About/FAQ/bio/frequently used terms & acronyms

The only rule thus far: At this time, I highly value my anonymity on this blog. If you do know me in person or elsewhere on the internet, please do not refer to me as anything but geopunk. I ask not only that you do not use my legal name, but that you do not use any of my other known pseudonyms or usernames from other sites. If you do know me (or think you know me), I still welcome you to comment, of course! Don’t let my anonymity scare you away. You don’t have to act like you don’t know me. :) Thank you for cooperating.

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The Definitive Geopunk FAQ:

Q. So, like… are you a guy or a girl?

A. Neither, really. I identify as neutrois (see below) male and tend to swing between those extremes. For the record, I am trans. Sometimes I feel more male, other days I feel more neutrois. I don’t know if that makes me gender fluid or bigendered or what. *shrugs* The pronouns I use alternate or flow between male and gender-neutral. I used genderqueer as a convenient term to describe my non-binary identity for a while, but I no longer i.d. with that label.

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Q. What does that all mean? And what are the various acronyms I see scattered around your blog?

A. Okay, I’ll define some basic terms that I often use. This is the way that I personally use these terms, and there may be disagreement among other people. This is not meant to substitute as a Trans 101, this is just explaining what I mean when I use these terms.

Assigned [male/female] at birth, or assigned gender/sex: The gender/sex that the doctor put down on your birth certificate when you popped out of the womb.

AFAB/FAAB and AMAB/MAAB: Acronyms for assigned-female-at-birth/female-assigned-at-birth and assigned-male-at-birth/male-assigned-at-birth, respectively.

Cisgender: Describes a person whose gender identity (and often gender expression) “matches” their assigned gender. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has to be comfortable with their society’s determined gender roles.

Cissexed: Describes a person whose physical body (i.e. genitals, reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics), as far as they know, aligns with their assigned sex — and they have no desire to change their body to conform with their gender identity. Someone can be cissexed without being cisgender; for example, many genderqueer people fall under this category.

Cis: When shortened to just cis, used as an umbrella term for someone who is either or both cisgender and cissexed.

Transgender: An umbrella descriptor for a person whose gender does not align with the one they were assigned. May include crossdressing/transvestism, gender fluid, genderqueer, and/or transsexual individuals. Sometimes shortened to trans* (with or without the asterisk) when used to mean “transgender and/or transsexual individuals”.

Transsexual/transsexed: Describes a person whose body does not align with their gender, and is either planning to, is in the process of, or has completed a process of changing it to align. This process of medical transition may include hormone therapy and/or some kind of surgery or surgeries. There is no “one true way” to go about being transsexual.

Binary identity/binary-i.d.’ed: Describes a person whose gender identity is defined more similarly to the way that their culture defines “man” and “woman”. This includes cis people, and also a great many trans* people. Note: some people define “cisgender” in this way, but in order to avoid confusion I use separate definitions.

Genderqueer: Describes a person whose identity is neither (entirely) male nor (entirely) female. Can be used as a noun or adjective. Genderqueer people may be cissexed or transsexed. Genderqueer people may identify as “all of the above” or “none of the above”, or bigendered, or polygendered, or genderfucked, or as an androgyne, or gender fluid. “Genderqueer” as a category is not mutually exclusive from “trans*”, although some genderqueer people do not identify as trans. There are probably as many definitions of genderqueer as there are people who identify this way, so I will keep my definition (and use of the term) vague but flexible.

GQ: Abbreviation of genderqueer. Not to be confused with Gentleman’s Quarterly magazine. :P

Neutrois: Describes a gender identity that is basically the absence of gender. Some people treat this as a subset of genderqueer, but as I use it, I don’t wholly feel that it is or should be. A neutrois person identifies as a neuter or gender-neutral, and may be cissexed or transsexed. Some neutrois people identify as genderqueer, and some do not.

Intersex: For an excellent intro to intersexuality, see this post at the Intersex Roadshow. Related to trans issues and includes some overlap, but intersex issues should not be automatically assumed to be the same as trans issues.

Subversivism: The belief that non-binary genders and presenting as gender-variant is superior to binary genders and presentation. Often tied into the nonconsensual othering of binary-identified trans people and the belief that binary-i.d.’ed trans people are not “real” men and women.

Cisgenderism: The belief that binary identities (trans or cis) are superior to non-binary/gender-variant identities. Often tied into the belief that GQ people and non-passing trans people are “ruining it” for more “respectable” binary-i.d.’ed trans people.