Tom Edwards (Eagle, Sept. 13) from Naples, Fla. stated: "I read about the arrest of the transvestite at Reed Arena. This is easy to fix, and the arrest is appropriate. Arpollo Vicks isn't transgendered. He still has the functioning male equipment which is in full view in a public shower."
His use of vocabulary in this regard is incorrect. A transvestite is an archaic medical term which has gained popular culture notoriety, but refers to a man who dresses in women's clothes for fetishistic reasons.
A transsexual is an individual whose sexual identity - who he or she knows he or she is inside - does not match the biological sex they were born as.
Such individuals may or may not use a variety of methods to correct the mismatch they find between body and mind. This is inclusive of hormone use, surgery, etc., but not "required" to "be" a "transsexual."
From my understanding, Dominique has received hormone shots and sees herself as a woman. If Edwards insists on categorizing people, she is a transsexual and not a transvestite.
The transgender community is a coalition of persons whose gender identity - what sex they portray to the world - may be at odds with the sex they were born as. This is a problematic term in that it has become a "catchall" for people who are transsexual, intersexed, drag queens, drag kings, two-spirit or just gender variant.
It is now the year 2005, and we are still stuck using a didactic language that is polarized and ill-meets the reality of diversity in gender and sex that we have seen in our society and in other cultures throughout time.
Katy Stewart,
Bryan
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/091505/opinions_20050915048.php
