Definitions of Terminology Regarding Sex and Gender

Definitions of terminology regarding sex and gender include the following:

• Cisgender: Used to describe an individual whose gender identity and gender expression align with the sex assigned at birth.

• Gender binary: The classification of gender into 2 discrete categories of male and female.

• Gender dysphoria: Discomfort or distress related to an incongruence between an individual's gender identity and the gender assigned at birth.

• Gender expression: Clothing, physical appearance, and other external presentations and behaviors that express aspects of gender identity or role.

• Gender identity: An internal sense of being male, female, or something else, which may or may not correspond to an individual's sex assigned at birth or sex characteristics.

• Gender nonconforming: Describes an individual whose gender identity or gender expression differs from the gender norms associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

• Genderqueer: Describes an individual whose gender identity does not align with a binary understanding of gender, including those who think of themselves as both male and female, neither, moving between genders, a third gender, or outside of gender altogether.

• Trans-affirmative: Being aware, respectful, and supportive of the needs of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.

• Transgender: An umbrella term encompassing those whose gender identities or gender roles differ from those typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.

• Transition: The process of shifting toward a gender role different from that assigned at birth, which can include social transition, such as new names, pronouns and clothing, and medical transition, such as hormone therapy or surgery.