Genderqueer (.noun): denoting or relating to a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.
Get informed // talk to others in the genderqueer community // how to become an ally
(Please correct me if something in this post is wrong or offends you!)
Oxford English Dictionary Adds New Transgender and Nonbinary Terms to its Online Dictionary!
Oxford Dictionary has just added a slew of important trans and nonbinary terminology to its online dictionary, OxfordDictionaries.com. The following terms are now officially defined in US English:
Agender, Bi-gender, Cisgender, Cissexism, FTM, Gender Dysphoria, Gender Identity, Gender-fluid, Genderqueer, Misgender, MTF, Mx, Nonbinary, Transman, Transperson, Transphobia, and Transwoman!
Life Outside The Binary does not necessarily endorse the particular definitions nor the wording therein. Many of these definitions may be overly simplistic or use outdated terminology. It is certainly more important to understand each individual’s understanding and relationship to a given term, and to understand their history and social context, rather than to differ to a broad general definition. There are also many other important words (such as transmisogyny, binarism and other identities such as neutrois and androgyne) that definitely deserve inclusion in dictionaries.
However, this is still a huge win for transgender and non-binary people! Having words such as “cissexism,” “transphobia,” and “misgender,” (as well as several common transgender identities) defined in a reputable online language resource may represent a huge step toward developing common understanding and acceptance of trans and nonbinary people and issues.
-Lane
Anonymous:
Hello, I'm a nonbinary afab person who is 1) unsure of what label to prescribe themself and 2) really wanting to go on testosterone. My brain really wants what is considered socially as a typically masculine body-- however, my personal gender identity is not necessarily 'male' and I tend to go by they/them pronouns. I don't really have many resources to turn to in defining my gender identity or knowing if what I'm feeling about body vs gender is like what anyone else experiences. Help?
most people cant 100% fit their gender identity into just on label, but i can help break it down for you.
your relationship with your sex and your gender are two separate things. if you want to go on testosterone and masculinize your body, you’re transsexual. this doesnt mean anything about your identity or being binary, it just means you want to change your secondary sex characteristics.
another word you might find helpful is neutrois. a neutrois (pronounced /new-twah/) is basically an agender transsexual. meaning they want to physically transition towards having a gender-neutral physical form, which often involves masculinization (for AFABs), without transitioning all the way to male. Some people use neutrois as a gender identity unrelated to transitioning, but most I’ve seen use it to describe their relationship with their body, as well as or independent of their specific gender. personally I identify as neutrois, but I only use it to refer to my relationship with my body. luckily the most useful first-hand transition blog out there is by a neutrois, at neutrois.me.
now when it comes to your actual mental gender, there are a lot of options. you have to think about things like:
-how many gender states do i experience? does it flux between more than one (feminine/masculine/neutral/other), or stay pretty static? labels involving gender flux include genderqueer, genderfluid, bigender, and androgyne
-if your gender is static, does it feel like a mix of different genders (feminine/masculine/neutral/other), or just one? static mixed gender identities include androgyne, bigender, and genderqueer. (note that many of these labels overlap because some of them have lose definitions and a broad spectrum of applications)
-labels that involve one static non-mixed identity include agender, aliagender, gender-neutral,and genderqueer.
-does your identity lean more towards the masculine side, but you dont quite identify as “male”? you might be transmasculine. another related word I coined that I use to refer to myself is transneutral, which means my gender is centred neutrally though my expression varies.
there are definitions for all of these terms in our glossary.
I hope this helped!
-Newt
