哥倫比亞大學醫學院精神科醫師約翰·F·奧利文（John F. Oliven）在其所著並於1965年出版的參考書《性衛生與病理學》（Sexual Hygiene and Pathology）中首次提出了「transgender」此一用語，並指出以前所使用的用語「transsexualism」「是具有誤導性的，因為性本身不是跨性別的一個重大影響因子」[28][29][30]。跨性別一詞因能跟「變性人」（transsexual）和「易裝癖」（transvestite）區分開來，而得到廣泛推廣。相關推廣者包括易裝愛好者雜誌《Transvestia》的主編弗吉尼亞·普林斯（英語：Virginia Prince），其於該雜誌的1969年12月號中推廣此一用語[4][31]。在1970年，人們普遍視「trans-gender」和「trans people」為兩個總稱並使用之[註 1] ，並使用「transgenderist」一詞去代指沒有接受性別重置手術的跨性別者[32]。到了1976年，跨性別者在教材中會遭縮寫為TG[33]。
到了1984年，「跨性別群體」（transgender community）此一概念經已發展起來，此用詞當中的跨性別也是一個總稱[34]。阿爾斯特大學的理查·艾爾金斯（Richard Elkins）於1985年建立了「跨性別檔案」（Trans-Gender Archive）[31]。1992年的跨性別法律和就業政策國際會議（International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy）將跨性別定義為一個總稱，當中包括「變性者、跨性別者和易裝者等」[35]。費雷思所著並於1992年發表的小冊子《跨性別解放：時機經已成熟的運動》（Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time has Come）把跨性別定義為任何性別表現與社會規範衝突的統合術語；並認為其已成為酷兒的同義詞[36]。
「transsexual」一詞於1949年被戴維·奧利弗·考爾德韋爾（英語：David Oliver Cauldwell）引入至英語[註 2]，並於1966年得到哈里·班傑明（英語：Harry Benjamin）推廣，相近於跨性別「transgender」一詞的提出和推廣時間[4]。自1990年以來，「transsexual」群體一般用於形容跨性別群體下面的一個子分類[4][45][46]，「transsexual」是指想把性別永久過渡至跟他們的性別認同一致，並為此尋求醫療援助的人們。
人類學家戴維·瓦倫丁（David Valentine）在其2007年的著作《跨性別：一個分類的民族志》（Transgender, an Ethnography of a Category）中指出，跨性別一詞是由運動人士（activist）創造出來的，但其定義範圍包括許多不認同自身為跨性別者的人。隨後他亦指出不應把不認同自己為跨性別者的人納入跨性別光譜中[55]。費雷思表示，對於一些人來說，他們認為跨性別並不是一個適用於自身的自我認同，而更像是為了某些人為了理解某些人而設立的一種分類。[56]。然而，波士頓fenway health公司的跨性別者健康計劃對以上此一說法提出了質疑；其指出，跨性別一詞並沒有普遍得到接受的定義，且人們很容易就對此詞產生混淆，因為在21世紀之交流行的用詞現在看來可能具有冒犯性。該計劃建議臨床醫師詢問求診者對哪個用詞較為滿意，並避免使用變性者此一用詞，除非他們確定求診者對此感到滿意[54]。
變裝者或異裝癖者會穿著被視為「與他們出生時的指定性別相反」的服裝。[69][70]「異裝」一詞跟「變裝」屬同義，[71][72]儘管「變裝」一詞在使用情形上更為普遍。[72][73]不過「變裝」在相關文獻中並沒有完整的定義。加拿大約克大學哲學系教授邁克爾·吉爾伯特（Michael A. Gilbert）則把變裝者定義為：「有著明顯的性別認同且與其出生時的生理性徵相同的人，但因為那是異性的服裝而選擇穿著之。」[74]這個定義不包括「因其他原因而穿異性服裝」的人，例如扮演異性角色的演員、出席化妝舞會的男女。[75]變裝者可能但不一定會模仿異性的行為或習俗，且一般不會想在醫學上改變自己的身體。大部分變裝者認同自己為異性戀者。[76]
美國國家跨性別平權中心（英語：National Center for Transgender Equality）的《國家跨性別歧視調查》（National Transgender Discrimination Survey）成功調查了27,715名跨性別者和性別酷兒。當中21%指出「酷兒」是對他們性傾向的最佳描述，18%自認為「泛性戀」，16%自認為「男同性戀」、「女同性戀」或「同性愛」，15%自認為「直的」，14%自認為「雙性戀」，最後10%自認為「無性戀」[104]。
與性別本質主義的是社會建構主義（英文：social constructionism）。社會建構主義者批評性別本質主義，認為性別之間的不同完全或基本上由社會建構和二元性別的社會規範導致。後建構主義女性主義者和女同性戀者朱迪斯·巴特勒於其《性別惑亂》（英文：Gender Trouble）和《身體之重》（英文：Bodies That Matter）兩書中，認為將性別作為一種社會建構「暴力銘刻」於人的身體上是導致那些針對違背性別二元的人們的暴力的原因。[135][136]巴特勒於《性別霍亂》一書中首次提出的性別僅僅是一種表演而非本質，是此後酷兒理論的根基之一。
* 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]. （原始內容存檔於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. （原始內容存檔於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. （原始內容存檔於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. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於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. （原始內容存檔於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. （原始內容存檔於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. （原始內容存檔於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" （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）, "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 （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） 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]. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於2013-09-25）. Use whatever name and gender pronoun the person prefers
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "GLAAD's Transgender Resource Page" （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）, "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]. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於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 （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） from Trans-Academics.org （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館）. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
Understanding Drag. National Center For Transgender Equality. National Center For Transgender Equality. 28 April 2017 [3 September 2020]. （原始內容存檔於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 （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） published by the American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved via Mental Health Matters （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） 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[永久失效連結] from the International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, Vol. 27, No. 3, September 2005. Retrieved via SpringerLink （頁面存檔備份，存於網際網路檔案館） 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. （原始內容存檔於2014-12-16）. 參數|journal=與模板{{cite web}}不匹配（建議改用{{cite journal}}或|website=） (幫助); |volume=被忽略 (幫助)
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]. （原始內容存檔於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]. （原始內容存檔於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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