In the early 19th century, "she-male" was used as a colloquialism in American literature for "female".[8] Davy Crockett is quoted as using the term in regard to a shooting match, when his opponent challenges Davy Crockett to shoot near his opponent's wife, Davy Crockett is reported to have replied:[9]
“ No, No, Mike," sez I, Davy Crockett's hand would be sure to shake, if his iron pointed within a hundred miles of a shemale, and I give up beat... ”
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, by 1970 the term shemale had come to be used disparagingly for "masculine lesbian",[8] although this is no longer common usage. In 1979, Janice Raymond employed the term's modern usage in her controversial book, The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male[10] in which she argues that from a feminist point of view, transsexuals constitute an attack by males upon femininity. In 1990, Jennifer Anne Stevens defined a she-male as "Usually a gay male who lives full time as a woman; a gay transgenderist" in her book From Masculine To Feminine And All points In Between.[11]