As sexuality and gender identity issues continue to emerge in national conversations, many terms used to describe these topics may be unfamiliar.
Here’s what some of the most commonly used gender terms mean and how to use them respectfully.
What is nonbinary?
A nonbinary person experiences their gender identity and/or gender expression outside of the binary categories of “man” and “woman.” Other words may be used by nonbinary people to describe their gender more specifically, including agender, bigender, demigender and pangender.
Some nonbinary people call themselves transgender and consider themselves part of the transgender community, while others do not.
“Nonbinary is an umbrella term that encompasses many different ways to understand one’s gender,” according to GLAAD.
What is gender identity?
Gender identity is “a person’s internal, deeply held knowledge of their own gender,” according to GLAAD.
While for most people, gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth (cisgender), transgender people express that their gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.
Many people have a gender identity of man or woman, though for some, their personal gender identity does not fit neatly into one of the two binary genders (nonbinary).
What is transgender?
Transgender describes a person whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.
A person can be transgender without having gone through a transition — the process in which a person brings their gender expression and/or their body into alignment with their gender identity. A transition can include a social transition, legal transition and medical transition.
What is cisgender?
Cisgender refers to a person who is not transgender, and whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
What is gender non-conforming?
Gender non-conforming describes a person whose gender expression differs from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity.
Many cisgender people have gender expressions that are gender non-conforming, and having a non-conforming gender expression does not make someone transgender or nonbinary.
What is gender dysphoria?
The American Psychiatric Association defines gender dysphoria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision as “a marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and their assigned gender, lasting at least 6 months.”
GLAAD notes that the necessity of a psychiatric diagnosis is controversial and that neither the American Psychiatric Association nor the American Psychological Association considers being transgender a “mental disorder.”
