Would someone mind telling me when the word tranny became offensive? I’m not being sarcastic here, I’m honestly confused. Most of my life-long exposure to the word has been inside the community and in a simple descriptive slang. I’ve asked the few I know [1]including a FTM coworker and not a single one had a problem with the word in general. They also seemed a bit perplexed as to why it is suddenly only meant in the derogatory sense. If they don’t have a problem with it, why then do the groups that claim to represent us have such an issue with it?
I bring it up today as there’s been quite a bruhaha in social media outlets as of late, specifically gay media outlets. And the outrage and moral hand-ringing seems to be over people from within the LGBT community using the word in a clearly positive sense. I’d be a little more understanding if it was coming from some yahoo w/no brain spouting off out of ignorance. But from within our community? I’m confused.
First of, everyone deserves respect, including the T part of the LGBT umbrella. I’m currently just questioning the methodology. And the idea that I might question it does not mean I am not for transgendered rights. But, before I jump on the “Oh no you dinn’t just say that?” bandwagon, I need more than just a group jumping all over anyone who dares to use the word in any context. If the word has become so bad, why are we just hearing about it now and why aren’t these same agencies educating us in the LGBT community? Jumping all over anyone who uses the word, even when well-meaning, is certainly not the answer.
Words have power, no dispute there, but one should also look at the intent behind the word as much as the word itself. While not diminishing the very real pain a person can feel when spoken to in a degrading way, not every use of a word is derogatory. Frankly, over-reacting to every use of the word also diminishes your effort and gives you the appearance of whining. Our brethern in the black community have co-opted a slang version of the N-word and made it their own. While it can and does still have negative meanings, they are actively taking back the power of its use.
I wonder if our own over use of the word within the LGBT community has spawned its use on a much larger scale. As LGBT folks become more accepted and mainstream, it seems a natural progression that our slang would be picked up by straights. How they use it could be based on intent and/or ignorance. If that is the case and the word is becoming deragatory I could understand all the fuss. I’d also fully support efforts to stop using it. I would never support treating a transgendered person any different than I’d treat anyone else.
I also can’t hep but wonder if it is because we in the LGBT community use it as slang that in its self makes it unacceptable. Sorry, but that would be way beyond political correctness and would push me away from supporting anyone who tried to sell it. I also think it would be extremely counter-productive to the fight for transgendered equality. While being transgendered is fundamentally different than being gay/straight, the right to and the fight for acceptance is the same. Trying to distinguish a separation between us is futile to the outside world. Our focus should be on the acceptance of everyone, regardless of their race, creed, gender, orientation, etc. Otherwise, what’s the point of including the T in the LGBT acronym?
On a tangent of the above, is this a preemptive attempt to prevent the word from becoming derogatory? My understanding of the word tranny is that it has more to do with gender-benders and drag queens than being transgendered. It is very plausible the outside world would miss that very important distinction. Is this the transgendered communities attempt to either distance themselves from the word or prevent it from taking hold as descriptive slang for transgendered folk? I can see the reasoning there but I still think it would be a futile and needless battle. While the LGBT community might pick up on it, the outside world would fail to see the distinction. To me, this also smacks of the all or nothing mentality. History has shown this approach rarely, if ever, succeeds.
IMHO, a united approach is and will always be the best approach for all of us in the fight for equality. I don’t know how many of my readers, if any, are transgendered, but I welcome everyone’s feedback/comments on this issue. I’m not claiming to be right here, just confused.
References
| ↑1 | including a FTM coworker |
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I hadn't heard of the uproar yet. I have never heard any issue with Trans, Transexual or Transgendered. Most people who are any of the above use those words.
I think "Tranny" may have fallen out of fashion though. I guess come to think of it, I don't heard the Trans community use it anymore about themselves, and the only time I hear it in the gay community is as a queeny insult often. Much like "look at that fag" when talking about members of our community we have issues with.
My guess is it has been picked up by the larger culture and now has negative connotations . . . . Tranny . . . Tranny Hooker . . . the "Jerry Springer/Maury" culture basically.
Maybe it's like how we refer to ourselves as Gay rather than Homosexual often, because the later is often used negatively or abbreviated as the slur homo.
I can't answer the "when" part – it's a fairly recent thing, though. I will say this: words like this usually begin as insults hurled AT a group from outside – think "queer" and "faggot" – that, for quite a while, a group accept because as society's outcasts, they're not in a position to do much else. I think this is where "tranny" started, many years ago.
Eventually, as self-empowerment (I hate the term, but what else fits?) takes root, one of two things happens. Either the word is "embraced" by the community in question (as gays have done, to some degree, with "queer") to take the sting out, or the community in question raises holy hell about being called by a slang/slur term.
And when that happens, it's a very short time before that term becomes unacceptable in public discourse. The N-word, faggot, tranny – all of these are words that began as epithets and which the so-named people more or less rendered unacceptable. What causes a problem is the two trends colliding – one part of the LGBT community picking up the word and trying to reclaim it while others are trying to bar its use in polite company – and the latter almost always wins.
And, realistically, that's only fair. The objections to the term "tranny" seem to be coming mostly from within the trans community, and they should pretty much have veto power over the use of slang terms to refer to themselves. I wouldn't want the straight community deciding whether or not "faggot" was acceptable or not as a way to refer to me.
One other thought: "tranny" could be considered objectionable on at least two grounds I can think of. One is that the term sound belittling, a diminuative form of "trans" ("She's just some tranny"). The other is that the term conflates several distinct things – transgendered, transsexual, transvestite – into one word, as though they were all interchangeable (and to many they are, because none of them are important). Both seem good reasons to avoid the word except in very familial circumstances – ie with someone you know full well doesn't mind being called "tranny" by his or her friends.