Terminology
Many of these terms have similar meanings and individuals may use one or more of them to self-identify. It is always best to allow someone to self-identify and only then use those terms for that person.
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Agender | A person who does not identify with any gender.
Androgynous | Used to describe someone who expresses their gender with a mixture of masculine and feminine traits, or with traits that are neither strictly masculine nor feminine.
Bigender | Having two genders that can be expressed separately or simultaneously. They may identify as a man and woman, or as a man or woman and gender neutral.
Binary gender | The concept that gender is grouped into only two categories: man and woman. This is outdated and doesn’t encompass the full range of gender identity and expression.
Binary sex | The belief that there are only two categories of sex: male and female. This is outdated and doesn’t account for intersex and non-binary people.
Cis or cisgender | A person whose gender identity aligns with or matches their assigned sex at birth.
Cishet | A person whose gender identity aligns with their birth-assigned sex (cisgender) and who are sexually attracted to the opposite sex (heterosexual).
Cissexism | The assumption that every person is naturally cisgender and that it is unusual or deviant to identify as anything else.
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Clocking | A transperson being identified as presenting an incongruent or confusing public gender expression.
Cross-dressing | Wearing clothes that aren’t traditionally associated with one’s gender. This as replaced the outdated and offensive term transvestite.
Deadnaming | Calling someone by their birth name after they have changed their name.
Drag king | A performer who uses hyper-exaggerated masculine traits for art or entertainment. The performer usually identifies as a woman, but not always.
Drag queen | A performer who uses hyper-exaggerated feminine traits for art or entertainment. The performer usually identifies as a man, but not always.
FTM | Female to male, generally used by a transgender person who identifies as a man but was assigned female at birth.
Gender | How a person identifies themselves, their body, their identity, and their self-expression. Gender is not always aligned with sex.
Gender affirming healthcare | Healthcare that attends to the physical, mental, and social health needs of trans and non-binary people. It can include gender-affirming surgery.
Gender dysphoria | The clinical term for the distress felt when a person’s gender identity is not the same as their sex assigned at birth.
Gender euphoria | The experience of feeling positively about your gendered self.
Gender-expansive | A relatively new term that is becoming preferred to gender non-conforming as a more positive term for someone who does not follow gender stereotypes.
Gender expression | The way a person publicly expresses or presents their gender. This can be through outward appearance, chosen name, or preferred pronouns. A person’s gender identity is separate from their sexual orientation.
Gender-fluid | When a person does not have a fixed gender identity.
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Gender identity | Each person’s experience of gender. It is a person’s internal and individual sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum. A person’s gender identity may or may not be the same their sex assigned at birth.
Gender non-conforming | Describes individuals do not follow gender stereotypes and may or may not identify as trans or transgender.
Gender roles and expectations | The idea that a person’s birth-assigned sex determines the roles that person is expected to fulfil and the traits and behaviors that are appropriate for them. These are often reinforced by society and the media.
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Gender transition | The process of aligning a person’s gender identity with their gender expression. This can be through names, pronouns, dress, or other outward appearance or through medical interventions to modify their body.
Genderqueer | A person who does not subscribe to traditional gender distinctions. They may identify as neither, both, or some combination of a woman and man.
Gendervoid | A person who lacks a gender identity and has a sense of loss or a void as a result.
Intersex | A person born with either some combination of both male and female sex characteristics (genital organs, hormones, chromosomes) or certain genital variations that don't align with either biological sex.
LGBTI+ | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Intersex. The + sign signifies that there are other categories of gender and sexual orientation. Other variations are LGBT, LBBTQ+ (queer/questioning), and LGBTQIA+ (asexual).
Misgender/ Mispronoun | Using a word that does not reflect a person’s gender.
MTF | Male to female, generally used by a transgender person who identifies as a woman but was assigned male at birth.
Non-binary | A person who does not identify as exclusively male or female.
Omnigender | Identifies with all genders and are often gender-fluid.
Pangender | A person who identifies as all genders at once.
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Passing | In the context of gender, when a person is perceived as a gender or sex other than the sex they were assigned at birth.
Pronouns | Used to refer to a person in place of their name. Common pronouns are they/them, he/him, and she/her.
Queer | While queer has been (and sometimes still is) used as a slur, it has been reclaimed by many in the community as a catch all term for anyone who identifies as anything other than straight and cisgender.
Sex | The anatomical classification of people as male, female, or intersex, usually assigned at birth. Sex is not always aligned with gender.
Sexual orientation | A person’s identity in relation to the gender or genders they are romantically and/or sexually attracted to. A person’s sexual orientation is separate from their gender identity.
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Third Gender | Many cultures do not construct gender as a binary but instead have a third gender distinct from “man” and woman.” These third genders include, but are not limited to:
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Baklâ | In the Philippines, a person who was birth-assigned male but has a feminine gender expression.
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Fa'afafine | Accepted as a natural gender in Samoa, they are anatomically male but dress and behave in typically feminine ways.
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Hijras | Officially recognized as a third gender in the Indian subcontinent, hijras have a recorded history since antiquity.
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Khanith | A third gender in Oman, the khanith are male are gay male prostitutes who wear traditionally male clothing, but have traditionally female mannerisms.
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Muxe | Used in Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca (southern Mexico) to describe a person assigned male at birth who dresses and behaves in traditionally female ways.
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Two-spirit | Used by some Indigenous communities to refer to someone who identifies as having both a masculine and feminine spirit.
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Vakasalewalewa | People from Fiji who were born assigned male at birth but who have a feminine gender expression.
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X-gender | A Japanese third gender that came into use in the later 1990s.
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Trans or transgender | A person whose gender identity does not conform to their birth-assigned gender.
Trans feminine | A trans person whose gender identity and/or expression is closer to femininity than masculinity.
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Trans masculine | A trans person whose gender identity and/or expression is closer to masculinity than to femininity.
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Transphobia | Fear or dislike of someone based on the fact that they are trans.
Transsexual | A person whose gender identity does not conform to their birth-assigned gender. A subset of transgender people prefer this term.
Being transgender is not just a medical transition;
it’s discovering who you are, living your life authentically,
loving yourself, and spreading that love towards other people and accepting one another no matter the difference.
Jazz Jennings