The first time a wife told me that her husband was cross-dressing, I realized that I was not prepared to advise her, and especially not prepared to talk to her husband. Since then, I have learned the language of the transgender community and thought I would share with you some of the most commonly used terms.
o Androgynous: someone whose gender is not apparent based on outward appearance.
o Being read: o “being timed” refers to someone noticing that another person is cross-dressing and not an actual member of the gender being presented.
o Crossdresser – Once known and commonly known as a transvestite, a crossdresser is a person who wears the clothing of a member of the opposite sex. They will often act like members of the opposite sex as well, usually doing so to release themselves emotionally or sexually.
o Monotonous: wearing the clothes normally associated with their actual sex. Wearing a suit if you are a male to female crossdresser would be an example of this.
o Drag Queen: A man who is often gay and who dresses as a woman in a way that exaggerates typical female traits, very outlandish.
o Female: when a male-to-female transvestite is transvestite and does not wear typical male clothing.
o Hermaphrodite: someone born with partial or complete reproductive organs of both sexes, also known as intersex.
o Stealth Mode: Someone who lives full-time in their preferred gender, never revealing their actual birth sex to anyone.
o Trannie – Slang term for transsexual.
o Transgender – Term used for anyone who breaks traditional gender roles.
o Transgender: someone whose gender identity and actual physical body are out of sync with someone else’s, causing enough emotional discomfort that it usually requires altering the body through surgery and/or hormones.
o Transsexual: A derogatory term used to describe a pre-op transsexual who has already taken steps to develop breasts but still has a penis.
These are just some of the terms that are commonly used to describe someone with conflicting sexual feelings and the path they choose to address those feelings. It’s important to understand what a crossdresser has to deal with and if you’re going to tag them, use proper etiquette.
