About

Troon is an internet slang word that is used disparagingly towards transgender people by various online communities, particularly prevalent on parts of 4chan. Since its inception, the controversial term has slowly spread outward year after year. Though the word is used against all trans individuals, it sees prevalent usage against transgender women. Though typically used negatively, on some sites and platforms it has also been used by trans people when referring to themselves.

Origin

The origin of the term comes from the Something Awful website forums, with threads as early as 2014 being found to use the word and it's meaning of "Transgender Goon" with Goon being a way that members identified themselves (shown below).

This causes the meaning of the word to not be originally hateful, but rather a self-identifying marker that quickly became attributed to hate. One of the earliest mentions of it in a hateful context towards Transgendered people can be seen in a Reddit crosspost about the /r/GenderCritical subreddit before it was permanently shut down in 2020 during the "Great Ban Wave." In the post by Redditor u/aconfusedmoron^[1] on September 26th, 2017, the word "troon" is said within the comments as a term that TERFs use against transgender women (shown below).

[-] vault151 26 points 5 years ago TERF is a terrible misogynistic slur, but t----- and troon are perfectly fine. -TERF logic permalink embed save parent report give award reply [-] Kialae 17 points 5 years ago My community has co-opted troons. We own it now. It's a hilarious word. permalink embed save parent report give award reply [+] Gatemaster 2000 5 points 5 years ago (1 child) [-] DatParadox 1 point 5 years ago what the hell does "troon" even mean? I've never heard of it permalink embed save parent report give award reply

Spread

The term saw very little usage outside of Reddit until 2018 when it began to get used in other online spaces, with Twitter being the next wide-scale area. For example, on July 10th, 2018, Twitch streamer and trans ally CaseyExplosion^[2] uploaded a screenshot of a since-deleted tweet using the word while warning others about the term itself starting to pick up in use online (shown below).

Casey Implosion @CaseyExplosion I've noticed lately TERFs using the term "troon", which is something I've heard almost exclusively from the likes of channers. Pictured, noted racist and self proclaimed "free speech advocate" Parker engaging in some dangerous thinking: Posie"dangerous thoughts"Parker @ThePosie Parker Replying to @pickwick @celticbedouin and @stephenfry Oh f--- off you penis centring Troon. Lesbian do not EVER want to date or socialise with men wearing womanface. Stop this now r---- mcrape face. . 8:21 pm 08 Jul 18 5:28 PM Jul 10, 2018 :

Spread of the term also reached 4chan as it became more common online in the late 2010s and early 2020s. In some instances, it is used on the site in a derogatory manner, while in other cases it appears to be used by transgender users themselves. For example, on December 3rd, 2021, a 4chan user used "troon" in a greentext story about themselves and their struggles being trans. That same day, it was then reposted to the /r/Greentext^[4] subreddit, receiving over 1,100 upvotes in roughly one year (shown below).

: Anonymous 12/03/21(Fri)05:39:50 No.867887718 >be me Society >french >chronic depression >chronic anxiety >can't get a job bc of that s--- >troon 57 KB PNG >stuck in conservative town >like men but would literally get rocks thrown at me for dating a guy help.

While the slang term is used as hate-speech against transgender people, there also is a city in the United Kingdom called Troon with an entire ecosystem, leading to some humorous interactions when people talk about one "troon" while meaning the other, or not knowing about "Troon" the location and assuming it was bad, as seen in the tweeted picture by user @fightingpride93^[3] on July 17th, 2021 (shown below).