We’re using the word “trans” as a broad umbrella term, to refer to anyone whose gender does not match the gender everyone assumed they would be when they were born. This includes trans men, trans women, some nonbinary people and genderqueer people, some crossdressers, some intersex people, bigender people, genderfluid people, two-spirit people, and a variety of others. (This list of examples is not exhaustive.)
We’re not really interested in policing whether anyone’s specific identity falls within the boundaries of “trans” or not; if you’re in the vicinity, and the “trans” label is helpful to you, then by all means, use the concept and the resources associated with it.
The concept “trans” is specific to late 20th- and early 21st-Century activism in the Anglophone world, particularly the US. It’s the concept we’ve chosen to frame the discussion in this blog, but we don’t mean for it to be the definitive last word.
Further reading
- Angelica Ross, InQueery: What Does the Word “Transgender” Mean?
- Genny Beemyn, Transgender History in the United States
- Susan Stryker, Transgender History
- Sam Dylan Finch, Transgender 101: A Guide to Gender and Identity to Help You Keep Up with the Conversation
- C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
A Trans 101 Blog 