Transgender Terms
Internet Resources
Gender Identity – The gender that a person feels
they are. The gender you are when you wake up in
the morning and go to sleep at night.
One of the oldest, most comprehensive and reliable
sources of information for and about transsexual and
transgender people on the net. Online since 1996!
Gender Presentation – The gender that a person
shows to others and often to the world at large. It is
the ‘performance’ of gender that we all do, whether
consciously or unconsciously.
Transgender – A person who transitions from one
gender to another.
Cisgender – A person who identifies as the gender
they were identified as at birth.
HRT – Hormone Replacement Therapy. The artificial hormone regimen that many transgender people
use to physically realign their bodies to their chosen
gender.
SRS – Sex Reassignment Surgery. The operation
performed to change the genitals of a transsexual
person. Also often referred to as GRS, Gender Reassignment Surgery, or Gender/Sex Affirmation/
Confirmation Surgery or other variants thereof. It
usually refers specifically to Vaginoplasty (the construction of an artificial vagina or Phalloplasty (the
construction of an artificial penis).
Passing – Being perceived as one’s chosen gender.
Gender Role – Societal expectations of gender.
http://www.tsroadmap.com
http://www.ftmi.org
Similarly, one of the oldest, most respected groups
offering support and information for Female to Male
spectrum individuals.
101
http://www.transequality.org
The National Center for Transgender Equality. A national political advocacy organization for transgender people.
Printed Resources
“Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and
the Rest of Us”
By Kate Bornstein
This book was a huge influence on me and remains
an essential primer for anyone trying to think about
gender in new ways.
“Stone Butch Blues”
By Leslie Feinberg
A semi-autobiographical novel of a trans-masculine
person coming of age and discovering themselves in
the era before the Stonewall Riots. An essential read
for LGBTQ folks. You will almost certainly cry.
Popular Gender Variant and Gender Neutral
Pronouns – Ze, Hir, Herm, They, Them and Their
all may be used at various times to refer to a person
without specifying gender. When in doubt about a
person’s preferred pronouns, it is best to simply ask.
Everything you ever wanted to know (that I
have the space to tell you) about Transgender people, that will fit on a handy tri-fold
pamphlet that you could carry in your
purse or your very manly “satchel”!
Transcending
Boundaries
guide to
Transgender
by
Lorelei Erisis
Mx – An honorific, like Mr, Mrs, or Ms, sometimes
used by GenderQueer folks.
Zister – A similarly gender variant or gender neutral honorific. Also sometimes used to refer to a gender variant or gender neutral sibling.
Transgender
http://www.transcendingboundaries.org/
© Transcending Boundaries, Inc. 2012
http://www.transcendingboundaries.org/
“There’s so many different terms and expressions flying around! What do they all mean?!? What’s the difference between “Transsexual”, “Transgender” and
“Transvestite”!?!?!!???? I’m so confused.”
So you’re curious enough to pick up a pamphlet.
That’s a good start. The next thing to do is Don’t
Panic. Take a breath, all will become clear.
There are a lot of terms and expressions you will hear
and since English is very much a living language, the
meanings are often changing. So even anything I tell
you might not be the same answer you’ll get from
someone else.
That’s an important thing to remember actually. It’s a
Grey world out there. There are very few Black and
White answers, especially when it comes to gender.
But here are some relatively solid places to start.
“Transgender”, which you’ve probably seen bandied
about a bit, is an umbrella term. It refers to a spectrum
of people who are transitioning their gender identity and/or presentation from one gender to another.
Also, it may refer to folks whose gender doesn’t fit
precisely into a single gender role and may even be
in a regular state of flux.
Transgender is not a sexual orientation, like gay or
straight. It is not a political view like socialist or libertarian. Nor is it a “lifestyle choice”, like polyamory
or republicans.
Though being transgender, altering one’s gender identity and/or presentation may intertwine
with and affect all of those things! It is not necessarily connected to any of them.
What we tend to have in a common is a desire
to change our gender identification or presentation from that which we have been labeled with by
others to that which we feel is more true to ourselves and our own feelings.
It may be a permanent, physical transition of gender identity, involving surgery, hormones and lots
of paperwork, such as that which Transsexual peo-
ple undergo. Physically changing their bodies and
documentation to match the gender they believe they
were meant to be in the first place.
Or it may be a temporary alteration of one’s gender
presentation. Such as Crossdressers, who will wear
the clothing of a different gender in order, among
other things, to feel more “feminine” or
more “masculine”. Though their gender
identity may remain consistent.
A “Transvestite” is more of less the same
thing, though usually English. A cultural difference. Another shade of grey.
Drag Queens and Drag Kings also engage in a
form of crossdressing, though generally more for
entertainment purposes. There being a long and
rich history of this particular performance style going all the way back through Shakespearean times.
Intersex folks are born with ambiguously gendered physical traits and may or may not identify
as transgender as well. All too often, the gender of
an intersex child will be decided upon by a doctor
shortly after birth. Their gender roles imposed upon
them surgically.
Another word you will increasingly hear is “GenderQueer”. People who identify as GenderQueer, may
alter their gender identities and gender presentations
in many of the ways listed above. Though they tend
to be more fluid about it. Very often they may not
identify as part of the traditionally recognized
gender binary of Male or Female. They may instead identify as a “Third Gender”, as no particular gender at all or even all of the above. They
may also use Gender Variant Neologisms (new
words for gender), alternate pronouns you might
not have heard before. Such as “ze” or “hir”.
A transgender person may throughout the course of
their life journey identify with any number of these
labels. Or they may have a solid and unwavering
sense identifying them with only one. As human
beings, we evolve and discover ourselves in much
the same way as anyone else might. I myself have
variously tried out many of these labels in my own
journey of self-understanding. Though I have always
known I was a woman, it took a long time to find the
words and ideas to express that and accept it within
myself.
Transgender people come from all walks
of life and socio-economic strata. We
exist in cultures around the world and
have been found throughout history. And
not all of those peoples fit neatly within our
own, Eurocentric ideas of what “transgender”
means.
There are the “Travestis” of Brazil, who though
they might fit our every criteria of a transgender
woman, don’t necessarily identify as women in the
way, say, I do. Or the Native American “Two-Spirit”
people, who would embody a number of different
gender roles and were often considered important in
the spiritual life of a tribe.
Often in the past, transgender people (in this culture)
have hidden ourselves away. We have either stayed
completely in the closet, or we have transitioned to
our “true” gender and then done the best we could to
blend back in to society. To “Pass” in our new gender roles, unnoticed and as safe as was possible in a
world which was often violently hostile to any sort of
perceived deviancy.
That, however has been changing rapidly over the
past couple of decades. Increasingly we are standing
up to be counted. Strong and proud. We have been
fighting for the basic rights, all too often denied to us.
We have not suddenly appeared out of nowhere, we
are not a new phenomenon, even though you may
only just have heard about us. But more of us all
the time are done with hiding in plain sight, afraid to
recognized.
In fact you probably know a transgender person already! Even if you don’t realize it yet.
Slainte!