AGLBICAL

TRANSGENDER TERMINOLOGY
Terms & Definitions

Transgender - "Transgender" is often used as an umbrella term and refers to those who transgress societal gender norms. Generally, people who identifies as transgender exhibit some behavior or traits that falls outside of traditional gender expectations.

Transsexual - A term referring to a person whose gender identity differs from what is culturally associated with their biological sex at birth. Some, but not all, transsexuals wish to change their bodies to be congruent with their gender identity through sex reassignment surgery. This term is considered outdated. Most transsexual people refer to themselves as transgendered.

Androgyny - The mixing of masculine and feminine characteristics. 2. Something that is neither masculine nor feminine.

Drag - The act of dressing in gendered clothing as part of a performance. Drag may be performed as a political comment on gender, as parody, or simply as entertainment. Drag performance does not indicate sexuality, gender identity, or sex identity.

Intersex - Intersexuality is a naturally occurring condition that affects the reproductive and sexual system. Intersex people are born with sex chromosomes, external genitalia, or internal reproductive systems that are not considered "standard" for either male or female. The existence of intersexuals shows that there are not just two sexes and that our ways of thinking about sex (trying to force everyone to fit into either male box or female) is socially constructed.

Gender Bender/Gender Queer - A person who redefines or plays with gender, or who refuses gender altogether. People who bend/break the rules of gender and blur the boundaries.

Cross-dresser - A person who enjoys dressing in clothes typically associated with the other gender. Preferred over the term “transvestite.” Cross-dressers may be of any sexual orientation.

Two-Spirited - A term for third-gender people that are among many Native American and Canadian First Nations tribes. It usually implies a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit living in the same body. It is also used by gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex Native Americans to describe themselves. Two-Spirited people have distinct gender and social roles in their tribes. Some are counselors while others are medicine persons or spiritual functionaries. They study skills including story telling, theater, magic, hypnotism, healing, herbal medicine, ventriloquism, singing, music and dance.

Beyond Barbie, Ken, and the DSM: Working with the Lived Experiences of Transgendered Clients

Presenter: Stacee Reicherzer, Ph.D., LPC, NCC

ALMHCA (Alabama Mental Health Counselors Association) presented its Winter Workshop on February 22, 2008. It featured training on transgender issues.

The presentation was developed through the research and clinical work of the Dr. Stacee Reicherzer, who identifies and lives as transgender. While a good deal of the presentation was directly informed by Dr. Reicherzer’s clinical practices, her dissertation research, which developed a grounded theory through the use of transgender narratives, was the primary source of skill-emphasis.

This included, as educational content, a demonstration of sex, sexuality, and gender as continua; skill-building in inviting client language, and working with clients’ named experiences of gender; guidelines for supporting clients’ rights to choose hormones and surgical reassignments; and counselor resources for support of the process of working with transgender clients. The presentation was intended primarily for counselors who work in community mental health and private practice settings that transgender clients may access in seeking care.

Audience members learned about: the distinctions between and within sex, sexuality, and gender; the emerging language that transgenders use in describing gender experiences, with emphasis in the process of creating language as a means of naming self as a gendered being; established protocols that are outlined in the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care for the purpose of diagnosis and assessment for clients who are seeking hormone replacement therapies and sexual reassignment surgeries; and additional counseling skills that transgenders have specifically identified as needs of the counseling profession.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Stacee L. Reicherzer, LPC, NCC is a counselor and counselor educator whose primary clinical and research emphasis has focused on gender and sexual diversity across the lifespan. She is the current president of the Texas Association of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues in Counseling (TAGLBIC), and has recently been invited to participate in an international delegation, hosted by Columbia University, that studies the global impact of shame and humiliation.

Dr. Reicherzer has provided numerous lectures, workshops, and press interviews related to GLBTQIQ issues, including a special interview that featured for an episode of the Discovery Health network series, Dr. G: Medical Examiner. She currently is in the process of writing a textbook chapter on qualitative research of transgender issues, as well as a textbook chapter on bisexuality and gender identity development among adolescent males.

Dr. Reicherzer is philosophically guided by relational-cultural theory (RCT), and is a trained practitioner of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). In her private practice, she specializes in work with survivors of hate crimes and sexual abuse, and has clinical skill in addressing the spectrum of dissociative disorders, PTSD, somatoform disorders, and borderline personality disorder. Additionally, she provides consultation and training services that focus on diversity celebration and increased efforts toward collaboration in organization development.

ALABAMA GENDER ALLIANCE
Advocacy & Support

Gender variant individuals are fortunate to have a support group in Alabama. The group is called the Alabama Gender Alliance. Their mission is to create an online utopia, 3D social club, and public advocacy group for the gender variant, transgendered, transexual, intersexed, genderqueer, cross-dressing, and transvestite residents of Alabama, as well as the Significant Others, Friends, Family, and Allies (SOFFAs) who love them.

Membership is free and easy. Once your membership is active, all of the free features of the on-line community are available, including polls, a photo gallery, e-mail dialog among all members, a chat room, and an event calendar.

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GENDER TERMINOLOGY

Gender - A socially constructed collection of traits, behaviors, and meanings that we use as a standard for how biological differences should be represented.

Gender Conformity - When your gender identity and sex “match” (i.e. fit social norms). For example, a male who identifies and behaves in traditionally masculine ways and identifies as a man.

Gender Expression - Outward behaviors and appearances (e.g. hair, clothing, voice, body language) by which people manifest their gender identity or gender choices.

Gender Identity - A person’s fundamental sense of their own gender. This can include identifying as a combination of genders or refusing to label oneself with a gender. Gender identity is often confused with or considered tied to sexual orientation, but this is inaccurate. Gender identity and sexual orientation are exclusive off each other.

Gender Roles - Are the socially constructed and culturally specific norms of behavior and appearance expectations imposed based on biological sex (i.e. femininity and masculinity).

Sex Identity - The sex that a person sees themselves as. This can include refusing to label oneself.

TRANSGENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

Based on D’Augelli’s Model of LGB Identity Development (1994), the processes below do not necessarily occur linearly nor does every transgender person experience each process. It should also be noted that the term “transgender” covers a wide variety of identities. Individuals may experience the stages in different ways or to different degrees depending on how they specifically identify and the particular restrictions or prejudices that society places on that identity.

Exiting a Traditional Gendered Identity

Involves recognition that one is gender variant, attaching a label to this identity, and affirming oneself as gender variant through coming out to others.

Developing a Personal Transgender Identity

Entails achieving the stability that comes from knowing oneself in relation to other transgender people and challenging internalized transphobia.

Developing a Transgender Social Identity

Focuses on creating a support network of people who know and accept that one is gender variant.

Becoming a Transgender Offspring

Consists of coming out as transgender to family members and reevaluating relationships that may be disrupted by the disclosure.

Developing a Transgender Intimacy Status
Involves the creation of intimate physical and emotional relationships.

Entering a Transgender Community

Involves making a commitment to political and social action and understanding identity through challenging transphobia.

Bilodeau, B. (forthcoming: 2005). Beyond the Gender Binary: New perspectives on Transgender Student Identity Development. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education, 3(2).

They may identify as heterosexual, so they may not be dealing with issues of sexuality. However, depending on how they sexually identify, transgender people may face discrimination from both heterosexuals and LGB people.

They may experience more verbal and physical attacks than most LGB people if they cross-dress or otherwise “look gender variant.”

They are generally less accepted in society than LGB people, in large part due to ignorance. There is little understanding of transgender lives; they are not visible in popular culture beyond stereotypes and almost no research has been done on their experiences.

They sometimes experience a lack of acceptance and support from the LGB community.

As a result of the lack of acceptance and support in the dominant culture and in the LGB community, they often lack a strong community and positive role models or images. Consequently, transpeople, especially trans youth, may feel isolated and marginalized.

Transpeople may want to remain closeted because of the legitimate fear of how they will be treated by their professors, employers, co-workers, friends, and others in their field.

Transpeople often have a hard time finding medical help that is knowledgeable and understanding concerning transgender issues.

If transitioning, they will need to change their identification as well as other records and documents. Keep in mind that different states and institutions have different rules about when and if these changes are possible.

They are especially vulnerable to attack, harassment, and/or embarrassment when trying to use the gender appropriate bathroom.

Transpeople often have others refer to them as a gender different than the one with which they wish to identify or insist on calling them by their given name even though they have changed it.

Beemyn, B. (2003, Fall). Serving the needs of transgender college students. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education,1, 33-50.

Transgender youth often face enormous hardships when they acknowledge and express their gender identity.

They may be thrown out of the house when their family discovers that they are transgender, often forcing them to live on the streets.

They typically face harassment and abuse in school to such an extent that they quit, which makes it hard for them to get decent-paying jobs (for example, a survey of more than 250 transgender people in Washington, D.C. found that forty percent had not finished high school and another 40 percent were unemployed).

Even if they are able to get an education, they have difficulty finding and keeping almost any kind of job because of discrimination, forcing some to become sex workers.

If they live on the streets or are a sex worker, they are at a greater risk for abusing drugs, becoming infected with HIV, and being subjected to anti-transgender violence.

Many lack access to health care, including proper counseling and medical supervision for those who are in the process of transitioning. And when they do get medical treatment, they frequently face discrimination and hostility from health-care workers. Consequently, some transsexuals decide to treat themselves by buying underground hormones, which can contain dangerous if not deadly chemicals.

Because gender reassignment surgery can cost more than $100,000 and is not covered by most health insurance policies, even most middle-class transsexuals cannot afford the procedures.

The ultimate result is often high rates of depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and thoughts of suicide among transgender people (thirty-five percent of the respondents to the D.C. survey mentioned above reported that they had seriously considered suicide).

Many transgender people who can “pass” will choose to remain closeted, so trans youth often do not have visible role models and mentors.

Beemyn, B. (2004). The Legal and Political Rights of Transgender People. Retrieved January 27, 2005 from Ohio State University, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Services Web

TRANSGENDER EMERGENCE
New Book by Arlene Istar Lev

Explore an ecological strength-based framework for the treatment of gender-variant clients This comprehensive book provides you with a clinical and theoretical overview of the issues facing transgendered/transsexual people and their families. Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families views assessment and treatment through a nonpathologizing lens that honors human diversity and acknowledges the role of oppression in the developmental process of gender identity formation.

Specific sections of Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families address the needs of gender-variant people as well as transgender children and youth. The issues facing gender-variant populations who have not been the focus of clinical care, such as intersexed people, female-to-male transgendered people, and those who identify as bigendered, are also addressed.

The book examines... the six stages of transgender emergence... coming out as transsexual or transgender as a normative process of gender identity development... thinking "outside the box" in the deconstruction of sex and gender... the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as the convergence, overlap, and integration of these parts of the self... the power of personal narrative in gender identity development... etiology and typographies of transgenderism and transsexuality... treatment models that emerge from various clinical perspectives... alternative treatment modalities based on gender variance as a normative lifecycle developmental process.

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Outing: Remember that revealing the transgender status of any transgender person without his or her expressed permission has the same potential for harm as outing a gay man, lesbian, or bisexual man or woman. Outing is an invasion of privacy.

Appearance: Do not assume that someone who appears to be cross-dressed is a "transvestite." That Person may or may not be living full-time in their presenting gender, or they may intend to do so in the future.

Usage Tips: Instead of the stigmatizing "transvestite", use Male Cross-dresser or Female Cross-dresser if it's clear that they are not living full-time nor intend to do so.

Living Status: If a transgender person is living full-time in a gender not associated with their birth sex, that person should be referred to at all times with terms appropriate to their presenting gender, regardless of their surgical status or body state (see below).

Surgical Status: Almost all transsexuals – pre-operative, post-operative or non-operative – and many transgender people are extremely sensitive about their surgical status and/or their body's physical state. Questions about this should be avoided or, if medically necessary, asked very sensitively. Moreover, this information should be considered confidential and should not be shared with others unless it is medically necessary.

Usage Tips: Regardless of their surgical status, the appropriate term for a Male-To-Female transsexual is Transsexual Woman, and for a Female-to-Male transsexual, Transsexual Man.

Avoid Aspersion by Using Quotation Marks: Never put pronouns or possessive adjectives of transgender persons in quotes. Never put their sexual orientations or genitalia in quotes.

Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives: It is extremely offensive to refer to transgender persons using pronouns and possessive adjectives that refer to their birth sex.

Usage Tips: Use pronouns and adjectives appropriate to the transgender person gender expression. If you are uncertain, ask what they prefer. Some people prefer the new pronoun ze (pronounced “zee”) in lieu of she/he, and the new possessive adjective hir (pronounced “here”) in lieu of his/her.

Self-Identification: Not all transgender people use the same terminology to describe themselves. When in doubt, just ask an individual transgender person how they wish to be identified.

Usage Tips: If you’re not sure how to address someone, just ask. Or simply use their first name or last name. It's sometimes customary for patients or clients in clinical situations to be asked by their last name when it’s time to see their providers.

Membership is free and easy. Once your membership is active, all of the free features of the on-line community are available, including polls, a photo gallery, e-mail dialog among all members, a chat room, and an event calendar.

CLICK HERE FOR E-MAIL CLICK HERE FOR WEBSITE

CLICK HERE FOR E-MAIL

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