Hey all, just want to revisit this so I can admit that my initial postings were based in utter ignorance and didn’t know what a trans woman is (in spite of me having a trans brother and in spite of me being supportive of LGBTQIA+). I cannot state strongly enough that I am NOT a transphobic person, but readily admit my ignorance.
So I educated myself a bit. As I understand it, a trans woman is someone who has transitioned…..wow, even after some research I am still not sure what words to use here; male, female, man, woman, sex, gender….all words that have been seemingly set in stone in the past certainly have been evolving in recent years to include what we now know is a very diverse biological and genetic spectrum. Please bear with me……and please help me understand anything I get wrong or am missing.
A trans woman is someone born as a male who has completely transitioned to living life as a female, including hormone therapy. The Olympics requires a trans athlete to be under hormone therapy for a minimum of 2 years before being allowed to compete.
There seems to be a clear distinction between “woman” and “female” too, where the word female seems to be genitalia specific and the word woman seems to describe feminine traits. One person who responded to The 2nd place winner pointed out that it was a “women’s” competition not a “female” (genitalia-based) competition.
Also learned:
TERF = Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist
Cis = on the side of (a Latin word or prefix, not an acronym)
Looking forward to a day of being slightly less ignorant about this.