Lexicon

Allosexual, Altersexual, Queer

“Allosexuality” and “altersexuality” are alternative words proposed for queer. “Queer is an Anglo-Saxon term re-appropriated by the LGBT communities so as to make it a symbol of self-determination and liberation rather than an insult. It refers to any idea, practice, person or identity that goes against the norms structuring the heteronormative social model. In that sense, the term connotes a protesting self-representation (2016, Définitions sur la diversité sexuelle et de genre). »

The word queer is used by people who:

• do not adhere to the binary vision of gender and sexuality (male or female, heterosexual or homosexual)
  or
• identify themselves with a sexual orientation or gender identity that does not conform to social norms
  ou
• refuse to be labelled according to their sexual orientation or gender identity

The term altersexuality or queer includes all gender and sexual orientations. The term has a more generic meaning (compared to gay, bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual, male and female, which are more fixed terms) that allows to recognize a difference, without having to define it rigidly. (Interline, 2018)

Bisexual
Someone who is romantically and/or sexually attracted to both guys and girls.

Gay
A man attracted by men on a romantic or sexual level.

Gender dysphoria
Distress caused by the discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth (and gender roles and / or associated primary or secondary sex characteristics) WPATH, 2012.

Gender expression/Gender role
Characteristics in the personality, appearance and behavior that in a given culture at a given historical moment, are designated as masculine or feminine (which is more typical of a masculine or feminine social role). While most individuals present themselves socially as clearly masculine or feminine in their gender role, some present an alternative gender, such as queer, or more specifically transgender. All individuals tend to incorporate masculine and feminine characteristics into their gender expression in different ways and to different degrees. WPATH, 2012.

Gender Nonconforming
Nominal group qualifying individuals whose behavior or appearance does not conform to prevailing cultural and social expectations about what is appropriate to their gender (sex attributed at birth) in a given culture at a given period. WPATH, 2012.

Gender reassignment surgery (gender confirmation surgery)
Surgery changing primary and / or secondary sex characteristics to affirm a person’s gender identity. Sex reassignment surgery can be an important part of the medical treatment needed to relieve gender dysphoria. WPATH, 2012.

Heterosexual
A man attracted to women romantically or sexually. A woman attracted to men romantically or sexually.

Hormonotherapy
Use of prepared mixed hormones assembled as drugs by a pharmacist, customized preparation according to the doctor’s specifications for a given patient. WPATH, 2012.

Identity (sexual or gender)
The intimate and personal experience to feel like a man or a woman (or identify oneself with the two genders, with none of these gender, or with another identity), regardless of the biological sex observed at birth. All people – regardless of their sexual orientation – have a gender identity. (2016, Définitions sur la diversité sexuelle et de genre).

Internalised Transphobia
An individual’s discomfort with their own transgender feelings or identity because of the internalisation of normed gender societal expectations. WPATH, 2012.

Lesbian
A woman attracted to women romantically or sexually.

Man to woman
Adjective describing individuals assigned as a man at birth who change or have changed their body and / or gender role towards a more feminine body or role. WPATH, 2012

Sex
Sex is assigned at birth as male or female, usually based on the appearance of the external genitalia. In case of ambiguity, other sex components (internal genitalia, chromosomal and hormonal sex) are studied to give a sex. For most people, gender identity and expression are congruent with the sex assigned at birth; for transsexual, transgender or non-conforming persons, gender identity and expression differ from sex assigned at birth. WPATH, 2012.

Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation describes what a person feels about people of a particular sex or gender, both sentimentally and sexually. Jeunesse j’écoute, 2016.

Transsexual
Adjective (often used by the medical profession) describing an individual who seeks to change or who has changed his or her primary and / or secondary sexual characteristics through medical interventions of feminization or masculinization (hormonotherapy and / or surgery), typically accompanied by a permanent change in gender roles. WPATH.

Transition
Period in which individuals move from the gender role associated with their assigned birth sex to another gender role. For most people, this involves learning how to live socially in another gender role; for others it means finding a gender role or expression that is more comfortable for them. The transition may or may not include masculinization or feminization of the body through hormone therapy or other medical procedures. The nature and duration of the transition are variable and individualized. WPATH, 2012

Transgender person
Adjective that refers to various groups of individuals which overlook or transcend the culturally defined categories of gender. The gender identity of transgender people can vary to different degrees from the sex attributed at birth. WPATH, 2012.

Woman towards man
Adjective describing individuals assigned as a woman at birth who change or have changed their body and / or gender role towards a more masculine body and / or role. WPATH, 2012.