Transsexual

Also known as TS. Someone who believes s/he was born in the wrong-sex body, and often seeks to make physical changes . It is estimated the one out of every 30,000 men and one out of every 100,000 women are transsexual. A "pre-op transsexual" is someone who has taken some steps towards change--hormone therapy, breast implants (for male-to-female) or removal (for female-to-male), electrolysis, plastic surgery--but has not yet had "sexual reassignment surgery" (the medical procedures which alter genitalia). A "post-op transsexual" is someone who has completed the process by undergoing surgery to change her or his sex and, from then on, lives as a full-fledged member of the opposite sex. Some transsexuals do not want sexual reassignment surgery and instead opt to live as hermaphrodites, with the secondary characteristics of both sexes. The slang--but not necessarily flattering--terms for male-to-female hermaphrodites are "chicks with dicks" and "she-males."