Translating transgender – a glossary

Sexuality: Not necessarily related to gender identity. An unattributed quote illustrates it well: ‘‘Sexuality is who you want to wake up next to. Gender is who you want to wake up as.’’

Transgender/trans: Describes someone whose identity does not align with the gender they were assigned at birth. There are thought to be roughly 55,000 transgender Kiwis.*

Cisgender/cis: Pronounced ‘‘sis’’. Describes someone whose identity aligns with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Takata¯ pui: A term preferred by some Ma¯ori that acknowledges the dual identities of being tangata whenua and queer/rainbow. Intersex: Someone whose physical sex characteristics are ambiguous. A person may not know they have intersex anatomy until puberty, when the body may develop differently.

Non-binary: A person whose gender is not aligned with male or female. A non-binary person may identify with all genders, some, or none. Nonbinary people might be described as transgender, but transgender people are not necessarily non-binary.

Sex change: No longer acceptable, and widely viewed as reductive, overly simplistic and offensive.

TERF: Trans-exclusionary radical feminism/feminist. Used to refer to some feminists who do not believe trans women should be included with cis women. Considered a slur by some.

* Source: Gender Minorities Aotearoa