GLOSSAR

The western gender binary model assumes that there are only two genders – “male” and “female” – and that men and women are the gender norm. This model does not consider all other possible gender identities.

As a result of this assumption, we have toilets for “men” and for “women”, fashion for “women” and for “men”, “men’s” and “women’s” sport-teams that play in their own leagues for “women” or “men”. The gender binary model affects all areas of our society. Those who live outside this norm – for instance, intersex and non-binary people – cannot access these clearly segregated spaces. They are erased and, therefore, either excluded or forced to conform to the norm.

The word cisgender is used to describe people whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth. A cis woman, accordingly, is somebody who was assigned female at birth & identifies as a woman too, and a cis man is a person that was assigned male at birth and identifies as a man. This term is important because it names something that the general opinion generally sees as “normal”. It is essential to label everyone, and not only those who don’t fit into the norm (i.e., trans people), to avoid portraying trans and/or non-binary people as a “deviation”.

The idea of “coming out” alludes to the narrowness of a symbolic closet —the norms of a society that regards heterosexual, cisgender, and binary life and identity models as the only possible option. Coming out, therefore, represents the step someone takes in order to live their own sexual or gender identity, and to disclose it to other people.

It is possible to make a distinction between an internal and an external coming out. The internal coming out describes the steps someone takes to recognise and accept themselves. Frequently, it is the end of a long self-discovery process. The external coming out is the process of presenting to other people as your true self. This second coming out is often made up of many steps. Most of the time, people first open up to their close ones, like their family or some trusted friends, and then little by little to others. For most lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people and, in general, for those who do not fit into social norms regarding gender identity and sexuality, sharing their experiences with parents, friends or work colleagues is a huge step —a decision that often takes courage. There are many reasons why people decide not to come out.

Many trans people do not want to hear their deadnames and it is vital to respect this. Deadnames may be associated with many negative emotions and traumas. Besides, they possibly refer to someone that never actually existed.

Deadnaming a trans person without their consent in front of people who didn’t know their birth name can also be a form of outing (see below).

In the past, the term ‘FTM’ (female-to-male) was commonly used instead of ‘trans men’. Some people still use it today. However, this term has attracted criticism because it implies that trans men used to be women who underwent a “sex change” – which is not the case. Trans men were rather assigned a wrong gender at birth due to their sex characteristics and, before coming out, their actual gender would not be externally perceived by other people. Contrary to the term “FTM”, expressions like, for instance, ‘trans men’ refer to a person’s actual gender.

The term “FTM” (or “F2M”) is outdated and should no longer be used by cis people. However, some trans people still use it to describe themselves, and this should be respected in any case.

 /genderfluid

Genderfluid means that someone’s gender shifts over time between different gender identities & expressions. This can mean, for example, that a person sometimes feels rather masculine or male, sometimes rather feminine or female, and sometimes beyond the gender binary – or something completely different. This term shows that gender is not a rigid and static, but rather something that can always change.

/genderqueer

/Gender asterisk or gender star

The gender star (*) is a visual marker used in German to create space for all genders besides female and male. It aims to reflect gender diversity and include, among others, non-binary people. A similar use of the underscore “_” (or gender gap) can also be found in German.

The gender star is placed between the root of the noun –its masculine form – and the feminine suffix. For example: the gender-neutral version of the word ‘a patient’ would be ‘Patient*in’ instead of ‘Patient’ (male patient) and ‘Patientin’ (female patient). The same pattern is also used to create gender-neutral plurals – For instance, ‘Patient*innen’ instead of ‘Patienten’ (male patients) or ‘Patientinnen’ (female patients).

In spoken language, the gender star is conveyed through a short, audible break between the parts of the word that it divides.

/ Gender identity

The word gender identity refers to the inner sense and/or knowledge of being – for instance – a woman, a man, non-binary, trans, intersex, or between, beyond or outside genders.
A person’s gender identity is not determined by their body. Cis people often assume that these two categories are automatically connected and that, for example, a person with a body that the people read as “male” is a man. However, this is not always the case.

In June 2011, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for an end of the discrimination and persecution against individuals based on their gender identity.

This term highlights the diversity that exists beyond the dominant gender binary. It includes every self-determined gender identity – like trans women, cis women, trans men, cis men, non-binary people, genderqueer and genderfluid individuals, and intersex people, among others.

Gender-affirming surgeries are medical interventions that help align a person’s body on a visual and, to some extent, functional level with their gender identity. Some of the possible gender confirmation surgeries for trans people are: The alignment of primary genitals (e.g., vagina, penis), the mastectomy (removal of breast tissue), the breast augmentation, the hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) and the facial feminization.

The colloquial expression “sex change” and former medical terms like “reassignment surgery” are misleading. They imply that a trans person’s gender changes when they undergo surgery, while these procedures only help align their body to the gender they already had before the operation.

Not all trans people decide to undergo gender-affirming procedures. This is something that is always up to the individual and any decision they make is legitimate and should be respected.

During hormone therapy, people take the oestrogen hormone or the testosterone hormone with the purpose of achieving changes in their bodies – For example, breast growth, a change in voice or growing a beard. In some cases, the production of the body’s own hormone is also reduced by taking additional medication.

The word intersex describes people born with sex characteristics (such as genes or hormone levels) that do not entirely fit into the typical definitions of “female” and “male” bodies.

This can manifest itself in secondary sexual characteristics (such as muscle mass, hair distribution, breasts, and height), in primary sexual organs (reproductive organs, genitalia), in hormone levels and/or in chromosome structures.

A highly problematic aspect is that, even today, intersex people are being pathologized – That is, incorrectly seen as “ill”, although they are not. This false assumption can be attributed to the gender binary model and its history of pathologizing.

Even today, intersex people go through medical interventions without their consent, especially the administration of hormones and even surgeries. These often occur during childhood, before the affected person can express themselves and make a self-determined decision. Most of the time, there is no medical need for these interventions, as intersex people generally have completely good health. On the contrary, they can later suffer severely from the physical and psychological consequences of these medical interventions.

In German-speaking contexts, the recommended, non-pathologizing term to talk about intersex people is inter*. The asterisk here is meant to include other labels used by intersex individuals.

The word intersectionality describes the fact that different forms of discrimination can coexist, be connected, and reinforce each other. This means that different inequalities (such as transphobia, racism, islamophobia, or ableism) don’t simply “add up”– They create specific forms of discrimination. And different forms of discrimination have very different expressions and effects, so it is vital to understand the fact that these interact and how they do it. The concept of intersectionality was coined by Black legal scholar Kimberley Crenshaw and has its roots in the Black feminist movement.

/ LGBTIQ+

LGBTIQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex, and queer people. This acronym includes all sexual and gender identities that do not meet present cis-heterosexual social norms. People often use some variations of this acronym – like LGBTTIQ+ and LGBTIQA+.

This happens because different people define some terms in different ways or want to include other identities explicitly.

The word “queer” is often used as an umbrella term for all forms of sexual and gender diversity that go beyond the dominant norm.

Multiple discrimination means that one person can be affected by several forms of discrimination at the same time. Some examples include transphobia, enbyphobia, racism, classism, ableism, and sexism – But there are many more. The inequalities and hatred that some individuals experience are made up of multiple, different, interconnected forms of discrimination that influence and reinforce each other.

In the past, the term MTF (male-to- female) was commonly used instead of ‘trans women’. Some people still use it today. However, this term has attracted criticism because it implies that trans women used to be men who underwent a “sex change” – which is not the case. Trans women were rather assigned a wrong gender at birth due to their sex characteristics and, before coming out, their actual gender would not be externally perceived by other people. Contrary to the term “MTF”, expressions like, for instance, ‘trans women’ refer to a person’s actual gender.

The term “MTF” (or “M2F”) is outdated and should no longer be used by cis people. However, some trans people still use it to describe themselves, and this should be respected in any case.

Pronouns are the words we use in a sentence to refer to a specific person instead of their name. Some pronouns (like “he” and “she”) refer to a binary gender and some (like the singular “they” & neopronouns) do not. Gender-neutral pronouns are an alternative to “she” and “he”. There are many neopronouns. Some examples in English are “xe” or “zie”. In German-speaking context, people we see neopronoun like “hen”, “dey” or “xier”. Neopronouns can be used by women, men, non-binary people, intersex people, and everyone else.

Passing means that a person is perceived according to their gender identity. This can be very important for trans people, both in terms of confidence and of safety, as it can protect them from trans-hostile violence in certain situations. For those who identify beyond the gender binary, however, passing is usually not an option.

In German speaking contexts, the term Regenbogenfamilie (translated, rainbow family) refers to a family in which at least one parent is not heterosexual or cisgender (LGBTQ+ parenting), as well as to families that break with the “classic” nuclear family model in some other way. This term is very wide and ranges from families with one or two queer parents to different family constellations with more than two parents, like co-parenting. These families may have biological, adopted and/or foster children, and the kids themselves may also have different gender identities and sexual orientations.

When nobody in a certain environment knows that a person is trans and this person doesn’t talk about it themselves, we say that they have gone ‘stealth’.

Going ‘deep stealth’, in turn, means that this person has left their previous environment behind after completing their transition, sometimes even breaking off all contact. In this new setting, nobody knows that they ever transitioned. Everyone perceives them as a cis person, and they want to avoid anyone finding out that they are trans or have a trans history.

A trans girl or woman is a person who was assigned male at birth but is aware that they are actually a girl or a woman.

/ Trans man / trans boy

A trans boy or man is a person who was assigned female at birth but is aware that they are actually a boy or a man.

/ Transphobia / Hostility towards trans people

The word ‘transphobia’ describes the prejudices, hatred, stigma, degradation, denial, invisibilization, discrimination, support for discrimination, and violence that affects (both binary and non-binary) trans people. The assumption that being cis is the norm and that being trans is a “deviation” (cisnormativity) is also transphobic. Specific discrimination against non-binary people is often referred to as ‘enbyphobia’.

Worldwide, trans people are being exposed to an increasing amount of violence. The project “Trans Respect versus Transphobia” collects statistics and data about murders and acts of violence against trans people, as well as about their social and legal situation in different countries. They present these data, among others, on the maps available on https://www.transrespect.org

/ TSG (Transsexuellengesetz)

Germany’s Transsexuality Law or TSG (Transsexuellengesetz) was adopted in 1981 following a Federal Constitutional Court ruling that gave trans people the option to legally change their first name and gender marker. In addition to the two paragraphs that address these modifications, the law also includes a so-called disclosure-ban (Offenbarungsverbot), which is supposed to protect trans people from others being able to draw the conclusion that their first name and gender marker were once different.
When someone changes their first name and/or gender marker using the TSG law, these changes don’t only influence newly issued documents – like new passports, IDs or driving licenses. The law also allows you to change personal records all the way back to the birth certificate thanks to the disclosure-ban. It is therefore possible to adjust old diplomas, work references and other documents in order to avoid possible problems, for instance, in job applications if your name does not match the one on the documents.

Since 1981, the TSG law has been amended multiple times thanks to Federal Constitutional Court rulings that declared several elements unconstitutional. The minimum age of 25 years for these legal changes no longer applies today, previously existing marriages don’t require a divorce anymore, and the modification of the first name alone already gives a person the right to be addressed in accordance with their gender. Until 2011, trans people were required to go through a gender-affirming procedure and prove their infertility to have their gender marker changed.

This law continues to attract sharp criticism, among other things because it demands mandatory assessments  by experts (Begutachtungen), which means that trans people must go through an extremely lengthy, sometimes intrusive, and even humiliating process. In addition, there is no legal aid to cover the costs that come from this process, which can be a major financial burden.

/ Forced outing

A “forced outing” is a situation where someone must disclose that they are trans due to external circumstances. This occurs particularly often during transition. It can happen, for instance, when a credit card is issued on a person’s deadname and they are constantly outed as a result, or when their health insurance card, personal ID or driver’s license show their deadname and they are forced to present these documents. For those who decide not to change their first name in their official documents, these situations never stop.

A forced outing can also happen long after someone has changed their gender marker and/or their first name. When a trans man gives birth to a child in Germany, for example, he is currently registered as the “mother” on the child’s birth certificate using his deadname. Such situations can be extremely difficult for the people affected and, in the worst case, can even put them in potentially dangerous situations. Forced outings can also have psychological consequences.