Transphobia

**trans·pho·bi·a**

**/ˌtranzˈfōbēə/**

***noun***

1. **dislike of or prejudice against transsexual or transgender people.**

As it is with the rest of the LGBTQIA+ community, being trans (transgender/transsexual) is not a choice. Transphobia, like homophobia, is the discrimination towards a trans person(s) based only on their being trans. It is people saying that someone who chose to be a boy or a girl are still the gender they were born in and treating them as if this were true.

## Summary

Transphobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes, feelings or actions toward transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence, anger, or discomfort felt or expressed towards people who do not conform to social gender expectations. Transphobia is an extremely toxic way of expressing discomfort towards people who are transgender.

Man/woman are terms that describe gender — they exist to denote the specific social behaviours, and roles individuals play in society, which makes gender a social construct. Human beings created gender by virtue of their shared understanding of the world. Male and female are just biological sexes that people are born into and sometimes people realize that their sex and gender are at odds so they change their identity as a male or female.

The terms 'man' and 'women' describe a sex, a biological term, existing to categorize the human race. These terms describe the roles of people in the society, and the two distinct genders have very different focuses, and roles in our society, to the eyes of some people. However, some people are born a gender, but might not feel that way. Genders are only biological terms describing your physical appearance and most hormonal changes. Transgender girls might be born a male, they will experience all physical and hormonal changes that occur in a male, but their mental and psychological changes will occur as if they were female.

#### Transphobia can take place in different forms-

* negative beliefs
* prejudice against transgender people
* irrational fear and misunderstanding
* disbelief or discounting preferred pronouns or gender identity
* offensive language and name-calling
* bullying, abuse, and/or violence

#### The effect of transphobia on trans people is as following-

* depression
* isolation
* fear
* hopelessness
* misery
* suicide

Transgender people may find support from other trans people, online communities for transgender people, trans support groups at your local LGBTQ community center, cisgender people who are allies to trans people.

#### When it comes to language, the following things are bullying:

* Intentionally calling them the name they no longer use
* Intentionally using the wrong pronouns

## How to Stop Transphobia

There are multiple ways to stop homophobia-

* Don't ask questions about their surgeries.
* Don't use slurs
* Respect someone’s decisions about when and where to come out.
* Be an ally to the community.
* Respect and use the person's chosen pronouns.
* Respect and use the person's chosen name.
* If you feel safe doing so, speak up when other people are being transphobic, like making transphobic jokes, using slurs, or bullying or harassing someone because of their gender identity.

## History of Transphobia

The term - 'Transvestite' originated in 1910 from the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who would later develop the Berlin Institute where the very first 'sex change' operations took place. 'Transsexual' was not coined until 1949.