Definition of "transgenderist"

After having lived much of our lives according to a socially accepted prescription, many of us come to realize that we have not been true to ourselves. As full-time or part-time transgenderists, we feel the need to improve the quality of life for ourselves by creating an environment around us which is compatible with the kind of life style we wish to achieve.

1979, Nancy, “Feather Your Own Nest”, in Transvestia‎, volume XVII, number 98, Chevalier Publications, archived from the original on 2023-06-19, page 36

Perhaps the most surprising and controversial issue to emerge was that of “transpeople." Transpeople, as defined by the highly articulate Houston based Transpeople Caucus are “transexuals, transgenderists, transvestites, drag queens, and female impersonators." Phyllis Frye, a transgenderist from Houston, in fact opened the welcoming Friday night session. The original motion made by this caucus called for, “the term Gay Transpeople to be included in all statements...The demands as well as policy and media coverage.” They also called for the changing of the name of the March to read “Lesbians, Gay Males and Gay Transpeople’s March on Washington."

1979 September/October, “The March Is On!”, in The Lesbian Tide‎, volume 9, number 2, Los Angeles: Tide Publications, page 12, column 3

Finally, since all of this comes out of my own experience and my own thinking, when one gets to the transgenderist posi­tion, which is where I am now, I can set up housekeeping right in the middle, if I want, and look and act womanly until a “fence” gets in my way — and then vault over it and go on my way with­out any feelings of inappropri­ateness, or “what will people think,” or, “that wasn’t very feminine” type of thinking. I’m just very satisfied to be ME, a position that incorporates all of me, both left, right and middle.

1981, Virginia Prince, “Relaxation in "DRESSING"”, in Transvestia‎, volume XVIII, number 104, Chevalier Publications, archived from the original on 2023-06-19, page 26, column 3

Going further than the one-dimensional femininity of the transvestite and cross-dresser, many transgenderists mix and match, blending as much femininity or masculinity with its opposite into new gender recipes.

2002, Richard Ekins, David King, Blending Genders

[…] in her cross-dressed transgenderist the assured knowableness of the universal subject is cast into doubt as she exposes the far from secure boundaries of maleness.

2010, Carole Jones, Disappearing Men: Gender Disorientation in Scottish Fiction, 1979-1999

Being a transsexual is not something that can be ignored or suppressed forever. Unlike the fascinations of the cross dresser or the partially altered transgenderist, the absolute compulsion of classical transsexualism is a matter of life and death.

2012, Patrick Slattery, Curriculum Development in the Postmodern Era