Table 1.
Vocabulary Used by the Transgender Community*
| Word | Definition |
|---|---|
| Gender | Psychosocial construct that culture uses to identify male, female, neither, and both |
| Gender Queer | Used most often by youth to describe both their gender identity and sexual orientation; often has political connotations |
| Queer | The sexual orientation called “queer” is most often individually defined though in general usually means that their sexual attraction is blind to sex and/or gender. Queer in the gender variant community often means that the individual does not completely conform to either male or female genders |
| Sex | Physiological make-up of a person including genetics, hormones, morphologic, biochemical, and anatomic structures |
| Sex Reassignment Surgery | Also known as gender reassignment surgery, these are surgical procedures which modify the biologic body to align with the individual’s gender identity; some examples might be mastectomy, breast implants, metoidioplasty, vaginoplasty, or phalloplasty |
| Transgender | Umbrella term used to describe people with gender identities and expressions that are not traditionally associated with their biologic sex |
| Transition | Process through which transgender individuals move through in aligning their gender identity; particularly physical, legal, and psychological |
| Transgender Man | Biologic female who gender identifies as a male |
| Transgender Woman | Biologic male who gender identifies as a female |
| Transsexual | Individuals who believe that their physical bodies do not represent their true sex; transsexuals usually desire sex reassignment surgery, but may choose varying degrees of surgical transition |