Assigned Sex—
A person's legal-sex assigned at birth
based on the appearance of their external
genitals at birth. For most people this is a
useful way to assign a newborn's sex..
Brain Sex— (also called true
sex)
A person's innate sex.
Brain sex develops as a biological process
just like other sexually differentiated features
of the human body; such as gonads and external
genitalia.
FTM— (sometimes written as FtM, F2M
etc)
An abbreviation of the term
Female-To-Male transsexual.
FTM distinguishes the experience of males
raised as females from that of females raised as
males (MTF).
This term is losing popularity as it is seen
by many to deny the fact that the individual
(notwithstanding physical appearance at birth)
was always male.
Others accept the term as referring to the
individual's public transition from female to
male, ie. the shift in perception of others
despite the consistent male sense of self.
Gender—
Often, it is assumed that gender has
the same meaning as sex but this is incorrect.
Gender refers to the social
expression of sex. It is usually assumed
(and generally accepted in our culture) that
there are two genders, masculine and feminine,
reflecting the binary of male and female.
Some people dispute the notion that there are
only two genders, in fact many people think of
gender as a spectrum or continuum. Many believe
that all people possess both masculine and
feminine attributes in varying degrees.
Since gender is often confused with sex,
certain types of gender expression are seen as
'natural', but gender expression is particular
to cultures and times.
Gender Binary—
The classification of people into two
categories: 'male' or 'female' - hence the
gender-binary (binary meaning two).
Gender Dysphoria—
Dysphoria' is a medical term and means
'intense discomfort'.
'Gender dysphoria' has been applied to
everyone from cross-dressers, transgender people
and men and women with the medical condition of
transsexualism.
Some people who experience 'gender dysphoria'
have the physical condition that is called
transsexualism. Not all people with
'gender dysphoria' have the physical condition
transsexualism.
Gender Identity—
A person's innate deeply felt
psychological identification as male or female.
For most people this matches their physical
body.
Intersex—
A range of congenital conditions
(naturally occurring and existing at birth)
where there is an ambiguity of, or discordance
between, sexually differentiated parts of a
person's body. Some intersex conditions are
apparent at birth, others are discovered later
in life, perhaps at puberty or when infertility
is experienced.
Many experts in scientific research, medicine
and law consider transsexualism to be an
intersex condition, because of the incongruity
between the sex of the brain and the sex of the
rest of the body.
Legal Sex— (also called Legal
Identity)
A person's legal-sex is
evidenced by their "Birth Certificate", a legal
identity document and recorded in the legal
record of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Generally, this is a useful way to assign a
newborn's sex.
For men and women who experience
transsexualism, this assignment of legal-sex
means they are always assigned the opposite
legal-sex at birth.
Sex—
Based on biological characteristics,
such as chromosomes, genitalia, reproductive
organs and the structure and chemistry of the
brain. Secondary sexual characteristics include
the distribution of body and facial hair, voice
pitch and fat distribution.
It is usually assumed that there are two
sexes, male and female. However, natural human
variation includes people who are born with a
combination of both male and female
characteristics (see
intersex).
Sex Affirmation— (Sex
reassignment)
Rehabilitative hormone therapy and
surgical procedures undertaken to transform the
rest of the body to match the sex of the brain,
to the fullest extent possible (replaces the
misleading term "sex change").
Standards of Care—
A set of guidelines, which assist
medical practitioners to provide care and
treatment to people,
The Standards of Care for Gender Identity
Disorders were developed and regularly
updated and revised by the Harry Benjamin
International Gender Dysphoria Association.
Also called 'Harry Benjamin Standards'.
Transgender— (tg)
An experience of gender when the
individual has a core sense of gender which is
neither or both genders and often crosses the
traditional gender binary construct
entirely. Hence the term
transgender.
Transgender people reject the
traditional notion of two static genders,
instead recognising multiple genders. They
consider that while some people have the one
gender their whole life, others change genders
over time, and/or identify as having multiple
genders at the same time. Transgender
people usually have a personally constructed
sense of gender and use a variety of terms to
describe themselves.
The term transgender has crept into
usage as an umbrella term to encompass many
diverse conditions and identities, including
transsexualism and other recognised intersex
conditions, as well as behaviours which explore
gender such as cross dressing and "drag"
performance.
Some individuals prefer to use the word
transgender in place of
transsexual, or they might speak of the
symptom gender dysphoria instead. This
may be because they are more comfortable
referring to their experience in a more general
way, or perhaps because they seek to avoid any
perceived stigma attached to the term
transsexualism.
Many at the forefront of social, medical and
legal education and reform consider this
umbrella usage counterproductive.
The terms transsexual and
transgender are not interchangeable. They
mean different things, which is particularly
significant in medical and legal contexts.
Transsexualism— (ts)
One of the many possible biological
variations in human sexual formation.
A condition that exists in someone who at
birth has chromosomes, reproductive organs and
genitals which appear to be typically of one
sex, but whose brain proves to be of the other
sex.
People with transsexualism are simply male or
simply female - even though their body doesn't
correspond to that sex development. People who
have transsexualism wish to live and be
perceived by their society according to the sex
they know themselves to be, rather than the sex
they were assumed to be at birth.
They desire a physical appearance, which
reflects their true sex, and to these ends most
want to rehabilitate their bodies through
hormonal and surgical treatments.
Transsexualism is a treatable physical
condition, not a psychological one.
Transition—
The process whereby an individual
undergoes social and physical change (via
social, medical and legal steps) to bring
his body and public presentation into harmony
with his innate sex or brain sex, achieving
comfort with his body and social roles.
Transition also includes adjustment by family
members, friends and workmates.
Citation
— Terms and Definitions (2005)
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