Tapestry, http://www.ifge.org/Article231.phtml, retrieved January 2008 
11. ^ From Donald to Deirdre - Donald N. McCloskey sex change to Deirdre N. McCloskey
12. ^ ^{a b} Elaut E; De Cuypere G; De Sutter P; Gijs L; Van Trotsenburg M; Heylens G; Kaufman JM; Rubens R; T'sjoen G (Mar 2008). "Hypoactive sexual desire in transsexual women: prevalence and association with testosterone levels". European Journal of Endocrinology 158 (3): 393–9. PMID 18299474. 
13. ^ Turna B, Apaydin E, Semerci B, Altay B, Cikili N, & Nazli O (2005). "Women with low libido: correlation of decreased androgen levels with female sexual function index". International Journal of Impotence Research 17: 148–153. PMID 15592425. 
14. ^ Santoro N, Torrens J, Crawford S, Allsworth JE, Finkelstein JS, Gold EB, Korenman S, Lasley WL, Luborsky JL, McConnell D, Sowers MF, & Weiss G (2005). "Correlates of circulating androgens in mid-life women: the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation". Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 90: 4836–4845. PMID 15840738. 
15. ^ Sherwin BB, Gelfand MM, Brender W (1985). "Androgen enhances sexual motivation in females: a prospective, crossover study of sex steroid administration in the surgical menopause". Psychosomatic Medicine 47: 339–351. PMID 4023162. 
16. ^ Sherwin, B (1985). "Changes in sexual behavior as a function of plasma sex steroid levels in post-menopausal women". Maturitas 7: 225–233. PMID 4079822. 
17. ^ Davis SR, Davison SL, Donath S, Bell RJ (2005). "Circulating androgen levels and self-reported sexual function in women". Journal of the American Medical Association 294: 91–96. PMID 15998895. 
18. ^ DeCuypere G, T’Sjoen G, Beerten R, Selvaggi G, DeSutter P, Hoebeke P, Monstrey S, Vansteenwegen A, Rubens R (2005). "Sexual and physical health after sex reassignment surgery". Archives of Sexual Behavior 34: 679–690. doi:10.1007/s10508-005-7926-5. PMID 16362252. 

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