Irrespective of how you feel, please do respect elderly trans/queer folk using the term, it might be dated but please be kind to them when they use it, remember that it doesnt come from a place of malice when older trans/queer folk use it.

Transphobes use it. I don't like it.

I dislike it because when I used it to come out to friends they thought I was gay. I can't blame them for thinking it was a sexual orientation, so I decided the term is dysfunctional and shouldnt be used. Though it doesn't help that in my native language Turkish the word for transexual (transeksüel) is in use while the translation of transgender (transcinsiyet?) isn't. So now I just use trans and hope that triggers the right neurons in people.

Also transexual feels very much like a medical term, or at least that's the context I've come across it the most.

I kinda agree. Hypothetically it would make sense to differentiate between gender expression and our physical bodies, but tbh nuance like that is always lost. The cis just call us all transexual or transgender, depending on how old they are.

That's why I like the trans big tent. Inclusivity is always my preference. Actually, ~~GSM (gender or sexual minority)~~ see below is ideal imo but it hasn't caught on.

It's very much a dated term from a bygone era of our understanding of gender. I don't necessarily begrudge anyone for using it, but in my opinion as a term it doesn't really make sense. Sex is also a socially constructed concept, and is not rooted in any one particular feature of our bodies or genetics. You can be of one sex and have the anatomy we commonly attribute with another, and legally speaking sex is divorced from genitalia.

Your sex can also be measured in many different ways, even from a purely biomedical stand point. You have phenotypes, blood hormonal sex (endocrine sex), secondary sex characteristics, and so on so forth. And when it comes to social sex, how we socially define sex, it all comes down to perception and the self-reported sex of the individual. I identify as a trans woman, as trans female, and both a woman and female independent of the qualifier "trans". Those terms describe how I see myself, and how I have seen myself since I accepted that I was transgender.

Equating sex 1:1 with genitalia doesn't make any sense. Where I live its possible to have your sex designation changed before having reassignment surgery. This is how it should be everywhere. And ultimately the only time where your assigned gender at birth should be relevant should be within the private boundaries of a medical office. And even then, doctors should be aware of the way that transitioned individuals have unique health requirements that are totally divorced from cisgender people who share their assigned gender.

As the moderator of the board I think anyone can use whatever terminology in self reference that they are comfortable with, and I don't think any particular terms should be forced onto someone. However any usage of the term "transsexual" to mean post-op in reference to anyone but yourself is against the rules as a form of gatekeeping and will not be tolerated. If someone who is post-op prefers that term for themselves that's fine, but going around declaring that someone is or isn't a transsexual because they have or haven't had bottom surgery isn't okay here.

Edit: changed wording at the end to be clear that choosing to use the term yourself is absolutely fine.

Most people just use it interchangeably with transgender to my knowledge.

Not in the US they don't... I very rarely see the term "transsexual" outside of medical literature and even then it has been partially replaced by "transgender". I know in other languages there is often no equivalent, so that may be why it persists.

I think people overanalyze this. Transsexual has always referred to people like me, so while I self-identify as transgender, I'm cool with being a transsexual too. Honestly I'm not going to get worked up over it.

I get why a lot of trans people have bad vibes about the word, but a good amount of trans people like the term as a way to describe their physical trans-ness. It's especially common with older trans folks as well as in literature, medical and otherwise.

My main issue with it is that trans meds use it to differentiate themselves from other trans folk. I've got nothing against the term in and of itself, but I avoid using it because I don't want people thinking that I'm trans med.

I'm not sure the word sexual works since it is mainly used to describe someone sexuality. Where as gender is more inline with how people express their themselves.

I like using it as a joke. Dated terms are valuable replacements for slurs in places that aren't friendly to this level of obtuse joke telling. If someone used it in the way you've described it, I'd be upset with them. Using it as a slot in for transgender is acceptable, but again, dated.

I always assumed that the word was meant to express a differentiation between trans people and heterosexual and homosexual people, because trans people don't quite fit into either category completely perfectly, right?

Still I can see where you're coming from because it would be weird to call my heterosexual friends heterosexuals instead of just like their name or something.

I would never tell people "my heterosexual friend Bob is really into cars", or "my homosexual cousin Jay is a really terrible dancer", so why would I ever say "my trans... friend Alice has really good taste in clothing"?

I guess I'm saying that in my vision of a perfect world the context of your sexuality would only come up when it is actually pertinent to the conversation, same as your gender.