Terminology

Across this site, you will encounter terminology that you might be unfamiliar with. This guide is here to shed light on these words/phrases.

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This index will continue to be updated regularly.

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• Transgender/trans - denoting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth.

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• Gender-affirming surgery/care/treatment/healthcare - refers to a variety of procedures that some people may use to affirm their gender. This may help a patient's physical appearance and function and can include surgery and hormones.

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• Gender dysphoria - a state of severe distress or unhappiness caused by feeling that one’s gender identity does not match one’s sex as registered at birth. 

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• Gender transition - a process by which an individual comes to live in accordance with their gender identity through changes to their appearance and presentation. 

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• Nonbinary - an individual who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that is neither entirely male nor entirely female

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• Hormone Therapy (HRT) - a form of gender-affirming treatment, involving taking either oestrogen or testosterone which can cause physical changes to an individual's body, voice and suppresses the release of ‘unwanted’ hormones. 

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• Gender diverse people - an inclusive term used to refer to multiple types of gender identities that fall outside cisgender and/or binary understandings of gender. 

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• The trans community - an umbrella term for a community of people who identity as transgender

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• Birth assigned sex/assigned sex at birth - classification of an individual as male, female or intersex based on physical attributes observed at the time of birth, often by medical professionals. 

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• LGBTQIA+ - an umbrella term for individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual/Aromantic. 

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• Gender identity - one's innermost concept of how they perceive their gender. This can be the same or different to the gender assigned to them at birth.

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• Cisgender - an individual whose gender identity corresponds with the gender assigned to them at birth.

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• Biological sex - the classification of an individual as male, female or intersex based on factors such as chromosomes, reproductive organs and hormones 

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• Transsexual - an outdated term replaced by transgender

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• Mayhem law - an offense against a person in which the offender deprives the victim of a member of their body. This was historically used to prevent gender-affirming surgery.