--- title: 'Transgendered' v. 'Transgender': Which One Is Best to Use? description: With a federal LGBT non-discrimination bill in the pipeline, it's a good time to think about the words we use canonical: https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-15T21:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:44.836Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why It's Best to Avoid The Word 'Transgendered' og:description: It's a good time to think about the words we use og:url: https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b905ad8eee5d459/6986911f35ba6f8187c022a9/transgender-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Laverne Cox Transgender Time Magazine Cover 140609 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why It's Best to Avoid The Word 'Transgendered' twitter:description: It's a good time to think about the words we use twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b905ad8eee5d459/6986911f35ba6f8187c022a9/transgender-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why It's Best to Avoid the Word 'Transgendered' ## Video: Trans Teen Jazz Jennings on Bullying, Acceptance and Being a Role Model [Watch (HLS stream): Trans Teen Jazz Jennings on Bullying, Acceptance and Being a Role Model](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BiSmUoGT.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2015-07-14. At 14-years-old, Jazz Jennings has co-authored a book I Am Jazz, was named one of_ by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Dec 15, 2014 9:00 PM UTC  The June 9, 2014, cover of TIME The June 9, 2014, cover of TIMEPhotograph by Peter Hapak for TIME by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Dec 15, 2014 9:00 PM UTC Last week, Sen. Jeff Merkley [announced](http://time.com/3626346/lgbt-nondiscrimination-merkley-center-for-american-progress/) that he will be introducing a comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination bill in the spring, which means, among other things, that a lot of lawmakers and media outlets are going to be making decisions about how they talk about LGBT people. Reporting for TIME on transgender issues (particularly for what became the cover story “[The Transgender Tipping Point](http://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/)”), there was one maxim that pretty much every person I interviewed seemed to agree on: there is no single story about being transgender that sums it all up, much like there’s no one story about being Hispanic or blonde or short or straight that sums that experience up. But I also came to learn that there are some good rules of thumb to follow when it comes to language. For instance, if you meet a trans person—someone who identifies with a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth—it’s generally a good idea to ask which pronouns (he or she, him or her) they prefer and to use whatever that is. If you meet a trans person, you should not ask about the particulars of their body, much as you would likely prefer strangers not to inquire about yours. And if you meet a transgender person, you should not refer to them as “a transgender” or “transgendered.” Referring to someone as “a transgender” can sound about as odd as saying, “Look, a gay!” It turns a descriptive adjective into a defining noun and can make the subject sound distant and foreign, like they’re something else first and a person second. This guidance is part of GLAAD’s media reference guide, under the heading “Terms to Avoid”: “Do not say, ‘Tony is a transgender,’ or ‘The parade included many transgenders.’ Instead say, ‘Tony is a transgender man,’ or ‘The parade included many transgender people.’” These key language nuances haven’t been consistently adopted by the media. For example, on Dec. 15, the Associated Press listed this story in among their “[10 Things to Know For Today](http://www.sj-r.com/article/20141215/NEWS/141219715):” --- > “” --- This is something TIME has done [in the past](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1996302,00.html), too. Of course it’s hard to find a word in identity politics that goes undebated, that is universally panned or lauded as just right. Julia Serano, author of _Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity_, says that older transgender people might prefer and use _transgendered_ when speaking about themselves; in the 90s she recalls that term being de rigueur among trans activists. But the language people use to refer to themselves, particularly minority groups, changes. Today some people prefer the abbreviated _trans_ or [_trans\*_](http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/01/10/trans%5Fwhat%5Fdoes%5Fit%5Fmean%5Fand%5Fwhere%5Fdid%5Fit%5Fcome%5Ffrom.html), and _transgendered_ has largely fallen out of favor (though some [media outlets](Bloggers%20and news outlets continue to use the term. ) [are](http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/student%5Flife/article%5F770a892a-7119-11e4-8230-73c135ad7ba0.html) [still](http://wamc.org/post/sean-philpott-jones-protecting-transgendered-youth) [using](http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/nov/12/speaker-talks-about-parenting-a-child-wh/) [it](http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5151233-flag-representing-transgendered-people-raised-at-toronto-city-hall/)). When I recently asked San Francisco-based attorney Christina DiEdoardo, a transgender woman, how many out of 10 trans people she knows would say they dislike the word _transgendered_, she quickly answered: “11.” “The consensus now seems to be that _transgender_ is better stylistically and grammatically,” DiEdoardo says. “In the same sense, I’m an Italian-American, not an _Italianed-_American.” The most common objection to the word, says Serano, is that the “ed” makes it sound like “something has been done to us,” as if they weren’t the same person all along. DiEdoardo illustrates this point, hilariously, with a faux voiceover: “One day John Jones was leading a normal, middle-class American life when suddenly he was zapped with a transgender ray!” Moving away from the “ed”—which sounds like a past-tense, completed verb that marks a distinct time before and a time after— helps move away from some common misconceptions about what it means to be transgender. One is that being transgender might be a choice that involves a person simply deciding to be that way or a result of something that happened to them, like sexual abuse. The majority of trans people I’ve spoken to have said they knew they had feelings of identifying as a boy (when assigned female) or girl (when assigned male) as far back as they can remember—even if they didn’t have the vocabulary or understanding to articulate what was going on—and even if they tried to change or stifle those feelings for half their lives. Imagine how it would sound if one described people as “gayed” or “femaled,” as if there was a point when that wasn’t the case. Another misconception is that the defining part of being transgender is having surgery, as if a trans person isn’t _really_ trans until they’ve gone under the knife and come out the other side fully “transgendered.” “There’s a tendency in American culture for entertainment and news outlets to focus on surgery, surgery, surgery,” Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told TIME in a previous interview. But, she says, while surgery is very important for some trans people, others have no desire to have surgery; they might not have surgery for medical reasons, religious beliefs, financial constraints and so on. There’s an “authenticity issue that trans people face,” says Elizabeth Reis, a professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of Oregon. “People are so focused on whether or not they’ve had surgery, as if that’s the pinnacle of authenticity. Even if they haven’t had it or if they haven’t had it _yet_ or they’re never planning on having it, they still have these feelings about their gender.” Avoiding the _ed_ isn’t going to solve that authenticity issue, but it doesn’t hurt. ### Photos: 25 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture  Laverne Cox has used her growing celebrity as a star of the critically acclaimed Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, to become an outspoken leader of the trans rights movement, addressing crowds of thousands at schools and other forums around the country. Jason Merritt—Getty Images  With her brother, Andy, Lana Wachowski has co-written, produced and directed Hollywood blockbusters like the Matrix triology, V for Vendetta and Cloud Atlas. Michael Sohn—DPA/AP  Kye Allums became the first openly transgender athlete in NCAA Division 1, the top level of college athletics, when he played on the women's team at George Washington University in 2010. John Lamparski—Getty Images  Caitlyn Jenner, made famous as an Olympic gold medalist in 1976 and later as a reality TV dad, appears as a woman for the first time on the cover of Vanity Fair's June 2015 issue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Vanity Fair  Chelsea Manning is an Army soldier who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act, after she leaked hundreds of classified documents to Wikileaks. U.S. Army/AP  Brandon Teena was an American trans man who was raped and murdered in Nebraska in 1993\. His murder was a catalyst for a lobbying effort for hate crimes legislation and his life and death were the subject of the film Boys Don't Cry. AP  The electronic musician Wendy Carlos released Switched-On Bach in 1968, which won three Grammy awards and became one of the first classical albums to sell 500,000 copies. She went on to compose notable scores for films like A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron. Ebet Roberts—Getty Images  Since coming out publicly in a 2012 Rolling Stone article, the musician Laura Jane Grace has been a vocal advocate for trans acceptance. In 2014, her band Against Me! released the album Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Gary Miller—Getty Images  Model and actress Carmen Carrera vaulted to reality TV fame after appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race. Nearly 50,000 people have signed an online petition asking Victoria's Secret to make her the company's first transgender "Angel." Danny Aarons—Newspix/Getty Images  Christine Jorgensen, a former soldier, became a nationwide media sensation after having sex reassignment surgery in Denmark in 1952. Fred Morgan—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  The American jazz musician Billy Tipton became famous after his 1989 death when it was discovered that he had been assigned the female sex at birth. AP  The American public grew up knowing Bono as the daughter of entertainers Sonny and Cher, before he came out as a transgender man in 2009\. Bono, who first came out as a lesbian in ’90s, has been an active LGBT rights advocate for decades, writing and making films about his experiences and using platforms like reality show Dancing With the Stars to talk about LGBT issues. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images  Candis Cayne was the first transgender actress to play a recurring transgender character on a prime time series, as love interest Carmelita on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money. In past decades, the majority of transgender characters have been played by non-transgender actors and often been portrayed in negative roles, like psychopathic killers or dead prostitutes. Charles Sykes—Invision/AP  The pioneering computer scientist and engineer Lynn Conway influenced a generation of computer chip designers and has worked at Xerox PARC, IBM, and DARPA.  Caroline Cossey is a British actress best known for her role as a Bond girl in the movie For Your Eyes Only. Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Before she came out in 2014, the Serbian-born model was already blurring lines in the fashion world as the androgynous male model and muse for big names like Marc Jacobs. In 2015, Pejic became the first transgender model to appear in American Vogue. Nicholas Hunt—Getty Images  The LPGA removed a requirement that golfers be "female at birth" after trans woman Lana Lawless sued for the right to compete in 2010. Ben Margot—AP  Fallon Fox became the first openly transgender fighter in mixed martial arts history when she came out in 2013. Sally Ryan—Zuma Press/Corbis  Beatie went public in 2008 as America’s first “pregnant father,” undergoing artificial insemination after his former wife proved infertile. The transgender man captured the nation’s attention after appearances on shows such as Oprah, setting off cultural conversations about the social and legal status of transgender people in America. He has since had three children. Chris Jackson—Getty Images  Janet Mock, a transgender advocate and writer, published a best-selling memoir about her transition, Redefining Realness, in 2014 and hosts a MSNBC web talk show about pop culture. Fernando Leon—Getty Images  Veteran LA Times sportswriter Mike Penner announced he was a "transsexual sportswriter" in a 2007 essay and wrote under a new byline, Christine Daniels, for nearly a year. After struggling with the challenges of living as a trans woman, Penner abandoned the name in 2008 and returned to living as a man, before committing suicide in 2009. Los Angeles Times/AP  The pro tennis player Renee Richards won a landmark decision for transgender rights in 1977 when the New York Supreme Court ruled that she could compete in tournaments as a woman. Larry Busacca—Getty Images  Sylvia Rivera was present at the Stonewall uprising and remained a tireless advocate for trans people of color, as well as gays and lesbians, who were marginalized as the LGBT movement became more mainstream. Valerie Shaff—Sylvia Rivera Law Project  Geena Rocero was already a successful model before she gave a viral 2014 TED talk in which she came out publicly as transgender. “All of us are put in boxes by our family, by our religion, by our society, our moment in history, even our own bodies,” she said. “Some people have the courage to break free.” Her advocacy organization, Gender Proud, works to empower transgender communities around the world. Santiago Felipe—Getty Images  Jenna Talackova fought a legal battle to become the first openly transgender candidate to compete in Miss Universe Canada in 2012, after initially being rejected because of her gender status. Aaron Vincent Elkaim—AP However, Keisling also says that focusing on whether the “ed” is tacked on the end of _transgender_ can be a distraction. She believes it’s more important for everyone to be having a conversation about LGBT civil rights issues than to wag fingers at people over terminology. “I don’t ever want to say that communities or cultures can’t have language variations,” she says. “Language is very important and what people want to be called is very important. But we have to have a common language that we can bring people into. We have to have language that they can grasp.” And, she says, just as _transgendered_ has become unpalatable, there’s no telling what will be preferred down the line. Still, “for now,” Keisling says, “I would use the word _transgender_. Particularly if you are outside of the family, that’s going to be okay.” (If you have more questions about terminology, the [GLAAD media guide](http://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender) is a great place to start.) _Katy Steinmetz is a TIME correspondent based in San Francisco. In addition to writing features for TIME and TIME.com, she pens a feature on language called Wednesday Words and organizes the occasional spelling bee. Her beat is wide but it thumps hardest in the Northwest._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/"},"headline":"Why It's Best to Avoid the Word 'Transgendered'","datePublished":"2014-12-15T21:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:44.836Z","description":"With a federal LGBT non-discrimination bill in the pipeline, it's a good time to think about the words we use","url":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/","keywords":["language","Living","society","LGBT","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b905ad8eee5d459/6986911f35ba6f8187c022a9/transgender-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b905ad8eee5d459/6986911f35ba6f8187c022a9/transgender-cover.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Laverne Cox Transgender Time Magazine Cover 140609","caption":"Laverne Cox Transgender Time Magazine Cover","creditText":"Photograph by Peter Hapak for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/language/","name":"language"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/","name":"Why It's Best to Avoid the Word 'Transgendered'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes of Laverne Cox's TIME Cover Shoot","description":"Actress and LGBT activist Laverne Cox talks to TIME about acceptance of transgender people and awareness of discrimination and civil rights issues","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/16Vyqo82/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-30T20:44:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/16Vyqo82.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/","duration":"PT1M40S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trans Teen Jazz Jennings on Bullying, Acceptance and Being a Role Model","description":"At 14-years-old, Jazz Jennings has co-authored a book I Am Jazz, was named one of","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BiSmUoGT/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-14T17:30:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BiSmUoGT.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/","duration":"PT3M51S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3630965/transgender-transgendered/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```