Do tell- what were the dozens of theoretical genders?
Only 11? The philistines!*
(*Only 37? The philistines!)
Some could be regional but around here:
a) men who crossdress as an act in and of itself usually use crossdresser, transvestite, or tranny
b) men who do it in preparation for, or as part of, actually changing genders go more a simple trans or the full transgender.
In talking to people from both groups there seems to be a lot of YMMV involved here with no real national consensus. In some places the two don’t get along all that well and using the wrong term can get the average person glared at a little to a lot.
Where does “gurl” or “T-gurl” fit in? Offensive? I see CDs/TGs refer to themselves this way on Flickr. One of those “we can use it among ourselves but you can’t” type things?
Seeing how I’ve just seen a few Easter time movies, good name for a second hand clothes store for cross-dressers: Ben Hur? Been Her?
Google “gender list” for some examples. I’m only familiar with a few: cis male, cis female, trans male, trans female, agender, bigender, non-binary, genderqueer, and probably a couple more.
And of course, among cross-dressers, there are many different reasons. Some might be unsure of their gender identity, and are using clothing to try out different gender roles. Some might be sure of their gender, but find dressing in the opposite gender’s clothes to be sexually appealing for some reason. Some might simply find that sort of clothes more comfortable. Some might be using societal expectations about clothing to make a deliberate point about societal gender roles. Some might be doing it just to get a laugh, or other attention. Some might be doing it in an effort to be declared insane and released from conscripted military service. And I’m sure there are more reasons yet that I’ve missed.
“Tranny” is considered highly offensive nowadays by most transgendered folks. Definitely falls in the “I can use it to apply to my community, but outsiders should not.” category.
No question. But for some reason around here it seems OK among the transvestite/drag-queen crowd even for a straight to use as a descriptive; context is where us straights usually screw up.
Getting into the whole LGBT thing ages ago without the “vested interest” I was surprised at some of the areas of contention (for lack of a better phrase) between the various branches and how often it seemed to center around words and how/who they are used. Back in the old days of “gay bingo”, before it became a sort of tourist event, it was strange to see the table of transgender and table of transvestite not having much to do with each other and almost speaking different languages. There were exceptions/people who did seem to cross the lines at will but they looked to be the exception rather than the rule.