Transgender, Transsexual and Transvestite: What is the Difference?

We need to respect each other regardless of who we are and what our conditions may be, let’s just set the tone by putting that out there. This may sound obvious, but sadly discrimination is still a major issue worldwide and there are many people who have yet to learn to respect social diversity, especially sexual diversity.

Having said this, we want to dive into one of the many groups that are part of this community- those who consider themselves to be transgender, or trans. But, what is transgender in the first place?

What does it mean to be transgender?

The term transgender is used to indicate the various ways a person’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned to them at birth, which can be male, female, or intersex. 

More specifically, the term is often, but not always, used to communicate that the experience of gender involves medical changes, such as hormones or surgery, that help alter anatomy and appearance to more closely align with gender identity.

Despite their similar definitions, many transgender people do not identify as transsexual. Transsexual is not a generic term and should never be used to refer to the entire transgender community as a whole.

In any case, it is also important to say that not all trans people decide to undergo sex reassignment surgery or hormonal procedures, although many eventually do end up undergoing through these changes.

Gender identity is not designated only by the genital organs. Mistakes regarding sex assignment are sometimes made at birth. There are cases of people being intersex, for example. This used to be called hermaphroditism, the physical combinations of both sexes or indeterminacy/ambiguity in the genitalia, in which the perceived sex is different from the one assigned at birth.

Occasionally, this may be due to chromosomal abnormalities (XXY) and a late manifestation of the sexual organs may occur. Although the person may already have doubts about their gender identity, it is during adolescence when the action of sex through the brain and hormones makes nature fight harder to show authentic sexuality, the sex that is and what it feels like.

Many trans people feel a clear identification with the roles of the other gender. They rebel against their gender identity or they are against the binary gender categorizations of men/women.

What is the difference between transgender, transsexual and transvestite?

When you want to refer to a trans person either verbally or in writing and feel a bit uneasy because you don’t know which concept is the appropriate one to use, then this is for you. From here at LATV we have put together a small guide on what is the difference between the terms transgender, transsexual and transvestite.

Transvestite

When a person prefers to dress as a gender they were not assigned at birth (male or female).

Transgender

Even after taking off all clothes, the person. still identifies with the gender they feel like they are. In other words, if they cross the gender they were given at birth, they are transgender.

Transsexual

Historically, if someone had medical treatment such as gender reassignment surgery or hormone supplements, they were considered transsexual. However, some people still use the term transsexual to describe an individual who has a different gender identification than what was assigned to them at birth, regardless if they have had medical procedures or not.  

Trans pride flag: its meaning

In November, different countries around the world commemorate the International Trans Day of Remembrance, where they remember transsexual, transgender and non-binary gender people who have been killed by transphobia- that is, the hatred, discrimination and violence that the trans community suffers.

This day was created in 1998 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a graphic designer, columnist, transsexual, and activist, according to the Radio and TV Discrimination Observatory.

She chose this day in memory of Rita Hester, an Afro-American transgender woman, murdered on November 28th, 1998. This case has yet to be solved and according to Amnesty International, it is considered to be a hate crime.

Meanwhile, the trans flag first appeared in 1999 and was created by Monica Helm, a trans woman. It was flown for the first time a year later, in 2000, during a pride march in Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

This flag has five colored horizontal stripes: two light blue, one white and two light pink, which for Helms have a special meaning, according to Algarabía (Association of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans and intersex in the Canary Islands).

She said that the blue bars at the top and bottom are for the color that is usually assigned to men, the stripes that follow are pink, since it is traditional for women, while white in the center “is for those people who were born intersex, who are in transition or consider that they have a neutral or indefinite gender.”

In addition, Mónica Helm assured that the order that the colors appear in the flag did not matter, since they are all the “right” one: “It is correct, for us it means the search for the correction of our lives.”