Reddit reviews Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture)

I took a women’s studies class in college (curiosity, not to get pussy). It was absolutely worthless. We spent half the semester discussing a book about Brazilian transgender prostitutes. No joke.

This was the book: https://www.amazon.com/Travesti-Brazilian-Transgendered-Prostitutes-Sexuality/dp/0226461009. It was interesting, but not the type of thing I envisioned studying in college.

I don't like the term, but I don't particularly get angry about it.

I would be classified as something of a "transgender", but tend to prefer the term genderqueer. In western countries, we have a habit of classifying everything with a binary mindset: 0 or 1, on or off, good or bad, right or wrong, man or woman. But as it turns out (quantum mechanics, quantum computing, etc), the world isn't very binary. There is a middle ground, or a third option. In morality, we call this a grey area. In quantum computing, there are qubits. When it comes to genders, there are "third genders", in the sense that gender is most definitely a spectrum, and different societies and different cultures have a different concept of it.

Because we are so obsessed with classifying everything in either Category A or Category B in the west, trans people insist that they are real women. But, well, they're not, and they never can be. I am not, and I never can be. In ancient Egypt, I would have been considered a sht ("sekhet" not "shit" lol. In ancient Israel, a saris. If I was born in India, I would be considered a hijra or aravani. Brazil, a travesti. In the Philippines or Thailand, a ladyboy. There is even a similar concept in English history.

None of these are considered "female," and the overwhelming majority of them consider themselves to be male. Don't believe me? Go create a dating profile on Brazil Cupid or Filipino Cupid. Sort by men, message the "ladyboys" or "travestis." They all refer to themselves as such, and insist that you're aware of it if you chat with them. They will also often refer to themselves as "a gay," or as "gay." But they consider themselves separate than men. Or read anthropological works on these people.

You can call yourself a trans woman, and I am perfectly okay with that identity. Anyone should be. I'm a trans woman too. But calling me a shemale isn't inaccurate, although I don't particularly like the term. My identity necessarily involves both masculine and feminine traits: female (she), and male. I don't like it because it's a stupid term, mixing "she" (a pronoun) and "male" (a noun) to produce a new noun. Ladyboy is almost better in that sense. Or Girlboy. Or boygirl. Whatever, I'm not a linguist. ;-) But also, of course, shemale has a pornographic connotation. I don't simply oppose the term because it's "offensive." Stupid words don't deserve that amount of authority.

The fight against the term seems to always go hand-in-hand with trans people claiming to be "real women" just like "cisgender women." Trans women are not real women, and never can be. They are a part of a "third sex" spectrum that most of the rest of humanity doesn't seem to be so fucked up about classifying and naming properly. It's really twisted.