Gender and Sexuality
Gender and Sexuality terms to broaden your understanding of Diversity, Equity, and 包容
Note: This “Living Language Guide” is a curated glossary of DEI related terms, which sometimes offers multiple and differing definitions for some concepts. This should NOT be interpreted as Boston University’s recommended or mandated terminology nor used as such.
Agender
Definition: A person with no (or very little) connection to the traditional system of gender, no personal alignment with the An identity under the nonbinary and transgender umbrellas. Some agender individuals have no gender identity, although some define agender as having a gender identity that is neutral.
Source: National LGBTQ Task Force
Definition: Refers to a person who does not identify with or experience any gender. Agender is different from nonbinary because many nonbinary people do experience gender.
Source: PFLAG.org
Definition: Describes a person who identifies as having no gender, or who does not experience gender as a primary identity component.
Source: The Fenway Institute
Androgyne
Definition: A person with a gender that is both masculine and feminine or in between masculine and feminine.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Definition: As a gender identity it can overlap with an androgynous gender expression but not always. Androgynes may define their identity in a variety of ways, feeling as if they are between man and woman or a totally separate identity.
Source: PennState Student Affairs
Definition: Androgyny describes the blending, in a particular individual, of traditionally male and female characteristics. Androgynous individuals often express themselves in ways that challenge perceptions of gender; thus, they may not appear either feminine or masculine. Though some individuals who have an androgynous appearance may exist outside the gender binary, an androgynous appearance does not necessarily determine a person’s gender identity.
Source: Good Therapy.org
Aromantic
Definition: A romantic orientation where a person experiences little to no romantic attraction and/or has no desire to form romantic relationships. Like asexuality, it exists on a spectrum which involves a range of identities characterized by varying levels of romantic attraction. This spectrum is called the aromantic spectrum. Aromantic people can identify with any sexual orientation along with their aromantic identity, or they may just identify as aromantic.
Source: National LGBTQ Task Force
Definition: A romantic orientation is generally characterized by not feeling romantic attraction or a desire for romance. Aromantic people can be satisfied by friendship and other non-romantic relationships. Many aromantic people also identify with sexual orientation, such as asexual, bisexual, etc.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Asexual
Definition: An asexual person does not experience sexual attraction – they are not drawn to people sexually and do not desire to act upon attraction to others in a sexual way. Unlike celibacy, which is a choice to abstain from sexual activity, asexuality is an intrinsic part of who we are, just like other sexual orientations. Asexuality does not make our lives any worse or better; we just face a different set of needs and challenges than most sexual people do. There is considerable diversity among the asexual community in the needs and experiences often associated with sexuality including relationships, attraction, and arousal.
Source: The Asexual Visibility and Education Network
Definition: A broad spectrum of sexual orientations generally characterized by feeling varying degrees of sexual attraction or a desires for partnered sexuality. Asexuality is distinct from celibacy, which is the deliberate abstention from sexual activity, despite sexual desire. Some asexual people do have sex and do experience varying levels of sexual attraction. There are many diverse ways of being asexual. A person who does not experience sexual attraction can experience other forms of attraction such as romantic attraction, as physical attraction and emotional attraction are separate aspects of a person’s identity. These may or may not correlate with each other – for instance, some people are physically and romantically attracted to women. However, others might be physically attracted to all genders and only emotionally attracted to men.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Assigned Sex at Birth
Definition: The sex (male or female) assigned to a child at birth, most often based on the child’s external anatomy. Also referred to as birth sex, natal sex, biological sex, or sex.
Source: Adapted from The Fenway Institute
Definition: The assignment and classification of people as male, female, intersex, or another sex assigned at birth often based on physical anatomy at birth and/or karyotyping.
Source: Trans Student Educational Resources
Definition: Assigned sex is a label that you’re given at birth based on medical factors, including your hormones, chromosomes, and genitals. Most people are assigned male or female, and this is what’s put on their birth certificates.
Source: PlannedParenthood.org
Bisexual
Definition: Bisexuality is a broad and inclusive term that describes physical attraction, romantic attraction, or sexual behavior that is not limited to one sex. In the scientific language of sexual orientation, bisexuality encompasses both heterosexual (different sex) and homosexual (same-sex) attraction or behavior. In everyday language, depending on the speaker’s culture, background, and politics, that translates into a variety of popular definitions such as:
- Attraction to men and women
- Attraction to same and other genders
- Attraction to all sexes or genders
- Love beyond gender
- Attraction regardless of sex or gender
Some important points to note:
- A bi person may be attracted to different sexes or genders in different ways.
- A bi person may be attracted to different sexes or genders more than others.
- A bi person may be attracted to different sexes or genders at some times and not others.
In other words, there are as many ways to be bisexual as there are bi people, just like any other sexuality.
Source: Bi.org
Definition: Bisexuality is defined in a plethora of ways, including definitions based on behavior, attraction, or desire and may employ binary or nonbinary definitions. Research has not adequately addressed how young bisexual people themselves define bisexuality, whether those definitions change with social context, or whether bisexual people define bisexuality differently from pansexual people. Results indicate that in general, bisexual and pansexual people define bisexuality similarly. Participants modified their definitions of bisexuality depending upon the social context.
Source: Adapted from Defining Bisexuality: Young Bisexual and Pansexual People’s Voices – Journal of Bisexuality
Cisgender
Definition: A term used to describe individuals whose gender identity matches the gender identity [girl/woman, boy/man] that was assigned to them at birth. (Fish & Karban, 2015, Johnson, 2015)
Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List
Definition: A person whose gender identity is consistent in a traditional sense with their sex assigned at birth; for example, a person assigned female sex at birth whose gender identity is woman/female. The term cisgender comes from the Latin prefix cis, meaning “on the same side of.”
Source: The Fenway Institute
Cissexism/Genderism
Definition: Attitudes and/or practices that preference and reinforce the experience of cisgender people at the expense of transgender and non-binary people. Examples: to assume that a sonogram can tell you the gender of an unborn child (i.e.. to assume a child’s gender based on their genitalia); teaching in sexual education that there are two categories of gender—male and female—and that all women are born with vaginas and all men with penises. (Ferguson, 2014; Johnson, 2013)
Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List
Definition: The pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion founded on the belief that there are, and should be, only two genders and that one’s gender or most aspects of it, are inevitably tied to assigned sex. This system oppresses people whose gender and/or gender expression falls outside of cis-normative constructs. Within cissexism, cisgender people are the dominant group and trans/ gender non-conforming people are the oppressed group.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Feminism
Definition: The policy, practice or advocacy of political, economic, and social equality for women.
Source: Feminist.org
Definition: Feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It’s about respecting diverse women’s experiences, identities, knowledge, and strengths, and striving to empower all women to realize their full rights. It’s about leveling the playing field between genders, and ensuring that diverse women and girls have the same opportunities in life available to boys and men.
Gay
Definition: A sexual orientation describing people who are primarily emotionally and physically attracted to people of the same sex and/or gender as themselves. Commonly used to describe men who are primarily attracted to men, but can also describe women attracted to women.
Source: The Fenway Institute
Definition: This term refers to a man who is sexually and/or emotionally attracted to other men.
Source: OutRight Action International
Definition: The adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attractions are to people of the same sex. Sometimes lesbian is the preferred term for women.
Source: The Center – The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Gender
Definition: A person’s gender is the complex interrelationship between three dimensions: body, identity, and social gender. Our body, identity, and social gender (how we present our gender in the world and how individuals, society, culture, and community perceive, interact with, and try to shape our gender) are three distinct, but interrelated, components that comprise a person’s experience of gender. Each of these dimensions can vary greatly across a range of possibilities. A person’s comfort in their gender is related to the degree to which these three dimensions feel in congruence.
Source: Adapted from GenderSpectrum.org
Definition: A social construction that assigns particular characteristics, norms, and roles to sex and genitalia. Refers to the different roles that women and men play in society. The behavioral, cultural, and psychological traits typically associated with one’s biological sex. Usually refers to those aspects of life that are shaped by social forces or to the meaning that society gives to biological differences. Do not use sex as a synonym.
Source: UMass Medical + UMassMemorial Health Care’s Diversity + 包容, Diversity Toolkit
Gender Binary
Definition: A system that constructs gender according to two discrete and opposite categories: boy/man and girl/woman. It is important to recognize that both cisgender and Transgender people can have a gender identity that is binary.
Source: GenderSpectrum.org
Definition: The social system that sees only two genders and that requires everyone to be raised as a man or a woman, depending on the gender assigned to them at birth.
Source: Adapted from LGBTQIA+ Terminology – Umass.edu
Gender Equity
Definition: Process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field. Equity is a mean. Equality is the result.
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Definition: When gender and gender identity no longer determine one’s life outcomes. In terms of the workplace, that means recruitment, hiring, retention, advancement, salary, overall wellbeing, and more; when everyone has what they need to thrive professionally and are free of gender-based harassment, bias, and discrimination.
Source: Adapted from Race Forward
Gender Expression/Presentation
Definition: The way a person acts, dresses, speaks, and behaves (i.e., feminine, masculine, androgynous). Gender expression does not necessarily align with assigned sex at birth or gender identity.
Source: Adapted from The Fenway Institute
Definition: Gender identity refers to your internal knowledge of your own gender—for example, your knowledge that you’re a man, a woman, or another gender.
Gender Fluid/Genderfluid
Definition: A person who does not necessarily identify themselves as having a fixed gender.
Source: Beechacres Parenting Center
Definition: A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender or has a fluid or unfixed gender identity.
Source: HumanRights Campaign.org
Gender Identity
Definition: Gender identity refers to an individual’s self-perceived gender. This may be different than the sexual anatomy, the chromosomal sex, the gender role, or the sex recorded at birth (which usually simply reflects external genitalia at the time).
Opposite to the dogma of many years, gender identity appears a durable biological phenomenon. While individuals may make choices related to other inputs in their lives, there do not seem to be external manipulations that truly cause individuals to change gender identity.
Source: Boston University School of Medicine
Definition: Gender identity refers to your internal knowledge of your own gender—for example, your knowledge that you’re a man, a woman, or another gender.
Source: National Center for Transgender Equality
Definition: Our deeply held, internal sense of self as masculine, feminine, a blend of both, neither, or something else. Identity also includes the name we use to convey our gender. Gender identity can correspond to, or differ from the sex we are assigned at birth. The language a person uses to communicate their gender identity can evolve and shift over time, especially as someone gains access to a broader gender vocabulary.
Source: GenderSpectrum.org
Gender Non conforming (GNC)
Definition: An individual whose gender expression is different from societal expectations related to gender.
Source: College of the Environment – University of Washington
Definition: Adjective for people who do not subscribe to societal expectations of typical gender expressions or roles. The term is more commonly used to refer to gender expression (how one behaves, acts, and presents themselves to others) as opposed to gender identity (one’s internal sense of self).
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Definition: Not fully conforming to gendered social expectations, whether that is in terms of expression, roles, or performance.
Source: PennState Student Affairs
Heterosexual
Definition: Men who experience sexual, romantic, and/or emotional attractions attraction to women, and vice versa.
Source: Adapted from LGBTQIA+ Terminology – Umass.edu
Definition: Sexual attraction to or activity between people who identify as different sex identities.
Source: Adapted from American Psychological Association – Dictionary of Psychology
Homophobia
Definition: Dread or fear of gay men and lesbians, associated with prejudice and anger toward them, that leads to discrimination in such areas as employment, housing, and legal rights and sometimes to violence (gay bashing). Extreme homophobia may lead to murder.
Source: American Psychological Association – Dictionary of Psychology
Definition: The American Heritage Dictionary (1992 edition) defines homophobia as “aversion to gay or homosexual people or their lifestyle or culture” and “behavior or an act based on this aversion.” Other definitions identify homophobia as an irrational fear of homosexuality.
Source: LGBPsychology.org
Definition: The homophobia definition is the fear, hatred, discomfort with, or mistrust of people who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Homophobia can take many different forms, including negative attitudes and beliefs about, aversion to, or prejudice against bisexual, lesbian, and gay people. It’s often based in irrational fear and misunderstanding. Some people’s homophobia may be rooted in conservative religious beliefs. People may hold homophobic beliefs if they were taught them by parents and families.
Source: PlannedParenthood.org – What is homophobia?
Intersex
Definition: The I in LGBTQIA+ stands for “intersex.” Intersex is an umbrella term for differences in sex traits or reproductive anatomy. Intersex people are born with these differences or develop them in childhood. There are many possible differences in genitalia, hormones, internal anatomy, or chromosomes, compared to the usual two ways that human bodies develop. Some intersex traits are noticed at birth. Others don’t show up until puberty or later in life.
Source: Interact – Advocates for Intersex Youth
Definition: Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations. In some cases, intersex traits are visible at birth while in others, they are not apparent until puberty. Some chromosomal intersex variations may not be physically apparent at all.
Source: United Nations for LGBT Equality
Lesbian
Definition: This term refers to a woman who is sexually and/or emotionally attracted to other women.
Source: OutRight Action International
Definition: A woman who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to other women.
Source: Bloomingtonpride.org
LGBTQIA Allyship
Definition: Being an ally with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals is the process of working to develop individual attitudes, institutions, and culture in which LGBTQIA people feel they are valued. This work is motivated by an enlightened self-interest to end homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, heterosexism, and cisgenderism (J. Jay Scott and Vernon Wall, 1991).
Source: University of Illinois – Counseling Center
Definition: The practice of confronting heterosexism, sexism, genderism, allosexism, and monosexism in oneself and others out of self-interest and a concern for the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people. Is founded on the understanding that dismantling heterosexism, monosexism, trans oppression/transmisogyny/cissexism and allosexism is a social justice issue.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
LGBTQIA+
Definition: An acronym that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or those who identify on the spectrum of sexuality and/or gender identity.
Source: Adapted from American College of Physicians
Definition: Many sources now refer to the LGBTQIA+ community, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual.
Source: CUDenver.edu
Mansplain
Definition: When a man explains something to a woman in a condescending way when he either 1) Doesn’t know anything about it or 2) Knows far less than the woman he is talking to.
Source: Berkeley | Equity Fluent Leaders Glossary of Key Terms
Definition: The word mansplain is a phenomenon of gendered metapragmatics, or metalinguistic commentary related to male-female communicative dynamics. Mansplain (a portmanteau of man and explain), a neologism recently popularized on social media, is typically used by women to describe men speaking to women in a patronizing manner.
Source: Gendering metapragmatics in online discourse: “Mansplaining man gonna mansplain…”, by Judith Bridges, Department of World Languages, University of South Florida.
Manterrupting
Definition: Manterrupting is unnecessary interruption of a woman by a man. The term was coined by writer Jessica Bennett in a Time magazine article titled “How Not to Be ‘Manterrupted’ in Meetings” published on January 14th, 2015. In the
article, Bennett coined the terms manterrupting, a portmanteau of man and interrupting.
Source: Mansplaining, Manterrupting, and Bropropriating, by Khrystyna Kucharska, Ternopil National Economic University
Definition: When a man interrupts a woman, especially excessively.
Source: Berkeley | Equity Fluent Leaders Glossary of Key Terms
-misia vs phobia
Definition: The suffix “phobia” comes from the Greek word for “fear of,” and so it denotes an intense aversion to the part of the word that precedes it (e.g. arachnophobia is a fear of spiders). Words like “homophobia” or “Islamophobia” are pretty recognizable, and most folks understand them to mean a position or perspective that is prejudicial and discriminatory against LGBTQIA+ identities and the religion of Islam respectively.
The problem with using “phobia” terms as labels for prejudice is that there are folks who actually have phobias (real anxiety disorders in which someone experiences intense anxiety or fear that they’re unable to control—Claustraphobia, for instance). So when we use terms like “homophobia,” we are equating bigotry with a mental health disorder, which does several problematic things:
- It relies on and reinforces the harmful stigma against mental illness;
- It inaccurately attributes oppression and oppressive attitudes to fear rather than to hate and bigotry;
- It erases an oppressive person’s accountability by implying their actions and attitudes are outside their control.
So since labeling oppression with “phobia” suffixes is harmful, many folks are exchanging them for “misia” suffixes instead. Misia (pronounced “miz-eeya”) comes from the Greek word for hate or hatred, so similar to how Islamophobia means “fear of Islam,” the more accurate Islamomisia means “hatred of Islam.” (Similarly, descriptors such as “transphobic” and “transphobe” become “transmisic” and “transmisiac.”)
Source: Simmons University – Beatley Library Anti-Oppression Guide
Misogyny
Definition: Misogyny is an extreme form of sexism that is often defined as the hatred of women. A person with misogynistic beliefs may not be aware that they are demonstrating a hatred towards women — or even believe that they hate women — but their behavior and words expose prejudice, disdain of, or hostility to women. In societies where misogyny is prevalent, there are often high rates of violence towards women. Women may be seen as property or second-class citizens, and mistreated at both the individual and institutional level as a result.
Source: BlackburnCenter.org – Standing together to end violence
Definition: Hatred of women, often manifested in sexual discrimination, denigration, or violence against and sexual objectification of women.
Source: UMass Medical + UMassMemorial Health Care’s Diversity + 包容, Diversity Toolkit
Neutral Pronoun
Definition: A gender-neutral or gender inclusive pronoun is a pronoun which does not associate a gender with the individual who is being discussed.
Some languages, such as English, do not have a gender-neutral or third gender pronoun available, and this has been criticized, since in many instances, writers, speakers, etc. use “he/his” when referring to a generic individual in the third person. Also, the dichotomy of “he and she” in English does not leave room for other gender identities, which is a source of frustration to the transgender and genderqueer communities.
Source: University of Wisconsin
Non Binary/Nonbinary/Non-binary
Definition: Non-Binary individuals don’t feel like one gender or the other. Gender for them is more “fluid” than we’ve traditionally thought it to be. Non-binary gender identity is simply one term that may be used to describe individuals who may experience a gender identity that is neither exclusively male or exclusively female or is in between or even beyond both genders.
Source: Beechacres Parenting Center
Definition: A term used by people who identify as neither entirely male nor entirely female. This can include people who are agender, bigender, genderfluid, gender nonconforming, and genderqueer, among others. Some nonbinary people identify as transgender, while others do not.
Source: National LGBTQ Task Force
Pansexual, Omnisexual
Definition: Pansexual is a sexual orientation, where the individual has the capacity to be attracted to any person of any gender identity or sexual orientation. The “pan” is a Greek prefix that means “all” and is often used to be inclusive of all genders and gender fluidity.
Source: The Trans Language Primer
Definition: A person who may experience sexual, romantic, physical or spiritual attraction for members of all gender identities and expressions.
Source: GSA Network.org
Polygender, Pangender
Definition: Polygender is a term for anyone who experiences more than one gender identity. It can be used as a gender identity in its own right, or can be an umbrella term for other identities which fit this description. Some polygender people shift between genders while others are multiple genders simultaneously. Individual genders may or may not be binary. Some multigender people are both cisgender and transgender. Polygender people may or may not transition physically, legally, or socially. This is based on their understanding of their relationship with gender and their access to transitioning within their culture. Generally, polygender people are considered under the multigender, nonbinary, and transgender umbrellas but may or may not identify as multigender, nonbinary, or transgender specifically.
Source: The Trans Language Primer
Definition: Exhibiting characteristics of multiple genders, deliberately refuting the concept of only two genders.
Source: Adapted from LGBTQIA Resource Center
Queer
Definition: An umbrella term describing people who think of their sexual orientation or gender identity as outside of societal norms. Some people view the term queer as more fluid and inclusive than traditional categories for sexual orientation and gender identity. Although queer was historically used as a slur, it has been reclaimed by many as a term of empowerment. Nonetheless, some still find the term offensive.
Source: The Fenway Institute
Definition: Term originally used as a slur that has been reclaimed; used as an umbrella term to describe someone who does not identify as straight (when used for sexual orientation) or someone who does not identify as cisgender (when used for gender, i.e. genderqueer) or someone who does not conform to sexual or gender expectations or norms. Queer has
different meanings to different people.
Source: GSA Network.org
Definition: An adjective used by some people whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual. Typically, for those who identify as queer, the terms lesbian, gay, and bisexual are perceived to be too limiting and/or fraught with cultural connotations they feel don’t apply to them. Some people may use queer, or genderqueer, to describe their gender identity and/or gender expression. Once considered a pejorative term, queer has been reclaimed by some LGBTQ people to describe themselves; however, it is not a universally accepted term even within the LGBTQ community.
Source: The Center – The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Questioning
Definition: Sometimes, when the Q is seen at the end of LGBT, it can also mean questioning. This term describes someone who is questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Source: The Center – The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Definition: The process of exploring one’s own gender identity, gender expression, and/or sexual orientation. Some people may also use this term to name their identity within the LGBTQIA community.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Sexism
Definition: Any act, gesture, visual representation, spoken or written words, practice, or behavior based upon the idea that a person or a group of persons is inferior because of their sex, which occurs in the public or private sphere, whether online or offline.
Source: GlobalCitizen.org
Definition: Systemic oppression based on sex and/or gender. Gendered prejudice + power = sexism.
Source: UMass Medical + UMassMemorial Health Care’s Diversity + 包容, Diversity Toolkit
Sexual Orientation
Definition: Sexual orientation has to do with whom you’re attracted to.
Source: National Center for Transgender Equality
Definition: A component of identity that includes a person’s sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction. A person may be attracted to men, women, both, neither, or to people who are genderqueer, androgynous, or have other gender identities. Individuals may identify as lesbian, gay, heterosexual, bisexual, queer, pansexual, or asexual, among others.
Transgender
Definition: 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.
Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center
Definition: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term transgender is not indicative of gender expression, sexual orientation, hormonal makeup, physical anatomy, or how one is perceived in daily life. Note that transgender does not have an “ed” at the end.
Source: Trans Student Educational Resources
Definition: Transgender people are people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be at birth. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender.
When we’re born, a doctor usually says that we’re male or female based on what our bodies look like. Most people who were labeled male at birth turn out to actually identify as men, and most people who were labeled female at birth grow up to be women. But some people’s gender identity – their innate knowledge of who they are – is different from what was initially expected when they were born. Most of these people describe themselves as transgender.
Transition
Definition: A person’s process of developing and assuming a gender expression to match their gender identity. Transition can include: coming out to one’s family, friends, and/or co-workers; changing one’s name and/or sex on legal documents; hormone therapy; and possibly (though not always) some form of surgery. It’s best not to assume how one transition as it is different for everyone.
Source: Trans Student Educational Resources
Definition:
Transitioning is the time period during which a person begins to live according to their gender identity, rather than the gender they were thought to be at birth. While not all transgender people transition, a great many do at some point in their lives. Gender transition looks different for every person. Possible steps in a gender transition may or may not include changing your clothing, appearance, name, or the pronoun people use to refer to you (like “she,” “he,” or “they”). Some people are able to change their identification documents, like their driver’s license or passport, to reflect their gender. And some people undergo hormone therapy or other medical procedures to change their physical characteristics and make their body better reflect the gender they know themselves to be.
Transitioning can help many transgender people lead healthy, fulfilling lives. No specific set of steps is necessary to “complete” a transition—it’s a matter of what is right for each person. All transgender people are entitled to the same dignity and respect, regardless of which legal or medical steps they have taken.
Two-Spirit
Definition: Describes a person who embodies both a masculine and a feminine spirit. This is a culture-specific term used among some Native American, American Indian, and First Nations people.
Source: The Fenway Institute
Definition: Though Two-Spirit may now be included in the umbrella of LGBTQ, The term “Two-Spirit” does not simply mean someone who is a Native American/Alaska Native and gay. Traditionally, Native American two-spirit people were male, female, and sometimes intersexed individuals who combined activities of both men and women with traits unique to their status as two-spirit people. In most tribes, they were considered neither men nor women; they occupied a distinct, alternative gender status. In tribes where two-spirit males and females were referred to with the same term, this status amounted to a third gender. In other cases, two-spirit females were referred to with a distinct term and, therefore, constituted a fourth gender. Although there were important variations in two-spirit roles across North America, they shared some common traits:
- Specialized work roles. Male and female two-spirit people were typically described in terms of their preference for and achievements in the work of the “opposite” sex or in activities specific to their role. Two-spirit individuals were experts in traditional arts – such as pottery making, basket weaving, and the manufacture and decoration of items made from leather. Among the Navajo, two-spirit males often became weavers, usually women and men’s work, as well as healers, which was a male role. By combining these activities, they were often among the wealthier members of the tribe. Two-spirit females engaged in activities such as hunting and warfare, and became leaders in war and even chiefs.
- Gender variation. A variety of other traits distinguished two-spirit people from men and women, including temperament, dress, lifestyle, and social roles.
- Spiritual sanction. Two-spirit identity was widely believed to be the result of supernatural intervention in the form of visions or dreams and sanctioned by tribal mythology. In many tribes, two-spirit people filled special religious roles as healers, shamans, and ceremonial leaders.
- Same-sex relations. Two-spirit people typically formed sexual and emotional relationships with non-two-spirit members of their own sex, forming both short- and long-term relationships. Among the Lakota, Mohave, Crow, Cheyenne, and others, two-spirit people were believed to be lucky in love, and able to bestow this luck on others.
Source: Indian Health Service