SEX
A set of biological attributes including chromosomes, gene expression, hormone levels and function, and reproductive anatomy. Sex is usually assigned at birth by observation of a baby’s external genitalia, not by their internal organs, hormones, or genes.
Gender
Socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions, and identities. Gender is often treated, erroneously, as equivalent to sex: boy/man = male and girl/woman = female.
Intersex
Describes a person with one or more innate sex characteristics, including genitals, internal reproductive organs, and chromosomes, that fall outside of binary conceptions of male or female bodies. Around 1.7% of people are born intersex, comparable to the number of people born with red hair.
GENDER IDENTITY
A person’s internal, deeply held knowledge of their gender.
CISGENDER
Describes a person whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth.
Transgender (Trans)
Describes a person whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.
NONBINARY (ALSO GENDER FLUID, GENDERQUEER, AND AGENDER)
Describes a person whose experience of their gender identity and/or gender expression falls outside the binary gender categories of “man” and “woman.”
Gender Expression
External manifestations of gender, expressed through a person’s name, pronouns, appearance, clothing, voice, and/or behavior.
Gender Diverse
An umbrella term describing any person whose gender identity, role, or expression differs from socially prescribed cisgender norms.
GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE
An umbrella term to describe surgical, hormonal, psychosocial, or other medical services provided to transgender and gender diverse people.
Transitioning
The medical, legal, and/or social process a person undertakes to bring their gender expression and/or their body into alignment with their gender identity.
GENDER EUPHORIA
The comfort and joy someone experiences when their gender expression is aligned with their gender identity.
GENDER DYSPHORIA
The distress a person experiences when their gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth.
Misgendering
When someone addresses or refers to another person by the wrong gender. This includes referring to a person using the wrong pronouns or honorifics such as Mr. or Ms., or by calling a trans person by their deadname—the name they used before they transitioned.
Print Edition
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