Glossary (prod at me through the inbox if you think this list needs to be added to/ altered)

Last edited 12/09/2018

This post is split into General terms and Gender Labels. Please scroll to the appropriate section to find the term you want to look up or the section you want to browse through.

Our glossary is a little small compared to others. Our recommendations for more glossaries are the gender wikia, nonbinary wikia, and genderfluidsupport on tumblr. xeno-aligned on tumblr is an excellent place to explore new gender terms and find that one just for you or inspire you to create your own.





General

Agab: assigned gender at birth; sometimes s is used instead of g for sex; can be afab/amab - assigned female or male at birth



Amab: assigned male at birth



Androgynous: a style of presentation which is either neutral with regards to gendered markers/traits, or utilizes a mix of gendered markers/traits

Assigned sex: the sex assigned at birth (“male” or “female”).

Binarism: the system of prejudice/bigotry against non-white, cultural identities that do not fall within the gender binary



Binary sex: an oppressive social construct that fails to map on to biological reality; assumes there is a strict male/female binary of genders where everyone is either 100% only male or 100% only female

Biological sex: cissexist terminology that reduces one’s gender to their genitalia (c/agab/dgab/gaab is more appropriate terminology when appropriate to mention)

Born male/female: cissexist terminology that is erasive of one’s actual gender, reducing them to the gender they were assigned at birth (c/agab/dgab/gaab is more appropriate terminology when appropriate to mention)

Cafab: coercively assigned female at birth

Cagab: coercively assigned gender at birth; sometimes s is used instead of g for sex - can be cafab/camab - coercively assigned female or male at birth

Camab: coercively assigned male at birth

Cisnormative: the state of cis being considered the default, putting cis identities and people above trans/nonbinary identities and people (ex. healthcare not addressing the effects of medication or illnesses on trans bodies)

Cissexism: the system of bigotry/prejudice against trans/nonbinary/genderqueer identities and people

Datemate: alternative, gender neutral term for someone you are dating



Dfab: designated female at birth

Dgab: designated gender at birth; sometimes s is used instead of g for sex - can be dfab/dmab - designated female or male at birth

Dmab: designated male at birth

Dyadic: having a set of sexual characteristics which do not qualify as intersex; considered outdated/offensive, as it implies a strict biological binary (see endosex/perisex instead)

Enbyfriend: alternative term to boyfriend/girlfriend to refer to a nonbinary partner you’re dating

Enbysexual: attraction only to other nonbinary folk. Only for use by nonbinary folk

Endosex: having a set of sexual characteristics which do not qualify as intersex

Exorsexism: bigotry/prejudice against nonbinary/genderqueer identities and people

Faab: female assigned at birth

Gaab: gender assigned at birth; sometimes s is used instead of g for sex - can be faab/maab - female or male assigned at birth

Gai: any non-straight attraction felt by a nonbinary person, aka another simple way for nb folk to describe their attraction in general terms

Gender dysphoria: being uncomfortable, unhappy, or dissatisfied with some part of your looks/titles/pronouns/names/anatomy with regards to your body. Can be physical dysphoria in not liking how your body looks or what anatomy it has. Can be social dysphoria in not liking the associations with your name, pronoun, or titles. Dysphoria can be physical or mental pain/discomfort or disassociating with your gender in some way. Both cis and trans/nonbinary folk can experience dysphoria. Dysphoria is not required to identify as trans/nonbinary.

Gender identity: the subjective experience of gender which arises from growing up in a society in which gender is a thing. Gender is not (but can be influenced by and in turn influence) presentation, body type, assigned sex, clothing choice, sexual orientation, race, religion.

Gender nonconforming: not conforming to expected, patriarchal gender expression/presentation/roles of your gender; you can be gnc and trans/nonbinary or gnc and cis

Gender presentation (or just presentation): the ways in which a person presents themselves to the world both controllable (clothes, hair, makeup) and not (body type, visible secondary sexual characteristics, voice, mannerisms). Presentation may be gender performance, or incidental, or uncontrollable, or borne out of convenience.

Intersex: having a set of sexual characteristics (karyotype, genital arrangement, reproductive system, natural hormone levels, secondary sexual characteristics, etc) which do not fit under binary sex classifications. Some intersex folks identify as cis, some identify as trans and may or may not be using transition resources.

Intersexism/Intersexphobia: the system of prejudice/biogtry against intersex bodies and people

Maab: male assigned at birth

Microlabel: using more descriptive, specific labels for your identity in addition to or instead of using an umbrella/general term

Oppression: the system of dehumanization, exploitation, and violence faced by marginalized peoples. This term can refer to the entire experience of marginalization, or to specific aspects of that experience, or the marginalization of an entire group as a whole.



Ovin: a person of any gender identity (including agender), DSAB, or sexual orientation who is euphoric about and wants to be identified as having these anatomical features: breasts, a uterus, and a vagina



Perisex: having a set of sexual characteristics which do not qualify as intersex



Social construct: Something made up by people and perpetuated by society. Social constructs can have real and far-reaching influence on our lives. For example, money is a social construct.



Transition: using resources, medical or otherwise, to present as something other than one’s assigned sex/gender

Transmisogyny: the intersection of misogyny and cissexism experienced by trans women and trans feminine folk

Transphobia: the oppression experienced by trans folk; alternatively known as trans antagonism or anti trans bigotry or cissexism

Transsexual: outdated, offensive, clinical terminology used against trans people

WLQ/Woman-Loving-Queer: any queer-identifying person who loves women







Gender Labels

Agender: the experience of a lack of gender.

Alia or aliagender: A gender experience which is “other”, or stands apart from existing gender constructs

Androgyne: an androgynous gender experience, which may be neutral (lacking gendered traits), mixed (feeling a mix or jumble of gendered traits), or a gender experience which is completely separate

Autigender: for people with autism only; a gender identity that interplays with autism, making it hard to understand, inexplainable, or otherwise difficult to grasp

Bigender: a gender which includes any two distinct gender experiences, either simultaneously or alternately

Cis (cisgender): identifying as the sex/gender combination one was assigned at birth

Demigender: a gender experience which is comprised a partial or multiple partial genders, can include a part which is just not there

Demiflux: a demigender identity that fluctuates in intensity

Demigirl/demiwoman: a gender experience which is composed partially of feeling female and partially of some other sort of gender experience.

Demiguy/demiboy/demiman: a gender experience which is composed partially of feeling male and partially of some other sort of gender experience.

Enby: casual shorthand for “nonbinary”, a cutesy way to refer to nb people. Only for use by nonbinary people, although not all nb folk may be comfortable with the term

Fluidflux: a gender that both changes in nature and intensity over time (sometimes strongly a girl, weakly a girl, strongly a boy, weakly agender, etc.). Maybe also be known as fluix or fluxfluid.

Genderfluid: a gender experience which changes in nature over time (sometimes a girl and sometimes neutral and sometimes agender, etc).

Genderflux: a gender experience which changes in degree over time (sometimes VERY GENDER and sometimes less gender).

Genderplasma: like genderfluid, but hotter

Gendergas: a gender experience which expands to fill the entire container

Gendersolid: a gender experience which does not change in nature or intensity over time

Gender sublimation: a gender experience which transitions directly from gendersolid to gendergas

Genderpunk: a gender experience which is punk in nature or intensity

Genderqueer: a gender experience which is queer in nature. Typically refers to gender experiences outside of the binary genders of ‘man’ and ‘woman. Genderqueer individuals may feel like neither men nor women, or both men and women, or something else entirely, or any combination thereof simultaneously, or some of these things some of the time. Sometimes used interchangeably with nonbinary. Considered an umbrella and a specific term, depending on how someone identifies

Intergender: a gender experience mixing or being between binary male or female (many intersex people consider this identity as one that should exclusively be used by intersex people)

Linegender: a gender experience that rests on the line between being cis gnc and nonbinary - good for people questioning if they are cis gnc or nonbinary and unable to tell or decide



Nanogender: being a little of one gender and mostly other gender(s); can be nanogirl or nanoboy, in which you identify as a little bit girl/boy and mostly something(s) else

Nb: short for “nonbinary” (see below)

Neurogender: an umbrella term for any gender identity which is linked to someone’s neurodivergency

Neutrois: the experience of a gender which sits neutrally in gender-space

Nonbinary: a gender experience which stands outside the binary genders of ‘man’ and ‘woman. Nonbinary individuals may feel like neither men nor women, or both men and women, or something else entirely, or any combination thereof simultaneously, or some of these things some of the time. They do not identify 100%, all the time either either completely male or completely female. Sometimes used interchangeably with genderqueer. Considered an umbrella and a specific term, depending on how someone identifies

Omnigender: a gender said to include all gender experiences; this identity is racist/cultural appropriation because it indiscriminately includes culturally-specific genders that are not open to everyone

Pangender: a gender said to include all gender experiences; this identity is racist/cultural appropriation because it indiscriminately includes culturally-specific genders that are not open to everyone

Queer: an umbrella term for non-heteroromantic-heterosexual and/or non-cisgender identities; often used as a political statement to reject white, cis/heteronormative, exorsexist, fatphobic, ableist lgbt+ politics/activism, meant to be inclusive and intentionally vague; a rejection of the kyriarchy

Questioning: questioning what your identity is, unsure of how to identify

Trans (transgender): identifying as something other than the sex/gender combination one was assigned at birth. Nonbinary/genderqueer folk may identify as trans but not all do

Trans men: men who are trans

Trans women: women who are trans

Trans*: exactly like trans except with an extra character. The asterisk is meant to include all trans/trans-related identities; however, the asterisk has been used to erase and exclude trans women and their experiences, as well as lump in non-trans, non-white identities under the trans umbrella. Therefore, the asterisk is inappropriate and offensive to use