What is a pre/post/non-op transsexual?
These are all transsexuals in various stages of the surgical procedure which will change the physical attributes of a person of one sex, including their genitals, to those of the opposite sex. Pre-op means “pre-operative transsexual,” someone who has begun the hormonal and surgical proceedures and is very close to the operation. A post-operative transsexual is someone who has had the actual genital surgery done. It is very difficult to tell a m-f post op transsexual from a genetic female. Up to very recently, female-male transsexuals had no effective surgical technique to create a penis. There are penile implants and grafts, but these are often easy to spot. “Non-op” transsexual is a new word that is floating around. Originally from a computer language, it means a person who has had all the hormonal/surgical treatments, except the genital surgery, and has no desire to proceed with the surgery.
Pre, post, and non-op refer to stages of a transperson’s transition. Pre-op refers to someone who has yet to have gender reassignment surgery but plans on doing so. Post-op refers to someone who has already had surgery. Non-op refers to someone who has elected not to have surgery. Not all transpeople use these terms to describe themselves, and these are words which should only be used by transpeople to describe their own sense of where they are in terms of their transition.
