Diversity Peer Advisors

Q: What is gender?

A: Gender is a social construct that informs people’s identities and relationship with gendered society. Gender and sex are separate constructs. Gender can manifest as any combination of things like expression, behavior, group identification, relationship with one’s body, pronouns. Gender is not specifically any one of these things, nor is it a specific combination of one of these things. The key thing about gender is that someone’s gender is what they say it is.
 

Q: What do “cisgender” or “cis” and “transgender” or “trans” mean?

A: “Cis” and “trans” describe people’s relationship with their gender. Cis people identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Trans people do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
 

Q: Are trans women “really men?” Are trans men “really women?” What does it mean to be a trans _____ person?
A: Trans women are women who were assigned male at birth. Trans men are men who were assigned female at birth. However, trans women are women, and trans men are men. Their gender, which is the gender they identify, is their real gender.
 

Q: What is assigned gender at birth?

A: Assigned gender at birth is the designation a doctor put on your birth certificate when you were born. Typically, these were either Male or Female. Assigned gender at birth is a more appropriate way of discussing “biological sex.” This is because biological sex is not a binary. Rather, biological sex exists on a spectrum (with many people occupying positions identified as “intersex”), and distinctions are drawn arbitrarily to distinguish male from female. When discussing someone’s assigned gender at birth, the terms “assigned male at birth (amab)” and “assigned female at birth (afab)” are used.
 

Q: What are some examples of having an intersex body?

A: About 1% of the world is intersex. This is about the same proportion of the human population as people with red hair, for perspective. Intersex bodies include people with XY chromosomes but have ovaries or an estrogen-dominant system, people who have XXY chromosomes, people who have both testes and ovaries, people who have “medically ambiguous genitalia,” people who have secondary sex characteristics such as breasts alongside primary sex characteristics such as a penis, and many others. Often, intersex people are forced to undergo invasive medical procedures to change their bodies to fit social standards.
 

Q: What are the differences between expression, group identification, relationship with one’s body, and pronouns?
A: Gender expression can be defined as how a person chooses to present themselves with gendered cues. For example, some people like to wear dresses, skirts, have long hair, wear earrings, and put on makeup. Likewise, other people like to have short hair, wear pants, suits, and shirts, etc. Pointedly, these can all be mixed and matched per a person’s preference. Some people prefer to wear skirts and dresses but have short hair. Some

people like to wear suits, makeup, and skirts. Some people like to wear earrings and heels but wear overalls and button-down shirts. Some women are very invested in expressing themselves in traditionally “feminine” expressions, while others are invested in traditionally “masculine” expressions, and still others in “androgynous” expressions. Any person of any gender can express themselves in any way they desire. Group identification involves which groups people see themselves fitting into. These groups can include things like “women,” “men,” “lesbian,” “non- binary,” etc. Pronouns are linguistic signifiers that people use to communicate a certain relationship with gender. However, pronouns do not equal gender. Some women prefer to use he/him pronouns, and some men prefer to use she/her pronouns. Many pronouns exist, such as she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, ze/hir/hirs, ey/em/eirs, etc. Relationship with one’s body revolves around the feelings and attitudes people have towards their bodies. Some trans people experience what is known as “body dysphoria.” Body dysphoria is a feelings of discomfort, dissatisfaction, or distress around the way one’s body looks or is perceived. Some trans people choose to undergo medical procedures to change the

way their bodies look to better fit how they wish to be seen or how they see themselves.
 

Q: What are some medical procedures that can be involved when affirming one's gender?
A: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is the process of introducing different hormones in the body, sometimes alongside hormone blockers or puberty blockers, to change the endocrinal physiology of the body. Top surgery includes surgeries involving either breast enhancement or removal. (Typically, “top surgery” refers to the procedure of removing the breasts to create a smooth chest). Bottom surgery involves surgeries involving removal or reconstruction of the genitals (sometimes historically referred to as “sex reassignment surgery” or “genital reconstructive surgery”). These procedures do not define all trans people and are not necessary.
 

Q: What is “non-binary?”

A: Non-binary is the gender signifier for people who do not completely identify as only male, or only female, including people who identify as neither. Non-binary can be both a specific identity (“What’s your gender identity?” “I’m non-binary”) as well as an umbrella term (“This event is open to all non-binary people, including genderqueer, genderfluid, bigender, agender, two-spirit people, etc.”)
 

Q: Is it appropriate for me to ask about someone’s assigned gender/the status of their genitals/any medical procedures they have had or plan to have/birth name?
A: No, this is considered rude and trans people do not have any obligations to share this information, unless of course they are comfortable with that.