Welcome to a brand new series of posts here at Jessica Who?, titled “Word of the Week”. In these short articles, from here on out published each Friday, I will explore the various labels and umbrella terms used to label us. By doing this, I hope to educate not only myself, but also anyone who may not be familiar with these terms. Feel free to add your own knowledge to each post by leaving a comment 
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The first label that we will be examining is: shemale.
Standard Definition
Although this term has had several definitions (more on that later), it currently is used to describe anyone who blurs the lines of gender, but most often means a pre-op or non-op MTF transsexual.
Derogatory?
Yes, this is one of the most disparaging labels dropped on transgendered people, it is highly offensive.
What’s It Really Mean?
Shemale is often used in the pornography industry, as a way to describe individuals with female breasts and male genitalia. There seems to be a lot of money in selling this type of porn, and it is one of the top searches on Google (pertaining to transgenders).
My Take
I consider this word to be similar to racial slurs, in that I’ve heard it used only to put someone down. In our own community, I think that most people know this, but I’m not quite sure that the rest of the world knows that shemale is offensive. If you are a person that uses this to describe transgendered people, please stop because it is very hurtful.
I’ve also heard that this word was once used to describe lesbians.
Your Take
Have you anything to add? Please leave your take on this word in the comments section, I hope we can open up a dialogue and learn from each other while educating the masses.
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Honey, my hat is off to you!
I’d add that I’ve started to detect some evidence that this term is starting to be “reclaimed” in the same way that “fag” has been by gays and the “n” word by black people.
You know, Miss K, I was thinking the same thing, I’m glad you brought it up. There seems a type of empowerment behind taking terms used to disparage you and making them part of the vernacular. In that way, if someone uses it in an attempt to bring you down, it will not have that effect on you. A few of the other terms I will cover in the following weeks will also have that quality. Thanks as always for your input
In my head it makes me think of sex-workers and that’s probably a bit unfair to anyone who describes themselves with the term. I guess that’s due to marketing tho rather than meeting anyone like that.
Reclaiming a negative word? I hope so. I do enjoy it when that happens.
Lynn, you’re right about that. My first encounters with the word were when I was a kid and any many who was either a drag queen or transvestite would be referred to as a “shemale” by those around me.
As time went by, I noticed that shemale was a term used heavily in pornos and sex work, like you said.
Personally, I don’t use the word to describe myself but yea, it would be great for those who do use the word to describe themselves to reclaim it