assigned sex: It is the sex you were attributed at birth based on a very cursory examination of your genitals.
bigendered: "Those who feel they have both a male and a female side to their personalities."
24 / 7 Twenty-four hours / Seven days a week. An individual who, generally, has not yet undergone sex reassignment but prefers to live and work in the gender role opposite to that of their birth.
49ER A very large, generally muscular and heavy-built, male dressed in female attire who's real gender identity is obvious.
TG Transgender
Continuum is all the gray in between the difference between say black and white, hot and cold, light or dark, loud or soft, and in particular man or woman, male or female, masculine or feminine. Simplified binary thinking that there is only white or black, man or woman only looks at the fringe or outside limits of the two items being compared. The reality is that there is a continuum (an infinite combination of mixture of the two items being compared as opposite, for example: black to white; man to woman; or masculine to feminine). Through out these definitions keep in mind there is a continuum that applies.
Androgyny derived from 'andro-, meaning male man, and gyne-, meaning female or woman.
Androgynous having both male and female characteristics. In the contents of having genitals of both sexes ... Hermaphroditic.
BAD Boy-in-A-Dress. A young man just starting out on the life journey of transition. Usually used as a derogatory term for an inexperienced young male who has yet to learn the art female dress and the application and use of cosmetics.
Being Read a TG term meaning you did not pass while dressed as a member of your opposite sex.
Biology a scientific study of life, or living matter in all forms and processes. Terms such as male, female, and "man or woman" (as it is used and refers to an adult male or female) are biological terms. Terms such as gender, masculine feminine and "man or woman" (as it is used and refers to modes being) are not biological terms.
Bisexual is combining both male and female organs in one individual: hermaphroditic. In the contents of sexual orientation: a person that is sexually responsive to both sexes (males and female).
Boy-Girl Event a TG term that usually refers to a heterosexual couples event where the male dresses as a male and female dresses as a female.
Cross-dresser (CD) is used to describe a person who wears clothing usually considered appropriate for the opposite sex. In the TG community this term is preferred over transvestite because transvestite implies the cross-dressing is driven by sexual excitement where cross-dressers drive is emotional.
DRAG originally coined by Shakespeare to mean DRessed As a Girl for his male actors who played all the parts including the women parts in his plays. Today, it is used in the gay community to refer to cross-dressing, usually erotic feminine attire also called High Drag.
Drag Queen usually a gay male that cross-dresses and prefers the drag image to perform in front of audiences.
En-Femme a TG term that usually refers to a male cross-dresser when dressed as a female.
Feeding them... Accentuating a particular physical characteristic usually to attract specific attention to one's attributes... as in "feeding them waist and hips"... accentuating the smallness of your waist and the fullness of your hips.
Eonism was used to describe a person who wears clothing usually considered appropriate for the opposite sex before the term transvestite was coined. From the real life story of a Frenchman, Chevalier Charles D'Eon, who was a 18th. century transvestite under the orders of King Louis XV to spy in London as a woman.
Female a scientific biological term, identified by biological criteria such as sexual function, chromosomes, and hormones. In the TG community it refers to genetic girl/female.
Female Impersonator usually a professional entertainer that perform in drag. Many FI's do have cosmetic surgeries to enhance their feminine appearance. Many are gay.
Female to Male (MtF) refers to a transsexual that is working towards or has made the sexual surgical transition from female to male.
Feminine pertains to the characteristic or behavior of a woman or a girl. A term of gender that is given to identify a quality of Nature. What is feminine is a matter of the prevailing opinion of society and not a matter of biological fact. Ships are commonly referred to as feminine because they provide a warm and nurturing atmosphere as the ship comforts it's crew across powerful and dangerous oceans.
Femmiphile coined by Virginia Prince founder of the Foundation for Personality Expression now known as the Society (in 1960) for the Second Self (Tri-Ess). Intended to provide a term for avowed 'heterosexual males' who enjoyed cross-dressing, femmiphile was born. Fem-, meaning feminine was combined with -phile, meaning lover. Femmiphile means 'lover of the feminine'.
Fetish is an object or part of a body that , although not sexual itself, elicits an erotic response. Fetishism is the condition in which erotic feelings are excited by a non sexual object or objects. Most people who cross-dress have and do experience sexual erotic feelings from seeing themselves in certain clothing of the opposite sex. Cross-dressers that have built a cadre of friends, or have become active in the TG community or organizational work have expanded their rewards for cross-dressing far beyond sexual excitement. Many cross-dressers experience happiness, peace of mind through this expression.
FI Female Impersonator. One whose art is that of impersonating women.
Gay when used to refer to one's sexual orientation it means to be sexually attracted to the same sex. In the homosexual community gay refers to the homosexual male.
Gender originally a grammar tool, a classification to give the proper inflection to words (e.g. masculine, feminine, neuter). Today gender has a broader meaning taken to life itself. Gender is to "masculine & feminine" what sex is to "male & female". Gender is not a biological fact, rather a label or a value. Properly used gender applies to the psychological and sociological description of human behavior as opposed to the biological description of the human being.
Gender Community any female or male that have common interests in life ... this can include almost everyone. The TG community has adopted the term to mean transgendered community.
Gender dysphoria is when one's gender identity is incongruent with their with the social and cultural gender role. One is unhappy with their assigned social and cultural gender role. This unhappiness is due to the conflict between one's psychological disposition of how one perceives them self to be (man or woman) and the way one is perceived and treated socially by others to be (man or woman). Gender dysphoria was coined by Dr. Harry Benjamin in 1960, to be a transsexual condition. Cross-dressers experience a lesser degree of gender dysphoria.
Gender Euphoria when one's gender identity matches with their social and cultural gender role. When one feels at peace with their gender they are living as.
Gender Expression is how a person presents him/herself to be perceived as 'from male or female' by others.
GG Genetic Girl. Naturally birthed Female. (Also, GW for Genetic Woman)
Gender Identity is how a person perceives him/herself to be 'from man to woman' psychologically and sociologically no matter what biological sex they may have been born. Gender Identity as a transgender issue almost always involves gender expression of the opposite sex part of the time to all of the time. "The subjective sense of being a gender, the sense of who I am. It is also the sense of belonging to one of the gender categories, or sense of what I am. This is a pivotal point for transgendered people, in that their sense of identity can be destabilized as it meets the gender attribution that others give them. If bodies and identities are separate things, then the reality of one's own experience of belonging to category can easily be different from that of an attributer, especially if the observer believes in the coherence of sex and gender as a total system."
Gender Identity Disorder is the current term being use in the DMS which includes an expanded list of conditions to describe the disorder that was termed as gender dysphoria before. Remember that something is only a disorder if it interferes with your ability to function reasonably in society.
GM Genetic Male. Naturally birthed Male.
gender role: "the expression of gender signals through appearance, dress, performance of gender and expected social tasks, such as jobs"
Gender Variant a recent term that is being used primarily by those in the Gay & Lesbian community that refers to individuals that present themselves in appearance in the opposite gender but will not identify themselves with transgender terms. Interesting enough there is a movement in the TG community to use this term in legislation for TG rights and also to identify cross-gender behavior in young children.
Girl - Girl Event a TG community term that usually refers to a heterosexual couples event where the male dresses as female and the female dresses as female.
Helping Professional a term used to describe members of the mental therapy profession (psychiatrists, psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychopathologist, sexlogists, and etc.. Many expand the definition to include social worker, counselors, educators and members of the medical professions.
Hermaphrodite an individual born in which partial or a mix of the reproductive organs of both sexes are present. Also known as intersexed.
Heterosexual is a person who is sexually attracted to the opposite sex and gender.
Homosexual is a person that is attracted sexually to members of one's own sex and gender. Research shows that homosexuality in most is linked to a brain sexing error that occurs while the brain is developing in utero. This error is non reversible. A homosexual can be a lesbian woman or a gay male.
Hormones. Like most aspects of human chemistry, the endocrine system --which controls the body's production and balance of hormones, including sex hormones-- is still, at best, only loosely understood. However, one thing is for certain, hormones represent some of the strongest and subtlest chemicals produced by the body and should not be 'messed-with' without extreme care. Always consult a physician before using, or contemplating the use of, sex hormones on your body.
HRT Hormonal Reassignment Therapy. The introduction of the body to the hormones that affect the secondary sex characteristics of a transsexual.
Hormone Therapy refers to a process that transsexuals must go through to develop the characteristics of the sex and gender they are transitioning to. This process must always be done under the care and supervision of a licensed medical doctor. Hormones can be life threatening, especially when taken without proper medical supervision and frequent blood testing
In drab. Wearing clothes and an attitude supposedly deemed appropriate to one's gender of origin.
Intersexed is a person born with ambiguous gentiles, also referred to as a hermaphrodite. intersexual is someone whose sex may be neither male nor female. 1/500 of the population has a karyotype other than XX or XY. An old term for intersexuals is hermaphrodite
Klinefelter syndrome is when a male inherits an extra X chromosomes from either the mother or the father, their karyotype is 47XXY. Klinefelter is common and occurs is better than 1/1000 male births. The effects of Klinefelter are varied and can include: small firm testes, an absence of sperm in the ejaculate, lower production of testosterone causing some to experience various forms of physical feminization. Many men with Klinefelter are never diagnosed. In rare cases functional reproductive organs of both sexes are present at the same time, although one system (usually the male reproductive system) seems to over ride the other. In most cases surgery is needed to one of two systems complete functional although all the parts are there. There are cases of people with this condition fathering a child and after surgery getting pregnant with child.
Lesbian is a person that is attracted sexually to members of their own sex (female) and gender. In the TG community the term lesbian has been used to refer to a male with a female identity who is also attracted to a biological female.
Mahu. A traditional Hawaiian term for M2F transgendered individuals.
Male a biological term identified by biological criteria such as sexual function.
Male to Female (MtF) refers to a transsexual that is in the process or has made the sexual surgical transition from male to female.
Man defined in both biological and psycho-sociological terms one must take in account the way the word is being used for it's proper meaning. Biological definition is man is an adult male. Psycho-sociological definitions describe a person's identity, lifestyle, behavior and characteristic based on popular opinion of what is associated as being male, whether or not that person perceives himself to be male or female.
Masculine pertaining to or characteristics and behaviors attributed to the biological male by prevailing opinion (subject to change as man's behavior evolves). Masculine is a term related to gender description, women can have masculine qualities and men can have female qualities.
non-operativeRefers to transsexuals who cannot or do not want to have a genital transformative surgery because of financial, health (HIV status for example), political, or spiritual motives. Some other people decide not to have a surgery because they are concerned about their ability to achieve orgasm post-operatively.
non-transsexual This term was coined to replace the words genetic/biological/real that were (and still are) used to describe people who are not transsexuals. Since we are all genetically/biologically/really something it is inaccurate to refer to us by these terms. The use of the term "non-transsexual" also has the potential to disrupt the manner in which non-transsexuals are always seen as ultimate referents.
Passing a TG Community term referring to being perceived as the member of your opposite biological sex. The opposite of "Being Read". A term often used to describe your 'natural' ability to be accepted by most people as your preferred gender.
Persona the identification with one's sex. In Jungian psychology the human psyche contains both masculine and feminine characteristics and primordial drive of the psyche is toward wholeness. Through the socialization process a person develops an identification with their sex, and represses those elements of the psyche which manifests the opposite sex. 'Amina' is the suppressed feminine aspect of man.
post-operative A transsexual who had a genital transformative surgery.
pre-operative A transsexual who has not had a surgery but is planning on having one.
Primary Transsexual is a pre-teen to teenage transsexual with extremely strong sense of awareness, knowing and clarity that their true gender is opposite of their biological sex. They are not effected by the influence by others to act and behave according to society's norms and will act out publicly in their true gender. See definition for transsexual.
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind. Studying how we feel and think; why we act the way we do; how we perceive ourselves; how we deal with unwanted feelings such as guilt, anger, etc.; categories ending in "-ism" were coined by psychologists.
Pumped Queen. A pre or post-op transsexual that has gone overboard on using hormones and cosmetic surgery to achieve an exaggerated female look.
RLT Real Life Test. Usually a period of not less than one year in which a pre-op TS must live in the gender role they plan on adopting after surgery.
Real Life Test refers to the one year real life test required of a transsexual following the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care. The transitioning individual is required to successful live full time as the opposite sex while in hormone therapy and after changing their driver's license for one full year. The purpose of this test is see if the transsexual will be able to reasonable function as the opposite sex within society in job, social and everyday life bases.
Secondary Transsexual is a transsexual of adult age that during their pre-teen and teenage years fought to conform to societies or was encouraged by others to conform to expected norms of behavior according to their biological sex, repressing their true gender for others, and they did. These individuals have always known their true gender but went through extreme gender confusion trying to conform to the pressures of others telling them otherwise. During the adult years the secondary transsexual understands that they can not win in a battle of their true gender. A secondary transsexual is no less a transsexual than a primary transsexual, but were may have had a stronger influence from adults or peers to suppress true feelings about their gender or have personalities that strongly lean towards pleasing others. See definition for transsexual.
Sex is a biological term dividing a species into either male or female usually based on scientific proof like chromosomes, hormones, or physically characteristics. Sex is a biological fact. As we learn more about the human, researchers know for a small percentage of the population: that chromosomes alone do not determine sex in the cases of those who were born with sex reversal syndrome; that hormones alone do not determine sex in the cases of those born intersexed a condition also known as hermaphrodite (one with reproductive organs of both sexes); chromosomes, hormones, and physically characteristics combined do not always determine whether an baby will be born with a male or female brain as is demonstrated with those born transsexual.
Sex Reassignment Surgery commonly referred to as corrective surgery preformed on a transsexual after having completed all the requirements of that surgeon. The surgery consists of removal of the existing hormonal producing organs and the reconstructing the genitals to conform with the patients true gender identity. This surgery corrects the incongruence of mind and body found in transsexuals. Some in the TG community have called this physical surgical change 'gender reassignment surgery'.
Sexual Dysphoria is when one is unhappy with one's biological sex. Usually only is present when person is also experiencing extreme gender dysphoria.
Sexual Orientation also referred to by some as sexual preference. Sexual orientation is one's predisposed sexually physical and mental attraction to a person of a particular sex: like to the opposite sex (heterosexual), to the same sex (homosexual), to both sexes (bisexual), or to neither sex (A-sexual). Researchers have known that one's sexual orientation is set by the time of birth and the brain center resides in the hypothalamus. Sexual orientation and gender identity should not be confused with one another.
She-Male refers to a gay male who identifies himself as a male but presents himself as a woman for the purpose of prostituting himself to straight and bisexual males.
Significant Other (SO) identifies a person's spouse, soul mate, lover and/or live in partner.
Sociology the scientific study of the origin, development. organization, and functioning relationships of human society. Sociology is about how we interact and accept others, how we are being perceived and accepted by others, and how we want to be perceived and accepted by others. Besides personal relationships, it's also about the study of communities ... from our responsibility to the community to the communities responsibility to us. In short it is the study on how we act.
SOC Standards of Care. The guidelines established by the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, as the minimum guidelines for a Transsexual Physical and Psychological Transition.
Spit-Drag usually cross-dressing as a joke, quite often a male in high drag sporting a mustache or beard.
SRS = Sexual Reassignment Surgery.
Tranny. A popular term, not derogatory, used in Britain, Australia and New Zealand to refer to a transgender individual.
Transgender (TG) is a term that simply means to cross to the other gender. It has come to identify any person that shows expression to take on the manner, behavior, and the gender role and wants to be identified as that gender. The term transgender is being used as an all inclusive term to refer to the whole spectrum of more specific classifications of individuals that express a need to cross their physical biological gender line ... be it part or full time.
Transgenderist is a person who is living their life full time as the opposite gender of their birth sex. This person is generally not on opposite sex hormones and does not wish to have sex reassignment surgery. Some transgenderist like to let others know that although they present themselves as the opposite gender, that they consider themselves to be the gender of their birth sex. The term was coined by Virginia Prince.
Transsexual (TS) is used to describe a person who moves from their birth sex to the opposite sex. A person who works toward or who has had sex reassignment surgery (SRS). Upon SRS most post operative TS's prefer the term 'new man' or 'new woman' or just man or woman. Practical use of the term transsexual is to describe a person whose gender identity is fundamentally and irrevocably incompatible with their biological sex. Basic difference between a TV or CD and the TS is that the TV or CD is mostly interested in gender expression and the TS is mostly interested in sexual and gender identity.
Transvestite (TV) is used to describe a person who wears clothing appropriate for the opposite sex. Transvestite was coined by Dr. Mangus Hirschfeld in 1910, but today takes on a clinical guise. Transvestite is a term found in clinical descriptions. Cross-dresser is only mentioned within the transvestite definition. Clinically, a transvestite is one that shows compulsive behavior to wear the clothing of and emulate the opposite sex usually concluding with sexual gratification. Many find this gender expression to be more psychologically than sexually gratifying and prefer to be called cross-dressers. This condition is only considered a disorder if it causes the individual not to be reasonable productive in all others areas of life and society. There is no cure and studies indicate they are born this way. Many believe it is a weaker form of transsexualism.
transgenderist People who live in a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth but without wanting to change their genitals.
transphobia "The groundless fear and hatred of crossdressers, transsexuals, and gender benders and what they do, and everything that results from this, from disrespect, to denial of rights and needs, to violence
Woman defined both in biological Biologically defined a woman is an adult female. Psycho-sociological definitions attempt to define a women's identity according to popular opinion of characteristics, behaviors, and lifestyle attributed to the female, whether or not that person perceives him/herself to be woman.