Welcome to Social Justice Synonyms, your friendly column at The Talon that discusses specific words we hear and see being used, explains why they may be problematic, and provides some alternatives.
This week’s term is tranny. Being our second instalment of SJS dealing with topical words in transgender communities, refer to last week’s article for a Trans 101 primer.
I would like to inform readers that the following article contains details around the harmful use of the word tranny and may be triggering to some.
Tranny is a slang word you might have heard thrown around by people you know, in the media, in comedy and entertainment, and perhaps even in gay and/or queer communities. While tranny originated as the short form for transsexual or transvestite, it is viewed as a slur against trans women and trans men.
Generally ‘tranny’ is used in ignorance, for derogatory purposes, or in jokes where trans people are the punch line. A pervasive caricature of the trans woman as a delusional man in a dress particularly makes comedy at the expense of trans people reliably accessible. To many, the idea of men inhabiting femininity is wholly disturbing, and involves the lowering of one’s self, inviting laughter either in discomfort or ridicule. Not to be ignored is the fact that ‘tranny’ also takes on sexualizing and objectifying dimensions. To many, ‘tranny’, ‘shemale’, and ‘chick with a dick’ are synonymous. This stems from mainstream representations of trans women, especially trans women of colour, in the pornography industry and survival sex work – both are realities for many due to intersections of greater marginalization in society. That is, trans women on the margins often struggle against class and race oppression, as well as transmisogyny; to the latter, Laura Kacere writes “trans women experience a particular kind of sexist marginalization based in their unique position of overlapping oppressions – they are both trans and feminine. They are devalued by society on both accounts.”
Thus when trans women are referred to as ‘trannies’, many are in effect are being reduced to devalued caricatures and sexualized bodies by society. Unfortunately, the continued viewing of trans women as ‘trannies’ reinforces marginalization where trans people can be treated as less than human. This can intersect with dimensions of class, gender, and race, as well as colonization, leaving trans people highly vulnerable to poverty and exploitation, as well as physical, verbal, mental and sexual abuse. Unfortunately, some react to the existence of trans people with extreme violence. A sobering reality is that ‘tranny’ is often a slur used against trans women before they are murdered.
You may be unconvinced that ‘tranny’ should be treated as a slur all the time; after all, don’t gay men and drag queens call other drag performers and trans women in their communities trannies all the time? Some argue that it’s a term of endearment, as there is a history of its use in a transgressive, edgy manner. Some say it follows the pattern of a marginalized group taking back power by reclaiming a word that had been historically used against them. The Talon’s first SJS article is a good resource on the ethics of reclaiming words. Nevertheless, while drag queens may have sometimes been the targets of the word ‘tranny’, the right of gay men to reclaim the word is more tenuous.* While the transgressive performance of gender may invite ridicule, it is typically the physical embodiment of that transgression that invites extreme marginalization and violence. Thus while ‘tranny’ can be endearing to those who can leave their gender transgression behind once the performance is over, trans women are those who are left facing the brunt of society’s violence and marginalization on a daily basis. When we think back to the implicit messages behind the slur tranny, it is not surprising that the message can be received differently – being recognized for a performance as a sexualized male may be endearing to a drag queen, but can be violent and invalidating for a trans woman.
As a trans woman who holds LGBTQIA2S+ communities dear to her heart, I am not asking for censorship, but conscientiousness around the use of the word tranny. A movement away from ‘tranny’ towards the terms trans and transgender helps reshape societal consciousness around the realities of trans people. For most cisgender people, that will probably mean abandoning the use of it entirely. For gay men, it may mean being considerate of the narratives being generated on behalf of trans women when ‘tranny’ is used.
Finally, telling a trans women that tranny is simply something they should ‘get over’ and reclaim for themselves is especially not cool. A relatively dominant group telling a marginalized group to ‘get over’ something that continues to oppress them is simply repeating histories of protecting status quo interests. Thus while it is important to celebrate the beautiful tapestries created in our resistance to oppression, we also need to cultivate the insight that we can inhabit both the roles of oppressor and oppressed. So in the interest of learning not to be an oppressor, let’s learn some alternatives to the word tranny!
| Use/Context | Alternatives |
| “I will need to get the tranny box fixed before I take it on a road trip” | Short form for a car transmission, which is an object, and not a person. Use away. |
| “Dang, you’re one hot tranny mess” | Maybe, if you’re a gay or trans person saying it to a friend, and that is simply how you two communicate. Very, very context dependent. Alternative – “You’re one hot mess! Oh, and trans people are beautiful people who deserve all our love.” |
| “Look at that tranny over there!” | Is that ‘tranny’ you’re referring to a person? Then just no. Smile if you make eye contact and walk on like you would any other person. Alternative – “I think I know that person. She’s rad and wrote this one piece for The Talon.” |
| “That tranny is FIERCE!” | Do you know that person, are they trans, and are you tokenizing them? Is there a friend who could overhear and think that it is okay to use it to refer to all trans people? Alternative – “I really admire that person’s confidence and assertiveness in expression of who she is. She’s FIERCE.” |
* On reclaiming tranny, let’s presume that gay male communities have a right to use the word on the basis that it has become an embedded part of drag culture, and trans women in their communities are comfortable with it. That is all fine wine and glitterbomb rainbows, but there is the issue of being responsible in using it, and making sure the language stays within the community where it is understood a certain way so as to not perpetuate stigma and marginalization. That may mean not introducing the trans friend who recently came out to you as your ‘tranny friend’, even if they had formerly been comfortable with the word as a drag queen. Unfortunately, I have heard too many stories of women and their partners dropping the word tranny in reference to trans women they see, or trans women they know because their gay best friends are using it as a short form for transgender. Unlike the ‘N’ word, where it’s generally understood that only Black communities should use it, mainstream culture has tended to perceive gay men and the trans women they know as being representative voices on trans issues. Thus there is still a certain mainstream acceptability of its use among cisgender folk. While this understanding is changing, many continue to frame it as a ‘political correctness’ issue of ‘fringe’ trans activists wanting to squelch tranny from the lexicon of gay male communities.
Tara Chee is a local trans and queer activist, and board member of Our City of Colours. She enjoys writing long-winded Facebook rants on her free time, in hopes that it can help make the world a better place.
