Savage Love Jan 8, 2014 at 4:00 am

Gayed, Blacked, Transgendered

Comments

1
Haha, spot-on "sexpert" parody ... http://dandygoat.com/im-an-83-year-old-virgin-and-i-want-to-have-sex
2
I'm totally down with people's struggles to attain gender equity regardless of where on the identity spectrum they may take their stand, BUT the word nerd in me rises to denounce Petosky's ignorant pontifications on word usage. "Transgender" is typically used as a substantive (i.e., EITHER as a noun or an adjective), but if somebody wants to use it as a verb ("I'm planning to transgender") there's no intrinsic reason why they should not. In this case, "transgendered" is a participle (verbal substantive), which can be used attributively, like an adjective (as with "left-handed" or "well-dressed"), or as a noun ("the wounded," "my beloved," "the completely finished may proceed to the exit").

I don't understand exactly why "transgendered" has come to have a political charge that makes it toxic while "transgender" is preferred as a descriptor, but it definitely has nothing to do with proper grammar. If you're going to talk about respect for the English language, you should take care to "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye," kiddo.
3
I disagree with Humanoid's assumption that 'transgender' can be used as a verb. By very definition, 'trans-' is a prefix that indicates opposite/other. Transgender would be defined specifically as 'other gender' or 'opposite gender'. So to use a sentence as suggested where transgender acts as a verb: "I'm planning to transgender", it would break out to "I'm planning to other gender" which is a truly incomplete statement in English.

I'm planning to 'change my' gender would be ok.
I'm planning to 'become' transgender would be an acceptable sentence, but a strange choice.

Since we cannot use it as a verb, 'transgendered' is not an acceptable attribute in this way.

I am transgender, however, and I am not offended by the misuse of the word 'transgendered' (even though it is clearly wrong.) :)

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