I feel like a lot of intracommunal trans discourse could easily be resolved and prevented by bringing back the transgender|transsexual distinction that people kinda phased out as outdated or because it has the word "sexual" in it. Like, we don't need to argue about who is 'trans enough' or who faces or less stigma... if we just acknowledge that people undergoing the sort-of classic medical transition (transsexuals) have a transsexual experience which not all transgender people have. The term that has been getting used instead is like, "medical transitioner" which... I think is inherently a more contentious term. It decenters medical transition and however you feel about that, that is going to be more contentious.
The old system was that transgender was an umbrella term for anyone who is outside of their assigned gender (the social construct) whether by way of being transsexual, non-binary, genderfluidity, gender non-conforming, etc. etc. and within that umbrella "transsexual" referred to people who make changes to their sex (the socially constructed biological qualities associated with gender) through hormone therapy, surgery, etc. like you can be transgender 100% without making any changes to your body but a transsexual is a transgender person who changes the gendered parts of their body as part of their transition.
And that to me creates a really easy way to discuss the experiences of being trans that like, trans women, trans men, and certain non-binary people have including the ones that are not related to the medical healthcare system, that people who have less radical changes to their bodies are not going to experience. Which is I think ultimately what people are trying to get at when they say things like "theyfabs have it easier" or "agab-first identified people do not have enough solidarity with the rest of us." Which are much more contentious things to say and can feel quite invalidating to a lot of trans people who definitely do experience transphobia, dysphoria, community, etc. and like they're being told that they're "not trans enough." But "transsexuals face a kind of transphobia not faced by many other transgender people" is I think a far less contentious statement, and also avoid pitting trans men against trans women which seems to be an endlessly exhausting discourse.
It certainly doesn't solve anything, but I think it resolves a lot. It's a good way of acknowledging differences in experience without like, implying that other transgender people who can absolutely still face quite a lot of transphobia are somehow living the easy life or are somehow cisgender. idk. it's a part of why i've always put "transsexual" in my bios and not "transgender" unless I'm like, in an office setting.
