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Gender Identity

Gender Assigned at Birth (GAAB)

The gender a person is assigned at birth, the majority of the times due to bio-typical genitalia or closely matching genitalia to one of the pre-existing binary genders: male or female.

Gender Identity

One’s internal gender, which may or may not match the physical sex, the GAAB, or the presenting gender. Basically, it’s what gender you feel you are.

Gender Expression

How one expresses or presents as a certain gender or gender identity. This may or may not reflect a person’s gender identity, or may reflect it but not be in line with it. For instance, a very butch girl who identifies as a girl, but is still masculine in expression.

Cisgender

People whose internal gender matches the physical sex and the gender assigned at birth are cisgendered. A woman who was born a woman and feels like a woman.

Transgender

A person whose gender identity does not match the assigned gender in any way, shape, or form is transgendered. This may include a mismatch from identifying entirely like the opposite gender, to a slight inclination towards another gender, to a slight deviation from the current gender, to anything in between.

Transsexual

A transgendered person who strongly wishes to or has already altered their body to align with their current gender identity.

FTM / MTF / FTN / MTN / FT* / MT*

Acronyms to describe a transgender or transsexual individual. The first letter is the source gender, the birth sex; the second letter is for “to” signifying transition; and the third letter is the destination gender, the person’s affirmed gender.

Transman / Transwoman / Transboy / Transgirl / Trans*

Similar as above. A transman is a transgendered person who transitioned to male, and so forth. The * indicates flexibility, as not all trans people are transmen or transwomen, such as myself.

Non-Binary / Genderqueer

There is an assumption in our society that gender is a binary – that is, that there are two and only genders: male and female. A non-binary gender is therefore one that sits outside of, beside, next to, or just a far ways off from either of these two options. Genderqueer is another (umbrella) term that encompasses any gender that is not strictly male or female.

Sexual Orientation

Sexual orientation is the label to one’s primary sexual attraction. This may be constant throughout one’s life, or it can be fluid and flexible, although the breadth and depth of that change varies with each person.

Sexual Attraction

The desire to engage in some form of sexual act with a particular person, the recipient of the attraction.

Romantic Attraction

The desire to engage in some form of romantic attachment with a particular person, the recipient of the attraction.

Asexual

Asexual is one who does not experience sexual attraction. There are many flavors of asexuality, the most divisive distinction being that of romantic orientation. There are aromantic and romantic asexuals, depending on whether one experiences romantic attraction or seeks romantic involvement with others. Asexuals can also identify as hetero-, homo-, bi-, pan-, etc- a/romantic asexual, depending on the primary gender of the target attractor. There are repulsed and non-repulsed asexuals, mostly indicating a willingness (not desire) to engage in any related acts. There’s grey/gray and demi designations, which are not entirely clear to me.

Heterosexual

One whose primary sexual attraction is to those of the opposite gender.

Homosexual / Gay

One whose primary sexual attraction is to those of the same gender. It becomes difficult to identify with a strict hetero/homo label when one’s own gender is unclear or in between, or the target person’s gender is not clear, as these depend on the both the atractor’s and the atractee’s gender to be somewhat defined.

Bisexual

One whose sexual attraction is both to males and females. I don’t know much about bisexuality, but I’m sure this is a spectrum within itself. I’ll leave it at that.

Pansexual

One whose sexual attraction encompasses all biological sexes and gender identities. Essentially a pansexual does not discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, or gender identity when it comes to attraction. This does not mean a pansexual is attracted to everybody, it simply means that gender is not an attribute which influences their attraction.

Queer

One who feels they fit any combination of any of the labels above or all of the above or none of the above.

Neutrois

Neutrois are agendered or neutral-gendered. They usually experience a sense of gender dysphoria – one that doesn’t correctly reflect their internal gender.

Transition is a process of subtraction: a neutrois wishes to get rid of any and all gendered characteristics so as to achieve as neutral a body as possible. Physical transition may consist primarily in the removal of primary and/or secondary sex characteristics, such as genitals or breasts and body hair. Because the concept and identity of neutrois is relatively new, not all neutrois have undergone surgery, or even seriously want to undergo surgery or physical transition yet.

Neutrois is not androgyne, it’s quite the opposite. Androgyny is a combination of female and male characteristics, while neutrois is an elimination of them.

Neutrois is not genderless. While the prefix a- in agender may hint at a “lack of,” neutrois is not necessarily a lack of gender. Just like a neutral color does not mean colorless, or a neutral opinion does not mean without opinion, a neutral gender does mean without gender. Neutrois do have an internal gender, it just happens to be neither male, nor female. It’s neutral.

Neutrois are people, first and foremost. I am Neutrois. And all I want is to be happy.

Disclaimers

These are my personal interpretations of the words, labels, terms, and lexicology commonly used by me in regards to sexual orientation and gender identity. I respect whatever label you choose to best describe your identity and yourself.

This list is not exhaustive, as I am not (contrary to what you might think) all knowing, and you are better off googling or wikipedia-ing some of these terms. In fact, some of the definitions were ripped off Wikipedia, touched up with a bit of me me me.