Transvestite: Transvestite is a derogatory slang word that refers to transgender people. Dictionary.com defines the word as “a person who seeks sexual pleasure from wearing clothes that are normally associated with the
opposite sex”. The origin of the word is German, trans-across and vestit-clothes(dictionary.com). The term was coined by a gay, Jewish, German sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld, his work created a distinction between transgender/transsexual practices and
homosexuality which were all previously classified as ‘sexual deviancy’ (Rikki Arundel). The new scientific field of sexology, the understanding and research of the spectrum of human sexual behavior, allowed for new research into the field of
homosexuality and transgender behaviors. Magnus Hirschfield was instrumental in the decriminalization of
homosexuality in Germany before the Nazi regime (Arundel). Magnus was also responsible for the first male to female gender replacement surgery (Arundel). In present times however, the term transvestite is considered outdated and derogatory. The terms transsexual and transgendered are the preferred terms of 2016.
