Gender Terms Courtesy of http://neonsigh.tumblr.com/

If you have a term you think ought to be added or edited or just a typo I missed just shoot me a message.  

Check out the PDF of the list here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bx_PqZ8BOrCKcWVodnFPMFZSdUU

And you can see my professional (-ish) blog at, jessmbear.blogspot.com, though there’s almost nothing on there at the moment but I plan for that to change soon.

• Agender: Some agender people would define their identity as being neither a man nor a woman while others would define agender as not having any gender.

• Androgyne: As a gender identity it can overlap with an androgynous gender expression but not always. Androgynes may define their identity in a variety of ways, feeling as if they are between man and woman or a totally separate identity.

• Androgynous: Having neither a clearly masculine or feminine appearance or blending masculine and feminine.

• Bigender/Trigender/Pangender: People who feel they are two, three, or all genders. They may shift between these genders or be all of them at the same time.

• Binarism: Erasing, ignoring or expressing hate towards people who identify outside of the gender binary. Also supporting the incorrect idea that the only legitimate genders are man and woman, and ignoring all others.

• Boi: This is a term used in a variety of ways by a variety of communities though it generally communicates a level of identification with maleness and/or masculinity. However, because of the versatility of this word this isn’t always the case.

• Bottom surgery: Any of a variety of gender-related surgeries dealing with genitalia. They can include: vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, vaginectomy, metoidoplasty, orchidectomy, scrotoplasty and others.

• Butch: A masculine gender expression which can be used to describe people of any gender. Butch can also be a gender identity to some.

• CAFAB/FAAB/AFAB: Coercively assigned female at birth, female assigned at birth, and assigned female at birth. These terms refer to what gender you were assigned at birth (in this case female, thus you are expected to be a girl/woman), and are important because many trans* people use them as a way to talk about their gender identity without being pinned down to more essentialist narratives about their “sex” or what gender they “used to be”.

• CAMAB/MAAB/AMAB: Coercively assigned male at birth, male assigned at birth, and assigned male at birth. These terms refer to what gender you were assigned at birth (in this case male, thus you are expected to be a boy/man), and are important because many trans* people use them as a way to talk about their gender identity without being pinned down to more essentialist narratives about their “sex” or what gender they “used to be”.

• Cisgender: Someone whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth, someone who is not trans*. Cisgender is often shortened to cis.

• Cisgender Privilege: The privileges cisgender people have because their gender identities match their assigned gender and because they are considered “normal”. For example, cis people don’t have to worry about violence and institutionalized discrimination due to their gender identities.

• Cissexism: Erasing trans* people and their experiences, and/or expressing hatred and bigotry towards trans* people.

• Cissexual: Sometimes this term is used synonymously with cisgender, other times it functions as an opposite to transexual in referring to someone who has done nothing to physically change gendered parts their body. Some find this term to be inaccurate or questionable as it puts a lot of the focus of trans* identity on physical transition.

• Cross dresser: Someone who dresses as and presents themselves as a gender other than the one they typically identify with. Cross dressing can be purely aesthetic, sexual, a facet of someone’s gender identity, or have other meanings.

• Demigirl: Someone who identifies with being a girl or a woman on some level but not completely.

• Demiguy: Someone who identifies with being a boy, guy, or a man on some level but not completely.

• Drag: Taking on the appearance and characteristics associated with a certain gender, usually for entertainment purposes and often to expose the humorous and performative elements of gender.

• Dyadic: Used as an adjective, this refers to non-intersex people.

• Dysphoria: Unhappiness or sadness with all or some gendered aspects of one’s body, or in response to social misgendering. Some trans* people experience dysphoria, some don’t.

• Female bodied: A term for someone assigned female at birth. Though still occasionally used this term is very problematic as it genders bodies non-consensually and plays into cissexism (in that breasts or a vulva, for example, are considered inherently female).

• Femme: A feminine gender expression which can be used to describe people of any gender.  Femme is also be a gender identity to some.

• Ftm/f2m/female to male: A term usually synonymous with trans man but also occasionally used by other FAAB trans* people. This term is problematic to some FAAB trans* people as they feel they were never female and because X to Y terms can put too much focus on traditional means of physical transition.

• Full Time: Living as and attempting to pass as your true gender identity one hundred percent of the time. This term is problematic to some because it can put a lot of the focus on the physical aspects of trans* identity and ignore the processes many people go through to accept themselves and to come out if they choose to. It is also a term that is getting to be a bit outdated but it’s still used in some communities.

• Gender: A complex combination of roles, expressions, identities, performances, and more which is assigned gendered meaning. Gender is self-defined as well as defined by our larger society and how gender is embodied and defined varies from culture to culture and from person to person.

• Gender assignment: The gender we are assigned at birth, usually based on genitals alone. It is assumed that our identities should and will match this assignment but this isn’t the case for most trans* people.

• Gender attribution: The act of categorizing people we come into contact with as male, female, or unknown. Gender attribution is questionable because it can lead to misgendering people unintentionally because one can never know a person’s gender identity just by looking at them.

• Gender binary: The pervasive social system that tells us there can only be masculine cis men and feminine cis women, and there can be no alternatives in terms of gender identity or expression.

• Gender expression: How one expresses their gender outwardly and/or the facets of a person’s expression which have gendered connotations in our culture. There is no right or wrong way to express your gender.

• Gender fuck: The act of messing with gendered expectations on purpose; the intentional crossing, mixing, and blending of gender-specific signals.

• Gender gifted: This term can be used very broadly to include any and all trans* and/or gender non-conforming people. It is a celebratory word that highlights how amazing it can be to have a unique and non-normative gender.

• Gender identity: An individual’s internal sense of what gender they are. One’s gender identity may or may not align with their assigned gender, and one’s gender identity is not visible to others.

• Gender neutral pronouns: Pronouns other than the usually gendered he or she. Some examples are ze/hir/hirs, and they/them/their but there are many others.

• Gender nonconforming (GNC): Not fully conforming to gendered social expectations, whether that be in terms of expression, roles, or performance.

• Gender panic: The fear and revulsion some experience when presented with a person who does not meet their expectations for gender performance, expression, identity or roles.

• Gender role: Cultural expectations for what people should do with their lives, what activities they should enjoy or excel at, and how they should behave, based on what their gender is.

• Genderfluid: This term can be used as a specific identity or as a way of articulating the changing nature of one’s gender identity or expression. People who are genderfluid may feel that their gender identity or expression is constantly changing, or that it switches back and forth.

• Genderless: A term very similar to agender but sometimes with more of a focus on not having a gender.

• Genderqueer: This term can be used as an umbrella term for all people who queer gender, as a somewhat similar term to gender nonconforming, or as a specific non-binary gender identity. As an umbrella term is can include gender nonconforming people, non-binary people, and much more. As a specific identity it can generally be understood as a gender that is neither man nor woman, possible in between the two or seen as a totally separate gender altogether.

• GSM: An acronym standing for gender and sexuality minorities. GSM is a useful term as it is succinct and it is very inclusive, including people who are gay, queer, bisexual, intersex, pansexual, asexual, lesbians, transgender/trans*, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, kink, polyamorous, and more.

• Hermaphrodite: An out of date and generally offensive term for intersex people. Some intersex people may seek to reclaim this term but as a rule, if you’re not intersex don’t use it.

• Intergender: Those who feel their gender identity is in between man and woman, is both man and woman, or is outside of the binary of man and woman. This term is sometimes used by intersex people who are also non-binary.

• Intersex: A person born with any manner of supposed “ambiguity” in terms of gendered physical characteristics. This can include reproductive organs, genitals, hormones, chromosomes, or any combination there of.

• LGBT: A common acronym which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender/trans*.  There are other variations similar to this acronym, such as LGBTQQIAA which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr