What do you call a person who has had sex reassignment surgery?

OK, if a man or woman has changed their gender through surgery, what should we call them?

Can we call them transgender people?

According to Google, transgender (adj) means "denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender." Source

So, in that case, transgender does not tell us whether that person transformed his or her sex through surgery or not? Maybe he or she was born without his or her gender identified.

Solution 1:

transgender is an umbrella term that refers to anybody who has a gender identity different to their at-birth sex, regardless of whether they have had sex reassignment surgery or not.

transsexual refers to somebody who has had sex reassignment surgery.

Transgender people will typically refer to themselves as the gender they identify with.

For example a person that has male genitalia but identifies as a woman, will introduce themselves as a transgender woman.

For further clarity transsexuals might prefix with a 'male-to-female' or 'mtf'. eg. 'I'm a male-to-female transsexual woman'.

Here's some more information here: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Transgender_vs_Transsexual

To answer your specific questions:

1. People who have had sex reassignment surgery are transgender. People who have not had sex reassignment surgery are also transgender.

2. If someone identifies as transgender, they are providing no clue as to whether they have had sex reassignment surgery or not.

3. You can refer to someone that has had sex reassignment surgery as transsexual.

Solution 2:

We would call them either a man or woman, whichever they identify with.

Solution 3:

While the answer by @dwjohnston is good, it is not entirely accurate.

The term transgender covers the wider range of people who do not fit the cis-gender binary of just "male" and "female". This can include people who are intersex, transsexual, gender-queer and agender. Please note that these are all adjectives. A transgender person is not "a transgender".

The term transsexual literally means "to change sex from one to another". Someone may be a transsexual without having sex reassignment surgery (also knows as gender confirmation surgery) to change their primary sex characteristics, but may be on a regime of hormones to change the secondary sex characteristics to align their body more closely with their identified gender. This term applies to both transsexual men and women.

Not every transsexual person needs or requires surgery. The correct terms are:

• Non-operative transsexual: Someone who has or is using hormone replacement (such as oestrogen for trans women or testosterone for trans men), but does not feel the need to have sex reassignment surgery.
• Pre-operative transsexual: Someone who requires surgery to feel complete but has not yet had the procedure.
• Post-operative transsexual: Someone who has had sex reassignment or gender confirmation surgery.

Again, all of these terms apply to trans men and trans women. For more information, refer to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care V7.

Of course, if you are wondering what you should address someone as who is transgender, the rule of thumb is to address them as the gender they are presenting as, or what term/pronouns they ask you use.