Trans woman

A woman who was assigned male at birth and whose gender identity is female. Trans women may describe their identities and experiences in different ways.

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Gender identity: A person's internal understanding of their own gender. A trans woman's female gender identity is central to the definition.
Lili Elbe: A Danish painter and one of the earliest known recipients of gender-affirming surgery. Her life became widely known through accounts of an early trans woman's transition.
Gender-affirming care: Healthcare that supports a person's gender identity, which may include counseling, hormones, or surgery. Some trans women seek care to support their wellbeing or physical transition.
Transmisogyny: A form of discrimination involving the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, especially directed at trans women. It describes a specific pattern of hostility and prejudice targeting trans women.
Sex assigned at birth: The sex recorded for a newborn, usually based on observed anatomy. The term distinguishes a trans woman’s birth assignment from her gender identity.
Christine Jorgensen: An American trans woman whose transition and surgery received extensive media attention in the 1950s. Her public visibility brought trans women's lives into mainstream news coverage.
Feminizing hormone therapy: Hormone treatment, commonly involving estrogen and testosterone suppression, that can produce feminizing physical changes. It is one possible medical option for trans women, not a requirement for identity.
Intersectionality: A framework for understanding how overlapping social identities and systems of power shape experience. Race, class, disability, and other identities can shape trans women’s experiences differently.
Gender: A social and personal system of identities, roles, and meanings associated with sex and gender categories. Trans women’s identities are understood within broader concepts of gender.
Marsha P. Johnson: An American LGBTQ rights activist and performer associated with the Stonewall uprising. Her activism connects trans women’s history with broader LGBTQ organizing.