Is ‘Tranny’ Offensive?
In several different LGBTQ blogs I’ve noticed arguments over whether or not the use of the term ‘tranny’ is offensive. Usually this occurs when a cisgender person using the term gets called out for it. In each case, they seem to have trans friends who are cool with them using the term and don’t understand why others don’t like it.
It might appear to be a benign act of adding a “y” on the end to make the term more informal and cutesy (notice a similar transformation when changing “cute” to “cutesy”). From this perspective, why would it matter? No one will tell you “fag” or “faggot” are okay but “faggy” and “fagotry” aren’t. However, there is a whole historical context to the term that isn’t all that well known, but is a huge part about what makes the term less appealing.
The term itself was first widely used within the porn industry. And while I’ll be the last one to denigrate sexuality and pornography, the fact is that “tranny porn” is about as representative of trans people’s sexuality as “girl-on-girl porn” is representative of lesbian sexuality. The usual context that it has been used in porn is to highlight how trans women are not really women, while also painting us as more exotic and sexually available.
So when the industry popularized the term “tranny”, it became a useful way to get a sense of someone’s background with the community. If a cisgender person used the term “tranny” it probably meant that they got most of their knowledge of (or at least intro to) the trans community from the porn and sex industries, and perhaps didn’t have your best interests at heart. This is also probably related to the creation of the term “tranny-chaser” as a way for the trans community to identify people who might take advantage of a trans person’s relative vulnerability or see trans people only as a sexual commodity.
This use of language has stuck. For example, 6 out of the top 10 google results for the term “tranny” are porn sites. And five years ago it was probably 9 or 10. Compare that to a google search for “transgender” which gives you 10 out of 10 resource and support sites. Also, searching for terms like “tranny activist” and “tranny politics” results in only a few hits — 194 and 157 respectively. Yet searching for the term “tranny sex” provides 1,470,000 hits — that’s a 10,000 fold increase. Even now, after many people are reclaiming the term, the vast majority of it’s use is about sexualizing and objectifying trans people. It’s true the term is being reclaimed, but instead of comparing it to how terms like “queer,” “dyke,” and “fag” are used today, I think it’s more appropriate to compare it to the use of the term “faggot” about a decade ago, or “queer” almost two decades ago.
The issue of reclaiming the term is further complicated, though. You see, while I have been discussing the impact the term has had on trans people, the reality is that it is trans women who have most directly targeted by it. Trans men have been comparably invisible in the sex and porn industries, and the trans men porn that exists today is almost exclusively produced by trans men. Yet a significant portion, arguably a majority, of the effort to reclaim the term has been made by trans men. Usually by trans men who are not familiar with the negative history of the term, let alone having been subjected to it’s sting themselves.
It is difficult to know what to think about that gender breakdown. When I run into a group of trans men who frequently use the term, I am not sure whether to thank them for creating community use of a new and positive meaning behind the term, or to criticize them for their insensitivity and lack of awareness of how the term might hold a lot of trauma for those of us who have been the direct targets of its use.
Regardless, it is true that I also try to reclaim the term myself. But as with all reclaimed terms, context is the key. I recently had to educate a colleague of mine as to how his saying “I met a really hot tranny last weekend” was not a very appropriate place to use the term, even if it was a positive attribute he was commenting on (for the record, I would have been a lot more comfortable with “I met a trans woman last weekend, she was really hot”).
Personally, I’m not comfortable using the term to refer to anyone but myself or friends who have similarly used it. And if I wasn’t trans, I wouldn’t want to use it at all. I might use it to draw upon it’s history, such as if I were to call myself “Another tranny rebelling against patriarchy,” or to underscore someone else’s transphobia as in “You just don’t care what the dirty tranny thinks, do you?” And I suppose I might use it to refer to trans people in general, such as “Trannies unite!” or “I wish there were more trannies here.” I generally appreciate use of the term that links it to trans women’s sexual autonomy and trans-positivity — the exact opposite of it’s derogatory use.
I’m not going to lay down any rules for how you might use it though, especially if you’ve been the target of it’s derogatory use yourself. All I ask is that you think about how you use it. And be able to explain yourself if someone wants to question you about it.
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The context in which i most often hear “tranny” used is as a somewhat disparaging, or at least othering, term used for transvestites (not transsexuals). In fact, the people i know who use it in that context most often are transsexual women who dislike being conflated with male transvestites.
Second commonest usage i hear to that is probably utterly ignorany cissexual men who actually do conflate transsexuals and transvestites.
Then i very occasionally hear it used in a (usually at least semi-humorous) “reclaiming” way, as in “tranny pride”.
I very probably wouldn’t use it at all, except in reported speech.
If you mean the people who identify as HBS as well as the people at Enough Non-Sense, I would hesitate to consider them the norm. The cis world continues to use “tranny” to mean “trans woman” and there’s a lot more of them than there are insular trans women who define themselves by what they hate.
I recently filed a complaint with GLAAD over a video on E! Online that had “Tranny” in the title and had a cis woman playing up multiple offensive stereotypes about trans women.
I am so pleased that you wrote this post (though obvs not pleased with the context of why you had to write it.) I hope it finds a widespread audience.
My efforts to get other trans masculine folk not to use “tranny” have met a lot of hostility and confusion.
(also, in the last 8 years of my “trans life, I’ve noticed often the trans men/boys who use ‘tranny’ the most are well-integrated in communities of queer women–the same communities that tend [with exceptions] to be less friendly to queer trans women. hmmmm…)
um, smiley face not intended.
I find this to be just another derogotory word that people are trying to mainstream. All I want and I think most women want is to be called female, woman or by their name. Why do we need all these unneccessary labels for people.
Shelia,
I think you’re probably right. But even when most women don’t need any other name, there are some who do, not to mention the men who have a less difficult time using this particular term. And this is one of the terms that people have started using.
Unfortunately, we can’t put the cat back in the bag. And even if we could get folks within our community to stop using it, it’ll be even less possible to get everyone else to stop (Christian Siriano, Dan Savage, not to mention the bigots and the chasers). I’m just hoping to inject a little bit of thought and consideration into the ways people use the term — as I’ve pointed out, whether you think the term is okay or horrible, it’s ten times worse when used in thoughtless and hurtful ways.
I don’t mind other transsexual friends of mine using the term “tranny” amongst ourselves but I’m well aware that it’s used as a derogatory term. Perhaps I should consider removing the word from my lexicon.
Ok, here’s a question from someone who is married to a transman but hasn’t had much exposure to the trans community. Is there a term for someone who is attracted to trans people, not just sexually, but because of the depth of their experience and the thought that they’ve put into things like gender roles in society and (often anyway) civil liberties? Tranny-chaser is quite overtly negative, but I haven’t heard anything about a positive counterpart.
I’ve heard “trans-sensual” come up as an alternative. Or you can call yourself a trans SOFFA (significant other, friends, family, and/or allies). But I’m not sure how much we need a term to identify attraction to trans people. I mean, I can say just about the same thing about feminists, but we don’t have a term for those attracted to feminists.
“Tranny-chaser”, at least to me, doesn’t just denote an attraction to trans people, but an exploitative and objectifying approach to relationships with trans people. I agree it’s odd to see yourself associated with half of the term and worry about the association with the other half. If you’re looking for a term to draw a distinction between yourself and chasers, I’d suggest “trans-positive”. It doesn’t indicate an attraction to trans people, but it does bring up a positive and valuing approach to trans people and trans politics.
I do like the word “trans-sensual” and I even like the word “trans-positive” even better. I still don’t really understand why the need to call anyone a certain name. If you like a certain person then that is who you like, not that it is necessarily a label of a certain group or culture. What do you call people who date outside their own race? I call them people. People do have some sort of gender or sexuality and to catagorize who they are is way too much for me.
Does trans-sensual refer to attraction to trans people or specifically trans men? I’ve only encountered it in the latter context.
Also: Topix blocks posts with most slurs, but lets “tranny” through. Stupid topix.
I think it is supposed to refer to attraction to trans people in general. But there certainly is a pattern of people calling themselves trans-sensual femmes to reference their experience as femmes from butch/femme relationships and with “all the butches turning into men” they now find themselves in trans man/femme relationships.
In that context, attraction to trans women is an afterthought, if that at all. Although, I wouldn’t say that’s how all people use it. And I’ve definitely heard it in contexts that were about attraction to trans people in general.
I think you’re right on, Tobi, especially in the second-to-last paragraph. I use ‘tranny’ the same way you do, and would be offended by cisgendered people using it (unless the context was really positive and invited). It’s kind of like the term ‘ni***r’ for black people. I’ve heard them using it among themselves, and that’s fine. But I can’t even bring myself to write it in reference, because quite frankly, I don’t think I have the right to use it. Yet when I call myself queer, it’s an empowering reclamation of the word.
I almost never use the word ‘transsexual,’ either. Not that there’s anything seriously wrong with it, just that it seems to make us one-dimensional. I prefer transperson, or transman/transwoman.
Seda,
I like the word transperson also and use it quite frequently. To me it is a word that is not permanent to any one person as it is a word that means you are in a transitional phase in your life. If I was to be talking about one specific person and that person was in the transitional phase I would then use the word transman or transwoman. I really don’t like to use gender which to me is very fluid, I like to use the neutral words unless they like the gender pronouns.
[...] language for use amongst ourselves (trans people) is found in Tobi Hill-Meyer’s post, Is ‘Tranny’ Offensive? To me, the short answer to this deceptively simple question is, “It depends who’s [...]
A nasty example of an FtM using it…
http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/article.php?id=280
I prefer to say “trans person,” “trans man,” “trans woman,” with a space between trans and noun, making “trans” an adjective (as I think it should be in this context) rather than creating an entirely different category of being (“transman, transwoman, transperson”) that seems to not just be another kind of man, woman, or person.
The other thing is that I really only see talking about “trans anyone” to be useful when you’re contrasting with cis people, or you’re specifically talking about stuff that trans people have to deal with – so I’d never refer to a woman as a “trans woman” unless there was a reason to highlight that she’s trans.
Oh, thanks for the clarification on trans sensual, Tobi.
Personally I like to use “tranny” to describe myself precisely because e.g. “trans woman” makes me a woman first, and I’m not quite fond of being a woman. Besides, I quite like the sound of “tranny”.
Now, well, given that it’s not my mother tongue, I may not understand completely all negative connotations and use it wrongly :s
Concerning people who are attracted to trans people, isn’t there also the term “translover” ?
Elly, I think it really is different when trans feminine people and trans women use the word to describe ourselves, and anyone else ever uses it.
I find ‘tranny’ a bit embarrassing. I much prefer to be called by a girls name, or something derogatory, but sexy, like slut, or whore, or something condescending like dollface or girl.
I prefer to identify as a sexually submissive lesbian than a transman. I’d rather be dressed as a maid and chained to a dyke’s secret bedroom than go on a march in ugly make-up and absurd heels.
I think transvestism for me is my brain’s way of making me seductive to bisexual dommes.
Since trannys have never respected that a huge number of women of transsexual history find “transgender” extremely offensive used to include them against their will, I’ll continue the use of tranny myself.
Harney finds it offensive? Gee let’s stack that up against all the women she calls transphobes when they really aren’t.
Catkisser,
It always disappoints me when people are unable to separate individuals from categories — then chose to disparage the entire group due to poor interactions with individual members of it.
I remember working with a woman who had been sent to the hospital and cost a lot of money do to a mistake made by another woman who happened to be trans. Not only did she carry a big grudge, she insisted on calling this other woman “he” as a form of revenge. At least until I and a few others explained to her that such a tactic hurts all trans people.
Personally, I actively avoid calling anyone by labels that I don’t know they prefer to have used for them. And in general, I prefer to use “trans” to avoid upsetting folks with transgender/transsexual label prefernces. Lisa Harney doesn’t represent all transgender people. If you’ve got a personal problem with an individual transgender person, fine, but there’s no reason to use a derogatory slur for an entire group of people because of it. Trying to insult or hurt an entire population because of it is, well, hurtful, and serves little point.
Additionally, I’d urge caution, as tranny is a derogatory term used for women of transsexual history as well.
And Tobi, I’d urge caution in leaping to conclusions.
It’s not one or two individuals, it’s hundreds. I have experienced almost all the negativity in my life stemming from my history from trannys…….not “cis” people. Horrible things, life threatening things, terrorist activities without putting a fine point on it.
I was formally a passionate supporter of trans civil rights issues only to find almost universal hatred towards me for daring to object to the use of “transgender” to include classes that wanted no freakin’ part of it…….
When I talk about what was done to me, I’m being a “victim” and mocked by current alleged top line trans-activists some of whom pursued me all over the internet. I see trannies trashing feminism constantly…..I am a passionate feminist and have been long before I did trans rights. I have seen more blatant and overt mysogyny and gynophobia among trannies than any group of men.
catkisser,
While seemingly immense, hundreds is still a rather small number. I can certainly understand being cautious at meeting a new person who belongs to a group you have negative experiences with, but hundreds is a small portion of the number of trans people out there. I’m pretty sure that I’ve never hurt you. My partner has never hurt you. My friends I was hanging out with last night probably don’t spend enough time on the internet or being out to have hurt you.
When you use the term tranny with the intent to hurt and incite, you’re hurting all of us. At that point it doesn’t matter what word you use, if you’re intent is to hurt all transgender people, then you’re attacking me, my family, my friends, most of whom I would guess you have never met or encountered. Not to mention that most of the transsexuals I know, myself included, would feel personally attacked as well, even if that’s not your intent.
And if you try to insult and hurt every transgender person you meet, then I’m not surprised that some of them do exactly what you’re doing — lash out without purpose.
I don’t doubt you’ve experienced some bad things, and I don’t doubt that you’ve been hurt without reason or justification. But even if you’ve been hurt by hundreds of trans people, don’t forget there’s tens or hundreds of thousands of trans people who haven’t hurt you. Personally, I’m a strong feminist born and raised. Feminism is an integral part of life to almost all my friends. Perhaps we’re just in different circles, but I’ve got very different experience with trans people and feminism.
So I ask you, would you be willing to refrain from using this term with the intent to hurt people? At least while you’re participating in discussion on this blog? Because it’s not a scalpel, you can’t use it to hurt one person, or even a hundred people, without ending up hurting us all.
Tobi, if you are one of those people who feel free to force others into an identity they reject, you are a tranny. If you haven’t learned from your own oppression not to oppress and marginalize others you claim the right to speak for against their wishes, you are a tranny.
The vocal “spokespersons” for transgenderism have been doing this for more than a decade. They banned anyone from activist communication lists anyone who objected. They call them racists, essentalists, bigots. They engage in acts of overt terrorism. They issue death threats……..and the issue was always the same one, the right of the small group of those who experience dysphoric imperative (suffered from classic transsexuality) to define themselves and not be defined by a group that clearly despises them, that repeated insults surgically corrected bodies and denies them womanhood…..they are trannys. In the same fashion I hold every christian responsible who didn’t speak out for the hatred promoted against gays and lesbains. Who allowed christianity to equate with hatred in the minds of it’s victims, in that same fashion I hold anyone embracing a trans identity responsible for not speaking out against the haters within the tranny community.
If you are not one of these, the word doesn’t apply to you. If you are, I will oppose you as long as I draw breath until the day you see that being oppressed doesn’t issue a license to oppress others. Until the day you learn that someone speaking up for their own right of self-identity trumps anyone else’s right to define them regardless of motive. If you agree with this, sign the PETITION at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/transgender-is-not-an-umbrella
Catkisser, you don’t seem to be listening to me, so I’m going to be putting less effort into continuing this conversation. But let me reiterate a few points I’ve already made.
First, I don’t feel free to force others into an identity they reject — I’ve mentioned a few times that I make it a point not to. Secondly, throwing around any derogatory term is going to be hurting lots of people, not just the person you direct it at. You can’t simply say that the word doesn’t apply to those who respect you, that’s not how it’s felt. And you’re subtle “if” in the first sentence of your last comment does very little to dampen the impact of the “you are a tranny” that you just threw at me.
I’ve been giving you a lot of leniency because of the history that we both share. I would never have allowed comments such as these to come from a cis person. I’m being extremely civil and calm here, yet your rhetoric keeps escalating: “If you are, I will oppose you as long as I draw breath.” Seriously, all I’ve said is please don’t use a derogatory slur that impacts me and my family when you have no actual beef with us.
You’re railing against the people who called you transphobic, but frankly the more I see of your behavior, the less inclined I am to disagree with them. What else do you call it when you refuse to cease hurling an anti-trans derogatory slur, knowing that it will hurt trans people of all types?
I don’t know the full details of your petition, but I’m not going to even look at it because I refuse to be bullied and threatened into a political belief. If you want to rationally discuss the matter, that’s fine, but be aware that any further use of the term “tranny” with the intent to hurt trans people will be deleted from the comments section.
You toss around the term “cis people” with abandon, refuse to even look at the petition and claim a “sameness” with me. Is your identity trans or woman? If it isn’t woman, you and I share nothing. The issue has always been the forced inclusive use of the term “transgender” to include women of transsexual and intersexed history totally against their wishes. This has been actively promoted by self identified crossdressers, drag queens, people who say they are men living women’s lives, those who say they’ll never be women. It is a deliberate attempt to deny womanhood to those who had a birth condition and corrected it. Make the issues clearer?
I don’t expect yoo to “get it” because I haven’t met a self identified transgender (see, didn’t use tranny) who did, who didn’t think their own opinion outranked everyone else’s. Who didn’t engage in massive amounts of male privilege.
[...] we? Nope, we’re just men in dresses. How silly of me to forget that. I’m such an uppity tranny, aren’t I, not knowing my place an’ [...]
Catkisser,
*sigh*, why would I suggest a shared history if there wasn’t one? I mean, I don’t assume we’re identical, but of course I identify as a woman. And I may use a lot of different language to describe myself in different situations, but crossdresser, drag queen, “man living woman’s life”, are terms that I never have and never will use to describe my identity.
I think you’re assuming you’ve got an enemy here, but all I’ve ever asked is that you stop using a derogatory term that impacts me and those I care about (thanks for obliging, by the way). But I’m aware of the issue you bring up, and don’t disagree.
I am transsexual, and just as you have the option to see yourself as separate from the term transgender, I’ve got the option to see myself as part of it. Most of my friends who are transsexual identify as a part of the transgender community. I’m used to being around a lot of other transsexuals who self-identify as transgender. So while I support your right to self-identify as not transgender, or even not transsexual if you’d like, it doesn’t seem to be an issue for me or in my corner of the community.
[...] women, yet the people doing the reclaiming were predominantly trans men and FAAB genderqueers. As Tobi writes over at No Designation, The issue of reclaiming the term is further complicated, though. You see, while I have been [...]
Pingback by “Tranny” and Subversivism: Re-reclaiming “Tranny” (or not) part 1 « Taking Up Too Much Space | November 10, 2008 |
I keep coming back to this and wondering. I’ve got this essay about how I’ve got some kind of internalised transphobic ideas telling me that there’s a trans purity test and I just don’t check enough boxes, and it’s called “I am the bad tranny”. I can’t make my mind up whether it’s appropriate because it’s referencing an attitude that other people might express in those words, or whether it’s just another failed attempt at reclamation by a trans man.
[...] Considering that I wrote an article that goes into detail about the derogatory use of the word “tranny”, I feel I should comment on my use of it here. This is an example of the rare circumstances where I [...]
Pingback by Isn’t Oppression Bad and Calling it Out Good? « No Designation | November 25, 2008 |
Nick,
I think you’ve kinda got to feel that out for yourself. It does seem to be in a gray area. The “bad tranny” is definitely an external attitude that you’re dealing with, and that’s my preferred context for using the term myself. On the other hand you’ve taken the gendered (male/female) aspect out of the term. I don’t think every use needs to reference the specific history of misogyny that is intertwined with the term, but it’s worth acknowledging if we’re going to micro-analyze the term in this use. One other factor might be whether your focus is on reclaiming the term “bad tranny” or acknowledging that there is a system that proclaims some people as such. Is the term your new identity, or are you rejecting the idea of a system that judges people in such ways.
Ultimately, though, I don’t think it’s just my opinion your looking for. I could tell you it’s okay, or that it’s not okay. But then others would disagree, and have valid reasons to disagree. What you can do is make a decision yourself, and be able to intelligently and reasonably explain yourself when asked to do so, while still recognizing others will disagree and that’s valid too.
Hey Tobi – I was just looking for links to explain this to someone and googled “tranny is offensive” and you are the 5th hit. Thought I’d let you know – and thank you for writing it.
I see the term Tranny more or less the same as the “N-word” (sorry, I am tooooo white to say it). If I use it around someone who isn’t trans, it means that I see them as honorary queers and that I feel so comfortable around them that I will use my label of empowerment around them. Tranny is a word that should be used carefully, thoughtfully and in the correct context like any other emotionally charged term.
I still wonder what tranny in the work place means