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Trans-Glossary

This list of terms is an on-going working definition of words and ideas associated with transgender communities and a resource provided in conjunction with our other posted material.  This glossary has been compiled from a number of sources.  There is no universal agreement on the definitions of these various terms, and this tool is not intended to provide or imply one, but rather to offer a general understanding of words and terms that may be helpful when living and working in, with, and through the trans communities.

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CD (Cross Dresser): Someone who adopts the dress, manner, or role of a gender other than that assigned at birth, usually for emotional or sexual reasons.  Cross dressers are usually comfortable with the gender they were assigned at birth and do not wish to transition.  Previously called Transvestites.  Back to Terms

Chromosomal: Pertaining to a rod-shaped element of the cell that appears in the nucleus as cells start to divide.  Usually X and Y.  Back to Terms

FTM (Female to Male): Someone assigned female gender at birth, for whom the assigned gender does not fit.  Can be used as an inclusive term for all transgender people who are predominantly male-identified.  Also, Transman, Trans Man, TransMan.  Back to Terms

Gender: A set of complex and often contradictory socially constructed signifiers associated with a person’s masculinity or femininity.  Includes but is not limited to genitalia, gonads, chromosomes, hormones, secondary sex characteristics, psychological or emotional self-understanding, roles, clothing, mannerisms, interests, and language.  Gender is and can be assigned at birth, assigned by others interpreting these signifiers, or claimed for and expressed by one’s self.  Back to Terms

Gender Binary: The social construct that limits human gender expression to a choice between only male and female.  The assumption that all people can and should conform to one of two genders.  One legacy of the gender binary, even for those who reject it, is a limited common vocabulary with which to describe ourselves, others, and human gender expression.  Back to Terms

Gender Dysphoria: A clinical term which characterizes a feeling of incongruity with the gender assigned at birth.  Also Gender Dysmorphia.  Back to Terms

Gender Identity: How one understands and expresses one’s own gender, which may or may not conform to the gender assigned at birth.  Gender identity is not limited by the binary or by genitals and other signifiers.  Back to Terms

Gender Identity Disorder (GID): A diagnosis in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  The diagnosis is controversial because it pathologizes people who do not conform to cultural gender norms.  GID additionally is sometimes used as a “back-door” diagnosis for lesbian and gay people, especially youth, since homosexuality was removed as a disorder in 1973.  The term replaced the outdated term "gender dysphoria."  Back to Terms

Genderqueer: A person or identity that does not conform to or intentionally plays with the gender binary.  Most often used specifically in contrast to Transgender to avoid connotations of transition.  Back to Terms

Gender Role: A set of socially constructed assumptions of how a person should think, feel, and act based on their gender.  Among other things, these definitions vary by culture, class, region, age, and race and ethnicity.  Back to Terms

Genitals: Reproductive organs.  Usually vagina and penis.  Back to Terms

Gonadal: Pertaining to the gonads or sex glands.  Usually ovaries and testes.  Back to Terms

Harry Benjamin: U.S. physician who developed a system to identify and treat gender nonconforming people.  The Benjamin Scale identifies gender orientation in people assigned male gender at birth and ranges from Type I (Transvestite, pseudo) through Type VI (True Transsexual, high intensity).  The Harry Benjamin Standards of Care provides guidelines for what steps a patient should undertake before being considered for hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery.  Back to Terms

Hormonal: Pertaining to chemicals produced by glands in the body which control the actions of certain cells or organs.  Usually estrogen and testosterone.  Back to Terms

Intersex: Persons whose hormones, chromosomes, gonads, and genitalia do not conform to the socially constructed standard of the gender binary.  There are more than 70 intersex conditions, some of which are not apparent at birth.  Intersex persons are often subjected to physically, emotionally, and sexually harmful “reconstructive” surgeries at young ages.  Previously called Hermaphrodites.  Back to Terms

MTF (Male to Female): Someone assigned male gender at birth, for whom the assigned gender does not fit.  Can be used as an inclusive term for all transgender people who are predominantly female-identified.  Also, Transwoman, Trans Woman, TransWoman.  Back to Terms

Secondary Sex Characteristics: Gender signifiers affected by hormones and usually developed at puberty.  Includes but is not limited to menstruation, facial and other hair patterns, breasts, and larynx.  Back to Terms

Sex: a. A term referring to physical gender signifiers used to assign gender at birth and to reinscribe gender throughout life, including genitalia, gonads, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary sex characteristics.  As such, it assumes a gender binary and proscribes gender according to biological criteria.  b. Arousal or erotic behavior with oneself or with others.  Back to Terms

Sexuality: One’s unique expression and experience of arousal or erotic attraction, often understood in terms of the gender of those involved.  Includes but is not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, kink, BDSM (bondage-domination-sadism-masochism), heterosexual, queer, polyamorous, fetish.  Back to Terms

SO (Significant Other): One or more people with whom one is particularly emotionally or practically interdependent.  Includes but is not limited to partner, husband, wife, spouse, lover.  Back to Terms

SOFFA (Significant Others, Family, Friends, Allies): One’s community of support.  Back to Terms

SRS (Sexual Reassignment Surgery): A procedure that employs surgical and hormonal treatment to obtain desired physical characteristics of another gender.  Back to Terms

TG: Abbreviation for Transgender.  Back to Terms

Trans: Shortened term or identity often used to encompass and blur or erase the distinctions between Transgender, Transsexual, and Transition.  Back to Terms

Transgender: Having a gender identity that does not conform to the gender assigned at birth.  Usually understood as a general or umbrella term that encompasses a range of trans identities, including but not limited to Transsexual, Genderqueer, Intersex, and Cross-Dressers.  Transgender people may or may not choose surgical or hormonal treatment.  Back to Terms

Transition: The life-long process of moving from the gender assigned at birth to another gender.  Usually understood as involving some level of surgical or hormonal treatment, but which may also refer to role, identity or name changes.  Back to Terms

Transman: Someone assigned female gender at birth, for whom the assigned gender does not fit.  Can be used as an inclusive term for all transgender people who are predominantly male-identified.  Also, FTM, Trans Man, TransMan.  Back to Terms

Transsexual: Having a gender identity that does not conform to the gender assigned at birth.  Usually someone who seeks to live full-time as another gender, especially through surgical or hormonal treatment to obtain desired physical characteristics.  Often used in conjunction with the terms FTM or MTF.  Back to Terms

Transwoman: Someone assigned male gender at birth, for whom the assigned gender does not fit.  Can be used as an inclusive term for all transgender people who are predominantly female-identified.  Also, MTF, Trans Woman, TransWoman.  Back to Terms

TS: Abbreviation for Transsexual.  Back to Terms

© 2005 Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
Written and Edited by UFMCC Transgender Resource Team
Want to add to this list?  Email your suggestions to the team.