Things You'll Need:
- Capacity for subtlety
- Willingness to suspend beliefs about stereotypes
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Step 1
Understand what transgender means: It is a state of being in which the apparent gender (usually determined at birth) does not match the person’s subjective gender. While transgender persons have distinct female or male genitalia and matching chromosomes, even as young children they “know” that they are in the wrong body.
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Step 2
Know that cross dressing is the act of wearing clothing typically associated with the opposite sex. Cross-dressers are not necessarily transgender, although in the strictest sense, a pre-operative transgender person presenting as the opposite sex is technically cross dressing. To use this term to refer to a transgender person, is, however, offensive.
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Step 3
Distinguish these terms from the phrase “drag queen,” which is a male who cross dresses for the purpose of entertaining others, often lip-synching songs of popular divas at drag shows. Often, these shows are contests, attended by audiences of all types: gay, straight, lesbian and bisexual.
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Step 4
Be aware that females who dress as males are called “drag kings.” Drag king shows are growing in popularity across the country, especially in lesbian bars.
Comments
karens334 said
on 6/30/2009 This should help a lot of people understand the differences and the 'rules' of being polite. Thanks
johnstok said
on 5/29/2009 Nancy, thanks so much for your article. There is a lot of confusion in the general public regarding these various categories.