Well, yeah but it’s not like black or African American were ever considered offensive. People go on and on about having to change how you refer to someone as, as though it’s this huge thing that takes so much effort. Anyway, you’re allowed to use whatever you want, but do you really want to go around saying Negro?
“Transgendered” is an umbrella term that can include transsexuals, drag queens, and so on. It’s not a term I usually use, as it’s too broad to mean much. Transsexual, on the other hand, refers to someone who feels that their brain and body don’t match up, gender-wise, and usually to someone who takes medical and social steps to rectify that.
And I’ve got no interest in your ass, honky, colored, Florida cracker, or otherwise. But thanks for the offer.
Black and African American don’t mean the same thing. They have a large overlap, but they are not exactly synonymous. African American was knee-jerk applied at all times in all cases in the '90s and early 2000s (to sometimes hilarious extents like calling Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela African Americans), but people are starting to realize that black is 6 fewer syllables and just as sufficient 90% of the time. In the other 10% of cases (I’m making these percentages up), African American is a perfectly legitimate, and more accurate term.
In other words: don’t get all pissy and defensive because you don’t understand the term.
Well it’s not a huge effort to change, but it’s more than should be put forth when the original word was alright to begin with. Negro wasn’t a racist word. A few people may have used it racistly, but they could do that with any word. It wasn’t like cracker, porch monkey, or wetback. Granted, the word was before my time and I have no desire to use it. I’m just saying, quit changing it when it’s not prejudice to begin with.
Okay, I wasn’t aware of that. I saw transgendered used when I would use transsexual and assumed it was supposed to replace it.
I don’t think I’d say African American is more accurate. People from northern Africa are more arabic than “black” and aren’t what people think of when they hear African American. On the other hand, you can look at someone and tell if they’re black or not. It may not say much about their descent, but at least you won’t be calling someone from India an African American.
You just tipped me from 99.9% sure you have no comprehension of the term to 100% sure you have no comprehension of the term.
It’s a tough one to figure out. Is it an American that has visited Africa? Or maybe someone with dual-citizenship? It’s more than my feeble mind can figure out.
Maybe we should just let this thread get back on topic (if that’s possible).
When someone uses a slur over and over again, having been told that it’s a slur, essentially saying that they don’t care who they offend and they’ll continue to be offensive until someone they care about tells them to stop, I think their intent is, in fact, hateful. And bigoted. And unacceptable in a civil discourse.
And when people say that a word is not a way that they wish to be identified, then you do not use it to identify them. It’s called respect. Get some.
Why should anyone listen to your opinion on the matter when we have Eve using that same phrase? It’s clearly debatable whether tranny is a slur or not.
Let’s try three reasons:
[ol]
[li]Because Eve is not the final arbiter of what is or is not appropriate with regard to trans issues, especially as she’s not even a current user of the boards.[/li][li]Because I’m not the only person in this thread making the same point.[/li][li]Because the volume of evidence that this word is a slur is significant, if one chooses to look. Try Google, it’s your friend.[/li][/ol]
This feels like a good place for this: China officials shown at Thai transvestite show.
Well . . .
. . . neither is anyone else in this thread.
I’m just more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt, I guess. Or less inclined to outraged dramatics.
For what it’s worth, I am also a transsexual person and I find the term belittling. “Looks like a tranny” is a phrase that’s used routinely to disparage women for being undesirable or unfeminine. Just take a look at the meanings people have associated with the word in this thread: “an ugly woman,” “an unflattering photo,” “a skinny chick with a weird face.” You can’t call a woman a tranny and NOT expect her to be offended. So why is it so surprising that a transsexual person might be upset by the same term? I personally regard myself as a woman and not a transsexual or a “tranny,” but I can’t deny that aspect of my personal history. If someone *must *refer to it, I prefer they do so using the terminology acceptable in a medical or factual context and not some off-the-street jargon that’s used as an insult more often than not.
The best analogy I can think of is the word “homo,” which just a shortened version of “homosexual,” the true and proper term. When used as insults, they share many of the same negative connotations and many straight people would be equally offended to be called either one. But just because the word homosexual can be used without being offensive doesn’t mean that homosexual people should by extension accept being called homos as well.
I will note that Eve was using the word in the context of a punchline. Obviously if she’s willing to use the word to describe herself it’s probably not one that she absolutely abhors, but she seemed to be making a bit of a self-deprecating joke and for it to work she needed the words to rhyme (try rhyming transgendered or transsexual). Given that, I don’t think that that OP really shows that she’s completely OK with that term.
Certainly, I don’t know what she was thinking when she wrote that, but I don’t think your cite is proof positive of her complete acceptance of the term. Even if she was entirely comfortable with it, it may be that others are not and some account should be taken of their feelings too.
Everything is offensive to someone. You have to follow the flow of social norms, rather than a rigidly defined set of rules.
Personally, I was surprised to hear that tranny is supposedly offensive. It’s the only shorthand term I’ve ever heard. “Trans” seems a little ridiculous. “I have a couple of trans friends.” “Did you see those two transeses?” “Did you see that last trans? fat!”
And, lets be honest, if somebody had surgery to flip their gender around, being super susceptible to offense is not going to bode well for them.
I don’t think it’s enough to shrug and say, “Well, somebody somewhere is going to be offended no matter what, so it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks anymore.” Rather than just going with the flow, I think people should act according to their own moral compass and sense of social justice. I hope you will stop using the word because you understand why it is offensive and not because you are simply following a rigidly defined set of rules.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m reading this as a gentle suggestion that people who are easily offended should not have chosen to have surgery to “flip their gender around” in the first place. Can you see how this carries the implicit message that transsexual people ought to expect to be ostracized for choosing to be trans and therefore bear some responsibility for inviting attacks on their self?
I’m acknowledging the fact that a few people out there think transgenderism is a bit weird, and someone who has gender realignment is probably, at some point in their life, going to get made fun of.
If someone wants to get his ears hooped, or a tattoo of a walrus mixing martinis applied to his forehead, because that represents the image he wants to put out there, I have no problem with that. However, they have to know that someone’s going to look at them some day and say, “that’s weird.”
Homosexuals are prone to ridicule, so they’ve got to have a thick skin. That’s probably why gays (dear lord if someone tells me that “gays” is derogatory I’ll flip out) have sort of “reclaimed” the term fag.
In the same way, a transsexual is probably going to get made fun of sometime in his/her life, and if the mere use of the word tranny sends them into a tizzy, they’re going to have a rough life.
Words that members of a minority use to refer to themselves, especially in joking contexts, are not necessarily words that are acceptable for general usage. If you would care to argue that they are, I will give you a crisp $5 bill to go up to the next young Black man you see refer to himself or another Black man as “nigger” and use the word back to him.
ETA:
weirdaaron, cosmetic things like piercings or tattoos aren’t a very good analogy for an SRS. It’s more like saying that someone who gets a cochlear implant should be prepared to have people mock their hearing aid–would you say that?
That’s because “trans”, like transsexual, is an adjective. Not a noun. Yes, “I have a couple of trans friends” would work and sounds pretty normal to me. For the second, you’d say, “Did you see those two trans women? The one on the left has some very nice shoes,” or whatever. We are not our transitions.