Not a blue rectangle

If I took a random sampling of 100 people and asked them what the term transgender meant I would get very varied answers but why? 

Well, besides the obvious lack of education among the general public which would invite and yield some ludicrous responses, even some gender variant people would find different ways to define it based on their own assessment of self. Some would say the term didn't fit them at all.

It's not like asking someone to describe an object. I have a blue rectangle in front of me which measures 4 X 6 inches which everyone would agree on without exception (unless they were color blind). 

My point is that definitions on matters which involve much subtlety are open to interpretation because they deal in greys. Therefore the definition doesn't mean as much as it could given that it also does not provide any guidelines about how to live. It is a descriptor which doesn't necessarily offer us an authenticity only we can provide. 

We first come up with our authenticity plan and then, if we like, come up with a label to match it.

Or not.