Gender Diverse - Blog Posts

This so true. It's ridiculous that a bunch of far-right extremists are in power and terrorizing our communities to push their fascist and authoritarian agenda.

American Psychological Association Affirms Evidence-Based Care for Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse Adults and Children

The American Psychological Association (APA), the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States, has adopted what it calls a “groundbreaking” policy in support of evidence-based care for transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse children, adolescents, and adults.

The policy (PDF) was approved by APA’s governing Council of Representatives at its meeting on February 24, with a vote of 153-9 with one abstention. The resolution directly counters the claim that there is no scientific consensus on gender-affirming care.

APA President Cynthia de las Fuentes, speaking of the new policy resolution, states, “It sends a clear message that state bans on gender-affirming care disregard the comprehensive body of medical and psychological research supporting the positive impact of such treatments in alleviating psychological distress and improving overall well-being for transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary individuals throughout their lives.”

The policy includes several findings and resolutions, such as:

Gender affirming medical care is medically necessary - “the APA underscores the necessity for access to comprehensive, gender-affirming healthcare for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary children, adolescents, and adults”

The organization opposes bans on gender affirming care - “the APA opposes state bans on gender-affirming care, which are contrary to the principles of evidence-based healthcare, human rights, and social justice, and which should be reconsidered in favor of policies that prioritize the well-being and autonomy of transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals”

Being trans is not “caused” by autism or post-traumatic stress - “legislative efforts to restrict access to care have involved the dissemination of misleading and unfounded narratives (e.g., mischaracterizing gender dysphoria as a manifestation of traumatic stress or neurodivergence, and equating affirming care for transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary youth with child abuse), creating a distorted perception of the psychological and medical support necessary for these youth and creating a hostile environment that adversely affects their mental health and wellbeing.”

False information on trans care needs to be combatted - “APA supports efforts to address and rectify the dissemination of false information to ensure the well-being and dignity of transgender, gender-diverse, and nonbinary individuals”

Discrimination, non-affirmation, and rejection risks suicide - “gender-based bias and mistreatment (e.g., discrimination, violence, non-affirmation, or rejection in response to gender diversity) pose significant harm, including risk of suicide, to the well-being of children, adolescents, adults, and families.”

The APA is only one of many professional medical, legal, and child service organizations that have issued formal statements in support of LGBTQ families and individuals based on scientific evidence. 

Current Mainstream Gender Terminology is Problematic and Erases and Marginalizes the Non-binary Community

Hi peeps!

I understand that a lot of people in the gender-diverse community strongly identify and feel affirmed with the terminology trans and transgender to describe the gender-diverse community and describe one's experiences and feelings of their gender identity, but the terminology for it is problematic. Historically, transgender was primarily associated with the narrow binary framework (e.g., from man to woman or vice versa). Cisgender serves as an antonym to transgender. Transgender expanded beyond the narrow binary framework to include non-binary, but a lot of people within and outside the gender-diverse community still associate it with just trans men and trans women. Even with good intentions, language can and does perpetuate stereotypes and inequality. A lot of mainstream gender-diverse terminology conveys binary ideas of physical characteristics and gender.

The Latin prefixes "cis" and "trans" when used to describe the gender identities cis or cisgender and trans or transgender are inherently problematic because of their binary connotations. The Latin prefix “trans” means “across,” “beyond,” or “on the other side of.” For example, “Transylvania” means “beyond the forest,” and “transatlantic” means “across the Atlantic Ocean.”

The Latin prefix “cis” means “on this side of.” The scientific roots of the “cis-” prefix go even further back. In chemistry, it refers to the orientation of atoms in three-dimensional space. For example, “cis-2-butene” describes a molecule where two methyl groups are on the same side of a double bond, while “trans-2-butene” has the methyl groups on opposite sides.

So here is my idea to address it. What if we removed the Latin prefixes and replaced them with "Ex" and "Intra?"

Exgender ("Ex" meaning "out of" or "from") on its own could be a broad term that can be used to describe people whose gender identity(ies) is different from the gender they were assigned at birth (but ideally use gender-diverse). Instead of trans men, trans women, and trans people, it would be exgender men, exgender women, and exgender people.

Intragender ('intra" meaning "within" or "inside") could be a gender identity that can be used to describe people whose gender identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth. Instead of cisgender men, cisgender women, and cisgender people, it would be intragender men, intragender women, and intragender people.

Both intragender and exgender would still have the inclusive definitions associated with cisgender and transgender gender identities and be used in the same way. The difference is they wouldn't unintentionally reinforce the narrow gender binary that disproportionately affects the non-binary community compared to trans men and trans women (of course this depends on certain factors, such as the intersectionality of the fundamental aspects of a person's identity) and contributes to the common and serious issue of non-binaryphobia within the gender-diverse community.

There's also A LOT of other binary terminology that needs to be abolished, such as ASAB, AMAB, AFAB, assigned sex, assigned male, assigned female, FtM, MtF, male, female, sex, "biological" sex, femme-presenting, masc-presenting, masculine, feminine, etc.

A lot of these could be replaced and some just shouldn't be used at all.

Instead of male and female, use man and woman.

Instead of FTM and MTF, use exgender man, exgender woman, exgender person, non-binary person, AGAB, assigned woman at birth, assigned man at birth, etc.

Instead of ASAB, AMAB, AFAB, assigned sex, etc., use AGAB (Assigned Gender At Birth), assigned gender, assigned woman at birth, and assigned man at birth. E.g. My AGAB is woman/man.

Instead of sex and "biological" sex, use physical attributes or descriptive language to describe physical attributes, such as hormones, genitalia (penis, vagina, diverse genitalia), chromosomes, etc.

Instead of masc-presenting, femme-presenting, masculine, feminine, gender-neutral or any other word that labels certain forms of gender expression to be inherent to certain gender identities, use descriptive language.

For example:

Instead of "femme-presenting/feminine" or masc-presenting/masculine chest," use "rounded firm chest" or "flat chest, muscular chest."

Instead of "femme-presenting/feminine" or "masc-presenting/masculine" clothing, use "skirt, dress, lipstick, makeup, bra, t-shirt, baggy shorts, leather jacket, boots, etc."

No aspect of gender expression is inherently tied to any gender identity and shouldn't be falsely labeled as such, and the concepts of masculinity and femininity are baseless social constructs that change over time and often prioritize and favor cis men and marginalize other genders.