From Dysphoria to Bending: A Dictionary of Important Gender Terms
Alexandra Savina
Binary gender division is long outdated, but it seems that the world has begun to widely discuss issues of gender identity very recently. The high-profile coming-outs of a number of stars, including Caitlin Jenner and the Wachowski sisters, played an important role in this. At the same time, many people are still confused about what gender and gender are (in short, the first is biological signs, the second is social perception of gender, that is, the concepts of "woman" and "man" with a set of characteristics assigned to them).
To facilitate conversation on these topics, we have compiled a brief glossary of meaningful terms. Well, do not forget about the important nuance: always consider exactly how a person determines his gender identity, and speak about him or with him accordingly. Simply put, if someone of your friends made the transition and identifies himself as a woman, do not out of habit speak about her "he."
Agender
Agents are people who refuse to identify with any gender; believe that they have no gender. At the same time, gender does not necessarily mean rejection of one’s own biological sex. Agents can talk about themselves in different ways, therefore, before turning to the gender-based person, it is better to clarify what kind of treatment he prefers.
Bigender
Bigders are people who combine the features associated with both "male" and "female", that is, whose self-perception and self-identification are mobile. They behave in accordance with the traditionally male, then with the traditionally female social roles - or simultaneously with both. Moreover, some bigenders consider themselves to be a different gender (there is an expression “third gender”), that is, it does not fit into the binary system.
Gender bending
(genderfak)
The concept of gender bending, or genderfak, is translated as "scrapping of gender identity." It implies a conscious and demonstrative rejection of gender stereotypes imposed by the society of traditional male and female roles, behavioral norms and standards relating to appearance. Gender bending means a challenge to the norm, a mockery of it.
Gendocherir
Gender-worshipers are people who believe that their gender identity or gender expression does not fit into the traditional "male" and "female" categories. In a broad sense, the term "gender church" is used to denote different variants of gender identity, including gender, bi-gender, and gender fluid.
GenderChairler is not a synonym for transgender or transgender. At the end of the nineteenth century, the word "queer", meaning "strange", was used as a derogatory designation of homosexual relations; Now, some LGBT communities use "queer" to strip off derogatory connotations, but the word is not commonly used. It is recommended to use it only if the person identifies himself so.
Gender non-conforming
This term also describes people whose gender expression does not fit into the framework of traditional ideas about male and female. This combination cannot be used as a synonym for adjectives "transgender" and "transsexual", and one can be called a person only if he identifies himself in this way. Not all gender non-conforming people consider themselves transgender - just as not all transgender people consider themselves gender non-conformal.
Genderfluid
English "fluidity" means "mobile" identity ("genderfluid") and sexual orientation ("fluid sexuality"), which may change over time or simply do not fit into a strict classification. Genderfluid people may feel that they combine traditionally masculine and feminine traits in themselves, or at different times and in different circumstances, feel a greater inclination towards one or another gender.
Gender dysphoria
Gender dysphoria is a psychiatric diagnosis called depressive and anxious states caused by a mismatch of a person’s biological sex and his gender identity. People with gender dysphoria often feel locked up in a strange body and want their appearance to match their gender identity. In each case, the patient is prescribed individual treatment, and it does not necessarily imply hormone therapy or surgery.
In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association replaced the previously used term “gender identity disorder” with “gender dysphoria” (“dysphoria” essentially implies the same disorder, but without negative connotations) and changed the criteria for diagnosis. Activists argue about whether such a diagnosis should exist in principle - but many believe that it is necessary so that transgender people can get medical insurance that covers the cost of hormones and medical procedures.
Gender Identity
Gender identity is how a person defines and perceives his gender. It is based on the inner self-awareness of man. Most people identify themselves as male or female, but the real spectrum is much broader: gender identity does not come down to these two categories and does not necessarily coincide with the biological sex of a person, his gender according to documents or peculiarities of education. Unlike gender expression, gender identity is not necessarily reflected in a person’s appearance.
Gender expression
Gender self-expression — external signs and manifestations of gender identity: how a person names himself, how he speaks about himself, his appearance, behavior, voice and clothes. In different countries, society interprets these characteristics as "male" or "female"; at the same time, it should be borne in mind that ideas about femininity and masculinity change over time and are highly dependent on cultural attitudes adopted in one or another region. Transgender people, as a rule, strive to ensure that their gender expression corresponds to their gender identity, and not to their biological sex and superior standards.
Drag queen / drag king
Drag Quin called men who reincarnate into women and create an exaggerated female image, and drag king - women who reincarnate into men, including on stage. Neither of them give up their biological sex; drag is also not directly related to sexual orientation, that is, drag-quin is not necessarily homosexual, and drag-king is lesbian.
Drag-Quin should not be confused with cross-dressers - people (most often heterosexual men), who periodically wear clothes and make-up, traditionally used by the opposite sex. Cross-dressers do not want to change their biological gender, but cross-dressing is a form of gender expression, which drag culture is not. The term "cross-dresser" replaces the obsolete word "transvestite" - the latter in our time should be used exclusively in relation to people who identify themselves as such.
Intersex
Intersex people call people whose biological sex from birth cannot be unambiguously defined as male or female. Intersex means the presence of signs of both sexes to one degree or another: the number of sex chromosomes, the hormonal level and the development of the reproductive organs of intersexes do not correspond to the traditional notions of the division into male and female. The term "intersex" is considered more correct than the outdated word "hermaphrodite."
Transgender
This umbrella term refers to all people whose gender identity and / or gender expression does not correspond to traditional ideas about people of their biological sex. Simply put, the notion of "transgender" includes agents, bigenders, drag-quin and more. In English, the word "trans" is often used, which means the whole community of transgender people. Transgender people may resort to hormone therapy and various operations for the correction of biological sex, but not necessarily. It is important to remember that transgenderness is not related to sexual orientation: relatively speaking, a trans woman can be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.
Transgender Transition
By transgender transition means the process of changing the biological sex assigned to a person at birth so that it corresponds to his gender identity and / or comfortable for him gender expression. This is a long process that involves several stages: coming out, changing name and dressing style, changing documents, hormone therapy and, if desired, surgical operations - a specific set of steps will be individual for each person. The fact that a transgender transition is a much more complex and lengthy process than we used to perceive it, is not confined to a simple movement from one point to another, said many transgender people - in particular, Lilly Wachowski.
Medical operations are not a mandatory element of the transgender transition, therefore the well-established phrase “sex change” should be avoided.
Transsexual
The adjective "transsexual" is used for people whose gender identity does not coincide with their biological sex and who seek to bring them to match. To do this, they can resort to hormone therapy as well as surgery to correct the biological sex. They, in turn, are divided into several stages, and not all transsexuals have surgery on their genitals. The concept of transsexuality is narrower than the concept of transgenderness: not all transgender people are transgender.
Cisgender
The term "cisgender" means people whose gender identity and gender expression coincide with the biological sex given to them at birth - that is, they fit into the traditional ideas about people of their gender. As a rule, this word is used as an antonym of the adjective "transgender" to refer to people who do not identify themselves as representatives of the transgender community.
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4 via WikiArt