Transgender vs Transgendered

They ARE different things.

(a) "Transgender" is an umbrella term and can include people who are genderqueer, genderfluid, gender neutral, transsexual, crossdressers, ANYONE who embraces their gender expression as being atypical for their sex, etc. Usually not a medical condition, but I suppose some people might feel it is.

(b) "Transgender" is generally used more for people who see their gender and different from their sex, but may not have a desire to medically or socially transition permanently to the opposite sex. For example, a masculine woman who likes to do drag.

(c) "Transsexual" is a medical condition. A transsexual is a person who feels that they need to medically and socially transition so that their mental gender and physical sex match as closely as possible.

Also... 'gender' versus 'sex'. Transgender people are splorking the perceptions of gender, but transsexual people are merely altering their sexual characteristics.

So basically, all transsexual people are transgender, but not all transgender people are transsexual. Yeah, you can use "transgender" instead of "transsexual" for some people, and sometimes I do around people who I think might weird out over the term "transsexual" (older conservative people for example). But they are still different things when you get down to it.

 

I usually say transgendered, since I'm usually using it as an adjective, but I think of myself as a "transgender"...but I'm not in love with the word. I like two-spirit a lot better, but I'm not Native American so it doesn't fit.

When I'm thinking about it to myself, I usually think of myself and other transgenders as "dyads"...like in Greek philosophy. It means "two-ness" or "other-ness".

This is the dyadic symbol:



The yin-yang is also considered a dyad:

 

I say 'transgendered person' but 'transgender' as more of an umbrella term for transgendered people.

 

Though I'm a Transsexual, I say Transgendered because the word transsexual tends to be viewed badly where I'm from.