Glossary
Transgenderism
Transgenderism is a term most trans people and advocates reject because its "-ism" framing wrongly casts being transgender as an ideology rather than an identity.
Transgenderism is a word that most transgender people, advocates, and organizations ask others not to use. The "-ism" suffix implies that being transgender is a belief system, ideology, or movement, when it is simply a personal aspect of who a person is. The term appears most often in the language of people opposed to transgender rights, where it is used to frame trans identity as a political agenda. GLAAD and similar groups flag it as stigmatizing and recommend avoiding it. Respectful usage keeps "transgender" as an adjective that describes people, as in "transgender people" or "a transgender woman," instead of turning it into an abstract "-ism."
Sources
Learn more: glaad.org/reference/trans-terms/
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