- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 11,699
- Reaction score
- 2,615
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Sex reassignment surgery was possible back in the 1950s, and came to light with the much-publicized case of Christine Jorgensen, who had the surgery in 1952 and subsequently became a celebrity. Openly transgender people ("transsexuals" was the terminology of the day) were rare but not unheard of. TV sitcoms made jokes about them.I didn’t realize there were openly transgender people back in the 70s, although I wasn’t even alive in the 70s.
By the 1990s transgenderism was still rare but a bit more mainstream, probably riding the coattails of the successful gay-rights movement. It was around 1994 that I was first told it was impolite to refer to a transgender woman as "he" or to "deadname" one (i.e. use their former name).
Of course, up until about 10 minutes ago, being transgender took effort. You basically had to be diagnosed with sexual dysphoria and commit to having cosmetic surgery. These days, all a transgender "woman" has to do is say "Welp, I'm a chick now," and you're all but bound by law to pretend to believe him.