哥伦比亚大学医学院精神科医师约翰·F·奥利文（John F. Oliven）在其所著并于1965年出版的参考书《性卫生与病理学》（Sexual Hygiene and Pathology）中首次提出了“transgender”此一用语，并指出以前所使用的用语“transsexualism”“是具有误导性的，因为性本身不是跨性别的一个重大影响因子”[28][29][30]。跨性别一词因能跟“变性人”（transsexual）和“易装癖”（transvestite）区分开来，而得到广泛推广。相关推广者包括易装爱好者杂志《Transvestia》的主编弗吉尼亚·普林斯（英语：Virginia Prince），其于该杂志的1969年12月号中推广此一用语[4][31]。在1970年，人们普遍视“trans-gender”和“trans people”为两个总称并使用之[注 1] ，并使用“transgenderist”一词去代指没有接受性别重置手术的跨性别者[32]。到了1976年，跨性别者在教材中会遭缩写为TG[33]。
到了1984年，“跨性别群体”（transgender community）此一概念经已发展起来，此用词当中的跨性别也是一个总称[34]。阿尔斯特大学的理查德·艾尔金斯（Richard Elkins）于1985年建立了“跨性别档案”（Trans-Gender Archive）[31]。1992年的跨性别法律和就业政策国际会议（International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy）将跨性别定义为一个总称，当中包括“变性者、跨性别者和易装者等”[35]。费雷思所著并于1992年发表的小册子《跨性别解放：时机经已成熟的运动》（Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time has Come）把跨性别定义为任何性别表现与社会规范冲突的统合术语；并认为其已成为酷儿的同义词[36]。
“transsexual”一词于1949年被戴维·奥利弗·考尔德韦尔（英语：David Oliver Cauldwell）引入至英语[注 2]，并于1966年得到哈里·本杰明（英语：Harry Benjamin）推广，相近于跨性别“transgender”一词的提出和推广时间[4]。自1990年以来，“transsexual”群体一般用于形容跨性别群体下面的一个子分类[4][45][46]，“transsexual”是指想把性别永久过渡至跟他们的性别认同一致，并为此寻求医疗援助的人们。
人类学家戴维·瓦伦丁（David Valentine）在其2007年的著作《跨性别：一个分类的民族志》（Transgender, an Ethnography of a Category）中指出，跨性别一词是由运动人士（activist）创造出来的，但其定义范围包括许多不认同自身为跨性别者的人。随后他亦指出不应把不认同自己为跨性别者的人纳入跨性别光谱中[55]。费雷思表示，对于一些人来说，他们认为跨性别并不是一个适用于自身的自我认同，而更像是为了某些人为了理解某些人而设立的一种分类。[56]。然而，波士顿fenway health公司的跨性别者健康计划对以上此一说法提出了质疑；其指出，跨性别一词并没有普遍得到接受的定义，且人们很容易就对此词产生混淆，因为在21世纪之交流行的用词现在看来可能具有冒犯性。该计划建议临床医师询问求诊者对哪个用词较为满意，并避免使用变性者此一用词，除非他们确定求诊者对此感到满意[54]。
变装者或异装癖者会穿着被视为“与他们出生时的指定性别相反”的服装。[69][70]“异装”一词跟“变装”属同义，[71][72]尽管“变装”一词在使用情形上更为普遍。[72][73]不过“变装”在相关文献中并没有完整的定义。加拿大约克大学哲学系教授迈克尔·吉尔伯特（Michael A. Gilbert）则把变装者定义为：“有着明显的性别认同且与其出生时的生理性征相同的人，但因为那是异性的服装而选择穿着之。”[74]这个定义不包括“因其他原因而穿异性服装”的人，例如扮演异性角色的演员、出席化妆舞会的男女。[75]变装者可能但不一定会模仿异性的行为或习俗，且一般不会想在医学上改变自己的身体。大部分变装者认同自己为异性恋者。[76]
美国国家跨性别平权中心（英语：National Center for Transgender Equality）的《国家跨性别歧视调查》（National Transgender Discrimination Survey）成功调查了27,715名跨性别者和性别酷儿。当中21%指出「酷儿」是对他们性倾向的最佳描述，18%自认为「泛性恋」，16%自认为「男同性恋」、「女同性恋」或「同性爱」，15%自认为「直的」，14%自认为「双性恋」，最后10%自认为「无性恋」[104]。
与性别本质主义的是社会建构主义（英文：social constructionism）。社会建构主义者批评性别本质主义，认为性别之间的不同完全或基本上由社会建构和二元性别的社会规范导致。后建构主义女性主义者和女同性恋者朱迪斯·巴特勒于其《性别惑乱》（英文：Gender Trouble）和《身体之重》（英文：Bodies That Matter）两书中，认为将性别作为一种社会建构“暴力铭刻”于人的身体上是导致那些针对违背性别二元的人们的暴力的原因。[135][136]巴特勒于《性别霍乱》一书中首次提出的性别仅仅是一种表演而非本质，是此后酷儿理论的根基之一。
* In April 1970, TV Guide published an article which referenced a post-operative transsexual movie character as being "transgendered."(Sunday Highlights. TV Guide. 1970-04-26 [2012-05-28]. （原始内容存档于2012-06-04）. [R]aquel Welch (left), moviedom's sex queen soon to be seen as the heroine/hero of Gore Vidal's transgendered "Myra Breckinridge"...)
In the 1974 edition of Clinical Sexuality: A Manual for the Physician and the Professions, transgender was used as an umbrella term and the Conference Report from the 1974 "National TV.TS Conference" held in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK used "trans-gender" and "trans.people" as umbrella terms.(Oliven, John F. Clinical sexuality: A Manual for the Physician and the Professions 3rd. University of Michigan (digitized Aug 2008): Lippincott. 1974: 110, 484–487. ISBN 978-0-397-50329-2. （原始内容存档于2015-12-05）. "Transgender deviance" p 110, "Transgender research" p 484, "transgender deviates" p 485, Transvestites not welcome at "Transgender Center" p 487), (2006). The Transgender Phenomenon (Elkins, Richard; King, Dave. The Transgender Phenomenon. Sage. 2006: 13. ISBN 978-0-7619-7163-4. （原始内容存档于2015-09-26）.)
However A Practical Handbook of Psychiatry (1974) references "transgender surgery" noting, "The transvestite rarely seeks transgender surgery, since the core of his perversion is an attempt to realize the fantasy of a phallic woman."(Novello, Joseph R. A Practical Handbook of Psychiatry. University of Michigan, digitized August 2008: C. C. Thomas. 1974: 176. ISBN 978-0-398-02868-8. （原始内容存档于2015-09-19）.)
The recurring concern that transsexual implies sexuality stems from the tendency of many informal speakers to ignore the sex and gender distinction and use gender for any male/female difference and sex for sexual activity]. (Liberman, Mark. Single-X Education. Language Log. [2012-06-28]. （原始内容存档于2012-04-15）.)
Altilio, Terry; Otis-Green, Shirley. Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work. Oxford University Press. 2011: 380 [April 12, 2016]. ISBN 978-0199838271. （原始内容存档于2016-12-01）. Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [GLAAD], 2007).
Forsyth, Craig J.; Copes, Heith. Encyclopedia of Social Deviance. Sage Publications. 2014: 740 [April 12, 2016]. ISBN 978-1483364698. （原始内容存档于2016-12-01）. Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identities, gender expressions, and/or behaviors are different from those culturally associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.
Berg-Weger, Marla. Social Work and Social Welfare: An Invitation. Routledge. 2016: 229 [April 12, 2016]. ISBN 978-1317592020. （原始内容存档于2016-12-01）. Transgender: An umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from expectations associated with the sex assigned to them at birth.
Thomas E. Bevan, The Psychobiology of Transsexualism and Transgenderism (2014, ISBN1-4408-3127-0), page 42: "The term transsexual was introduced by Cauldwell (1949) and popularized by Harry Benjamin (1966) [...]. The term transgender was coined by John Oliven (1965) and popularized by various transgender people who pioneered the concept and practice of transgenderism. It is sometimes said that Virginia Prince (1976) popularized the term, but history shows that many transgender people advocated the use of this term much more than Prince."
R Polly, J Nicole, Understanding the transsexual patient: culturally sensitive care in emergency nursing practice, in the Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal (2011): "The use of terminology by transsexual individuals to self-identify varies. As aforementioned, many transsexual individuals prefer the term transgender, or simply trans, as it is more inclusive and carries fewer stigmas. There are some transsexual individuals [,] however, who reject the term transgender; these individuals view transsexualism as a treatable congenital condition. Following medical and/or surgical transition, they live within the binary as either a man or a woman and may not disclose their transition history."
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "GLAAD Media Reference Guide – Transgender glossary of terms" （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, "GLAAD", USA, May 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-24. "An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth."
Bilodeau, Brent. Beyond the Gender Binary: A Case Study of Two Transgender Students at a Midwestern Research University. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education. 2005, 3 (1): 29–44. S2CID 144070536. doi:10.1300/J367v03n01_05. "Yet Jordan and Nick represent a segment of transgender communities that have largely been overlooked in transgender and student development research – individuals who express a non-binary construction of gender[.]"
Susan Stryker, Stephen Whittle, The Transgender Studies Reader (ISBN1-135-39884-4), page 666: "The authors note that, increasingly, in social science literature, the term "third gender" is being replaced by or conflated with the newer term "transgender."
Joan C. Chrisler, Donald R. McCreary, Handbook of Gender Research in Psychology, volume 1 (2010, ISBN1-4419-1465-X), page 486: "Transgender is a broad term characterized by a challenge of traditional gender roles and gender identity[. ...] For example, some cultures classify transgender individuals as a third gender, thereby treating this phenomenon as normative."
Reisner, Sari L; Conron, Kerith; Scout, Nfn; Mimiaga, Matthew J; Haneuse, Sebastien; Austin, S. Bryn. Comparing In-Person and Online Survey Respondents in the U.S. National Transgender Discrimination Survey: Implications for Transgender Health Research. LGBT Health. 2014, 1 (2): 98–106. PMID 26789619. doi:10.1089/lgbt.2013.0018. Transgender was defined broadly to cover those who transition from one gender to another as well as those who may not choose to socially, medically, or legally fully transition, including cross-dressers, people who consider themselves to be genderqueer, androgynous, and…
Victoria Maizes, Integrative Women's Health (2015, ISBN0190214805), page 745: "Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria—distress that results from the discordance of biological sex and experienced gender (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Treatment for gender dysphoria, considered to be highly effective, includes physical, medical, and/or surgical treatments [...] some [transgender people] may not choose to transition at all."
Oliven, John F. Sexual Hygiene and Pathology. 1965: 514. Where the compulsive urge reaches beyond female vestments, and becomes an urge for gender ("sex") change, transvestism becomes "transsexualism." The term is misleading; actually, "transgenderism" is what is meant, because sexuality is not a major factor in primary transvestism. Psychologically, the transsexual often differs from the simple cross-dresser; he is conscious at all times of a strong desire to be a woman, and the urge can be truly consuming.
Stryker, S. (2004), "... lived full-time in a social role not typically associated with their natal sex, but who did not resort to genital surgery as a means of supporting their gender presentation ..." in Transgender （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） from the GLBTQ: an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer culture. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
First International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy (1992). organizational pamphlet. ICTLEP/. 1992 [2012-05-28]. （原始内容存档于2012-03-30）. Transgendered persons include transsexuals, transgenderists, and other crossdressers of both sexes, transitioning in either direction (male to female or female to male), of any sexual orientation, and of all races, creeds, religions, ages, and degrees of physical impediment.
Glicksman, Eve. Transgender terminology: It's complicated. Vol 44, No. 4: American Psychological Association: 39. April 2013 [2013-09-17]. （原始内容存档于2013-09-25）. Use whatever name and gender pronoun the person prefers
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "GLAAD's Transgender Resource Page" （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）, "GLAAD", USA. Retrieved 2011-02-24. "Problematic: "transgendered". Preferred: transgender. The adjective transgender should never have an extraneous "-ed" tacked onto the end. An "-ed" suffix adds unnecessary length to the word and can cause tense confusion and grammatical errors. It also brings transgender into alignment with lesbian, gay, and bisexual. You would not say that Elton John is "gayed" or Ellen DeGeneres is "lesbianed," therefore you would not say Chaz Bono is "transgendered."
A. C. Alegria, Transgender identity and health care: Implications for psychosocial and physical evaluation, in the Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, volume 23, issue 4 (2011), pages 175–182: "Transgender, Umbrella term for persons who do not conform to gender norms in their identity and/or behavior (Meyerowitz, 2002). Transsexual, Subset of transgenderism; persons who feel discordance between natal sex and identity (Meyerowitz, 2002)."
For example, Virginia Prince used transgender to distinguish cross-dressers from transsexual people (glbtq > social sciences >> Prince, Virginia Charles. glbtq.com. [2017-11-28]. （原始内容存档于2015-02-11）.), writing in Men Who Choose to Be Women (in Sexology, February 1969) that "I, at least, know the difference between sex and gender and have simply elected to change the latter and not the former."
Sex -- Medical Definition. medilexicon.com. [2017-11-28]. （原始内容存档于2014-02-22）.: defines sex as a biological or physiological quality, while gender is a (psychological) "category to which an individual is assigned by self or others...".
A Swenson, Medical Care of the Transgender Patient, in Family Medicine (2014): "While some transsexual people still prefer to use the term to describe themselves, many transgender people prefer the term transgender to transsexual."
Parker, Jerry. Christine Recalls Life as Boy from the Bronx. Newsday/Winnipeg Free Press. 1979-10-18 [2012-05-28]. （原始内容存档于2012-04-25）. If you understand trans-genders," she says, (the word she prefers to transsexuals), "then you understand that gender doesn’t have to do with bed partners, it has to do with identity.
News From California: 'Transgender'. Appeal-Democrat/Associate Press. 1982-05-11: A–10 [2012-05-28]. （原始内容存档于2012-04-12）. she describes people who have had such operations’ "transgender" rather than transsexual. "Sexuality is who you sleep with, but gender is who you are," she explained
Kelley Winters, "Gender Madness in American Psychiatry, essays from the struggle for dignity, 2008, p. 198. "Some Transsexual individuals also identify with the broader transgender community; others do not."
Boyd, Hellen. The Umbrella. enGender. [2012-06-28]. （原始内容存档于2012-07-22）. the only part of the gender binary we *necessarily* challenge is the notion that people are always assigned to the right side of the binary at birth, and don’t need sympathy or help if the assignment goes wrong.
Amy McCrea, Under the Transgender Umbrella: Improving ENDA's Protections, in the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law (2013): "This article will begin by providing a background on transgender people, highlighting the experience of a subset of non-binary individuals, bigender people, ..."
Wilchins, Riki Anne (2002) 'It's Your Gender, Stupid’, pp.23–32 in Joan Nestle, Clare Howell and Riki Wilchins (eds.) Genderqueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary. Los Angeles:Alyson Publications, 2002.
Nestle, J. (2002) "...pluralistic challenges to the male/female, woman/man, gay/straight, butch/femme constructions and identities..." from Genders on My Mind, pp.3–10 in Genderqueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary, edited by Joan Nestle, Clare Howell and Riki Wilchins, published by Los Angeles:Alyson Publications, 2002:9. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
Lindqvist, Anna. What is gender, anyway: a review of the options for operationalising gender. Psychology & Sexuality. 18 Feb 2020: 1–13. doi:10.1080/19419899.2020.1729844.
Green, E., Peterson, E.N. (2006) "...The preferred term is 'cross-dresser', but the term 'transvestite' is still used in a positive sense in England..." in LGBTTSQI Terminology （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） from Trans-Academics.org （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
Understanding Drag. National Center For Transgender Equality. National Center For Transgender Equality. 28 April 2017 [3 September 2020]. （原始内容存档于2018-03-10）.
Tobin, H.J. (2003) "...It has become more and more clear that trans people come in more or less the same variety of sexual orientations as non-trans people..." Sexual Orientation from Sexuality in Transsexual and Transgender Individuals.
APA task force (1994) "...For sexually mature individuals, the following specifiers may be noted based on the individual's sexual orientation: Sexually Attracted to Males, Sexually Attracted to Females, Sexually Attracted to Both, and Sexually Attracted to Neither..." in DSM-IV: Sections 302.6 and 302.85 （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） published by the American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved via Mental Health Matters （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） on 2007-04-06.
Goethals, S.C. and Schwiebert, V.L. (2005) "...counselors to rethink their assumptions regarding gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. In addition, they supported counselors' need to adopt a transpositive disposition to counseling and to actively advocate for transgendered persons..." Counseling as a Critique of Gender: On the Ethics of Counseling Transgendered Clients[永久失效链接] from the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, Vol. 27, No. 3, September 2005. Retrieved via SpringerLink （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） on 2007-04-06.
Hanssmann, C.; Morrison, D.; Russian, E. Talking, gawking, or getting it done: Providing trainings to increase cultural and clinical competence for transgender and gender-nonconforming patients and clients. Sexuality Research and Social Policy. 2008, 5: 5–23. doi:10.1525/srsp.2008.5.1.5.
Pfäfflin F., Junge A. (1998) "...This critique for the use of the term sex change in connection to sex reassignment surgery stems from the concern about the patient, to take the patient seriously...." in Sex Reassignment: Thirty Years of International Follow-Up Studies: A Comprehensive Review, 1961–1991 from the Electronic Book Collection of the International Journal of Transgenderism. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women. Health Care for Transgender Individuals: Committee Opinion No. 512. Obstetrics and Gynecology. American Committee for Obstetrics and Gynecology: 1454–1458. December 2011 [2017-06-18]. PMID 22105293. （原始内容存档于2014-12-16）. 参数|journal=与模板{{cite web}}不匹配（建议改用{{cite journal}}或|website=） (帮助); |volume=被忽略 (帮助)
Cecilia Dhejne, Paul Lichtenstein, Marcus Boman, Anna L. V. Johansson, Niklas Långström, Mikael Landén. Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden. [2019-07-26]. （原始内容存档于2019-06-26）. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group.
Smythe, Viv. I'm credited with having coined the word 'Terf'. Here's how it happened.The Guardian. 28 November 2018 [13 April 2019]. （原始内容存档于2020-01-25）. Due to a short series of blogposts from 2008, I have retrospectively been credited as the coiner of the acronym "Terf" (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) ... a shorthand to describe one cohort of feminists who self-identify as radical and are unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters, unlike those of us who do.
Miller, Edie (5 November 2018). "Why Is British Media So Transphobic?". The Outline. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019. The truth is, while the British conservative right would almost certainly be more than happy to whip up a frenzy of transphobia, they simply haven't needed to, because some sections of the left over here are doing their hate-peddling for them. The most vocal source of this hatred has emerged, sadly, from within circles of radical feminists. British feminism has an increasingly notorious TERF problem.
Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl: a Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity 2nd Edition. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press. 2016: 99–100 [2007]. ISBN 978-1-58005-622-9.
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