A thorough debunk of “transids”
To begin, let’s define what “transid” actually is. According to the official transid website, “A TransID person is an individual who uses identities different from those assigned to them by society based on their physical appearance or bodily experiences.” I will be using this definition as well, with one minor change. “A TransID person is an individual who uses non-gender identities different from those assigned to them by society based on their physical appearance or bodily experiences.”
As for why I made the change, transid advocates often lump transgender identities into their label, and have a tendency to use them as a shield for criticism. However, the core difference between transid and transgender is that gender is an experience based on an internal sense of self, and transids often attempt to claim experiences based on cultural, neurological, or otherwise external things.
The transid.org website lists 18 categories of transids. Because I am thorough, I will be going through each of these below the cut.
!WARNING! certain sections may discuss triggering content, such as:
Bigotry (present in all sections)
ED/weight discussion (in “transbody” section)
Violence (in transharmful and transharmed)
Sexual violence, including rape myths and stereotypes (Especially present in transharmed, mentioned briefly in transharmful)
Transracial/Trace
Perhaps the most mainstream transid, and the one I was able to find the most scholarly works on (including Jana Cattien’s "Against ‘Transracialism’: Revisiting the Debate", which I found very helpful in formulating my arguments). Transracial is defined as, “An umbrella term for those who identify with a race that differs from one's ancestry.” the problem with transracial (at least to me), is two things:
1. The false comparison of race to gender
2. The robbing of the term from transracial adoptees.
To begin, race and gender are not remotely as comparable as transid advocates will have you think they are. Studies in neuroscience and psychology show that gender is based in an internal sense of self, separate from biological sex. One study on transgender individuals showed that brain activation when seeing bodies aligned with their gender identity is the same as cisgender individuals, regardless of whether that body matches up with their biological sex. Racially identity is conceptually different, based on external factors such as ancestry, culture, and history.
It is because of this very difference that the second issue with transracial comes in. The term itself was stolen from transracial adoptees. A transracial adoptee is a person raised by parents of a different race or ethnicity. These people (especially people of color adopted by white families) struggle with identity, racial isolation, and systemic trauma. Stealing this term and changing it to mean something its not only furthers this isolation.
Back in 2015 ex-NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal “came out” as transracial, and transracial adoptees spoke out about this. An ABC news article from that time quotes somebody saying that, “‘Many members of the White press have appropriated and co-opted a deeply meaningful, historical term - transracial - from the adoptee community,” Kevin H. Vollmers, Executive Director of Gazillion Strong, told NBC News. “They’re treating ‘transracial’ as though it’s a new thing. As a transracial adoptee, this is, at the very least, a slap in the face,’”
Transbody
Transbody is defined as, “a label for those who identify with having a body type, organs, or some other physical features that they do not currently have.” While this generally falls closer to the “harmless but also useless” category of transids (as opposed to the “genuinely dangerous/bigoted) there was one thing I found concerning while looking through the list of “transbody” identities.
A label known as “edweight,” defined as “a term for those who are transweight because of their eating disorder, or whose transweight identity is otherwise affected by one's ED.” To reduce behaviors of eating disorders down a simple “transweight identity” and not behavior indicative of concern or worry is disturbing. Keep this pattern of reducing mental disorders to identities akin to transness in your head for now, it’ll be discussed upon later.
Transfashion
Transfashion is defined as, “Those who want to be apart of a different aesthetic or fashion.”
In the previous section, I described transids as falling under a spectrum from “useless but harmless” to “dangerous and or bigoted.” While I have nothing to say about this particular transid, I’m going go over my problems with these “harmless but useless” types of ids, and I’ll reference it back when we get to other categories like it.
Radqueers tend to hide behind these identities when transid is critiqued, ignoring the real problems surrounding them.
To add onto that, grouping “identities” like these and real groups like transgender people together under one label is inherently minimizing. The experience of somebody who wants to change their fashion style is nowhere close to the experience of a transgender person.
Because I don’t wish to repeat myself, I will be saying “See: Transfashion,” whenever a “harmless but useless” transid comes up.
Transharmful
Transharmful and its counterpart (transharmed) is one of the more controversial identities within the radqueer community, and for good reason. Transharmful is “an umbrella term for those who identify with some view or lifestyle that carries inherent harm, such as violence or bigotry,” Basically anybody can understand why this isn’t okay.
However, I’d like to bring up a few points against this that most people might have not yet considered.
There is a huge problem with people who identify with being murderers and rapists (the most common themes amongst transharmful people, as almost all of them behave around the same) and trans people. In a world where trans people are consistently painted as dangerous predators by those in power, it’s actively harmful to the transgender community to pretend like transharmfuls are a part of it.
These identities also cause harm to people with intrusive thoughts about hurting others by treating it as an identity, instead of acknowledging that you are not your thoughts. This line of thinking can be harmful to those with OCD, or intrusive thoughts in general.
Transplural
Transplural is defined as “is a large umbrella term describing anyone with the experience of feeling like they should be plural or desire to be plural. It falls under the transid umbrella, and can refer to any form of plurality, including traumagenic, endogenic, disordered, and non-disordered plurality.”
My arguments against transplural are similar to my arguments against endogenic systems, but I’d like to address transplurals who wish to transition into CDD systems. Using neural imaging scans, it revealed that alters within did systems exhibit different patterns of brain activity, even when compared to actors attempting to imitate DID. So no matter how hard these people try, they cannot actually transition to having a CDD.
We will talk more on the neurology of different mental disorders when I get to transdisabled, as I feel it’s more fitting there.
Transsex
…is another pathetic attempt by the radqueer community to rope transgender people into their bullshit, but this time with some added intersexism as well.
Transsex is almost always used by radqueers to identify as transintersex, despite the fact that doing so actively ignores the lived experience of intersex people. Radqueers often argue that it’s akin to transgender people seeking gender affirming surgery, but thats simply not true. Intersex people and transgender people may have similar experiences in some areas, but they aren’t the same.
Transabled
Transabled is a term that leeches off of Body Integrity Dysphoria, where an individual experiences an intense desire to be physically disabled (e.g., amputation, paralysis).
Radqueers have taken this idea and distorted it into something its not. The transid.org website frequently references BID in their definitions for transbled, despite the fact that BID is specific to physical disabilities (particularly amputation), and not mental conditions.
I will admit that you can acquire certain physical disabilities (often through through acts of self harm or mutilation) and doing so would make you physically disabled (general you used) (and please keep in mind that amputation (what radqueers would consider “transitioning” for biid) is considered a last resort)
The same cannot be said about mental health. In the transplural section, I mentioned the neurological differences in the brains of people with did. This is true of many mental health conditions. I’ve provided some links on these differences in the sources. Mental health conditions do not come out of nowhere.
Within the trans disabled community, theres the concept of null-disorder, in which a person identifies as not having a disorder. While I can sympathize heavily with the desire to not experience mental health issues, the radqueer community is so anti-recovery anyways I doubt anything good (like pushing for help or resources) is coming out of those “nullids”.
Transcharacter/Transperson
transcharacter: see transfashion.
As for transperson.. well.. /j. (On a serious note, transperson reminds me of the bah packs of real people. Theres definitely a way that this could be used against people with paranoia of being replaced or watched.)
Transgender
I despise that radqueers tried to bring transgenders into their bullshit, and normally I would just skip this section, but I did see something in their list of transgender identities. “Transtransgender,” where a non trans person identifies as being trans.
In my eyes, this is transphobic, as it implies that trans people are not the gender they identify as. If you are a cis male identifying as “transtransmale,” you are just a cis man.
(NOTE: I am trans. This is not me saying that trans experiences are the exact same as cis experiences)
Translocation
Transitioning to a different location? I’m trans livinginaworldwithnoradqueers,,, /hj. But seriously, this is another harmless but useless. See transfashion.
Transpower/Transskill
Say it with me, harmless but useless!
Transspecies
While I don’t know much, word of mouth has told me that transspecies was a term stolen from alterhuman and therian spaces by radqueers.
Transage
This one is complicated because I can understand feeling like your mentality stuck at a certain age due to PTSD or age regression (however I doubt that is why a lot of radqueers identify with that). When I talked to radqueers about this, they seem to have gotten the idea that age is a social construct. This is not true. Your age is defined by the amount of time you have existed, not your maturity level or intelligence or anything of that matter. While certain maturity levels, cognitive functionings, or behaviors are associated with certain ages, that is because of observed patterns of behavior of those age groups.
Adding onto the trauma aspect, being stuck at a certain mental age due to traumatic experiences isn’t an identity in the way radqueers frame it as. It’s something you can (and deserve to) heal from. (General you used).
Transexperience
Harmless but useless (most of the time). Several labels concern me, but mostly because the cross into ideas mentioned above.
Transharmed
Transharmed, and identities like it, equate the lived experiences of abuse victims into an identity.
(I’m going to be speaking mainly about people who identify as transharmed for any form of sexual abuse, as that is the most common form I see these people use the label). As if being a victim of abuse is a queer label or identity.
I’m going to be quite blunt here, a majority of “transharmed” people identify as such due to a kink or fetish for being treated that way. And frankly, I would rather these people go into kink or fetish communities than claim to be victims. Unlike the radqueer community, these spaces contain safewords, guardrails, and bar minors from entering.
Society is filled with rape apologist and victim blaming logic, and claiming to be a victim of a crime you are not only hurts real survivors who are often accused of lying.
To add on, I’ve noticed from observing the tags that a lot of “transharmed” individuals fall back on rape myths or other harmful rhetoric. This only further contributes to my theory that these people do not listen to victims of abuse.
In the case where a transharmed person actually has experienced that abuse before, that is not an identity. It is something you can, and deserve to, recover from. Even if somebody isn’t mentally ready to recover, internalizing being harmed as a core part of your identity will make recovery harder if they choose to do so. A major step in my own recovery was teaching myself to be a person again.
Transmentality
Can fall between the range of “harmless but useless” (Just play it…?) to “Paradox of tolerance case study A”. The radqueer community should really learn about the nazi bar analogy.
Transreglious/Transfaith
Generally harmless but useless UNLESS the identity is specific to cults. Then it falls under the same criticisms I have for transharmed.
Transtime
Harmless but useless unless you are specifically transtime because you wish to return to an oppressive time period. Then see my opinions on transharmed/harmful.
Sources
All definitions and lists of transids found on https://transid.org.
Transracial:
Cattien, Jana. “Against ‘Transracialism’: Revisiting the Debate.” Hypatia 34.4 (2019): 713–735. Web.
Majid, D S Adnan et al. “Neural Systems for Own-body Processing Align with Gender Identity Rather Than Birth-assigned Sex.” Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) vol. 30,5 (2020): 2897-2909. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhz282
“Adoptees to Rachel Dolezal: You’re Not Transracial.” NBC News, 17 June 2015, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/adoptees-rachel-dolezal-youre-not-transracial-n377121.
Transharmful:
“You Are Not Your Thoughts.” International OCD Foundation, 10 Nov. 2017, iocdf.org/blog/2017/11/10/you-are-not-your-thoughts/.
Transplural:
Lebois, Lauren A M et al. “"I Am Not I": The Neuroscience of Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Biological psychiatry vol. 91,3 (2022): e11-e13. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.11.004
Schlumpf, Yolanda R et al. “Dissociative part-dependent biopsychosocial reactions to backward masked angry and neutral faces: An fMRI study of dissociative identity disorder.” NeuroImage. Clinical vol. 3 54-64. 12 Jul. 2013, doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2013.07.002
Transsex:
While I’m normally against linking tumblr or social media, I do recommend searching up intersexism and listening to what intersex people have to say.
Transabled:
“BIID (Body Integrity Identity Disorder).” Cleveland Clinic, 22 Mar. 2024, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/body-integrity-identity-disorder-biid.
Nadeau, Nadia. “Successful treatment of body integrity dysphoria with amputation: A case report.” Clinical case reports vol. 12,4 e8720. 27 Mar. 2024, doi:10.1002/ccr3.8720
Donovan, Alex P A, and M Albert Basson. “The neuroanatomy of autism - a developmental perspective.” Journal of anatomy vol. 230,1 (2017): 4-15. doi:10.1111/joa.12542
Horn, Karen, et al. “Neurobiology of Mental Disorders.” Fundamentals of Clinical Psychiatry: A Practical Handbook. Ed. Marsal Sanches and Jair C. Soares. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. 27–38. Print.
Transspecies:
Again, I’m going on word of mouth here, if anybody could provide some sources on radqueers taking transspecies from alterhuman communities, please reblog!
Transage:
Dictionary.com. “The Definition of Age.” Www.dictionary.com, 2018, www.dictionary.com/browse/age.
Marie, Simone. “Emotionally Stuck at the Age of Trauma: Signs, Causes, and Healing.” Psych Central, 5 Jan. 2022, psychcentral.com/ptsd/signs-trauma-has-you-stuck.
Clinic, Cleveland. “Age Regression: What It Is, Causes, Signs & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic, 16 Jan. 2026, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/age-regression.
Transharmed:
"Victim Blaming" (PDF). Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime.
Bieneck, Steffen; Krahé, Barbara (June 2011). "Blaming the Victim and Exonerating the Perpetrator in Cases of Rape and Robbery: Is There a Double Standard?". Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 26 (9): 1785–1797.
“10 Myths about Sexual Assault.” CRCC, clevelandrapecrisis.org/resources/resource-library-2/featured/rape-myths/.