The use of Latin terms such as trans and cis is appropriate given the Roman fascination with eunuchs and hermaphrodites, culminating with Sporus

Terminology

The articles often use words such as transsexual and transwoman, which have largely been replaced by the term transgender.  The prefix trans is a Latin noun meaning 'across', 'beyond' or 'on the opposite side'.  The articles use trans in the context of people making changes to their physical characteristics (hormonal and surgery) and lifestyle to match this to their gender.

A significant development since c.2014 is the use of the prefix cis, e.g., in words such as ciswomen, cisgendered and cissexual.  Cis is actually another Latin term, meaning 'on this side', and is increasingly used in the context of women (usually but not always genetically XX) who were assigned a female gender at birth, and whose bodies and their personal identity have always agreed with this.  It does make sense as an alternative to awkward phrases such as "genetically XY women" that I have resorted to in some articles. 

I support the recent substitution of the term Gender Confirmation Surgery (GCS) for the very inaccurate term Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) that dates to the 1950's, but due to age of the articles they do extensively use the abbreviation SRS.

The March of Time

It's impossible exaggerate how much things have changed since 2000.  For example, in 2020 I was watching TV when I realised that two of the commercials in a prime-time ad break had featured female models whom I knew were MTF transgender.  Twenty years ago, either ad would have resulted in a major story in a Sunday newspaper!  Now alert for this, over the next few weeks I spotted expensive-looking advertisments featuring transwomen working as female models promoting shampoo, perfume, make-up and lingerie.

In 2000 there were about 60,000 post-GCS women in the entire world - and most had used a few dozen surgeons (each performing between 50 and 300 procedures a year) whose individual merits were intensely debated within the trans-community.  Fast forward to 2020 and a million post-GCS women is probably an under-estimation.  Thailand has overtaken the USA as the 'market leader' due to the low price and generally high quality of the surgical procedures performed there.  Small clinics in Thailand have grown into specialist hospitals which each conduct thousands of gender confirmation procedures annually (over 90% on foreigners).  One Thai surgeon, Dr. Kamol, claims to be performing 2,000 MTF operations a year - equating to about half of all operations performed annually, world-wide, at the start of the millenium!

Because of the huge increase in the number of transwomen, they are no longer "freaks" that occasionally appear in an afternoon television show or a tabloid newspaper expose.  Most people (particularly in younger age groups) now personally know someone who is transgender - a family member, classmate, friend, work colleague, etc.  This is changing attitudes to the extent that going deep stealth after transition is no longer the goal of every transwoman who can pass convincingly as a woman. 

In early 2014 the 22-year old top-100 male model Andrej Pejic had gender confirmation surgery.  A year later she reappeared as  female model - Andreja.  The big story is that this made no headlines and she had failed to find a media company interested in making a documentary of her transition and GCS.

Other developments since 2000 include:

• Laws prohibiting any discrimination based on sex or gender. [A legal case taken by Caroline Cossey in 1989 played a huge role in starting this process] 

• Transwoman born with a male birth certificate can legally marry as a woman in many countries. Some faiths/orders (e.g. The Church of England) will now perform a religious marriage ceremony as long as the couple identify and marry as a "a man and a woman".

• The acceptance by the modelling industry of transwomen as female models, e.g. Andrej (now Andreja) Pejic and Lea T

• A massive increase in the number of teenagers apparently suffering fron gender identity disorder

• A huge shift in the median age of western transgender patients seeking medical help, this has moved from the early 40's to the late 20's

• A much greater willingness by the medical profession to treat transgender children under age 18 - with singer Kim Petras setting a now very famous example

• Medical advances - both surgical and endocrinological.  The announcement of the first MTF transwoman to gestate and give birth to a baby is a case when rather than if.

Another significant change is that in late 20th century Gender Identity Disorder was a condition that was primarily associated with men.  In 2000 male-to-female (MTF) surgical procedures out-numbered female-to male (FTM) procedures by roughly 3-to-1.  Whilst transwoman still dominate public attention, there has been a quiet but dramatic explosion in the number of FTM operations.  By 2020 many clinics were performing more FTM than MTF gender confirmation operations.  The transition and subsequent surgery of actor Elliot (previously Ellen) Page belatedly woke up the media to the fact that not all transgender people are transwomen.  If current trends continue then there will be more post-GCS men than women by the mid-2020's.

A printscreen from the website of the Scottish Mirror newspaper on 14 March 2023.

Going to Far?

By end of the 2010's the transgender bandwagon was on an immensely successful roll. For example:

• The International Olympic Committee and other sporting organisations now allowed transgender athletes to compete as women, without even GCS

• The UK's National Health Service (NHS) purged its website and guides of the word "women".  Instead "some people" were likely to get pregnant, have a miscarriage, have an abortion, suffer from cervical cancer or have a menopause.

• It had become almost essential for organisation's to prove their LGBT and woke credentials by employing as advisors an organisation such as Stonewall at considerable cost.

On 22 December 2022 the Scottish Parliament passed the Gender Reform Bill Scotland. This allows anyone age 16 or more to self-identify their sex for legal purposes. The UK government is attempting to block the legislation.

Backlash

The huge successes of the pro-trans lobby over the last two decades has perhaps led to the pendulum swinging too far.  There is an increasing backlash from the c.99% of the population who are not transgender, for example in the UK against:

• Having to attend compulsory LGBT awareness courses at work and being told to avoid using words such as "he", "she", "women", "mother", "fireman", "spokesman" and "chairman/chairwoman"

• Having to use ridiculous terms such as "Birthing Person" and , "Menstruators" to identify biological women. - terms of dubious accuracy.

• Reading leaflets, newspaper and articles that go to ever more extreme lengths to avoid sex specific words such as "women". [A  particularly ludicrous example is an Australian medical publication referring to a woman's vaginal opening as the "front hole"]

  It's cheaper to provide one 'Gender neutral' mixed toilet than separate Men's and Women's toilets, so establishments can advertise their WOKE credentials whilst saving money. When Adam Graham was convicted of raping two women in 2023, the Scottish Prison Service sent him to a women-only prison as he now self-identified as a woman and called himself Isla Bryson.  He was not receiving any medical treatment and had a fully functional penis.

• The proliferation of supposedly "gender neutral' toilets", to the horror of most women. 

• The re-writing of books by JR Rowling, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Ian Flemming, etc. to remove apparently offensive sexual stereotyping -  even the term "Mrs" is no longer acceptable.

• Allowing transwomen who have not had GCS or even hormone treatment to use women-only spaces such as toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards, even women's prisons.

• Pre-everything transwomen and teenage transgirls being able to compete in women's sports when they are clearly larger, heavier, and more muscular than their competitors.

• Transwomen who have had no medical treatment actively participating in, even leading on a paid basis, events and studies on topics such as menstruation, abortion, domestic abuse, violence against women, rape and sexual assault, and the sex trade

• Violent male rapists and child abusers avoiding jail by applying for and receiving a Gender Recognition Certificate as a woman

I actually agree with many of these complaints and strongly object to the consequences I've encountered.  For example, I occasionally swim at a local pool during the women only sessions, but I could now be excluded as I'm not menstruating and not a birthing person.  And one of the most horrible experiences of my life was queuing in a theatre toilet with a dozen other women to use the only cubicle, whilst a steady stream of men used (with varying degrees of embarrassment) the urinals.