Reply #25

general term:

Definition of TRANSGENDER
: of, relating to, or being a person (as a transsexual or transvestite) who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth
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trans·gen·der
 
noun
1.
a person appearing or attempting to be a member of the opposite sex, as a transsexual or habitual cross-dresser.
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Transgender (play /trænzˈdʒɛndər/) is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles.

Transgender is the state of one's "gender identity" (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching one's "assigned sex" (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex). "Transgender" does not imply any specific form of sexual orientation; transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, or asexual; some may consider conventional sexual orientation labels inadequate or inapplicable to them. The precise definition for transgender remains in flux, but includes:

"Of, relating to, or designating a person whose identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender roles, but combines or moves between these."
"People who were assigned a sex, usually at birth and based on their genitals, but who feel that this is a false or incomplete description of themselves."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender

Transsexual is a fairly specific term. Therapists are most likely to refer a transsexual person for hormone therapy, legal gender status change, and gender corrective surgery. Transsexual individuals have a profound sense of gender dysphoria. They know for an absolute fact that their gender identity does not coincide with the gender of their birth body.

What is transsexualism?

Transsexualism is a condition in which a person experiences a discontinuity between their assigned sex and what they feel their core gender is. For example, a person who was identified as "female" at birth, raised as a girl, and has lived being perceived by others as a woman, may feel that their core sense of who they are is a closer fit with "male" or "man." If this sense is strong and persistent, this person may decide to take steps to ensure that others perceive them as a man. In other words, they may decide to transition to living as the sex that more closely matches their internal gender.

http://www.tsfaq.info/

Transsexuals are the most intensely afflicted of transgender people. They strongly feel that they are, or ought to be, the physical gender opposite to that in which they were born and raised. The body they were born with does not at all match their own inner gender feelings and image of who they are or want to be, nor are they comfortable with the gender role that society expects them to play based on that body. Most are painfully aware of their gender incongruity from very early childhood. While transgender transitioners feel compelled to correct their social gender, transsexual transitioners feel compelled to also correct their physical gender.

http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TS-II.html

Transvestites are way different than transsexuals

Definition of TRANSVESTITE
: a person and especially a male who adopts the dress and often the behavior typical of the opposite sex especially for purposes of emotional or sexual gratification

Transvestism (also called transvestitism) is the practice of cross-dressing, which is wearing clothing traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transvestite refers to a person who cross-dresses; however, the word often has additional connotations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transvestism