DEFINITIONS

Definitions: This is to explain terms you may run across.  In IEG and Jamestown Pride Society we prefer to avoid using them as they amplify differences which is counter to our endeavor of showing our similarities to further acceptance and equality.

Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity, expression or behavior is different from those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth, including but not limited to transsexuals, cross-dressers, androgynous people, gender-queers, and gender non-conforming people. Transgender is a broad term and is good for health and social care providers to use.
Transgender Man: A term for a transgender individual who currently identifies as a man (see also "FTM").

Transgender Woman: A term for a transgender individual who currently identifies as a woman (see also "MTF").

Gender Identity: An individual’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else. Since gender identity is internal, one’s gender identity is not necessarily visible to others.

Gender Expression: How a person represents or expresses one’s gender identity to others, often through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body characteristics.

Transsexual: A term for people whose gender identity is different from their assigned sex at birth. Often, but not always, transsexual people alter their bodies through hormones or surgery in order to make it match their gender identity.

Cross-dresser: A term for people who dress in clothing traditionally or stereotypically worn by the other sex, but who generally have no intent to live full-time as the other gender.

Transvestite: A term for a cross-dresser that is considered derogatory by many.

Gender-queer/Androgynous: A term used by some individuals who identify as neither entirely male nor entirely female. Gender-queer is an identity more common among young people.

Gender Non-conforming: A term for individuals whose gender expression is different from the societal expectations based on their assigned sex at birth.

Bi-gendered: One who has a significant gender identity that encompasses both genders, male and female. Some may feel that one side or the other is stronger, but both sides are there.

Two-spirit: The definition of a two-spirit person varies across the Native American cultures in which they appear. In general, two-spirit people are born one sex, and end up fulfilling the roles assigned to the other or both sexes as well as roles reserved for two-spirit people.

FTM: A person who has transitioned from "female-to-male," meaning a person who was assigned female at birth, but now identifies and lives as a male. Also known as a "transgender man."

MTF: A person who has transitioned from "male-to-female," meaning a person who was assigned male at birth, but now identifies and lives as a female. Also known as a "transgender woman."

Passing: A term used by transgender people to mean that they are seen as the gender they self-identify as. For example, a transgender man (born female) who most people see as a man.

Sex Reassignment Surgery(SRS): Surgical procedures that change one’s body to make it conform to a person’s gender identity.

Sexual Orientation: A term describing a person’s attraction to members of the same sex or different sex. Usually defined as lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual.

Transition: The period during which a person begins to live as their new gender. Transitioning may include changing one’s name, taking hormones, having surgery, or changing legal documents (e.g. driver’s license, Social Security number, birth certificate) to reflect their new gender.

Intersex: A term used for people who are born with external genitalia, chromosomes, or internal reproductive systems that are not traditionally associated with either a "standard" male or female.

Drag Queen: generally used to accurately refer to men who dress as women (often celebrity women) for the purpose of entertaining others at bars, clubs, or other events. It is also used as slang, sometimes in a derogatory manner, to refer to all transgender women.

Drag King: used to refer to women who dress as men for the purpose of entertaining others at bars, clubs, or other events.