Genderqueer and Such

I would consider myself genderqueer. I feel as if parts of my brain are biologically female and parts are biologically male. I thought I might've been trans for a long time, but much of that dysphoria evaporated when I had actual relationships with women and found that I was much more capable of enjoying being masculine than I'd given myself credit.

I don't really act on it much and I don't feel much need to act on it anymore. I appear cis, for all intents and purposes. I just use the term to describe my internal state.

 

There's loads of terms out there and for the most part they refer to one identity- for instance, in addition to the above we have agender people (who don't identify as a particular gender?), bigender (who feel they're both), genderfluid (who might feel like one gender for a period of time, then another, then cycle back).

Intersex refers to being born with either both male and female gentinals and/or ambigious genitals. It's not so much a gender identity as a sex- a lot of transpeople are born interest but were assigned as one particular sex over another. Being intersex doesn't automatically make you both a man and a woman at the same time.

Now... Someone do correct me if I'm wrong about the above.

The terms someone prefers is highly individual.

For example, I prefer transsexual, transgender, transmale, or even simply male. I'm someone who was assigned female at birth, identifies as male, and I want my body to reflect my male gender.

Transsexual is a bit of an older term but it usually refers to people like me who medically transition (hormones and surgeries) to have a body that matches their identified gender. Transgender can overlap but it's a term that tends to refer to anyone with a gender identity that differs from their birth sex (to some degree). Someone who's genderqueer is transgender. Even someone who cross dresses might, to some degree, be considered transgender.

Transgender's typically a more politically correct term to refer to transsexuals but I'm cool with transsexual to refer to myself.

 

Okay, let me consult my glossary of LGBTQIA terms I've been compiling (if I'm missing something, it would be awesome if you could tell me because I am using this to better understand things LGBTQIA related. I want to use it to educate people )

 Agender – A type of genderqueer identity that means they are genderless or have no gender. Another term for this is neutrois.
 Androgynous – having masculine and feminine characteristics
 Bigender – A type of genderqueer identity, one who exhibits two genders. The genders they exhibit can be on or outside of the gender spectrum. Some bigender individuals experience gender switching and sometimes use different personas for their genders.
 Genderfluid – A type of genderqueer identity, moving between genders or with a fluctuating gender identity
 Genderqueer – Identifying with a gender other than male or female.
 Pangender – A type of genderqueer identity, means a person exhibits all genders.
 Transgender – when one is a different gender than their biological sex.
 Transexual – a transgender person that transitioned or is in the process of transitioning.
 Trigender – A type of genderqueer identity, a person who exhibits three genders.

 

If you're in the US, check your Facebook. No, I'm serious. You can go to your about section and change gender to "Custom," where you can find various terms.

I ended up going with transfeminine, which is my sort of cop-out answer for being a genderqueer who wishes I were born female, but I don't experience all that much dysphoria, and I don't really want to transition. I prefer to simply think of myself and present myself as feminine.

To know what any particular trans* person considers zerself to be, just ask. It's like the "what's your preferred pronoun?" question.