Terminology & Concepts

 

Let's review and expand on some of the terms and ideas from the Language page.

 

Assigned sex refers to the sex category a person was placed in at birth. Assigned sex is usually decided based on genitalia. In Western society, people with vaginas are assigned as female, and people with penises are assigned as male. People with nontraditional genitalia are labeled as "intersex," and doctors make a decision which sex category to place them into. Assigned sex is actually socially constructed. The decision to place someone in a particular sex category is not as concrete as you might think, and so we use the terms "assigned sex" rather than "biological sex" or "birth sex." The terms "biological sex" and "birth sex" imply that a person is "really" male or female, when in actuality they were simply placed in that sex category based on biased assumptions about their bodies.

 

Assigned gender refers to the gender category a person was placed in at birth, based on their sex category. Along with assigned gender come many expectations about how a person should think, act, or feel. Like assigned sex, assigned gender is socially constructed and applied by people with biased ideas about gender and bodies.

 

Gender or gender identity refers to a person's internal concept of who they are and how they relate to the world and their sexual identity. Gender is not determined by assigned sex or assigned gender; it is a personal experience that can only be determined by an individual. Someone was assigned a male sex/gender at birth isn't necessarily male. Similarly, if someone identifies as female, it doesn't matter what they were assigned at birth--they're female! Of course, there are many more genders than just male or female, which we'll explore more later.

 

Transgender people are people whose gender identity does not align with their assigned sex/gender. Transgender people are a varied group; some experience dysphoria and want to transition, others do not. Regardless, transgender people are the gender they say they are, and should be treated and referred to as such.

 

Cisgender people are people whose gender identity aligns with their assigned gender/sex. Cisgender people have cisgender privilege and are awarded benefits by society for their cisgender status.

 

Nonbinary people are people whose gender identities fall outside the gender binary. There are many more genders than simply male and female! Nonbinary genders are just as legitimate as binary genders. Nonbinary people often space specific issues unique to nonbinary genders.