Under the umbrella
This section will describe some of the gender identities that fall under the transgender umbrella, as well as some of the concepts and terms related specifically to this population.
transgender (umbrella)
An umbrella term used to describe people who exist outside our society's gender and sex categories. Trans* is another term used by some people to describe this umbrella of identities in a more inclusive way (since transgender is one of the identities under the umbrella).
The trans* community encompasses people with incongruent sex characteristics (e.g. someone with XY chromosomes and a clitoris), people whose gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth, and anyone else whose identity deviates from traditional ideas about gender. While transgender is a gender identity included under the transgender umbrella, some transgender people identify as a man or woman. They are classified as transgender because their body does not match their gender identity, but their gender identity itself is not transgender.
There are many identities under the transgender umbrella, such as:
TRANSGENDER
TRANSSEXUAL
FTM
MTF
INTERSEX
AGENDER
BIGENDER
GENDERQUEER
DRAG
The trans* community encompasses people with incongruent sex characteristics (e.g. someone with XY chromosomes and a clitoris), people whose gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned at birth, and anyone else whose identity deviates from traditional ideas about gender. While transgender is a gender identity included under the transgender umbrella, some transgender people identify as a man or woman. They are classified as transgender because their body does not match their gender identity, but their gender identity itself is not transgender.
There are many identities under the transgender umbrella, such as:
TRANSGENDER
TRANSSEXUAL
FTM
MTF
INTERSEX
AGENDER
BIGENDER
GENDERQUEER
DRAG
cisgender
A term used to describe people who aren't transgender. This includes people whose sex characteristics all belong to one category of sex (e.g. male or female) and people whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth.
gender identity
A person's inner sense of what gender they are; who you feel yourself to be. Some people refer to this as "what's between your ears." Others' perceptions are not a factor with gender identity. The only person that can determine someone's gender identity is that individual.
gender expression
The way in which you express your gender (pretty self-explanatory). This involves clothing, hair styles, behaviors, speech patterns, and anything else that portrays gender.
gender dysphoria
In general, gender dysphoria is a feeling of emotional discomfort or distress that stems from feelings of incongruence between physical manifestations of gender (i.e. genitalia, secondary sex characteristics, etc.) and an individual's gender identity. However, it should be noted that definitions of dysphoria vary for individuals and experiences of dysphoria are not uniform for all trans* people.
transitioning
The process some trans* people go through to make their gender expression and/or body match their gender identity. There are different steps involved in this process, such as dressing in different clothing, hormone therapy, and surgery. Which steps are taken depends on the individual.