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Joan Dark's Transsister Circle |
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Below are some definitions of some terms useful in discussions about transgender and transsexual issues. Except for those terms defined here that are also defined in standard dictionaries, the definitions in use are in a state of flux and often controversial. Such terms are examples of neologisms. (See the definition of neologism below.) Words defined in the glossary that are neologisms are written in bold green.
assigned gender n : the gender that a person was socially assigned to at birth; the gender that a person was socially assigned to at birth according to the sex of that person's genitals; also, in the case of individuals born intersex, the term may literally mean the sex chosen by an infant's parents or guardians and imposed upon the infant's body by surgical means.1
cis- prefix : on this side of...2
cisgender adj : a: signifying a match between an individual's physical gender identity and the behavior or role considered appropriate for the individual's physical sex according to the traditional standards of the dominant culture in which the person lives. b: signifying a person comfortable with behaving in the manners or acting in the roles considered appropriate according to the traditional standards of the dominant culture in which the person lives c: the opposite of transgender.3
cissexual n : a person who is not transsexual; a person who has only ever experienced her (or his) subconscious sex and physical sex as being aligned.4
cissexual adj : directly opposite of transsexual; non-transsexual; of or pertaining to a person who has only ever experienced her (or his) subconscious sex and physical sex as being aligned.
cissexual entitlement n : a term coined by Julia Serano in her book Whipping Girl: " the double standard that promotes the idea that transsexual genders are distinct from, and less legitimate than, cissexual genders."5
gender n : 1: the sex of the physical body of a person or other being. 2: the sex which a person innately identifies as his own. The term gender is derived from the Latin term genus, meaning "kind" or "sort". "Gender" first referred to the grammatical classification of nouns and pronouns as masculine, feminine, or neuter.
gender disphoria n : gender dissonance. The same remarks given above for gender identity disorder apply here. The term has misleading connotations.6
gender dissonance n : Gender dissonance refers to a feeling of one's body and mind being at odds with each other in terms of gender identity. The sex of the body does not match the brain's expectations, or vice versa.7
gender expression the way a person dresses or acts to present themself as belonging to a certain gender.
gender identity n: a person's internal sense of being male or female or something else which they may have to make up words for because English limits us to two choices.8
gender identity disorder n : gender dissonance. Though this word has the same meaning as gender dissonance, it has connotations that falsely indicate a pathological condition;9 it was coined when gender dissonance was regarded as a form of mental illness, just as homosexuality was regarded as being a mental illness; this was before the term gender dissonance had been coined. Unfortunately, not all mental health professionals today consider the term to be obsolete. See also gender dissonance, gender disphoria.
misogynist n : a: a person who hates and distrusts women. b: a person with a tendency to dismiss and deride femaleness and femininity.
misogyny n : a: hatred and distrust of women. b: a tendency to dismiss and deride femaleness and femininity.10
neologism n : 1a: a word, usage, or expression that is often disapproved because of its newness or barbarousness. 1b: a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event. 2: a meaningless word coined by a psychotic.11
oppositional sexism n. the belief that the male and female sexes are naturally and completely opposite of each other.12
sexism n: prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender.
transgender adj : a: signifying an individual's "gender identity" (inate self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching one's "assigned sex" (identification by others as male or female based on physical/genetic sex at birth). b: of, relating to, or designating a person whose identity does not conform unambiguously to notions of male or female gender roles according to the traditional standards of the dominant culture in which the person lives, but combines or moves between these. c: signifying non-identification with, or non-presentation as, the individual's physical sex at birth.13
traditional sexism n prejudice or discrimination against women; the belief that maleness and masculinity are superior to femaleness and femininity.14
transsexual n : a: a person who identifies his true gender as the opposite of his physical sex at birth and who wishes to change, or has changed, the physical sex of his body through the use of sexual hormones and surgery. b: a person with the desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex, usually accompanied by a sense of discomfort with, or inappropriateness of, one's anatomic sex, and a wish to have surgery and hormonal treatment to make one's body as congruent as possible with one's preferred sex, or such a person who uses sexual hormones and desires to have such surgery, or such a person who has had such hormonal treatment and surgery.15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore. Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Berkely, California: Seal Press, 2006. 354 pages. Paperback: ISBN-10: 1-58005-184-7, ISBN-13: 978-1-58005-184-2.
Rudacille, Deborah. The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism, and Transgender Rights. New York: Anchor Books, 2006. 382 pages; Paperback, ISBN-10: 0-385-72197-8, ISBN-13: 978-0-385-72197-4.
Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Emeryville, California: Seal Press, 2007. 390 pages. Paperback, ISBN-10: 1-58005-154-5, ISBN-13: 978-1-58005-154-5.
On the Web
FOOTNOTES
1Adopted from Serano, Julia, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (2007), p. 30. Example of usage: Mattilda a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore (ed.), Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity (2006), p. 7; the first usage of the term may have been by Johns Hopkins psychologist John Money in papers he published in 1955. See Rudacille, Deborah, The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism, and Transgender Rights (2006), p. 102.
2Examples of the use of the prefix cis-: cisatlantic (referring to "this side of the Atlantic," compare with transatlantic); cisalpine (meaning "south of the alps" - i.e., "same side of the Alps as Italy" compare with transalpine).
3 My definitions of cisgender here are derived from definition given in the web page Wikipedia--"Cisgender", but with some modification of my own so that the definitions are free of cissexual assumptions concerning what is absolutely appropriate.
4The term cissexual has been popularized by the transsexual author and spokes-person, Julia Serano (at least within elements of the trangender community and professionals having positive concerns about them). The definition here is based on statements from her book, Whipping Girl, pp. 12, 33. From page 33: "...I will also be spending a great deal of time discussing the beliefs and attitudes common among cissexuals--that is, people who have only ever experienced their subconscious sex and physical sex as being aligned." From page 12: "...cissexuals (i.e., people who are not transsexual and who have only ever experienced their subconscious and physical sexes as being aligned)." See also "Whipping Girl FAQ on cisgender, cissexual, cis privelege" by Julia Serano and eminism.org--"Cissexual/Cisgender" by Emi Koyama.
5 Serano, Julia, op. cit., p. 162.
6Ibid., pp. 62, 64, 262.
7 Vanderburgh, op. cit., pp. 261-262. The wording of the definition here is exactly as it is given by Vanderburgh.
8 Vanderburgh, Reid, Transition and Beyond: Observations on Gender Identity (2007), p. 262. The wording of the definition here is exactly as it is given by Vanderburgh. See also pp. 35-40 in the same book.
9See Vanderburgh, op. cit., pp. 62, 64, 262.
10 The second definity of misogyny here is adopted from Serano, Julia, op. cit., page 14.
11Definition 1a of neologism is from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary; definition 1b is from Wikipedia--"Neologism"; definition 2 is also from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.
12Adopted from Serano, Julia, op. cit., p. 104.
13The definitions a, b and c of transgender here are based on three that are found on the web page Wikipedia--"Transgender". The author of this Wikipedia article attributes the definition corresponding to my definition b to the definition of transgender in "the Oxford English Dictionary, draft version March 2004. Retrieved on 2007-04-07."; the definition corresponding to my definition c is attributed to "'USI LGBT Campaign - Transgender Campaign.' Retrieved 2007-03-06." But note again that I have taken liberty to modify some of the exact wording of these definitions to better suit my own tastes and conceptions.
14Adopted from Serano, Julia, op. cit., p. 104.
15The second definition of transsexual here is loosely based on the definition in the Wikipedia page Wikipedia--"Transsexualism" which in turn is taken from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10'th edition (ISCD-10).