LGBT

The Problem with the Transgender Label

NOTE: The problem is with THE LABEL and NOT with ANY person, their sexuality, or their identity.

I am going to address a touchy subject and dare to ask: what is the problem with the transgender label? There is absolutely no problem with any human being who could consider themselves “transgender.” All human beings should be accepted for who they are. No, the problem is the label itself because it is a label.

First, let us be clear about what is the issue.

A UK survey found that 79% of people who self-identify as transgender experienced hate crime related to their gender identity, and 32% had experienced physical violence. Both percentages are higher than the experiences of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Human Rights Watch reports that deadly violence against people in the transgender community is increasing.

People are being discriminated against, harassed, ridiculed, assaulted, and even killed because they do not fit nicely into cultural stereotypes of “man” and “woman.” I put “man” and “woman” in scare quotes because genders are social constructions. In other words, the categories of “man” and “woman” mean what we collectively decide they mean, and those meanings change as cultures change. This is not about genitalia, this is about what people think and feel the concepts “man” and “woman” mean and the values they assign to those meanings…