Transgender glossary: Terms to know
The vocabulary of sexual and gender minorities changes, depending on a host of factors including age, class, race and region of the world. JAC Stringer, founder of Heartland Trans Wellness Group in Cincinnati, has published a list of terms, from which this selection is adapted.
Etiquette notes: Advocates for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people say it is polite to ask for preferred names, terms and pronouns. It is not polite to ask a transgender person if he or she has had surgery or is considering surgery.
Assigned Sex: The sex that one is labeled at birth, generally by a medical or birthing professional, from an examination of genitalia. Another term is designated sex.
Bottom surgery: Surgery on the genitals to align the physical body to a gender identity and expression.
Cisgender: A person whose gender identity is aligned with his or her body at birth. Usage: cis-woman or cis-man.
Closeted: Someone who does not or cannot disclose a gender identity to others.
Coming out: The process of accepting one's sexuality, gender identity or intersex status. Also the process of sharing that information with others.
FTM or F2M: A person who was designated female at birth and identifies as male, lives as a man or identifies predominantly as masculine.
Gatekeepers: Used by gender communities to refer to the medical and psychiatric system that controls access to transition-related resources and health care.
Gender : A combination of identity, expression and social elements related to masculinity and femininity. Includes identity, expression, roles and attribution.
Gender-affirming surgery: Procedures to alter or change physical sex characteristics to better express gender identity. May include removal or augmentation of breasts/chest or alteration or reconstruction of genitals. Preferred term to "sex-change surgery."
Gender dysphoria: Term usedin the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition.Emotional or mental dissonance between the desired concept of a body and what the body is, especially in reference to parts/features that do not align or promote to gender identity.
Gender identity: A sense of being male, female, both, neither or something else. Since gender identity is internal, it is not necessarily visible to others.
Hormone Therapy : Administration of hormones to affect development of secondary sex characteristics to enhance the ability to physically become or resemble another.
Intersex: One born with sex chromosomes, external genitalia and/or an internal reproductive system not considered "standard" for either male or female. Preferred term to hermaphrodite.
LGBTQPIA: Acronym representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, pansexual, intersex and asexual. Often shortened to LGBT or LGBTQ.
MTF or M2F: Aperson designated male at birth and identifies as female, lives as a woman or identifies as feminine.
Passing : The ability to present oneself as an actual gender versus what one may be perceived as based on sex traits.
Pronouns : Grammatical element referring to a person on the basis of gender, traditionally he, him, his, himself and she, her, hers, herself. A subset of pronouns are "gender neutral": examples include ze; hir and hirs; ey, em, eirs; ze, zir and zirs, or singular they.
Questioning: A person who is questioning or analyzing sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Top Surgery: Surgery on the chest to align the physical body to a gender identity and expression. May refer to a bilateral mastectomy or breast augmentation.
Transgender: An umbrella term for a diverse community of people whose gender identity differs from that which they were designated at birth on the basis of physical sex characteristics. Also expressions and identities that challenge the binary male/female gender system in a given culture.
Transition: (noun)The coming-out process of a transgender man or woman; may be continual or deemed to be a set period of time or series of events. (verb) To physically change the appearance, body, self-describing language or life to accord with gender identity. May involve social transition (language, clothing, behavior or legal documents) and physical transition (medical care such as hormones and/or surgery).
Transsexual: A person whose gender identity is different from the sex at birth and has taken any or all steps of physical transition to make the body congruent to gender identity and the conventional concept of sexually male and female bodies. Considered a relative term.