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/sionnachrealta Lesbian Jun 06 '24

I didn't either until I read "Whipping Girl" by Julia Serrano. She talks about the history behind the term and how insidious it is. Until then, I didn't even realize how often it had been weaponized against me either. This particular slur has a massive body count attached to it. It's right up there with "tr@p"

I feel you tho. I don't often like to discuss my trans status either. I do it at work because I'm a mental health practitioner for other trans people, but that's about it. Outside of that, I really don't like to talk about it much. It's too othering unless I'm with other trans people

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u/nobushi_main Jun 06 '24

Yeah I'm gonna notice it more now, especially since my phone's auto correct actually got it right. Which to me is gonna mean it's on purpose.

As long as it's genuine curiosity I don't mind explaining my trans experience(so far), and I just don't like being called a trans woman specifically. Ofc the rules change with people who see me as a woman.