To Begin
Everyone talks about transgender folks these days. Most of us know about FtMs and MtFs, they're just people born with non-matching minds and bodies. But, in pornography especially, there's a lot of terms that get thrown around for people who aren't cismen and ciswomen or the average transperson, but what do they all mean? Are they all the same thing? Which ones are only used in porn and which ones are actually gender identities? What do you call someone who isn't part of the boy/girl binary?
Some basic vocabulary:
Gender:
The identity in your head, what you see yourself as. This can be man, woman, boy, girl, agender, queer, dickgirl, neutrois, neutral, the list is endless. Your gender identity can be anything, regardless of your birth sex.
Sex:
The physical sex you were assigned at birth, such as male, female, or intersexed (and everything in-between). This is normally correlated with your gender, but not always.
Sexuality:
Who you're attracted to defines your sexuality. In many people, sexuality is fluid and fluctuates throughout one's lifetime. Some sexuality labels include heterosexual (straight), homosexual (gay), bisexual, pansexual, and asexual, however there are many more sexualities and variants.
Transgender:
The umbrella term for anyone who doesn't entirely identify with their birth sex and expected gender roles, someone who is not completely cisgendered. This includes transsexuals, transvestites, genderqueers, gender neutrals, agenders, neutrois, bigenders, two-spirit, gender fluids, queers, questioning and more. You can be transgendered without ever planning on surgery, crossdressing or using different pronouns, this is solely an identity, an umbrella term with unlimited possibilities.
Cisgender/cissexed:
Cissexed is someone who is comfortable with their physical birth sex, regardless of their gender presentation. Transvestites, while they fall under the transgender umbrella, are often cissexed, but not cisgendered.
Some basic vocabulary:
Gender:
The identity in your head, what you see yourself as. This can be man, woman, boy, girl, agender, queer, dickgirl, neutrois, neutral, the list is endless. Your gender identity can be anything, regardless of your birth sex.
Sex:
The physical sex you were assigned at birth, such as male, female, or intersexed (and everything in-between). This is normally correlated with your gender, but not always.
Sexuality:
Who you're attracted to defines your sexuality. In many people, sexuality is fluid and fluctuates throughout one's lifetime. Some sexuality labels include heterosexual (straight), homosexual (gay), bisexual, pansexual, and asexual, however there are many more sexualities and variants.
Transgender:
The umbrella term for anyone who doesn't entirely identify with their birth sex and expected gender roles, someone who is not completely cisgendered. This includes transsexuals, transvestites, genderqueers, gender neutrals, agenders, neutrois, bigenders, two-spirit, gender fluids, queers, questioning and more. You can be transgendered without ever planning on surgery, crossdressing or using different pronouns, this is solely an identity, an umbrella term with unlimited possibilities.
Cisgender/cissexed:
Cissexed is someone who is comfortable with their physical birth sex, regardless of their gender presentation. Transvestites, while they fall under the transgender umbrella, are often cissexed, but not cisgendered.
This is very accurate!! Thank you for the article!
Thanks again for this article. Very informative and man, wouldn't I have loved to have had this on hand a few weeks ago when a friend called me something beyond offensive. I calmly replied, but I think sending them here would have done a lot better.
as a trans person I appreciate this article.