On suffixes, and considering the term Transsexed:
"Now, I’m not as much of a linguist as I wish I were, but I’ve noticed a linguistic pattern, which is that the words that end in sex or gender are nouns describing an identity or condition or medical (or gender) history not belonging to a specific person or group of people: ”I read up on intersex and found out that there are many different types of intersex.” OR “When trying to describe transgender to people, I often have to battle their internalized binaries.” Not everyone is offended when these words are used as nouns describing specific people or groups of people (“My girlfriend is a transgender”), but I am. It icks me out.Words that end in sexed or gendered are adjectives used for people and groups of people...t’s just a good way of recognizing that people are people first, and have many identities inscribed onto them.
So now we get to words that end in sexual, which is where the anomalies lie. Did you catch them yet? Words like homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual, and asexual (and many more) describe a person’s sexual attractions...But then there’s transsexual and intersexual, which do not refer to attractions at all. I’ll start with the latter. The word intersexual makes no sense. Just don’t use it when talking about intersexed people; everyone will get really uncomfortable because it’s nonsensical. I love nonsense, but not when it’s being used to refer to people whose experience you do not hold. If you meet an intersexed person who calls him/her/hirself intersexual, ask them about it, but don’t use it unless they do."
This is a really interesting article on semantics which, being neither transgender or intersex, I'm sort of on the outside of. As such, I don't have much I can bring to the debate. Any thoughts? Think this idea is crazy? Think this idea is awesome?
You are quite right. The generally accepted term is "intersex" or "intersexed individual"; intersexual is not recommended.
ReplyDeleteTranssexual has a more complicated history. Transsexual is clearly a subset of transgender individuals.
It is a very good observation that the suffixes in intersexual and transsexual have nothing to do with sexual attraction.