Inside My Head

cisnormative terminology that needs to stop

"female/male bodied": 

• I’m a man, this is my body. It doesn’t matter what I was assigned at birth, this is my body and I am a man, and therefore this body is a man’s body, and therefore a male body
• this is erasure of intersex people
• this is erasure of nonbinary people
• you don’t actually give a shit about gender, you’re asking about genitals, and unless you’re a doctor it’s none of your fucking business
• and if you ARE a doctor, you need to figure your shit out so you don’t alienate your trans patients and make them less likely to seek medical help due to dysphoria
• the term you’re looking for is "assigned female/male at birth" or "afab/amab"

"born a man/woman" (also "used to be a woman/man"):

• trans people weren’t born cis people and then turned trans; just because it takes us a while to figure out who we are doesn’t mean we were ever somebody else
• society is cisnormative, and lies to people, and pretends that trans identities don’t exist and aren’t valid, telling trans people that they are cis over and over again since birth like a mantra, so trans people internalize that and believe it, until the evidence to the contrary piles up so high they can’t deny it anymore. That evidence has been piling up since birth; trans people were never cis people
• this is erasure of intersex people
• this is erasure of nonbinary people
• using these terms incorrectly makes it impossible to use them correctly for nonbinary people who DO identify as having started out as one thing and changed to something else
• the term you’re looking for is “raised as a man/woman”

"male/female parts/genitalia":

• again, I’m a man, these are my parts, therefor they are male parts, everybody needs to get the fuck over it
• Yes, I have breasts and that gives me dysphoria and I want them removed, THANKS FOR REMINDING ME, but they are male breasts
• Yes I have a vagina. Again, this gives me dysphoria, you are an asshole for reminding me. Again, it is a male vagina since I am a man
• this is erasure of intersex people
• this is erasure of nonbinary people
• Unless you are a doctor my genitals are none of your fucking business
• If you ARE a doctor, you need to start using medical terminology right now, because you’re a medical professional so I think you can use the word “penis” and “vagina” without melting like the Wicked Witch of the West
• Doctors using this kind of incorrect terminology are alienating their trans patients and making them less likely to seek medical help due to dysphoria. Trans people already have ENOUGH trouble with getting medical help, don’t fuck it up more
• the term you’re looking for is "penis/vagina/uterus/genitals" or "testes/ovaries" or (and this one’s easy) "chest"

[EDIT] Even if you are a doctor, do NOT refer to someone else’s genitalia without knowing how they prefer for their genitalia to be referred to. If you’re not a doctor it’s safer just not to at all, because their genitalia is none of your fucking business, but if you must (for example if you are in a sexual situation with a trans person), make sure you don’t cause them dysphoria by using words that give them dysphoria. 

"female/male hormones":

• cis men and cis women BOTH have estrogen and progesterone and testosterone. Intersex people have all of these hormones naturally as well
• there are cis women who have high levels of testosterone and low levels of estrogen and progesterone, and there are cis men with high levels of estrogen and progesterone and low levels of testosterone
• these hormones are not specific to one sex or another, and DEFINITELY not specific to one gender or another
• this term is hurtful not only to trans people but also people with pcos, people who are undergoing or have gone through menopause, and other medical causes for variations in hormone levels
• this is erasure of intersex people
• this is erasure of nonbinary people
• the terms you are looking for, shockingly enough, are "estrogen" "progesterone" and “testosterone”

(╯◎皿◎）╯︵ ┻━┻

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[EDITED ADDITION]:

"trans*" (with an asterisk) is apparently very controversial. I was unaware of the issues around it, and I have now removed all asterisks from this page as requested. Here’s some posts and articles about the controversy. This post is (I hope) very clearly inclusive of and supporting of literally ALL gender variant people. Cisnormativity hurts everyone.