Gender

In distinction to the biological sex of a person, the term gender refers to the socially constructed sex with all its role attributions. Accordingly, social gender does not have to correspond to a person’s biological sex, which was assigned to him or her at birth. Gender identity in this context is the personal conception of one’s own sex or gender.

– *Cisgender
Person whose social and biological sex assigned at birth are the same.

– Transgender
Person whose gender identity does not match or does not fully match the biological sex assigned at birth. One option for transgender individuals may be to seek medical gender reassignment services.

– Bigender / Trigender
Individuals with two (in the case of trigender: three) gender identities. Most often these are male and female, but other expressions, such as female and non-binary, may occur. These gender identities may occur simultaneously or alternately.

– non-binary
Term used to describe individuals who are not men or women but are both at the same time or who perceive themselves as neither men nor women. Nonbinary gender identity is not related to biological sex. In some pre-colonial societies, gender was not fixed in a binary order. The Hijra in India can still be considered an example of this today.

– genderqueer
Genderqueer can be considered an example of a non-binary gender identity. Genderqueer serves as an umbrella term for people who do not feel they belong to the gender binary. However, genderqueer can also refer to the gender identity of people who identify as both male and female or as neither male nor female. Thus, genderqueer cannot be clearly distinguished from the terms nonbinary and genderfluid.

– gender nonconforming
Individuals whose social gender does not match the biological sex assigned at birth are referred to as gender nonconforming. As distinct from the term transgender, gender nonconforming focuses on the fundamental rejection of binary gender identity.

– genderfluid
Persons whose gender identity moves between man and woman and other genders and thus is or can be changeable are referred to as genderfluid. Accordingly, the gender identity of genderfluid persons can change between all genders for a certain period of time or in certain situations. Unlike genderqueer persons, this gender identity does not necessarily move beyond gender binarity.

– agender / genderless
Individuals who do not identify with any gender identity.

– intersex
Term used to describe individuals whose biological sex at birth cannot be read as unambiguously male or female. Some researchers estimate that one in 100 newborns is intersex in some way. Although variants of chromosomes XX/XY/XXX/XXY, for example, are rare, they show that even biological observation cannot confirm a purely binary gender order. Until today, the genitals of intersex children are surgically adapted to one sex. This intervention is often accompanied by health and psychological problems.