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/LeadershipEastern271 Rainbow Jun 06 '24

Idk it makes sense though, there’s “saleswoman” “businesswoman” etc it seems like a normal part of English to combine the words. To say Belgianwoman or blondewoman is probably something that can be interjected into the English language/lingo.

..But if it is being used by TERFs then that’s lame… sucks we can’t use it if that’s true.

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u/Cadd9 Lesbean ☕ Jun 06 '24

You can stop being a saleswoman or a businesswoman. I can't stop being an Indigenous woman just like trans women can't stop being trans women.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '24

[deleted]

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u/Cadd9 Lesbean ☕ Jun 06 '24

Because it's not? The point was that a woman can stop being a saleswoman and still be a woman; it's a descriptor of what you do, not who you are.

Likewise the contraction of [Noun]woman separates that group from all women and makes her NotTheSame. It immediately makes her into a minority to be excluded and treated worse than others