Transmasculine & Transfeminine

Both are umbrella terms. They include binary trans men and trans women, and they also include non-binary people who lean one way without being fully binary.

These words answer a question that "trans man" and "trans woman" cannot: what do you call someone whose gender moves in a direction without arriving at a binary destination?

Transmasculine covers anyone assigned female at birth whose gender involves masculinity. That includes trans men, and it also includes agender, demiboy, non-binary and genderfluid people who lean masculine, transition in a masculinising direction, or want to be read as masculine some or all of the time.

Transfeminine is the mirror: anyone assigned male at birth whose gender involves femininity, including trans women, demigirls, and non-binary people who lean feminine.

Both are self-descriptions, and neither is a category anybody else assigns you to. Some trans men use transmasculine happily. Others feel it dilutes "man" and do not use it. Both positions are common and neither is a correction of the other.

What this actually looks like day to day

There is no required version of either. What follows is a description of the things people commonly do, not a checklist, and skipping every one of them does not make anyone less trans.

Binding, and doing it safely

Binding means flattening the chest, usually with a purpose-made compression garment. It is one of the most common transmasculine practices and, for many people, one of the most effective things they do for dysphoria.

The largest study on it is the Binding Health Project: Peitzmeier and colleagues (2017) surveyed 1,800 adults assigned female at birth who bind. Both halves of what they found matter. On the one hand, 97% reported at least one negative physical effect they attributed to binding, most commonly back pain (54%), overheating (54%), chest pain (49%) and shortness of breath (47%). On the other, the mental health effect was large: the proportion reporting positive mood rose from 7.5% before binding to 69.9% after, with participants describing reduced dysphoria, reduced depression and, for some, reduced suicidality.

The standard clinical guidance, which is what gender clinics and trans health services give:

• Never use bandages, duct tape, cling film or plastic wrap. These do not give when you breathe and are associated with the worst outcomes, including rib fractures and skin damage.
• Buy your actual size. Sizing down to flatten more is the single most common mistake and the one most associated with breathing difficulty and rib damage.
• Around eight hours a day is the usual ceiling, with at least one binder-free day a week.
• Do not sleep in a binder. If you fall asleep in one, take the next day off.
• Take it off if it hurts. Chest pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness or rib pain are reasons to stop that day, and persistent versions of any of them are reasons to see a doctor.
• Wash it by hand and let it air dry. Machine washing degrades the fabric, and unwashed binders cause skin problems.

One finding is often quoted out of context: the study associated commercial binders with more negative outcomes than sports bras. The likely explanation is that people who need more compression bind more, for longer, and use commercial binders to do it. It is not a recommendation to bind with bandages, and no clinician reads it that way.

Packing

Packing means wearing a prosthetic to create a visible bulge. Packers range from soft fabric shapes to silicone prosthetics, some designed for standing to urinate. It is a comfort and dysphoria measure for some transmasculine people and of no interest to others. There are no specific medical risks, though hygiene matters for anything worn against skin and silicone should be washed with mild soap and stored dry.

Tucking

Tucking is the transfeminine counterpart: arranging the genitals to create a flat front, usually held with a gaff or with purpose-made underwear. The main cautions are practical: use garments made for it rather than tape on skin, do not tuck so tightly that it hurts, give yourself untucked hours, and be aware that heat and long periods of tucking are associated with discomfort and, in some accounts, urinary tract irritation. Evidence here is much thinner than for binding, and anyone telling you they have hard numbers probably does not.

Voice, hair and everything else

Voice training, hair removal or growth, clothing, movement, and simply being addressed correctly all do work for people, and none of them requires a prescription. Medical transition, where someone wants it, is covered on our gender-affirming care page.

Flag

There is no single agreed flag for either. Most transmasculine and transfeminine people use the transgender flag designed by Monica Helms in 1999. Community variants exist, including blue-toned transmasculine and pink-toned transfeminine adaptations, but none has a documented single designer or a settled colour standard, so we do not publish hex values for them.

Nothing on this page is medical advice, and it does not replace talking to a clinician.

Both are compounds of the Latin trans, meaning across, with masculine and feminine. They emerged in trans community writing and online spaces from the late 1990s onwards, and became widespread in the 2010s as non-binary vocabulary expanded and people needed language for direction of transition rather than endpoint of identity.

The shorthands transmasc and transfem are extremely common and are not less serious than the full words.

Myth: transmasculine just means a trans man who has not committed yet

No. Many transmasculine people are not men and never intend to be. The word describes a direction, not an unfinished journey towards a binary destination.

Myth: you have to bind, pack or tuck to count

You do not. These are tools for dysphoria and comfort. Plenty of transmasculine and transfeminine people use none of them.

Myth: binding is inherently dangerous

Binding carries real physical risks and they are worth managing carefully. It also produces one of the largest self-reported mental health improvements in the literature on trans people. The honest framing is a trade-off to be managed well, not a danger to be avoided.

Myth: transfeminine and transmasculine are the same as AMAB and AFAB

They are not. AMAB and AFAB describe what was recorded at birth. Transmasculine and transfeminine describe where someone's gender actually sits. Plenty of AFAB people are not transmasculine.