a term used historically and within the medical field to identify ge-netic/biological/hormonal/physical characteristics (including genitalia), which are used to classify an individual as female, male or intersex.
cross-dresser:
a person who, on occasion, wears clothing considered typical for another gender, but who does not necessarily desire to change their gender. Reasons for cross-dressing can range from a need to express a feminine or masculine side to attainment of erotic gratification. Cross-dressers can be of any sexual orientation. Many cross-dressers identify as heterosexual.
drag king/drag queen:
wearing the clothing of another gender, often involving the presenta-tion of exaggerated, stereotypical gender characteristics. Individuals may identify as drag kings (female in drag) or drag queens (male in drag) when performing gender as parody, art or entertainment.
gender:
a social construct based on a group of emotional and psychological characteristics that classify an individual as feminine, masculine, androgynous or other. Gender can be un-derstood to have several components, including gender identity, gender expression and gender role.
gender identity:
the inner sense of being a man, a male, a woman, a female, both, neither, butch (favouring masculine dress and behaviour), femme (favouring feminine dress and be-haviour), androgynous, bigender or another configuration of gender. Gender identity usually matches with one's physical anatomy but sometimes does not. Gender identity includes one's sense of self and the image that one presents to the world.
gender dysphoria:
an intense, continuous discomfort resulting from an individual's sense of the inappropriateness of their assigned gender at birth and resulting gender role expecta-tions. Also, a clinical psychological diagnosis that offends many in transgender communities but is often required in order to receive medical services such as hormones and surgery.
genderqueer/fluid gender:
a term used by some people who may or may not fit on the spectrum of trans, or be labelled as trans, but who identify their gender and sexual orienta-tion to be somewhere on the continuum in between or outside the binary gender system al-together.
sexual reassignment surgery:
the surgery or surgeries that medically alter someone's body, especially in regards to genitalia or secondary sex characteristics. Sought to attain harmony between one's body and one's gender identity.
gender role:
the social expectation of how an individual should act, think and feel, based upon one's assigned gender, the social expectation that an individual must be defined as a man or woman.
hormone therapy:
administration of hormones to develop characteristics of a different gen-der than the one that was assigned at birth. This is a process, possibly lifelong, of taking hor-mones to change one's internal body chemistry.
intersex:
a person born with an anatomy or a physiology that differs from cultural ideals of male and female. Intersexuals may be born with "ambiguous genitalia" and/or experience hormone-production levels that vary from those of culturally "ideal" females and males.
LGBT:
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender.
queer:
historically and currently used as a slur targeting those perceived to transgress "norms" of sexual orientation and/or gender expression. In the 1980's and 1990's, "queer" was increasingly reclaimed and popularised by some LGBT communities as a positive term of self-identification. More recently, this term has been used to identify trans, bisexual, les-bian, intersex, gay, and heterosexual individuals who are progressive sexual and gender outlaws in some way or another.
transgender or trans:
a term used to describe those who transgress social gender norms; often used as an umbrella term to include transsexual, genderqueer, gender nonconforming individuals, cross-dressers, etc. People must self-identify as transgender in order for the term to be appropriately used to describe them.
transphobia:
the irrational fear of those who are perceived to break or blur stereotypical gender roles, often expressed as stereotyping, discrimination, harassment and violence. Fre-quently directed at those perceived as expressing their gender in a transgressive way, those who defy stereotypical gender norms or those who are perceived to exhibit nonheterosexual characteristics regardless of their actual gender identity or sexual orientation.
transsexual:
someone who experiences intense, persistent, long-term discomfort with their body and self-image due to the belief that their assigned gender is inappropriate. This per-son may then take steps to adapt or change their body, gender role and gender expression to achieve what they know their true gender to be. Depending on their respective stage in the transitioning process, individuals may refer to themselves as "pre-op" (before sexual re-assignment surgery), "post-op" (after sexual reassignment surgery), or "non-op" (someone who does not feel the need for a surgical change). MTF refers to male to female transsexu-als, while FTM refers to female to male transsexuals.
adapted from: T. Aaron Hans, "Words We Speak, Words We Tweak: A List of Gender Terms," http://www.riseconsulting.org (2003).
