#trans asterisk

[transbrotherhood]

Is trans* problematic?

Depends who you ask. Many see it as such. It was attempting to be more inclusive but is often used incorrectly and is also just completely unnecessary. Trans is already an umbrella term that includes everything that falls under it. It does not need an * after it which can also imply those that fall under the * are just tagged on and dont ‘really’ count to already be included under trans. It can depend on how it is used but its really not at all necessary to use it anyway

Here is an article on it

[supercoolygirl]

Revising transgender issues for exams: any trans people willing to update me on the asterisk situation?

My lecturer hasn’t included it in any of his slides, but I was under the impression that the asterisk was to include non-binary people (who I am of the opinion should be allowed to transition if they wish). Is he being exclusionary or am I outdated now?

I had a wee google and the most recent things I can see are from 2015, which seem pretty much like it’s a personal choice. If anyone has any advice for whether I should write trans or trans* please do let me know!

[ajochengco]

Gem | Santa Cruz, CA

[projectqueer]

There is nothing inherently problematic with the asterisk but it’s often applied in inaccessible, binarist, and transmisogynist ways..

[argentconflagration]

i dont use the asterisk (i.e. “trans*”) because it needlessly upsets people but im still pretty ticked at the reasons against it, which as far as ive seen boil down to “oh no! ~”~teenage girls on the internet~”~ are feeling good about their gender identity and are coming up with a cute nerdy term!” and “oh no! it would be such a horrible fate if we sounded like we were advocating for people who don’t fit our strict definition of transgender!”

(the ‘it actually excludes nonbinary people by implying they’re trans* but not trans’ argument falls into the latter category--it legitimates nonbinary people by saying ‘don’t worry nbs, you’re totally legitimate, it would be offensive to you to put you in a category with those ~merely~ questioning and gnc people we want to make a point of excluding!’ and fuck that. i’m here for everyone who doesn’t fit neatly into gender categories.)

[projectqueer]

Summary: There is nothing inherently problematic with the asterisk but it’s often applied in inaccessible, binarist, and transmisogynist ways. It is unnecessary and should not be used. Claiming the asterisk itself is fundamentally oppressive denies accountability and ignores the culture of binarism and transmisogyny that affects the community. People also often misattribute its history to cisgender and binarist people.

[wiktordynarski]

Hi, why do you use the asterisks in identities? I find "trans*" puts a wall between trans people and nb people.

Thanks for reminding me to update all my descriptions! I see that I totally forgot to update the bios that I send out to events and conferences I’m a speaker at. I updated the description on my home page though immediately when I saw your message. Honestly, I was a great fan of the asterisk just a few years back, maybe two or three. It was a symbol that I found to be great for recognizing diversity and being a fan of different searching tactics, regular expressions etc. I immediately associated the asterisk as “anything can come after trans”. Like so -> trans*.However, I started talking to trans people of age who reminded me that the asterisk is not something that speaks to their experience and that it is hard for them to be able to identify with such a “computerized” way of describing oneself. And this was when I stopped.After that I read a few different blogposts, especially this one and I got to the point where I also stopped having conversations about it.Thanks again for pointing out that it was still present in some of my work. I know that a number of my tumblr posts still use the asterisk with “trans” (the one about being poly and pan is most probably the culprit here). I’ll be revisiting these later on to see how they hold up. I don’t like editing my work retroactively, but putting some explanation in a form of a footnote wouldn’t hurt. Thanks again!

[nonbinary-support]

Jw how does "trans*" erase nb and intersex people?

The asterisk after the word trans can also be used to invalidate certain trans identities and call them “not trans enough”.

Mod Avani