If you are older than 30, chances are that you are confused by – or not aware of – the huge variety of genders and gender identities that have been defined (and continue to be defined) and appear in everyday society during the last decades.
So here is a little summary put together from various sources.
It is important to note that ‘Gender‘ is defined by the LGBTQIA Resource Center as:
A social construct used to classify a person as a man, woman, or some other identity. Fundamentally different from the sex one is assigned at birth.
| Gender | Sub-Category | LGBTQIA Resource Center | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | |||
| Female | |||
| Cisgender | a gender identity, or performance in a gender role, that society deems to match the person’s assigned sex at birth. The prefix cis- means “on this side of” or “not across.” A term used to highlight the privilege of people who are not transgender. | Suggesting that cisgender is a term used to highlight privilege is bullshit. This is victim-card playing by a few extremists in the LGBTQIA community. | |
| Cis Male | See Male, above. Cis Male, Cis Female and Cisgender are often used as a slur by LGBTQIA+ people to refer to what has been known of and called male/female without any confusion for centuries. | ||
| Cis Female | See Female, above. Cis Male, Cis Female and Cisgender are often used as a slur by LGBTQIA+ people to refer to what has been known of and called male/female without any confusion for centuries. | ||
| Transgender or Trans | An adjective used most often as an umbrella term and frequently abbreviated to “trans.” Identifying as transgender, or trans, means that one’s internal knowledge of gender is different from conventional or cultural expectations based on the sex that person was assigned at birth. While transgender may refer to a woman who was assigned male at birth or a man who was assigned female at birth, transgender is an umbrella term that can also describe someone who identifies as a gender other than woman or man, such as non binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, no gender or multiple genders, or some other gender identity. The term trans acts as a more inclusive term than transgender for gender non-conforming and non-binary folks. | ||
| Trans man | A person may choose to identify this way to capture their gender identity as well as their lived experience as a transgender person. | ||
| Trans woman | A person may choose to identify this way to capture their gender identity as well as their lived experience as a transgender person. | ||
| Cross Dresser (CD) or Transvestite | A word to describe a person who dresses, at least partially, as a member of a gender other than their assigned sex; carries no implications of sexual orientation. Has replaced “Transvestite.” | ||
| Drag King | A person (often a woman) who appears as a man. Generally in reference to an act or performance. This has no implications regarding gender identity. | ||
| Drag Queen | A person (often a man) who appears as a woman. Generally in reference to an act or performance. This has no implications regarding gender identity. | ||
| IntersexIntersex Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Use an I for "Intersex". or Hermaphrodite | An umbrella term to describe a wide range of natural body variations that do not fit neatly into conventional definitions of male or female. Intersex variations may include, but are not limited to, variations in chromosome compositions, hormone concentrations, and external and internal characteristics. Many visibly intersex people are mutilated in infancy and early childhood by doctors to make the individual’s sex characteristics conform to society’s idea of what normal bodies should look like. Intersex people are relatively common, although society’s denial of their existence has allowed very little room for intersex issues to be discussed publicly. Hermaphrodite is an outdated and inaccurate term that has been used to describe intersex people in the past. | ||
| Neutrois | A non-binary gender identity that falls under the genderqueer or transgender umbrellas. There is no one definition of Neutrois, since each person that self-identifies as such experiences their gender differently. The most common ones are: Neutral-gender, Null-gender, Neither male nor female, Genderless and/or Agender. | ||
| Non-Binary | A gender identity and experience that embraces a full universe of expressions and ways of being that resonate for an individual, moving beyond the male/female gender binary. It may be an active resistance to binary gender expectations and/or an intentional creation of new unbounded ideas of self within the world. For some people who identify as non binary there may be overlap with other concepts and identities like gender expansive and gender non-conforming. | ||
| Pangender or Polygender | Exhibiting characteristics of multiple genders, deliberately refuting the concept of only two genders. |