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A. FINN ENKE Note on Terms and Concepts T he terms and concepts here supplement this volume. This is not a glossary of all terms relevant to transgender studies, trans histories, and trans lives. It would be impossible to be exhaustive here, as the list of terms related to cultural and community-based gender practices is literally infinite. Neither is it definitive: Meanings and uses change across time and place. Language itself is a social activity; words, phrases, and uses effectively communicate only within a community that grants rough consensus to that particular expression. At the same time, language adapts around cultural changes and may be open to new words and new grammars; in the same measure, communities and individuals do learn new languages all the time. Since the 1960s, the concept of “gender-inclusive” language has gone from referring to the onceradical practice of saying “people” instead of “men,” “person” instead of “man,” and “he and she” instead of just “he” to today, when “gender-inclusive” might refer to language that does not impose binary gender and honors the actual gender diversity of human lives. The English language imposes binary gender, and, in many cases, it requires work to circumvent this imposition. In contrast to many languages, English does not gender all nouns or attach gender to the first person singular (“I”). However, most singular pronouns (“he,” “she”) are gendered, as are some familial terms (e.g., “aunt,” “uncle”). In many cases, English provides a neutral choice (one can say “child” rather than “son” or “daughter”), but speech customs may make certain options feel awkward. Workers in many service-sector jobs are taught to greet customers as “ma’am,” “sir,” or “ladies”; this is an entirely gratuitous gender imposition that may feel polite and even friendly to some people, but to others it may feel irritating if not violent. Transliteracy suggests the following: • Become more aware of when the language, culture, or simply one’s own habits of speech are imposing gender. Note on Terms and Concepts 17 • Consider one’s own attachments or intentions with such speech. • Learn to use alternatives. These are ways to begin to change cultural consensus in language. This does not mean doing away with gender-specific language; it means developing additional fluencies to respect the complexity of gender. Gender-Inclusive Pronouns (often called gender-neutral): ze/hir/hir; they/them/ theirs (subject/object/possessive, respectively). Gender-inclusive pronouns are not associated with a specific gender and thereby do not ascribe gender. In English , the plural “they” is an example. The singular “they” dates back to the fifteenth century and is common in some parts of the English-speaking world, but in most places in North America, the singular “they” is less familiar. For the singular, our most common options (“he” and “she”) are specifically gendered. Trans-aware communities developed the use of ze/hir/hir as gender-inclusive alternatives. In more recent years, they/them/their is becoming even more popular as a singular pronoun. Usage considerations: For many trans people who identify as men or women, use of inclusive pronouns can feel like an offensive refusal to recognize their gender identity. At the same time, the fact that many people identify with one of the binary pronouns does not preclude using inclusive pronouns as a general practice for all people, conveying that we do not know how other people identify their own gender and also that some people do not identify with either of the binary options. In some communities and classrooms, “ze” and/or “they” are used universally and with complete fluency. However, these options have yet to circulate through mainstream culture, and thus their use must be considered political and pedagogical. Sex: From the perspective of evolutionary biology, human sex is conventionally classified in two categories (female and male) according to whether a body produces eggs or sperm. Associated with this characteristic are others, such as genital morphology, chromosomal makeup, and genetic factors that affect secondary sex characteristics (body hair, breasts, and so forth). The variety of factors involved and the natural variation in all of them have led to greater acknowledgment of the fact that humans exceed sexual dimorphism (that is to say, male and female are not neatly distinct) and also that it would be theoretically possible to group humans into more than two sex categories. Legally Recognized Sex Status: People’s legal existence in the United States is accompanied by the requirement to have a legally recognized...

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