Transpinay: Genealogy of a term

This article provides a genealogical analysis of the Philippine category “transpinay,” a compound word combining “trans” and “pinay.” It traces the coining of the term by trans activists in the first decade of the 21st century and examines the ways in which the term gained its currency by drawing out distinctions between gender and sexuality categories. The article investigates what the category includes and what the category excludes, and examines disputes over the term’s categorical boundaries. Overall, the article aims not to determine what the term transpinay is, but rather investigates what the term does and how it came to be.