Who put the "Trans" in Transgender? Gender Theory and Everyday Life

S. Kessler, W. McKenna

In theory, transgender is a challenge to the social construction of gender. In practice, it usually is not. Transgendered people ---in one way or another--- place themselves outside the conventional female/male dichotomy, yet live in a social world that recognizes only females and males. How could a self-identified transgendered person earn and maintain a transgender attribution, when others are constrained to attribute an unproblematic "male" or "female" gender to him/her? Is it possible to alter, in practice, what seems to be the incorrigibility of the gender attribution process? Is this, in fact, what transgendered people want to do? In the light of three possible meanings of trans, we consider whether there is any point to deconstructing gender.