''Tranny'' is an offensive and derogatory slur for a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

individual. During the early 2000s, there was some confusion and debate over whether the term was a pejorative, was considered acceptable, or a

reappropriated In linguistics, reappropriation, reclamation, or resignification is the cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. It is a specific form of a semantic change (i.e. ...

term of unity and pride, but by 2017, the word had been banned by several major media stylebooks and was considered hate speech by

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Usage

Roz Kaveney Roz Kaveney (born 9 July 1949) is a British writer, critic, and poet, best known for her critical works about pop culture and for being a core member of the Midnight Rose collective. Kaveney's works include fiction and non-fiction, poetry, revi ...

wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' in 2010 that ''tranny'' had recently appeared to be undergoing

reappropriation In linguistics, reappropriation, reclamation, or resignification is the cultural process by which a group reclaims words or artifacts that were previously used in a way disparaging of that group. It is a specific form of a semantic change (i.e. ...

to be used with pride by trans activists, but "it didn't take", due in part to the word's continued use as a term of abuse. After using the slur in 2011,

Lance Bass James Lance Bass (; born May 4, 1979) is an American singer, dancer, actor, film, and television producer. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy band NSYNC. NSYNC's success led Bass to work in film ...

said he had thought the term was not a slur after having heard it used on ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'' or ''

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mater ...

'', but he apologized for using the slur after learning that it was not acceptable.

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

's 2011 Transgender Resource Page said the term is "usually considered offensive and/or defamatory to transgender people".

Justin Vivian Bond Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Described as "the best cabaret artist of heir!-- MOS:GENDERID --> generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseudon ...

and

Kate Bornstein Katherine Vandam Bornstein (born March 15, 1948) is an American author, playwright, performance artist, actor, and gender theorist. In 1986, Bornstein started identifiying as gender non-conforming and has stated "I don't call myself a woman, ''and ...

have historically advocated for use of the term, with Bond saying in 2014 that banning the word does not eliminate

transphobia Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

but rather "steal a joyous and hard-won identity from those of us who are and have been perfectly comfortable, if not delighted to be trannies." Bornstein claimed the word was used in the 1960s and 1970s in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia by trans people as "a name for the identity they shared", but said no one should think Bornstein was giving them permission to use the slur to describe anyone without first knowing the term they used for their gender identity. In ''Tranny: An Evidence-Based Review'', Cristin Williams reviewed historic use of the slur and found the first published instance in 1983, originating among

gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including ' ...

. Williams expressed doubt that the word originated long before then. In 2014, the Tranny Awards changed its name to the

Transgender Erotica Awards The Transgender Erotica Awards, formerly known as ''The Tranny Awards'', are a group of List of movie awards, movie awards presented annually in the United States recognizing performances and performers in the field of Transexual pornography, tra ...

, citing feedback from the "extended trans adult community" as a reason to stop using the term. In 2017,

's anti-hate speech algorithms started blocking posts containing ''tranny'', as well as the slur for lesbians '' dyke'' and the slur for homosexual men '' fag''.

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, tranny Transgender culture Cross-dressing culture LGBT-related slurs Pornography terminology English words English profanity Transphobia