Gender identities

Q: What is the difference between transgender and non-binary?

Transgender is the broad term for people who do not identify with their birth sex, even if they do not undergo medical treatment. Non-binary is the umbrella term for people who do not, or not exclusively, call themselves a man or a woman. The labels overlap and the boundaries are not fixed: they describe how someone experiences and describes themselves.

Q: What is the difference between genderfluid, agender and bigender?

They are three labels under the umbrella term non-binary. Genderfluid stands for an experience that changes, agender for the absence of a sense of gender and bigender for two genders at once. There are also pangender, for several at once, and demigender, for a partial identification. The labels overlap, and there is no test or measurement by which one can be distinguished from another.

Q: Is a gender identity the same as a diagnosis?

No. An identity label is not a diagnosis. Care is concerned with gender dysphoria: persistent suffering from discontent with one's own sex. Not everyone who calls themselves transgender or non-binary is troubled by it, and not everyone with gender dysphoria opts for medical treatment. Hormones and surgery are far-reaching and partly irreversible.

Q: Which gender identities are scientifically supported?

That differs per label. Some terms have a long medical history, such as transgender and intersex, where intersex is a congenital physical variation and not an identity. Other labels originated online recently and have no clinical or empirical basis as a defined category. All labels describe how someone describes themselves; they are not biological groups.

Overview of the most common gender identities and what they involve.

Looking for a different term? Under the gender terms you will find the other terms: non-binary labels, transition terms and cultural and historical terms, with an explanation for each term.

Under the heading "gender identity" falls a rapidly growing assortment of self-descriptions. Besides the older terms transgender and cisgender, countless labels have recently been added — non-binary, genderfluid, agender, bigender, demigender, pangender and many others. An important caveat in advance: these categories are identity labels, not biological groups. Biological sex is stable and binary; intersex conditions (rare medical variations) are no exception to that.

The labels on this page are used in self-description, online communities and activist language. Some have a long medical history (transgender, intersex); others are recent, originated online and have no clinical or empirical basis as a defined category. Each term therefore comes not only with a description, but also with a critical consideration of the scientific status, the practical consequences and the discussions surrounding the label.

For each identity this section offers an explanation with attention to origin, meaning, practical context and critical perspectives. For medical care requests that arise from identity considerations, it holds that hormones and surgery are far-reaching and partly irreversible interventions. The page on detransition describes the experiences of people who went back on their steps and is indispensable context for any consideration of medical transition.

From transsexual to transgender

The word transsexual came into use in the twentieth century for people who had their body adapted to the other sex with hormones and surgery. From the 1990s transgender came into vogue as a broader term, which also includes people who do not undergo medical treatment. Opposite transgender stands cisgender: someone whose identity and birth sex coincide. That term is controversial. Proponents consider it a neutral counterpart; opponents do not want to be placed in a category that starts from a theory of gender identity that they do not share.

Outside the binary

Non-binary is the umbrella term for people who do not, or not exclusively, call themselves a man or a woman. It covers more specific labels: genderfluid for an experience that changes, agender for the absence of a sense of gender, bigender and pangender for several at once, and demigender for a partial identification. Genderqueer is an older umbrella term with a more political connotation. Transmasculine and transfeminine indicate a direction without someone calling themselves fully a man or a woman. Androgynous is about appearance and need not say anything about identity.

These labels overlap, and the boundaries between them are not fixed. They describe how someone experiences and describes themselves. There is no test or measurement by which one label can be distinguished from another.

Two terms that do not fit in well

Intersex is often listed in the same breath, but is not an identity. It is the name for congenital physical variations in sex development, which are established medically. Two-spirit was chosen in 1990 at a gathering of indigenous North American organisations as a common English term for a variety of traditional roles. The term is intended for people from those communities and not as a general label.

Identity and care are different things

An identity label is not a diagnosis. Care is concerned with gender dysphoria: persistent suffering from discontent with one's own sex. Not everyone who calls themselves transgender or non-binary is troubled by it, and not everyone with gender dysphoria opts for medical treatment.

Over the past fifteen years the group presenting at gender clinics has changed considerably. Whereas it used to be mainly young children, predominantly boys, and adult men, in many Western countries it is now mainly teenagers, the majority of whom are girls. The Cass Review describes that shift for England; the causes have not been clarified. More on this under youth and science and debate.

How these pages are structured

Each identity has its own article with the origin of the word, the usual meaning, the way it is used in practice and the discussion around it. Less common terms are in the list of terms. Anyone who first wants to be clear about the distinction between sex, gender and sexual orientation should start with the basic information.