Glossary
Concepts
Clear definitions — no euphemisms, no activist packaging. What terms originally mean and how they're now used.
Sex
Biological: male or female, determined by chromosomes, gonads and sex hormones. Binary, unchangeable, fixed at conception. Intersex conditions are rare variations on the developmental pathway and not a "third sex".
Gender
Originally: the social expectations associated with sex (roles, clothing, behaviour). In activist usage now used as a synonym for "inner identity feeling", separate from the body. That's a philosophical claim, not a fact.
Gender dysphoria
Clinical concept: persistent, strong discomfort with one's own sex and corresponding bodily characteristics. Recorded in DSM-5. Important difference from the old term "transsexuality": dysphoria can occur without someone seeing themselves as or wanting to be the other sex.
Gender non-conformity
Not fitting the stereotypical role linked to your sex. A girl who plays rough; a boy who is sensitive. Common and not a sign of being trans — more an indicator of later homosexuality.
Cisgender (cis)
Political term, coined to label "non-trans". Implies that everyone has an inner gender identity that matches (or differs from) their sex. Many people don't experience it that way at all — they are simply men or women. Using "cis" as a default label is an ideological assumption.
Social transition
New name, different pronouns, clothing and presentation of the other sex, often including open declaration at school, work and within the family. Presented as a "safe in-between step" but research shows it strongly steers the outcome towards medical transition — it's a psychological lock-in.
Affirmation / affirmative care
Treatment model in which the client's self-declaration is the starting point: if someone says "I am trans", the role of the care provider is to support that identity, not to investigate whether it's accurate. The Cass Review and several European health authorities have distanced themselves from this.
Gatekeeping
Activist term for what is actually just called diagnostics: thorough investigation before irreversible medical interventions are started. Removing "gatekeeping" was the central ideological shift in gender medicine since around 2010.
ROGD — Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria
Suddenly arising gender identification in teenagers (usually girls) without a prior history of dysphoria as a child, often in clusters of classmates, linked to heavy online presence in trans communities. Described by Lisa Littman (2018) and since confirmed by others. Contested by activists; the patterns are empirical.
AGP — Autogynephilia
Sexual paraphilia in which a man becomes aroused by the idea of seeing himself as a woman. Described by Ray Blanchard (1980s-90s). The majority of men who at a later age first express trans identification fall clinically into this group. It is not an identity and not a gender — it is a paraphilia.
TIM / TIF
Trans-Identified Male / Trans-Identified Female. Clear terms that hold sex steady: a TIM is a man who identifies as a woman; a TIF is a woman who identifies as a man. Used where "trans woman"/"trans man" is unclear about which sex someone is.
Non-binary
Identity label: "I don't feel like a man or a woman." Biologically impossible (sex is binary). Socioculturally: a way to opt out of role expectations — which is perfectly fine, even without a label. Especially popular among teenagers and young adults since around 2015.
Detransition
Reversing a transition — socially, medically, or both. Sometimes fully (back to original name, pronouns, body where still possible), sometimes partially. Figures are kept low by activist sources ("less than 1%"); realistic figures from longer follow-up suggest 10-30%.
Misgendering
Addressing someone with the pronouns or sex designation that match their biological sex, instead of their declared identity. Described in activist language as violence; clinically and legally it is not.
Deadnaming
Using someone's original (often: only legal) name when they have adopted a new name. Not a disease, not violence — just calling someone by name.
MAP — Minor-Attracted Person
Euphemism for "paedophile". Coined in online communities to normalise the term by making it part of a "queer identity". Not adopted on this site: a MAP is a paedophile.
Cass Review
Independent investigation (2024) led by Dr. Hilary Cass, commissioned by the NHS, into the state of gender medicine for children and young people in the United Kingdom. Conclusion: the evidence for the current approach is "remarkably weak". Led to the closure of the Tavistock clinic and revision of protocols in several European countries.
WPATH / SOC8
World Professional Association for Transgender Health and its care guidelines (Standards of Care version 8). Activist organisation, not an independent scientific body. Internal communications (leaked in 2024 as the "WPATH Files") show that the organisation itself has doubts about its own protocols — which it does not voice publicly.