Meaning
What does Transmed mean?
Transmed is short for “transmedicalist”, which is a person who argues that in order to truly identify as transgender, thhe person must experience gender dysphoria.
Gender dysphoria is a series of negative emotions in connection to your assigned gender, because the person cannot properly express themself.
The term is synonymous to the derogatory slang “truscum”, and opposite of “tucutes”, who believe that you do not need to feel dysphoria, nor go through transition, in order to be trans.
Origin
What's the origin of Transmed?
Made up of the terms “trans” and “medical”, due to “transmedicalists” believing that being trans is a medical condition, or even a mental illness.
The debate on what truly defines a trans person has been going on since the 60’s, and “transmed” is one of the many terms that was created along the way to define one of the perspectives.
Spread & Usage
How did Transmed spread?
The debate between “transmeds” and “tucutes” – also called “transtrenders” – has created a huge rift in the joint fight for trans rights. Both parties argue that the other is invalidating their gender identity.
In 2018, Youtube user Alex Zorach uploaded a video named “What is Transmedicalism? How and Why Is It Harmful?”, explaining that by saying that you aren’t real trans if you don’t experience dysphoria, you are invalidating people who truly identify as trans.
On another hand, in 2019, Dana Pham published an article on Medium called “Why I’m a transmedicalist, a truscum”. She argues that by validating people as trans without a medical condition, you are invalidating all trans people who have suffered through gender dysphoria. It also makes it seem like you can “choose” to be trans, which is not the case.
These perspective have caused many heated arguments and the birth of new insulting terms such as “truscum” and “transtrender”.
External resources
- LGBTA Wiki – Transmedicalism