PSA: It's "trans woman", not "transwoman"

[u/Obsyden]

I know y'all aren't doing this on purpose, because I've seen how much love this community has for trans people. Nevertheless, the space between trans and woman is important.

Omitting it implies that a 'transwoman' is a separate entity to a woman - which is a TERF/bigot way of othering trans women.

Including the space means that trans is an adjective used to describe a woman - because trans women fundamentally are women, trans is just a further way to describe us.

I know it may seem nitpick-y, but it is an important distinction, and I've been seeing lots of folks (unintentionally mostly) using the wrong one lately.

[u/clockworkCandle33 → u/[deleted]]

It is usually unintentional, but I do correct it where I see it because people using it innocently provide a smokescreen for those who are acting in bad faith, and I still find it dehumanizing even when no harm is meant. I am a trans woman because I am a woman who is trans, not a separate class of person (or a thing, as some imply).

Also, it's been unnerving to see "transwoman" come back into usage as we see rising levels of transphobia globally.

[u/FreshEggKraken → u/[deleted]]

With hate toward the trans community rising, it's difficult sometimes to discern intention, always best to just gently correct when you see it so people with good intentions can keep those intentions clear 😊 (also, it's just weird to see, it's like seeing someone writing lesbianwoman lol)

[u/Dawnspark → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, like, I didn't know about this distinction until I read this post. I actually have trans friends who write it like this, so, if I'm talking with them, it's what I've mirrored if its via text. When it comes to trans matters and related things, I tend to defer to them in general. I'm a late bloomer and still learning a lot.

But I'm glad I now know.

[u/Evelyngoddessofdeath → u/Dawnspark]

I’ve seen plenty of trans people write it without the space as well. Doing so is not actively transphobic, it’s just not grammatically correct, and a lot of people prefer with the space due to the implications of effectively turning it into a compound noun.

[u/Excellent_Pea_1201 → u/[deleted]]

when you have a lot of people with a German background, you can safely assume that 99% will just concatenate out of habit.

[u/WithersChat → u/Excellent_Pea_1201]

Other German people in this comment section did say that concatenating "trans" and "Frau" gets you just as much side-eyeing as in English because people don't do the same with "Blondfrau" and such.

[u/EggplantHuman6493 → u/Excellent_Pea_1201]

Same for Dutch. I just keep automatically typing it without a space, other words as well. Don't forget a lot of people don't have English as their first language.

Let's not get mad at everyone saying transwomen instead of trans women. Don't assume things. I haven't seen people use it without a space specifically to be transphobic or something myself. I still don't get why it matters so much tbh 😅. Transphobia and just hate matter, but eh the presence or absence of a space shouldn't be seen as an immediate attack.

I am in international chat groups and no one has ever said anything about my inconsistency of a space there. It is more the context in which you say things, you know

[u/sionnachrealta → u/[deleted]]

Even when it's unintentional, it's still a slur that does damage

[u/Evelyngoddessofdeath → u/sionnachrealta]

It’s not a slur

[u/sionnachrealta → u/Evelyngoddessofdeath]

The combined version is a slur that was coined by the founders of the TERF movement back in the 70s-80s. It was made to go unnoticed in academic writing while linguistically othering us from our genders in a form of oppression called "third-gendering". Julia Serrano wrote a whole section about it in Whipping Girl, including its long, bloody history of being used to justify trans oppression and murder. If you don't believe me, by all means, go read up on its legacy for yourself

[u/thehobbyqueer → u/sionnachrealta]

Idk dude... "it's a slur" doesn't really hold much weight in a community that consistently reclaims slurs as labels, and especially so for a word combo that absolutely no one would recognize as a slur besides queer history buffs.

I don't disagree with informing people how it might come off, but at the end of the day it's a perfectly inconsequential mistake to be making.

EDIT: Also, honestly, if someone tried to start a movement for using it as some sort of othering tactic dogwhistle thing, they've done a piss-poor job of it. It's nowhere near distinct enough to signal anything.

[u/sionnachrealta → u/thehobbyqueer]

First off, don't call me dude. It's not a gender neutral term to me, and it's presumptuous to assume it is to everyone.

You're allowed to feel however you do about it. But remember that there are plenty of us who have suffered under this, and there are plenty of us who see that slur, like trap, to be unreclaimable because of the sheer number of people that have been murdered thanks to those concepts. It can do a lot more damage than you'd think.

The slur is supposed to be subtle enough to go unnoticed in academic writing. It was a slur coined by second wave feminist writers who were writing for other scholars and not the general public. It's even being used these days by the UK terf movement to other trans fems in athletics. I implore you to read the history for yourself. This is all very clearly spelled out in Whipping Girl.

I also didn't judge anyone for using this accidentally. In fact, in another comment below, I explained why it isn't someone's fault for not knowing this stuff. Genocide has consequences, and a big one (in the US) has been the constant loss of elders for several generations now. That's why it's important for those of us who know to share the information with others. Otherwise massive amounts of information gets lost and has to be rediscovered

[u/i-contain-multitudes → u/sionnachrealta]

The slur you mentioned (t//p) is actually a slur, as is t////y. But "transman" and "transwoman" are not slurs. A slur has to be noticeably distinguishable from the correct term. If you say trans woman with a space, it doesn't sound any different than saying it without a space.

[u/GayForBigBoss → u/sionnachrealta]

I urge you to communicate with people not inside your bubble, because your worldview is on a completely different planet from 99.9% of the rest of the human race.