Sex, Sexuality, and Gender Glossary: Reference Sheet

This handout is adapted from the Trans 101 workshop that was originally put together by the Trans/Gender Alliance at McGill University around 2004-05.

 

Adaptations & updates were made by a working group of the Union for Gender Empowerment, also at McGill, in 2008 (due to the fact that the T/GA was at that point defunct). Changes were made and approved via consensus, but we would like to make clear that this is workshop is not a claim to expertise, but rather a tool for some education and an introduction to thinking about trans issues.

 

Disclaimer: None of the terms given below have a single, set, dictionary definition. The meanings of terms such as these change all the time, and it is important to know what each person means when they use a given term to describe themselves or others. If a person chooses to identify with a term, it is theirs to claim, regardless of whether they fit into the definition given below.

Gender: The expression, behaviour or identification of a person considered as masculine, feminine, androgynous or any mix thereof. Not necessarily dependent on the sex one is assigned at birth or on sexual characteristics. Different communities and cultures have different ways of thinking of gender and classifying people into different genders.

 

Sex: The male or female (or intersex) classification that one is assigned at birth and based upon one's anatomy. One’s sex is often thought of as a much more concrete matter than it actually is: a person's assigned sex may or may not be the same as their present anatomical sex which may or may not be the same as their sex of identity. Even purely biological sex can be defined in term of chromosomes, anatomy, hormones, or any combination, and there are always people who are male under one definition and female under another.

Gender identity: One's inner feelings of being a woman, man, or something else entirely.

 

Gender expression or presentation: How one expresses oneself, in terms of dress and/or behaviours that can be characterized in ways including (but not limited to) feminine and masculine.

 

Intersex: People who are born with or develop primary and secondary sex characteristics that do not fit neatly into society's definitions of male or female. Many intersex babies/children receive surgical intervention (without their consent and sometimes without their knowledge) to make their sex characteristics conform to binary expectations. Intersex people do not necessarily identify as trans. While some people may identify with the term hermaphrodite, intersex is considered a more neutral term.

 

Transgender: Used most often as an umbrella term to include the following: those whose gender identity, behaviour, or expression is different from their assigned sex; those whose gender changes at some point in their lives; those who identify as a gender outside the man/woman binary; those who have no gender or multiple genders; those who perform gender or play with it (e.g. in drag contexts); and others.

 

Cisgender: Identifying with the gender assigned to you at birth. Some people say non-transgender.

Transssexual: Those who identify as members of a sex that is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Many pursue hormones and/or surgical interventions, but not all those who pursue such medical interventions identify as transsexual.

 

Cissexual: Julia Serano defines this term to refer to “people who are not transsexual and who have only ever experienced their subconscious and physical sexes as being aligned.”

Trans: A term commonly used to refer to transgendered and/or transexual people. While it is often used as an umbrella term, some people identify just as trans. Used as an adjective, not as a prefix. In other words, it’s appropriate to say trans person, not transperson.

 

Gender Non-conforming: A term for individuals whose gender expression is different from societal expectations related to gender.

 

Transition: The process of changing one's gender expression. It may include any combination of coming out; changing one's dress, appearance, and mannerisms; changing one's name and/or pronouns; hormones; surgery.

 

Passing: The act of living and/or being perceived as a certain gender, sexuality, etc. This is often used to refer to “succeeding” at presenting the gender a person identifies with, but people can pass in other circumstances, sometimes even when they don't want to. The word passing was originally used in the contexts of people of mixed African-American and white heritage in the U.S.A. who could pass for white.

 

MTF: A person who transitions from the “male” end of the spectrum towards the “female” end.

FTM: A person who transitions from the “female” end of the spectrum towards the “male” end.

Trans man: A trans person identifying or living as a man. Usually FTM or intersex-to-male. Often will simply identify as a man without the prefix “trans.”

Trans woman: A trans person identifying or living as a woman. Usually MTF or intersex-to-female. Often will simply identify as a woman without the prefix “trans.”

Queer: A term that was once (and in some places, still is) derogatory. It has been reclaimed to refer to those of non-normative sexualities. Can be used as an umbrella term to refer to gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, cisgendered people, transgendered people, allies, and others, although some people simply identify as 'queer' and nothing else. Not all people in the above subcategories identify as queer, and many people not in the above groups do.

Genderqueer: A term used to refer to non-normative gender identities. It can be used as an umbrella term to cover all gender identities other than man-born-male and woman-born-female, or can be used to refer to a specific gender that is neither man nor woman. The terms “gender variant,” “gender outlaw,” “omnigendered,” “polygendered,” and others, all refer to people falling under the genderqueer umbrella.

 

Two Spirit: A term used among many Native American and Canadian First Nations indigenous groups to refer to people whose gender-variant sexualities and/or gender identities are seen as non-normative by colonialist non-native mainstream culture. While this concept might overlap with our concept of queer or genderqueer, this concept can only be fully understood from within Aboriginal culture.

 

Crossdresser: A person who crosses gender boundaries by the way they dress at least partially or part of the time. While some people may identify with the term transvestite, crossdresser is considered a more neutral term.

 

Drag King: A person who performs a masculine role but may or may not have any masculine expression in their everyday life; generally in reference to a stage performance.

 

Drag Queen: A person who performs a feminine role but may or may not have any feminine expression in their everyday life; generally in reference to a stage performance.

 

Ally: A person who actively supports the struggles of a minority or oppressed identity group (such as trans people) but may not be a member of that group themselves.

 

Femme: A feminine gender presentation, often used to describe a more exaggerated femininity than what society expects. This word is used by and about people who identify as men, women, and/or genderqueer.

 

Butch: A masculine gender presentation, often used to describe a more exaggerated masculinity than what society expects. This word is used by and about people who identify as men, women, and/or genderqueer.

 

Gay: Used to describe people who are attracted to people of their same gender.

 

Lesbian: Used to describe people who identify as women who are attracted to other people who identify as women.

 

Bisexual: Used to describe people who are attracted to both men and women.

 

Androgynous: A gender presentation that combines parts of masculine and feminine gender presentations.