Anonymous: Why is trans* bad to use? I thought it was the umbrella term and trans referred to the identity... Sorry just trying to understand, don't mean to be rude. Thanks!!
the asterisk has a long history of transmisogyny and nonbinary erasure. it was basically like “we have this word trans that’s used to describe real trans people…and i guess if we have to include nb people we’ll tack on this asterisk. but they’re not really trans.” it was meant to be “inclusive”, but the word trans is already inclusive and the asterisk insinuates that nb people aren’t actually trans.
- mod emery