rinsel

Doesn't that article you linked make a similar point about trans being a recent concept, and that the validity of retroactive application is disputed?

> The modern terms and meanings of transgender, gender, gender identity, and gender role only emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, opinions vary on how to categorize historical accounts of gender-variant people and identities.

> [...]

> A precise history of the global occurrence of transgender people is difficult to compose because the modern concept of being transgender, and of gender in general as relevant to transgender identity, did not develop until the mid-20th century. Historical understandings are thus inherently filtered through modern principles, and were largely viewed through a medical lens until the late 20th century.

> [...]

> Absence of autobiographical accounts has resulted in historians assigning identities to historical figures, which of course may be inaccurate.

Well they're not actually the opposite sex, so what is this other than pretence?

I'm skeptical of the idea that fewer are in hiding now. The concept of trans seems to be a western cultural invention rather than some innate quality that can apply to any human.

Point is that the "wife" might be male and therefore actually be the husband.

I don't think that's true in this case but it's a possibility in these ambiguous times where so many people are pretending to be the opposite sex.