Miscellaneous Definitions

By Paul and Simon

Definitions, what do we mean when we talk about things? That is an ancient question highly reliant on who, where and when you are. The following definitions are highly subject to change and may mean different things to different people, these just seem like the best ones.

Third gender: a traditional or ceremonial role held by someone who is not viewed as male or female by the society around them.

Eunuch: blanket term for a third gender individual in an ancient near eastern society. The word eunuch is what is used in translations but this definition is what historians generally agree on.

Sex: the thing on your birth certificate.

Gender: whether someone identifies as male, female, neither, both, in between or something else, may align with sex or may not. (can be argued as a social construct)

Transgender: when someone's gender (what your brain perceives you as) does not align with their sex (what you were assigned at birth). (around 5% of the population, exact numbers are not known and different studies say different things, this also uses what the authors call the left handed theorem which uses the most recent generation as a basis for information on population trends).

Cisgender: someone whose gender identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Nonbinary: someone who identifies as neither male nor female, can be used as an umbrella term for any non male or female person. (around 1.6 percent of the population, can also identify as Trans).

Gender dysphoria: when someone experiences conflict between their own body and desired gender identity. If you were put into a body of the opposite sex and gender you would feel pretty awkward right?

Intersex: (medically referred to as a condition called Developmental Sex Disorder or DSD) when someone has sex organs that differ from their sex assigned at birth, appears to have sex organs that differ from their sex assigned at birth, has chromosomes that differ from their sex assigned at birth (e.g. XXY or XYY,), or has irregular hormone production for their sex assigned at birth. (around 2% of the population).

Genderqueer: if male and female are boxes then genderqueer people are liquids that don't fit into those boxes, some nonbinary or trans people do not identify as genderqueer, some do.