Affordable Care Act
| Noun |
Federal law signed by President Barack Obama in 2010 fundamentally reforming the U.S. healthcare and health insurance system. Created to improve access to affordable, quality health insurance for all Americans, the ACA requires most public health insurance plans cover people with pre-existing conditions, preventive care including birth control with no out of pocket costs, and a requirement that young people can stay on their parent or guardian's insurance until they are 26 years old.6
Androgynous
| Adj. |
Identifying and/or presenting as neither distinguishably masculine nor feminine.2
Asexual
| Adj. |
Describes individuals who do not have sexual or romantic attraction to others.2
Cisgender/Cis
| Adj. |
Having or relating to a gender identity that corresponds to the culturally determined gender roles for one's sex assigned at birth.5
Female-to-Male (FtM)
| Adj. |
Describes individuals assigned female at birth who are changing or who have changed their body and/or gender role from birth-assigned female to a more masculine body or role.1
Functional Impariment
| Noun |
A loss of functional capacity affecting a person's ability to work that results from the person's medical condition.5
Gender
| Noun |
Refers to the socially and culturally constructed characterisics of men, women and nonbinary people such as norms, roles and relationships. People are taught norms and behaviors including how they should interact with others within the home, community and workplace. Gender varies across societies and can be changed. The term was coined by psychologist John Money in 1955.3
Gender Affirmation Surgery
| Noun |
Surgery to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics to affirm a person's gender identity. Gender affirmation surgery can be an important part of medically necessary treatment to alleviate gender dysphoria.1
Gender Binary
| Noun |
A system that constructs gender based on two opposite, discrete categories: male and female.4
Gender Dysphoria or Incongruence
| Noun |
Discomfort or distress that is caused by a discrepancy between a person's gender identity and that person's sex assigned at birth (and the associated gender role and/or primary and secondary sex characteristics). Not all gender-nonconforming experience gender dysphoria. 3
Gender Identity
| Noun |
A person's intrinsic sense of being male (a boy or a man), female (a girl or woman), or an alternative gender (e.g., boygirl, girlboy, nonbinary, genderqueer, transgender).1
Gender Identity Disorder
| Noun |
Formal diagnosis set forth by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Rev (DSM IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Gender identity disorder is characterized by a strong and persistent cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with one's sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex, causing clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.1
Gender Nonconforming (GNC)
| Adj. |
When a person's gender expression doesn't fit inside traditional male or female categories (the gender binary) in a given culture and historical period.1,6
Gender Norms
| Noun |
Refer to beliefs about women and men, boys and girls that are passed from generation to generation through the process of socialization. They change over time and differ in different cultures and populations. Gender norms lead to inequality if they reinforce: a) mistreatment of one group or sex over the other; b) differences in power and opportunities.3
Gender Role or Expression
| Noun |
Refers to an individual's presentation, including physical appearance and clothing choice, and behavior that communicate aspects of gender in a given culture and historical period. All people tend to incorporate both masculine and feminine characteristics in their gender expression in varying ways and to varying degrees. Gender expression may or may not confrom to a person's gender identity.1,5
Genderqueer
| Adj. |
Identity label that may be used by individuals who do not identify with conventional gender identities, roles, expression and/or expectations. People who identify as genderqueer may redefine gender or not define themselves as gendered altogether.4,5
Hypermasculine
| Adj. |
Hypermasculinity is a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality.4,5
Internalized Transphobia
| Noun |
Discomfort with one's own transgender feelings or identity as a result of internalizing society’s normative gender expectations.1
Male-to-Female
| Adj. |
Describes individuals assigned male at birth who are changing or who have changed their body and/or gender role from birth-assigned male to a more feminine body or role.1
Mastectomy
| Noun |
The surgical removal of all or part of the breast and sometimes associated lymph nodes and muscles 3
Nonbinary
| Adj. |
An umbrella term for gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine. The meaning of nonbinary is variable and individualized. 4
Pathologize
| Verb |
Regard or treat someone or something as psychologically abnormal or unhealthy.4,5
Queer
| Adj. |
An umbrella term that individuals may use to describe a gender expression, gender identity or sexual orientation that does not conform to dominant social norms. Historically a derogatory or pejorative term, queer continues to be used as a slur against members of the LGBT community. Beginning in the late 1960s queer was reclaimed by some members of the LGBT community as a label of pride, however non all members of the community embrace this usage. 5
Sex
| Noun |
Sex is assigned at birth as male or female based upon different biological and physiological characteristics such as reproductive organs, chromosomes and hormones. Gender identity and expression can be consistent or differ from their sex assigned at birth.1,3
Stealth
| Noun |
A trans person who lives completely as their desired gender and passes in the public sphere.4
Top Surgery
| Noun |
Defined as a variety of procedures which alter the gender-related characteristics of the chest to appear less like the gender identity that the patient was assigned at birth. For transmasculine individuals who were born with bodies that formed breasts, this means significant reduction or removal of breast tissue, which usually results in the chest appearing more masculine. For transfeminine individuals, this usually means a breast augmentation procedure to allow a chest that formed with a male appearance to then achieve the appearance and proportions of a well-developed female chest.5
Transfeminine
| Adj. |
A person assigned male at birth who identifies more with femininity than masculinity but does not wish to be seen as totally female or "woman."1,5
Transgender/Trans
| Adj. |
An umbrella term used to describe a diverse group of individuals who cross or transcend culturally defined categories of gender. The gender identity of transgender people differs to varying degrees from the sex they were assigned at birth. This may or may not correlate with a desire for surgical or hormonal reassignment.1,5
Transition
| Noun |
Refers to the steps individuals take to find congruence in their gender. This term can be misleading as it implies a person's gender identity is changing and there is a moment in time when this takes place, whereas more typically it is other's understanding of the person's gender that shifts. A person can pursue congruence measures socially (e.g., name, pronouns, clothing), hormonally, surgically and/or legally (e.g., changing identification documents). The nature and duration of transition are variable and individualized.1,4
1. WPATH (2012). Standards of Care version 7. www.wpath.org/publications/soc
2. Human Rights Campaign. www.hrc.org
3. World Health Organization. www.who.int
4. Gender Spectrum. www.genderspectrum.org
5. American Psychological Association. (2015). www.apa.org
6. Planned Parenthood. www.hrc.org
7. Gender Confirmation Center. www.genderconfirmation.com
https://www.genderconfirmation.com/introduction-to-top-surgery/