Trans - what IS that, really?

Why is it that if someone says they are 'trans' and claims I should respect that, they don't tell me what they actually mean? Is a trans woman a woman 'transed' to seem like a man or is it a man who seems like a woman? Are they men/women with anomalous or surgically altered genitals; are they psychologically deranged guys/gals who simply think they aren't, or are they just people playing silly buggers? If they can't be explicit about their condition why don't they STFU about it?

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SomeMichGuy · M

"Trans" used to be used in the sense of "changing"--a transvestite wanted to change / switch his clothes to dress as a woman typically would.

But "trans" is now being used as a crazy borrowing from chemistry terms ("cis" vs. "trans"), where "cis" is the typical form and "trans" is an alternate form.

It seems that "transsexual" used to actually refer to people who actually desired to change their physical sex; now it is used to refer--e.g.‐-to guys who are homosexual, never intend to change their genitalia, but want to "present" as women.

At root, it seems that the beef is not actually about gender, but about gender *roles*...

And, sorry, but "asexual" isn't a gender, but a claim of lack of interest in sex.