shemale

shemale

See also: she-male

English

Alternative forms

• she-male

Etymology

she +‎ male

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʃi.meɪl/

• Audio (US, Northern California)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːmeɪl

Noun

shemale (plural shemales)

1. (derogatory, offensive, proscribed, especially in pornography) A male-to-female transsexual or transgender person; a trans woman.
2. (biology, nonstandard, see usage notes) A male animal which displays female traits or behaviors; for example, a male reptile which gives off female pheromones.
   • 2001, R. Shine, B. Phillips, H. Waye, M. LeMaster, R. T. Mason, Benefits of female mimicry in snakes, in Nature (414, 267):

     She-male garter snakes exploit the amorous attentions of other males to warm up.

Usage notes

• The use of shemale to refer to trans women is offensive and proscribed by several authorities.[1][2] It is found especially (though not exclusively) in pornography, where it and the similarly offensive term tranny are the primary references to trans women.[3][4]
• The use of shemale in biology has been criticized (e.g. by biologist Joan Roughgarden) as "degrading [...] borrowed from the porn industry" and unprofessional.[5]

Antonyms

• hefemale

Translations

a male-to-female transsexual or transgender person

Chinese: Mandarin: 人妖 (zh) (rényāo) (transvestite, ladyboy) Finnish: (has no specific word; may use "transgender person") sukupuolenvaihtaja (fi) French: transexuelle (fr) f German: Shemale f (anglicism, uncommon) Hebrew: קוֹקְסִינֶל‎ (he) m (qoqsinél) Japanese: ニューハーフ (nyūhāfu) Korean: 쉬메일 (swimeil) Persian: شی‌میل‎ (šimeyl) (anglicism) Polish: shemale (pl) f Portuguese: travesti (pt) Russian: шиме́йл m or f (šimɛ́jl) (anglicism, indeclinable if used as feminine), членоде́вка f (členodévka) (slang, vulgar), шмель (ru) m or f (šmelʹ) Spanish: travelo m Swedish: shemale (anglicism), transsexuell person

translations to be checked

Georgian: ქალაბიჭა (kalabič̣a) Japanese: ニューハーフ (nyūhāfu) (pseudo-anglicism: from "new half") Turkish: saplı sultan (tr)

See also

• ladyboy
• newhalf

References

references

1. Don LePan, Doug Babington, Maureen Okun, The Broadview Guide to Writing, sixth edition (2015, →ISBN, page 361: Slang terms such as tranny and shemale are obviously offensive and should never be used by cisgender (that is, non-transgender) people.
2. Donna D. Ignatavicius, M. Linda Workman, Meg Blair, Medical-Surgical Nursing (2015, →ISBN: Other terms, such as “tranny,” “he-she,” or “shemale,” are offensive and hurtful. These terms and other negative comments should never be used.
3. Christina Richards, Meg Barker, Sexuality and Gender for Mental Health Professionals (2013, →ISBN: Shemale: Offensive term derived from pornography often used to refer to people who have a penis and breasts. Should never be used.
4. Tristan Taormino, Constance Penley, Celine Shimizu, The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure (2013, →ISBN, page 157: With rare exceptions, trans women are not cast in any genre of mainstream porn (gonzo, features, girl/girl, and so on) except “tranny/shemale porn,” the derogatory phrase used to market trans women porn in the mainstream industry.
5. Faye Flam, The Score: How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man (2008, Avery, →ISBN and Joan Roughgarden, Evolution's rainbow: diversity, gender, and sexuality in nature and people (2005, University of California Press, →ISBN

Anagrams

• healmes