Ask a trans person!

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Ben-Her

It's not so much offensive to me personally as it is largely offensive to transgender individuals in general.

Typically, in my personal experience, people referring to "a transgender" or "a trans" are chasers who fetishize trans people (same folks who like the term 'she-male'), who know nothing about trans issues and don't much care because they don't see trans people as people to begin with. The respectful way to refer to a trans person is just like that - "a transgendered person" or "a trans person". "Transsexual" is used more as a noun, but saying "a transsexual person" is more respectful. Or trans woman or trans man. I, personally, am not "a trans". I'm a trans person, a person who is trans, specifically a trans man. I'm a regular guy of extraordinary circumstances. Trans is not all of who I am, which is what is implied by calling someone "a trans".

Interesting. I had never heard it defined in that sense and certainly makes me think more about the term. The name of the thread came from other threads that existed elsewhere (e.g., "Ask an FTM" or "Ask a MTF"). Rather than having two threads, I thought it might be better to have one and shortened it. I can ask the admin to add "person" after trans but no guarantees on whether the thread name could be changed.