Trans As Dueling Definition Essay

Introduction: Trans as Dueling Definitions For a rather simple five-letter word, the prefix “trans” is given an awful lot of work to do. In current gender identity discussions and debates it is called upon as convenient shorthand to refer to the experience of living with/through a transcendent gender; any individual who identifies with that experience; a community comprised of such social actors; or any composite of these choices. Yet this pervasive Western liberal definition has not translated into pervasive similar usage. Varied individuals, groups and State institutions readily utilize “trans” in service of differing - sometimes even opposing - agendas. For example, a man or woman of transsexual experience may understand “trans” as a transitory process demarcated by recognizable and sanctioned fixed recognizable starting and end points, as opposed to the self-identified trans-man-or-woman may argue “trans” is in fact an inseparable lifelong master-status that must be publicly acknowledged to have any political value. Whereas certain government institutions such as the United States Military and the Attorney General’s Office had been on record as viewing “trans” as potentially analogous with cisgender identities, other institutions continue to promote “trans” as a ‘third’ or ‘alternative’ gender option to Male and Female. Perhaps most …show more content…
Through a Saussurea/Lacanian semiotic analysis that is integrated with the anthropological theory of “Rites of Passage” I argue that the use of “trans” can culturally locate gender-variant social actors in a perpetual liminality that risks diminishing their agency as an invested party in this troubled debate over ownership of gender