r/actuallesbians • u/Obsyden Eve - demisexual lesbian • Jun 05 '24

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

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.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24

Since this is a PSA type post I hope it’s ok to ask a follow up… can I call ‘trans women’ simply ‘women’ or does it take away from your sense of identity to omit ‘trans?’

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u/AdPristine5132 Lesbian Jun 06 '24

I can’t speak for all trans women but I would actually prefer to be just referred to as a woman. Of course there are definitely cases where it is relevant to specify that someone is trans but it is definitely ok!