Transgender, often shortened to Trans, is an umbrella term to describe an individual whose gender identity differs from their assigned gender at birth (AGAB) and/or sex.
Etymology
The term Transgender came into use as an umbrella during the 20th century to make a distinction between sexuality and gender identity. Transgender is a combination of the prefix Trans—meaning "across, beyond, through, to change"—and the noun Gender, creating an adjective that highlights the journey and/or change with one's gender identity.
Community
A wide range of things can be mentioned here, this section is for general impacts that people who identify as this term have on society. Example, This section can mention things specific to this identity's community, like ace rings to asexuals, or miscellaneous things that people of this group have achieved and contributed to that do not fall into the other sections, or be left blank.
History
Gender is percieved and expressed differently depending on culture, thus experiences with gender akin to being Transgender exist under many different names. Even though the use of the term Transgender is recent, there have always been individuals expressing their gender differently from their sex. [1]
Flag
Monica Helms designed the Transgender Pride Flag in August, 1999 and debuted it in 2000 at a Phoenix, Arizona, USA pride parade. It consists of five horizontal stripes, two stripes are blue with each at the top and bottom, two pink stripes directly follow the blue with one white stripe in the center. The stripes are ordered this way so that the flag can be flown correctly in any direction, metaphoric for Trans individuals finding correctness in oneself. The colors encompass the sprectrum of trans experiences. The blue represents masculinity, pink represents femininity, and white represents those who are transitioning, gender neutral, gender non-conforming, or non-binary. [2]
The trans flag can be altered, remixed, and combined with other pride flags or additional colors to highlight a particular trans experience, and/or represent the intersectionality of the communities.
Distinction
Non-binary
- Main article: Non-binary
Though non-binary identities are included in the trans umbrella, not all non-binary folk identify as trans and not all trans folk identify as non-binary.
Intersex
- Main article: Intersex
While transgender individuals identify differently from the gender assigned at birth, intersex is an umbrella term for people with sex traits, hormonal differences, chromosomal differences or anatomy such as external or internal reproductive organs that differ from the typical binary notions of male or female body. Intersex individuals can also identity as trans but that is not necessarily the experience of all intersex people.
Two Spirit
Controversy
If there has been a specific variety of this identity-phobic discourse that has led to discrediting it please detail that here. If there have been similar -phobic discourses around popular flags, it can also be documented in this section.
Perceptions and Discrimination
In recent years, being transgender and advocating for transgender rights has been incorrectly viewed as a trend or a fad that will pass, when in all actuality that belief is a product of Western colonialism and Transgender people have always existed.[3] Western colonialism began around the 15th century, when European countries sought to increase their power through conquering and exploiting other nations and indigenous peoples. One of the many tactics of colonialism is one nation enforcing its culture and language on another. Western Colonialism was so wide-spread that by 1914, most nations in the world were colonized by European forces at some point.[4] Western colonialism demonized anyone that did not fit into cis-heterosexuality and enforced assimilation vs annhilation, which caused trans-erasure in history. Before then, Transgender individuals went by many different names in various cultures around the world, often with sacred and/or important positions in their societies. [5] (See History for more)
The binary introduced by Western colonialism still impacts the way Transgender individuals are stigmatized as defiant/deviant. The stigma denies equal-opportunity to prosperity as it impacts every aspect of life, some just being: economic, financial and housing stability, having a familial or social support system and mental health.[6]
Media
This section should be used to elaborate on the portrayal and representation of this identity in various forms of media, which can include a listing or links to various artists or movies, series, etc.
Literature
Film
Television
Music
Resources
Here you can place useful resources relevant for the described topic.
References
- ↑ Agarwal, Kritika: "What is Trans History?" (May 1, 2018). www.historians.org. www.historians.org.
- ↑ Transgender flag on Wikipedia
- ↑ "Transgender People Have Always Existed" by Martens, Avery on acluohio.org. Published June 10, 2016 by www.acluohio.org
- ↑ Blakemore, Erin: "Colonialism Facts and Information" (February 19, 2019). nationalgeographic.com. www.nationalgeographic.com.
- ↑ "Colonialism Still Affects How Black and Indigenous People See Gender" by Omowale, Jendayi on them.us. Published August 18, 2021 by www.them.us
- ↑ Human Rights Campaign Foundation: "Dismantling a Culture of Violence" (October 2021). thehrcfoundation.org. www.thehrcfoundation.org.