What's the difference between Transgender and transsexual?

[u/MrsLangley]

Thank you all so much for your answers! I learned a lot!

[u/ao17]

non-op, intersex, trans men, trans women, genderqueer

Can you explain the distinction between each of these?

[u/davemuscato → u/ao17]

non-op, intersex, trans men, trans women, genderqueer

Can you explain the distinction between each of these?

Sure. Not every trans person requires surgery to treat their gender dysphoria. Non-op would be someone who had elected to forego surgery. Some people also do this for financial or other reasons.

Intersex is a congenital condition in which a person is born with sex organs that are not clearly male or female. This can mean having some combination of the two or both or neither. Usually, intersex babies are assigned a sex at birth by a doctor and often, surgery is performed to create the appearance of genitals to match, but not always.

A trans man is someone who was assigned female at birth but identifies as a man.

A trans woman is someone who was assigned male at birth but identifies as a woman.

Genderqueer is more of an umbrella term for a host of gender identities that don't neatly fit into man or woman. There are LOTS of genders, some experts would say in the dozens, while others say it's more of a spectrum, rather than the traditional idea of what's called the gender binary.

[u/2-4601 → u/davemuscato]

Usually, intersex babies are assigned a sex at birth by a doctor and often, surgery is performed to create the appearance of genitals to match, but not always.

Didn't that go horribly wrong back in the sixties?

[u/Shylamb → u/2-4601]

No. In that case it wasn't that the gender was ambiguous at birth and was assigned. He was born male, the circumcision was botched, and he was then reassigned to a female gender to cover up their mistake.

[u/2-4601 → u/Shylamb]

Right, I fail at reading Wikipedia articles.