Josephine Sjelhøj
As a part of CelebMix Cares, CelebMix is celebrating Pride Month.
We are all born with a certain sex. The two most common are male and female. However, a person’s gender is not always the same as the sex that you were born. Some people know all of their lives that their body isn’t the right one for them. If you’re unsure which label fits you or if you’re simply wondering which terms are correct for describing people, continue to read this guide. Remember, only you can decide what you identify as. Don’t ever feel pressured into feeling like you have to choose something just because society tells you to. You’re you and you’re okay.
Cisgender: When an individual’s experience of their own gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
Cross-dresser: Someone who wears clothes of another gender/sex. It’s important to know that cross-dressing doesn’t define a person’s gender.
Drag Queen: A person who performs femininity theatrically. Remember that just because a man, who happens to be gay, dresses up as a woman to perform, doesn’t mean that they actually want to be women. It’s a profession.
Gender Binary: The idea that there are only two genders and that a person must be strictly gendered as either/or.
Gender expression: A term which refers to the ways we each express masculinity or femininity.
Gender identity: The sense of “being” male, female, genderqueer, agender, etc. For some people, gender identity is in accord with physical anatomy. For transgender people, gender identity may differ from physical anatomy or expected social roles.
Genderfluid: Identity which may change or shift over time between or within the mix of the options available.
Genderqueer: Genderqueer people have identities which fall outside of the widely accepted sexual binary – man and woman.
Intersex: A person whose sexual anatomy or chromosomes do not fit with the traditional markers of “female” and “male.” Formerly known as hermaphrodite but this term is now considered outdated and derogatory.
Metrosexual: A man who is very concerned with personal appearance.
Passing: A term for trans* people being accepted as, or able to “pass for,” a member of their self-identified gender/sex identity. Always remember that you’re ability to “pass” for cisgender does NOT decide whether or not you’re gender is valid. If you feel like a certain gender, then that’s what you are, no matter what other people tell you.
Third Gender: A term for a person who does not identify with either man or woman, but identifies with another gender.
Transgender: t can be used as an umbrella term to refer to all people who do not identify with their assigned gender at birth or the binary gender system. Some transgender people feel like they exist somewhere outside the two most common genders – man and woman
Transman ; Transwoman: An identity label sometimes adopted by female-to-male transgender people or transsexuals to signify that they are men while still affirming their history as assigned female sex at birth.
Transsexual: A person whose gender identity is different from their biological sex, who may undergo medical treatments to change their biological sex, often times to align it with their gender identity, or they may live their lives as another sex.
Transvestite: A person who dresses as the binary opposite gender expression. It shouldn’t be confused with the term transsexual.
A very special thank you toitspronouncedmetrosexual.com and internationalspectrum.umich.edu
If we forgot to include your gender, don’t hesitate to tweet us @CelebMix or@CelebMixCares!
